A cultural anthropologist is usually tasked with studying the behaviour and beliefs of different people in a given society. Such a job would require learning the ways of life of different groups in a given society categorised on the basis of social practices and beliefs, ethnicity or age or gender (Lenkeit 15 – 20).
However, when employed by a given company of organization, a cultural anthropologist will be tasked to carry out his or her duties in line with the employer’s guidelines, goals and objectives. Thus, his or her efforts should be geared towards giving workable recommendations to the employer in as a far as how culture is shaped or how it shapes the world around the group under study.
The importance of a cultural anthropologist cannot be underscored in any organization especially for a growing company that wants to expand into the international market. This is because culture is not only learned, but it also shared across and within the geographical boundaries.
Thus, for a growing company to break into the international market, it is imperative that they employ a cultural anthropologist who would offer them valuable information regarding their new and projected clienteles whose everyday lives are shaped by their cultural practices and behaviours.
The hiring of a cultural anthropologist by an aspiring company is justifiable since it is through such an employee that the company will be able to learn the cultural practices and behaviours of the new international market. Together with other factors, cultural practices and behaviours is a major factor when it comes to the acceptance or rejection of a particular product or business practice by various groups of people.
Hence, the insight that comes with the information provided by the cultural anthropologist would go a long way in preventing conflict between the company and its employees and also with the would-be customers. A cultural anthropologist would help a business decide on what products to sell in a particular environment and also helps the company in deciding the target group while designing a product.
Thus, a cultural anthropologist would help in fine tuning the business goals and objectives in a particular environment especially if the business is new like in the case of a growing company trying to break through into the international market. It would be suicidal for any company trying to break into the international market without having a proper understanding of the cultural behaviours and beliefs of their target market since the international market is very dynamic and with a very complex culture (Peters-Golden 111 – 180).
The main aim of setting up a business is profit maximization thus it is very important for the management of any business to channel as much resources as they can towards this uphill task. To achieve this, the management needs to understand the target customer thus the need for hiring a cultural anthropologist who would carry out intensive and extensive research on the target group.
The data so collected would enable the company in its day-to-day activities such as conflict resolution and product design. Moreover, a cultural anthropologist may also extend his or her research to cover even the employees of the company.
Hence, for a growing company aiming at breaking into the international market, hiring of a cultural anthropologist is almost mandatory if they aim at achieving any considerable success. Such an employee would help in the hiring of new international employees and give a road map on how to relate with such employees. Most importantly, the company will be more aware of its operating environment, that is, its customer base.
Works Cited
Lenkeit, Roberta E. Introducing Cultural Anthropology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Peters-Golden, Holly. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill, 2008.