CULTURE
SOME
DEFINITIONS
- Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge,
experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion,
notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and
material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the
course of generations through individual and group striving.
- Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a
relatively large group of people.
- Culture is communication, communication is culture.
- Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior;
that is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which
is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social
learning.
- A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the
behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally
without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication
and imitation from one generation to the next.
- Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols
include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The
meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a
society through its institutions.
- Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of
and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the
distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in
artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and
especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be
considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning
influences upon further action.
- Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of
a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of
that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
- Culture is a collective programming of the mind that
distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.
THEORY OF CULTURAL DETERMINISM
- The position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs and
values people learn as members of society determines human nature. People
are what they learn. Optimistic version of cultural determinism place no
limits on the abilities of human beings to do or to be whatever they want.
Some anthropologists suggest that there is no universal "right
way" of being human. "Right way" is almost always "our
way"; that "our way" in one society almost never
corresponds to "our way" in any other society. Proper attitude
of an informed human being could only be that of tolerance.
- The optimistic version of this theory postulates that
human nature being infinitely malleable, human being can choose the ways
of life they prefer.
- The pessimistic version maintains that people are what
they are conditioned to be; this is something over which they have no
control. Human beings are passive creatures and do whatever their culture
tells them to do. This explanation leads to behaviorism that locates the
causes of human behavior in a realm that is totally beyond human control.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
- Different cultural groups think, feel, and act
differently. There is no scientific standards for considering one group as
intrinsically superior or inferior to another. Studying differences in
culture among groups and societies presupposes a position of cultural
relativism. It does not imply normalcy for oneself, nor for one's society.
It, however, calls for judgment when dealing with groups or societies
different from one's own. Information about the nature of cultural
differences between societies, their roots, and their consequences should
precede judgment and action. Negotiation is more likely to succeed when
the parties concerned understand the reasons for the differences in
viewpoints.
CULTURAL ETHNOCENTRISM
- Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is
superior to that of other cultures. It is a form of reductionism that
reduces the "other way" of life to a distorted version of one's
own. This is particularly important in case of global dealings when a
company or an individual is imbued with the idea that methods, materials,
or ideas that worked in the home country will also work abroad.
Environmental differences are, therefore, ignored. Ethnocentrism, in
relation to global dealings, can be categorized as follows:
- Important factors in business are overlooked because
of the obsession with certain cause-effect relationships in one's own
country. It is always a good idea to refer to checklists of human
variables in order to be assured that all major factors have been at
least considered while working abroad.
- Even though one may recognize the environmental
differences and problems associated with change, but may focus only on
achieving objectives related to the home-country. This may result in the
loss of effectiveness of a company or an individual in terms of
international competitiveness. The objectives set for global operations
should also be global.
- The differences are recognized, but it is assumed that
associated changes are so basic that they can be achieved effortlessly.
It is always a good idea to perform a cost-benefit analysis of the
changes proposed. Sometimes a change may upset important values and
thereby may face resistance from being implemented. The cost of some
changes may exceed the benefits derived from the implementation of such
changes.
MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE
Cultural differences manifest
themselves in different ways and differing levels of depth. Symbols represent
the most superficial and values the deepest manifestations of culture, with
heroes and rituals in between.
- Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that
carry a particular meaning which is only recognized by those who share a
particular culture. New symbols easily develop, old ones disappear.
Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others. This is
why symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.
- Heroes are persons, past or present, real or
fictitious, who possess characteristics that are highly prized in a
culture. They also serve as models for behavior.
- Rituals are collective activities, sometimes
superfluous in reaching desired objectives, but are considered as socially
essential. They are therefore carried out most of the times for their own
sake (ways of greetings, paying respect to others, religious and social
ceremonies, etc.).
- The core of a culture is formed by values. They are
broad tendencies for preferences of certain state of affairs to others
(good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). Many values remain
unconscious to those who hold them. Therefore they often cannot be
discussed, nor they can be directly observed by others. Values can only be
inferred from the way people act under different circumstances.
- Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual
aspects of the practices of a culture. The true cultural meaning of the
practices is intangible; this is revealed only when the practices are
interpreted by the insiders.
Figure
1. Manifestation of Culture at Different Levels of Depth
LAYERS OF CULTURE
People even within the same culture
carry several layers of mental programming within themselves. Different layers
of culture exist at the following levels:
- The national level: Associated with the nation as a
whole.
- The regional level: Associated with ethnic, linguistic,
or religious differences that exist within a nation.
- The gender level: Associated with gender differences
(female vs. male)
- The generation level: Associated with the differences
between grandparents and parents, parents and children.
- The social class level: Associated with educational
opportunities and differences in occupation.
- The corporate level: Associated with the particular
culture of an organization. Applicable to those who are employed.
MEASURING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
A variable can be operationalized
either by single- or composite-measure techniques. A single-measure technique
means the use of one indicator to measure the domain of a concept; the
composite-measure technique means the use of several indicators to construct an
index for the concept after the domain of the concept has been empirically
sampled. Hofstede (1997) has devised a composite-measure technique to measure
cultural differences among different societies:
- Power distance index: The index measures the
degree of inequality that exists in a society.
- Uncertainty avoidance index: The index measures the
extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain or ambiguous
situations.
- Individualism index: The index measure the extent to
which a society is individualistic. Individualism refers to a loosely knit
social framework in a society in which people are supposed to take care of
themselves and their immediate families only. The other end of the
spectrum would be collectivism that occurs when there is a tight social framework
in which people distinguish between in-groups and out-groups; they expect
their in-groups (relatives, clans, organizations) to look after them in
exchange for absolute loyalty.
- Masculinity index (Achievement vs. Relationship): The
index measures the extent to which the dominant values are assertiveness,
money and things (achievement), not caring for others or for quality of
life. The other end of the spectrum would be femininity (relationship).
RECONCILIATION OF CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
Cultural awareness:
- Before venturing on a global assignment, it is probably
necessary to identify the cultural differences that may exist between
one's home country and the country of business operation. Where the
differences exist, one must decide whether and to what extent the
home-country practices may be adapted to the foreign environment. Most of
the times the differences are not very apparent or tangible. Certain
aspects of a culture may be learned consciously (e.g. methods of greeting
people), some other differences are learned subconsciously (e.g. methods
of problem solving). The building of cultural awareness may not be an easy
task, but once accomplished, it definitely helps a job done efficiently in
a foreign environment.
- Discussions and reading about other cultures definitely
helps build cultural awareness, but opinions presented must be carefully
measured. Sometimes they may represent unwarranted stereotypes, an
assessment of only a subgroup of a particular group of people, or a
situation that has since undergone drastic changes. It is always a good
idea to get varied viewpoints about the same culture.
Clustering cultures:
- Some countries may share many attributes that help mold
their cultures (the modifiers may be language, religion, geographical
location, etc.). Based on this data obtained from past cross-cultural
studies, countries may be grouped by similarities in values and attitudes.
Fewer differences may be expected when moving within a cluster than when
moving from one cluster to another.
Determining the extent of global
involvement:
- All enterprises operating globally need not have the
same degree of cultural awareness. Figure 2 illustrates extent to which a
company needs to understand global cultures at different levels of
involvement. The further a company moves out from the sole role of doing
domestic business, the more it needs to understand cultural differences.
Moving outward on more than one axis simultaneously makes the need for
building cultural awareness even more essential.
Figure
2. Cultural Awareness and Extent of Global Involvement
Reference:
Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations:
Software of the mind. New York: McGraw Hill
