Culture is a valuable aspect of society, and its study and dissemination of awareness about its features are critically important. Thus, this concept largely determines how people behave, what decisions they make, and what views, opinions, and values they form. Chapter three in the book by Trompenaars and Woolliams, named “Riding the Waves of Culture,” provides the necessary information about the culture and its aspects. Hence, the phenomenon of culture is essential to study in order to create a well-balanced and harmonious working business space.
Culture, especially in the business sphere, is vital for the efficiency of people’s work and the achievement of productive results. First of all, the chapter under study emphasizes that this phenomenon has multiple layers, such as explicit culture: artifacts and products; the middle layer: norms and values, and the core layer: assumptions about existence (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2020). Understanding these aspects provides an opportunity to better understand what culture is. Moreover, a valuable section in the chapter becomes an explanation of how the concept under study is reflected in human actions. In addition, it is stated that “one culture can be distinguished from another by the specific solutions it chooses for the problems” (Trompenaars & Woolliams, 2020, p. 35). It was noted that one culture could be defined from another using shared meaning.
In conclusion, this work considered the main points of the chapter “The Meaning of Culture” in the book “Riding the Waves of Culture.” It provides information about what culture means, what layers it consists of, and how it affects people’s decisions. The study of these aspects will help to gain an understanding of culture as a social phenomenon and a tool for creating a business and working environment within it.
Reference
Trompenaars, F., & Woolliams, P. (2020). Riding the waves of culture, fourth edition: Understanding diversity in global business. McGraw-Hill.