Culture

Definition of Culture

The word “Culture” has many different definitions. For some, it is refers to literature, music, art and food. For other, it is the full range of learning human behavior patterns. For me, the definition I like the most is belonging to Hofstede (1980) “Culture is the collective programming of the mind with distinguishes the members of one human group from another”. Culture determines the way we see ourselves and the world around. Culture is inheritable and not constant. It can be change due to time or the changing of surrounding environment. There is no right or wrong in culture.

3 layers of Culture

Each culture has three layers. First, the outer layer is the behavioral or explicit level. It is what you notice immediately when you go abroad for the first time such as language, food, architecture, houses, building and so on. In addition, it is also the communication style. For examples, in Latin culture, people prefer touching each other when talking, while in Finland, people always keep a private space around, and they don’t like someone touch them.

The second layer is the norms and values. Norms are the rules of a society, determining what is good or bad with people of that culture. It can be written or not. Values are things that are considered important or unimportant, beautiful or not beautiful, right or wrong. A value is something experienced inwardly and which is not up for discussion. For examples, in Japan, the norm is younger people always have to bow lower than older ones when greeting to show the value of respecting the older.

The third layer is the most inner which lies at the core of “culture” and contains its assumptions and beliefs. This layer is hard to describe or explain. For example, why people in some countries eat with fork and knife while in other countries people eat with chopsticks?

Values of societies

Due to Ruano (2002), there are 4 categories of society

1. Traditional society, in which religion plays an important role, large families are encouraged, conformity is rewarded and individualism rejected. For examples: Arab countries.

2. Rational society, in which interests of individual come first, birth control is encouraged and  the authority of the state is recognized. For examples: Germany

3. Society in which survival is the primary concern, people are unhappy and intolerant, materialism is predominant. For examples: ex-communist countries.

4. Post-modern society: tolerant and democratic, Scandinavia countries.

Level of culture in business context

According to Schein (1999), a culture starts developing in a context where a group of people have a shared experience.  In business context, culture can develop at different levels, within a department or at the various ranks of a hierarchy. There are 6 levels

Culture and nation

For examples, the Celtic culture includes different countries and part of countries. This culture distinction can have a bearing on the way organization operate. It influenced organization in both macro and micro level.

At macro level, it has influence in law and economic situation. The nation must be considered by organizations going about their business.

At micro level, organization is influenced by cultural elements relating to employer-employee relationships and to behavior among employees.

National culture

In national culture, the elements that contribute to the creation of culture are physical environment and history of nation

Due to Tayeb (2003) the institutions that contribute to the establishment of a national culture are

-          Family/Religion/Education

-          Mass communication media

-          The multinational company

Organizational culture

In organization, culture affects the way strategy is determined, goals are established and how the organization operates. Furthermore, the key personnel involved are influenced by their own cultural backgrounds and shared experience since these have helped shape their own values and perceptions.

Corporate culture

Corporate culture is a combination of organizational culture and national/region culture. The extent of the influence of corporate culture is disputed among experts in the field. To be succeed, it is necessary to clearly defined corporate culture and to be flexible culture.

Professional culture

There are three professional cultures in management. They are operators (involve in production), engineers (design and monitor the technology) and executives (senior managers). The questions for professional culture is how they are co-exists. How they connect to each other to work effectively.

Culture and management

Cross-culture management explains the behavior of people in organizations around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employees and client populations from many different cultures. Cross-cultural management describes organizational behavior within countries and cultures; compares organizational behavior across countries and cultures; and perhaps most important, seeks to understand and improve the interaction of co-workers, managers, clients, suppliers, etc… from countries and culture around the world.

Understanding cross culture management - Browaeys and Price