One of the most influential individuals in the field of cultural variation is the Dutch engineer and social scientist Geert Hofstede (Merritt, 1997). Hofstede, using questionnaire data from 80,000 IBM employees in 66 countries across seven occupations, established four dimensions of national culture (Hofstede, 1980, 1991):? Individualism/collectivism;? Power distance;? Uncertainty avoidance; and,? Masculinity/Femininity (largely does not apply to flight crews) Individualism/collectivism relates to the extent to which people are supposed to take care of themselves and be emotionally independent from others. A highly individual culture is one that is characterized by egalitarian relationships, social interaction is conceptualized in terms of costs, rewards and outcomes and self-sufficiency are valued. A collective culture values loyalty to and harmony within the group, and conceptualizes resources, responsibilities and outcomes as shared. There is a powerful motivation in trying not to disgrace the extended group, as mistakes and failure are blamed upon the whole group. Merritt found evidence for the existence of this dimension in pilots but found more individualism and less difference between countries than would be expected in the general population. She suggests that individualists self-selecting into aviation may cause this difference. This was the only dimension to show higher, more convergent scores than those reported in Hofstede’s study and may illustrate why pilots are perceived to have similar values worldwide. Power Distance is the extent to which a culture accepts that power is distributed unequally among the members of a group and the extent to which the decisions of power holders are challenged. Low power distance implies limited dependence of a subordinate on a superior and a preference for consultation. Subordinates are comfortable in approaching their superiors and challenging them when necessary. In contrast, high power distance implies considerable dependence of subordinates on their superiors, with subordinates unlikely to approach their superiors and superiors unlikely to consult their subordinates. These patterns of dependence pervade all human interaction. Uncertainty Avoidance is the extent to which members of a culture feel uncomfortable with risk and uncertainty. A culture with high uncertainty avoidance will often attempt to avoid uncertainty by establishing more structure within an environment by means of rules and procedures. Cultures that have low uncertainty avoidance are likely to accept and encourage dissenting views and try new experiences. Interestingly, Merritt found that cultures that believe strongly in the importance of rules and procedures are also strong advocates of automation.1. Which dimension of national culture is unusual for flight crews?