Fons Trompenaars

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Fons Trompenaars is an author in the field of cross-cultural communication. His books include: Riding the Waves of Culture, Seven Cultures of Capitalism, Building Cross-Cultural Competence and 21 Leaders for the 21st Century.

Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner have developed a model of culture with seven dimensions:

1. Universalism vs. particularism (What is more important, rules or relationships?)
2. Individualism vs. communitarianism (Do we function in a group or as individuals?)
3. Neutral vs. affective (Do we display our emotions?)
4. Specific vs. diffuse (Is responsibility specifically assigned or diffusely accepted?)
5. Achieved status vs. ascribed status (Do we have to prove ourselves to receive status or is it given to us?)
6. Time orientation (Do we do things one at a time or several things at once?)
   • Oriented toward the past, present, or future
   • Sequential time vs. synchronic time
7. Internal vs. external orientation (Do we control our environment or work with it?)

[edit] See also

• Geert Hofstede
• Edward T. Hall