harsh mib culture

8/7/2019 harsh mib culture

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What is Culture?

The word culture has many different meanings.

For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature,music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is likely to be acolony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing ina nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish. However,for anthropologists and other behavioralscientists,culture is the full range of learned humanbehavior patterns. The term was first used in thisway by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B.Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871.Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which

includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom,and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member ofsociety." Of course, it is not limited to men. Women possess andcreate it as well. Since Tylor's time, the concept of culture has becomethe central focus of anthropology.

Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragilephenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it existsonly in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, andother man-made things are merely the products of culture. They are not

culture in themselves. For this reason,archaeologists can not dig upculture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifactsof ancient people that they uncover are only material remains thatreflect cultural patterns--they are things that were made and usedthrough cultural knowledge and skills.

Layers of Culture

There are very likely three layers or levels of culture that are part of your

learned behavior patterns and perceptions. Most obviously is the bodyof cultural traditions that distinguish your specific society. When peoplespeak of Italian, Samoan, or Japanese culture, they are referring to theshared language, traditions, and beliefs that set each of these peoplesapart from others. In most cases, those who share your culture do sobecause they acquired it as they were raised by parents and otherfamily members who have it.

Edward B. Tylor(1832-1917)
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#archaeologyhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/sounds/culture.mp3http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#archaeology


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The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity is

a subculture . In complex, diverse societies in which people havecome from many different parts of the world, they often retain much oftheir original cultural traditions. As a result, they are likely to be part ofan identifiable subculture in their new society. The shared cultural traitsof subcultures set them apart from therest of their society. Examples of easilyidentifiable subcultures in the UnitedStates include ethnic groups such asVietnamese Americans, AfricanAmericans, and Mexican Americans.Members of each of these subculturesshare a common identity, food tradition,dialect or language, and other cultural traits that come from their

common ancestral background and experience. As the culturaldifferences between members of a subculture and the dominantnational culture blur and eventually disappear, the subculture ceases toexist except as a group of people who claim a common ancestry. Thatis generally the case with German Americans and Irish Americans in theUnited States today. Most of them identify themselves as Americansfirst. They also see themselves as being part of the cultural mainstreamof the nation.

These Cuban American

women in Miami, Floridahave a shared subcultureidentity that is reinforcedthrough their language,food, and other traditions

The third layer of culture consists ofcultural universals. These arelearned behavior patterns that are shared by all of humanitycollectively. No matter where people live in the world, they share theseuniversal traits. Examples of such "human cultural" traits include:

1. communicating with a verbal language consisting of alimited set of sounds and grammatical rules for constructingsentences

2. using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager,senior citizen, woman, man)

3. classifying people based on marriage and descent
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relationships and having kinship terms to refer tothem (e.g., wife, mother, uncle, cousin)

4. raising children in some sort of family setting

5. having a sexual division of labor (e.g., men's work versuswomen's work)

6. having a concept of privacy

7. having rules to regulate sexual behavior

8. distinguishing between good and bad behavior

9. having some sort of body ornamentation

10. making jokes and playing games

11. having art

12. having some sort of leadership roles for the implementationof community decisions

While all cultures have these and possibly many other universal traits,different cultures have developed their own specific ways of carrying outor expressing them. For instance, people in deaf subcultures frequentlyuse their hands to communicate with sign language instead of verballanguage. However, sign languages have grammatical rules just asverbal ones do.

Culture and Society

Culture and society are not the same thing. While cultures arecomplexes of learned behavior patterns and perceptions, societiesare groups of interacting organisms. People are not the only animalsthat have societies. Schools of fish, flocks of birds, and hives of beesare societies. In the case of humans, however, societies are groups ofpeople who directly or indirectly interact with each other. People inhuman societies also generally perceive that their society is distinct fromother societies in terms of shared traditions and expectations.

While human societies and cultures are not the same thing, they areinextricably connected because culture is created and transmitted toothers in a society. Cultures are not the product of lone individuals.They are the continuously evolving products of people interacting witheach other. Cultural patterns such as language and politics make nosense except in terms of the interaction of people. If you were the onlyhuman on earth, there would be no need for language or government.
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Is Culture Limited to Humans?

There is a difference of opinion in the behavioral sciences aboutwhether or not we are the only animal that creates and uses culture.

The answer to this question depends on how narrow culture is defined.If it is used broadly to refer to acomplex of learned behaviorpatterns, then it is clear that weare not alone in creating andusing culture. Many otheranimal species teach theiryoung what they themselveslearned in order to survive.This is especially true of the

chimpanzees and otherrelatively intelligent apes and monkeys. Wild chimpanzee motherstypically teach their children about several hundred food and medicinalplants. Their children also have to learn about the dominancehierarchy and the social rules within eltheir communities. As malesbecome teenagers, they acquire hunting skills from adults. Femaleshave to learn how to nurse and care for their babies. Chimpanzeeseven have to learn such basic skills as how to perform sexualintercourse. This knowledge is not hardwired into their brains at birth.They are all learned patterns of behavior just as they are for humans.

Elements of culture

Language: The various languages are essentially an important part of the culture. Readinformation about different languages.

Norms: Every society or every civilization has a set of norms, which are an inseparablepart, and an important element of the culture. This can include the folkways, mores,

taboos and rituals in a culture. Values: The social values of a particular civilization are also considered as an element of

the culture. The values of a culture often refer to the things to be achieved or the things,which are considered of great worth or value in a particular culture.

Religion and Beliefs: The religion and the beliefs of the people in a civilization play animportant role in shaping up of the culture as well. Read information aboutworld religions.

Social Collectives: Social collectives refer to the social groups, organizations,communities, institutions, classes, and societies, which are considered as symbolic socialconstructions.

Non-human culture?This orangutan mother isusing a specially preparedstick to "fish out" food froma crevice. She learned thisskill and is now teaching itto her child who is hangingon her shoulder and intentlywatching.
http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#dominance_hierarchyhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#dominance_hierarchyhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/learning-different-languages-learn-a-language.htmlhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/world-religions/http://www.buzzle.com/articles/world-religions/http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#dominance_hierarchyhttp://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/glossary.htm#dominance_hierarchyhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/learning-different-languages-learn-a-language.htmlhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/world-religions/


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Statuses and Roles: A status or a social role is nothing but a slot or position within agroup or society, which gives an overall idea of the social structure and hence is animportant element of culture. This can also include traditional gender-based or age-basedroles.

Cultural Integration: This includes the degree of harmony or integration within thevarious elements of culture. This can include elements like sub-cultures, local cultures

and the difference between historical and cultural traditions.

Impact of culture on ib


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cross-cultural differences impact all interactions. Today we are going to look at

how they impact the organization within a business.

Many readers may not quite be here yet. But I thought this would be interesting

to look at.

Are There Differences?

What makes an international business different?

Does an international business function differently from one that is not

international?

Are there international growing pains?

Apart from the legalities of operating an international company, it is hard to

identify any tangible differences.

In my personal experience, the differences are nuanced. They center around

collective soft skills. This obviously stems from the nature of international

skills and cross-cultural skills.

Cultural Influences

There are some obvious ways culture influences an international business:

The way how we present ourselves

How we express opinions

Assumptions based on the environment and context

Perceptions of voice, and other personal physical details

When you work inside an international company, you learn to adapt to these

cultural differences. They stop interfering with communication.

Cultural Conflict Within A Company

Some people may think that conflict within an international company is a result

of the confrontation between cultures.

Although cultural personality issues and misunderstandings do happen, it is

difficult to identify how culture influences teamwork within a company.

Most people learn to adapt to the different cultures and this enhances personal

growth, interpersonal relations and intercultural interactions.


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And this is where there may be differences in an international company and a

company that is not international.

Most of the employees in an international company will be at a comparable level

of personal growth. They will have similar interpersonal and intercultural skills.

And in a company that is not international, there could be wider differences in

these areas.

Better Practices

Beyond soft skills

What I have noticed from working with international companies, is that they

seem to strive harder to implement standard and industry best practices.

Best practices seem to lessen the clash of cultures within a company. These best

practices are more widely accepted. They can also help to create a collective

identity.

Best practices can also lessen the clash of cultures outside the company when

dealing with international clients. It does not matter where your clients are from,

they also appreciate dealing with people that follow standard best practices.

In the end it all comes down to working with good communication and within

good business practices.

Culture itself influences the level of resistance oracceptance of change. Harzing and Hofstede (1996)proposed that certain cultural values facilitatechange, whereas others hinder it. The values oflow power distance, low uncertainty avoidance,and individualism facilitate change. Change threatensstability, and introduces uncertainty, andresistance to change will therefore be higher in


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cultures of high rather than low uncertaintyavoidance (Steensma et al., 2000). Change alsothreatens the power structure, and therefore will beavoided in high power distance cultures. Finally,change breaks the existing harmony, which ishighly valued in collectivistic cultures, and therefore

will not be easily accepted by collectivists(Levine and Norenzayan, 1999).A recent study by Erez and Gati (2004) examinedthe effects of three factors on the change processand its outcomes:(1) the cultural value of individualism

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