7 Dimensies van Cultuur
Seven dimensions that shape how cultures decide.
First introduced by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner in Meedrijven op de golven van cultuur and refined through three decades of continuing research, the 7D model is one of the most widely cited frameworks for understanding cultural difference — and one of the few that makes that difference measurable.
The seven dimensions fall into three groups. Five concern how we relate to each other. One concerns how we relate to time. One concerns how we relate to the environment. Together they map the universal tensions every society and every organisation resolves in its own way.
Shared problems. Different solutions. Measurable patterns.
The foundational text on the 7 Dimensions.
What it measures
Shared problems. Different oplossingen.
Authority, bureaucracy, creativity, fellowship, verification, accountability — every culture encounters the same basic phenomena. What differs is how each resolves them.
The essence of culture is not what is visible on the surface. It is the shared way a group of people interprets the world and structures its response to universal problems. Those problems are the same across humanity. The solutions are not — and the difference between solutions is what distinguishes one culture from another.
The 7D names those problems and the poles along which cultures differ, so difference can be discussed, measured and reconciled rather than assumed or stereotyped.
Culture is like an onion.
The outer layer is what you can see and touch: the explicit artefacts — language, food, architecture, clothes, the visible behaviours of people at work.
The middle layer is norms and values — what a group considers right and wrong, desirable and undesirable. Less visible, but articulable once asked.
The core is basic assumptions. The taken-for-granted answers to universal problems of human existence — often invisible to the people who hold them, and only surfaced by contact with cultures that answered differently. The 7D is how we surface the core.
Do we control the environment, or are we controlled by it? Every culture answers differently.
Menselijke relatie
Universalisme
Particularisme
Individualisme
Gemeenschapszin
Specifiek
Diffuus
Neutraal
Affectief
Prestatie
Opschrift
Tijd
Verleden
Aanwezig
Toekomst
Korte termijn
Lange termijn
Volgorde
Synchroon
Milieu
Klik voor meer
Intern
Extern
Meer informatie over de zeven dimensies
Profile and compare yourself to other cultures around the world
Gebaseerd op het Zeven dimensies van cultuurmodel van Fons Trompenaars en gegevens van meer dan 140 landen.
Laten we praten
Put the 7D to work on your team.
If your global operating model is running into local friction, your merger is stalling on cultural fit, or your leadership team is misreading each other across borders — the 7D is how we make the difference visible and reconcilable. Let's talk.