3. Uncertainty Avoidance. Uncertainty is a fact of life that is true for individuals as well as for organizations. Today’s profits can easily turn into tomorrow’s losses.

How a market will react to a new product, revisions in old products, corporate restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, and other changes are all major sources of uncertainty. With uncertainty come confusion, stress, and anxiety. Every organization develops ways of dealing with anxiety and stress associated with uncertainty, including the development of informal or written rituals concerning a code of conduct among employees, such as in intracompany policies regarding communication or interpersonal relationships. These rules may also govern behavior between companies within a society or across cultures as in domestic and international laws governing business and inter-business relationships. Organizations high on uncertainty avoidance develop highly refined rules and rituals that are mandated and become part of the company rubric and normal way of operating. Organizations low on uncertainty avoidance are less concerned with rules and rituals to deal with the stress and anxiety of uncertainty. Companies in these cultures have a more relaxed attitude concerning uncertainty and ambiguity and mandate fewer rules and rituals for their employees.