Trompenaars

According to Trompenaars, there are seven cultural dimensions:

http://www.provenmodels.com/580/seven-dimensions-of-culture/charles-hampden-turner--fons-trompenaars/

HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Universalism vs. Particularism

This dimension concerns rules and regulations in a country. In universalism, rules do not depend on a certain situation but are always true and always have to be followed. Particularists however set different standards for their friends and relative as for other people and therefore see them more as guidelines but not universal truths. 

It is well known that Italians do not care very much for rules and believe that they can easily be broken (see Interview 1,3,4). Then again, there is a certain tendency to have and respect rules in order to have guidelines (see Interview 2). Therefore, one can say that Italians are between those two dimensions with a tendency towards using rules as guidelines, not universal truths.

Individualism vs. Communitarism / Collectivism

It is about the degree of individualistic thinking of people. Individualistic people will see themselves and their close family as the center of their world and they refer everything they do back to the happiness of those people. Communitaristic people see the community as final goal which means their individual needs are secondary and can only be fulfilled in a well-working environment. 

Italians are rather individualistic people as their immediate family is most important to them (see Interview 1,3) and they believe bonuses and personal goals help you do your best (see Interview 2,3). Nevertheless, the they will try not to harm the community while striving for their own best position (see Interview 1,2,4). 

Specific vs. Diffuse

This aspect focuses on separation between different aspects of life such as working and personal life and also on the degree to which responsibility is assigned. Specific cultures also try to relate everything back to a specific reason for doing something.

This aspect is not the easiest to answer. This can also be seen by looking at the interviews where four different people all had quite different answers. Nevertheless, it seems like Italian people try to integrate work aspects in their private life in order not to exclude their family from their second life, yet leaving out private aspects out of business in order to stay professional. Responsibilites are normally assigned to the most qualified person though it is not always the easiest task to find the person in charge of a certain task in a company.

Affective vs. Neutral
This point covers the how much and how strongly people show or hide their emotions. A neutral culture is all about controlling your emotions, no matter how strongly you may feel them.

Italians score rather high on this score as they are warmhearted people who like to dramatize everything (see Interview 1,3,4). On the other hand, in business life, they try to reduce such outbursts of emotional behavior (see Interview 2).

The following video is a good example of the Italian way of expressing themselves using all possible hand gestures to bring the message across and stress what they are saying. Naturally, this is a stereotype. 

Achievement vs. Ascription

This dimension is about how much an individual has to achieve to obtain a certain status or if no individual performance is necessary as they are born with status and priviledges.

In Italy, performance does matter and will affect the way people think about someone. Therefore, to be the manager of a team or a company etc., you need to have certain characteristics and strengths (see Interview 2,3,4). On the other hand, there is still a strong influence coming from the „Mafiosi“ where connections are the thing you need to be successful (see Interview 1). Furthermore, the style and outfit of a person also tells an Italian right away if he will like you and make business with you or not. Italians judge a lot on first impressions based on what they see (see Interview 3). 

TIME
Sequential vs. Synchronic Time

In this aspect, different definitions of time are covered. People with a sequential view of time see it as a timeline, a chain of happenings. For them, time is money and therefore, it is very structured with agendas and schedules. A synchronic view of time, on the other hand, is seen more like a circle where events happen all over again and you can come late and miss something as the opportunity will come again.

Furthermore, this dimension covers if the orientation of people is towards the past, respecting ancestors and history, the present as people who are driven by the events of the day and the future, with a focus on planning.
In addition, the cultural dimension used also by Hofstede of long-term or short-term orientation is also included.

Italians should be put in the category of synchronic time as they do not value punctuality so much and do not keep a strict agenda (see Interview 1,3,4). Furthermore, they are usually capable of and willing to do several tasks at the same time (see Interview 4). 

NATURE
Inner vs. Outer Directed

This last point answers the question if people believe they are controlled by their environment or can somehow change it. An inner-directed culture believes in controlling nature however complex it may be. Outer-directed cultures, on the other hand, accept better what happens to them due to nature and explain it as fate. 

Italians do not believe that they are controlled by faith (see Interview 1). Therefore, they will try and plan a bit in advance in order to be able to control their life to be successful a bit into the future (see Interview 2) however always staying true to their principle that changes to the plan are no problem (see Interview 1,3,4) and can be made whenever they want to. In this sense, Italians improvize a lot. 

ITALIAN COUNTRY SCORES 
Universalism vs. Particularism: 52%
Individualism vs. Communitarism: 68%
Specific vs. Diffuse: 37%
Affective vs. Neutral: in between the tall and the flat triangle
Achievement vs. Ascription: 53%
Sequential vs. Synchronic Time: the past and the present overlap and touch the future
Inner vs. Outer Directed: 49%
http://www.education4skills.com/jtylee/culture.html




http://www.provenmodels.com/580/seven-dimensions-of-culture/charles-hampden-turner--fons-trompenaars/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqNI8le1bF4