I was talking in Zoom with a group of people who told me: "We can imagine how you feel as Russian". But the problem is that my name, Shevchenko, remain the most Ukrainian name you can ever find: State University, schools, streets, squares all over Ukraine hold this name. But do we know about it? What do we know about Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian people, Ukrainian mentality?
We understand how many Ukrainian people are coming today to Europe (5 mln people expected). Let’s get to appreciate them to embrace them properly.
As an interculturalism enthusiast, who is promoting diversity, I’d like today to ask you to watch and share this interview with Sia, the head of Ukrainian community in Andorra about main Ukrainian cultural codes. This is a part of the qualitative research on the Ukrainian cultural codes today.
What we've discussed in this interview is obtaining quantitative support in the Hofstede Model. See below some of the Hofstede dimentions and how are they illustrated in our interview with Sia.
Hofstede Model (C)
In brief, Ukraine, scoring 92, befalls a country where power holders are extremely distant in society. This dimension expresses the attitude of the culture towards inequalities amongst us.
Ukrainians are highly collectivistic, and you will see many lively examples in the interview. Relationships are crucial in obtaining information, getting introduced or successful negotiations. This explains that the main quality they value is truthfulness (as we find out in the interview). One needs to be personal, authentic and trustful to develop relationships.
A negative score on masculinity means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. See the discussion of a good leader in our interview. You can use time codes in the description.
Scoring 95 on Uncertainty Avoidance Ukrainians feel very much threatened by ambiguous situations. As long as Ukrainians interact with people considered to be strangers, they appear very formal and distant. Simultaneously formality is implemented as a sign of respect.
Ukraine scores 86 in Long Term Orientation, which means that it is an eminently pragmatic culture. You will have an opportunity to see it.
The dimension of indulgence is defined as the extent to which people try to restrain their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised. Relatively weak control is called “Indulgence” and relatively firm control is called “Restraint”. The Restrained nature of Ukrainian culture is clearly visible through its exceptionally negative score of 14 on this dimension.
We've tried in an extremely terrible time to produce this interview as light as possible, so that it does not reflect the tragedy that is happening in this particular moment, but turns out to be as bright as the Ukrainians themselves to serve the community in the future.
Interculturally yours,
Anastasia Shevchenko