National Culture in an Organization Research Paper

Introduction

Culture determines the ways of performance and interaction between people, communication, morale, satisfaction, and the mode of life. New social changes and improvements change the culture and are influenced by this culture. Culture is defined as shared values and visions, relationships, and climate which influences implementation and perceptions of the proposed actions within the organization. The opposed change requires a new understanding of work relations and a new vision of the corporate goals and aims. The shared values determine the bonding of organizational principles to the goal-setting process. Strategies that consider organizational values in their development will become an extension of organizational values. In contrast to the concept of culture, national culture means a unique combination of practices, religious beliefs, and traditions followed by society. “The culture theory views organization and society as a culturally specific entity with ‘the collective programming of the mind’ that can classify the organizational members of one group4 or category of people in society from another” (Zheng 2008, p. 4). The values that give international or national organizations credibility also will give credibility to the individual. They will be a source of self-fulfillment and personal integrity. While organizational values relate to employees, profit, customers, stakeholders, community, and the like, individual goals will relate to fairness, honesty, trust, respect, quality, and cooperation. These are precisely the values that are inherent in the organizational values statement. Alone, however, these values are far too general and open to interpretation. It is easy to forget the particular and complicated nature of human moral experience (Friedman 2007).

Main body

Following Geert Hofstede, national culture can be identified and explained by 5 dimensions. Hofstede analyses and defines the uniqueness and peculiarities of 50 cultures and their impact on business communication. The dimensions are Individualist vs collectivist cultures (e.g. of individualistic cultures are USA Australia Great Britain. The countries which have low scores of individualistic features are Panama Equador Guatemala), power distance (Power distance is high in Malaysia Guatemala and Panama. It is low in Denmark Israel Austria), uncertainty avoidance (Uncertainty avoidance is high in Greece Portugal Guatemala, and is low in Denmark Jamaica Singapore), Masculinity versus Femininity (Masculine features dominant in such countries as Japan Austria Venezuela. Feminine cultures are Netherlands Norway Sweden.), and Confucian dynamism (e.g. the cultures with high scores of this dimension are China Hong Kong Taiwan. Countries with low scores are Philippines Nigeria Pakistan) (Hofstede 1984). Individualist cultures mean communities in which members of society are loosely connected. In contrast, collectivistic cultures are those in which all citizens have integrated into tot strong, groups. Power distance means the scope in which power inequality is accepted by individuals. Uncertainty avoidance can be characterized as the extent to which members of society feel threatened and respond by setting up rules. The Masculinity versus Femininity concept determines gender differences in society and the extent to which values of achievement, money power are more important than nurturing. Confucian dynamism means the differences between two parts of the globe, East and West. Confucian dynamism influences such factors as long-term orientation, persistence, the ordering of relationships by status, and a sense of shame.

Following Hall (1990), cultures can be characterized as high and low. In high context culture, people have close connections with each other (e.g. Maori, the Native Americans). The low context cultures have weak connections and compartmentalized relationships (e.g. France, North America). This classification allows us to say that thinking about and discussing the ethical implications of a goal is more practical and valuable than using a list of values or ethical models. Acting on the ethical implications is even more valuable. Ethical action is the relentless effort to make values a part of the goal-setting equation (Zheng, 2008)Where the managers go wrong, however, is in expecting more from these values than they can deliver. Culture is influenced by several social and political factors which determine its main functions and internal structure. Social accounts take the efficacy of law for granted: it is assumed that any important variation in the impact of rules (so long as they are competently drafted) is due to external issues rather than from their nature (Zheng et al 2007).

Conclusion

The assumption of the business model is the sole function of relations is replaced by a realization that the precedence is service-provision and social order maintenance, and that these are usually achieved by methods other than law enforcement. These forces are (according to modern accounts) in the process of basic change as a result of the downfall of those social regimes or are largely resistant to change because of the longevity of the new social order based on power and traditions.

Bibliography

Friedman, B. A. 2007, Globalization Implications for Human Resource Management Roles. Employ Respons Rights J, 19:157–171.

Hall, E.T. 1990, Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French, and Americans. Intercultural Press.

Hofstede, Geert. 1984, Culture’s Consequences, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Zheng, C. 2008, People Management Challenges to Multinational Companies in Asia, Multinational Companies: Management, Globalization and Local Impact, New York: Nova Publisher.

Zheng, C., Hyland, P., Soosay, C. 2007, Training practices of multinational companies in Asia. JEIT (36) 1.