Characteristics of Culture
Socially shared: Culture is something shared. It is nothing that an individual can
passes but shared by common people of a territory. For example, customs, traditions,
values, beliefs are all shared by man in a social situation. These beliefs and practices
are adopted by all equally.
Learned and Acquired: Culture is not a matter of month or a year. It is the
continuous process and adding new cultural traits. Many cultural traits are borrowed
from outside and these absorbed in that culture which adopt it, as culture is
accumulative and combines the suitable cultural traits.
Cumulative: It implies that culture builds upon itself. It is a result of years of
interaction of different beliefs and ideologies present in a society. Raymond Williams,
the Marxist cultural critic states that at any given point of time in a society, there are
three different ideologies working at the same time interacting with each other which
leads to the formation of culture, as it is namely residual, which is a remnant of the
past, but is not a thing of the past. These are the things relevant to the contemporary
ideas however they were articulated in the past; dominant, as the name suggests is the
most commonly held ideology and help in the formation of popular opinion; thirdly,
emergent, a belief that is left in the margin by the dominant ideology; it contents the
dominant ideology and leads to its gradual alterations. Any culture, as we know, is a
result of an interaction of these three ideologies and is continuously in a process of
formation.
Culture is Symbolic: Every society has its own culture and ways of displaying it. It is
not uniform everywhere but occurs differently in various societies. Every culture is
unique in itself is a specific society. For example, values, customs, traditions,
ideologies, religion, belief, practices are symbolic and not similar but different in
every society. However the ways of eating, drinking, speaking, greeting, dressing etc
are differs from one social situation to another in the same time.
Culture is gratifying
It is gratifying and provide all the opportunities for needs and desires satisfaction.
These needs may be biological or social but It is responsible to satisfy it. Our needs
are food, shelter, clothing and desires are status, fame, and money are all the examples
which are fulfilled according to the cultural ways. In fact it is defined as the process
through which human beings satisfy their need.
Culture is integrated
All the cultural aspects are inter-connected with each other. The development of
culture is the integration of its various parts. For example, values system is interlinked
with morality, customs, beliefs and religion.
How Cultures Differ
Nature of Complexity
Culture is best understood through the lens of complexity. This means looking at a
culture as a ‘system’ that consists of many different ‘parts’ which interact with each
other. This brings with it an understanding that it is not simply the parts within the
system [i.e. the people or things within a workplace] that determine how the system
works or behaves. It is the relationship between all of these parts within the system
that matters and these interactions result in emergent behaviour.
Composition Mix
The various cultures are seen throughout the world which are mixing these days so the
world could be named a global village. Cultural diversity can be analyzed in many
ways. For instance, we can compare cultural diversity within one country or company,
or we can compare cultures across units. That is, we can look inside a particular
North American firm and see employees who are Asian, black, Latino, American
Indian, white, and so forth. Clearly, these individuals have different cultural
backgrounds, frames of reference, traditions, and so forth. Or we can look more
globally and compare a typical American firm with a typical Mexican, Italian, or
Chinese firm and again see significant differences in culture.
Attitude toward Outsiders
Cultures may be open or closed and vary in their treatment of outsiders. Some could
be openly hostile, others may maintain a detached aloofness and some others could be
overtly friendly toward strangers.
Video: Lost in Translation
Activity Time
ICE BERG METAPHOR
We often use the analogy of an iceberg when we talk about culture. The proverbial
“tip of the iceberg” symbolizes the observable behaviors in a culture as well as the
things you can see, hear and touch, such as dress, language, food, music, architecture,
signs of affection, etc.
The most dangerous part of the iceberg is the 90% that is below the sea and cannot be
seen. Such is the case in culture as well. The norms (which are rules for behavior in
specific situations) and values (which identify what should be judged as appropriate,
good or bad) are below the surface and drive the behaviors we can see. Not
understanding the unobservable is what is problematic for expatriates when dealing in
intercultural situations.
Building cultural competence in preparation for an international assignment must go
beyond the observable “tip of the iceberg” to help individuals understand the values,
behavior and beliefs of the other culture and ensure successful global interactions.
Theoretical context for understanding corporate cultural differences
Eiffel Tower Culture: Eiffel Tower Culture is a function of Weber’s traditional
bureaucracy. There is a rigid hierarchical structure, a specific and comprehensive
division of labour, and all developments are planned. The system is designed for
subordinates to follow specific instructions from their superiors, who are responsible
for a specific level within the organisation.
Guided Missile Culture: Guided Missile Culture is characteristically egalitarian
where roles are not carved in stone, and teams or project groups are common
throughout the organisation. This culture is very task focused and impersonal.
Technical expertise reduces emotional elements in this culture. Members of the
organisation must do whatever it takes to meet planned objectives.
Incubator Culture: The incubator culture argues that the organisations exist to serve
as incubators for self-expression and self-fulfilment more than anything else. There is
minimal organisational structure and the culture is egalitarian, personal and highly
creative.
Family Culture: Family culture is a pattern of basic assumptions, shared beliefs and
values that have been developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its
problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Organisational culture
creates a sense of identity for members within the organisation and helps to establish a
commitment beyond one’s self.
Barriers to effective cross cultural communication
1- ETHNOCENTRISM
We all have a natural tendency to look at other cultures through our own lenses.
Ethnocentrism happens when we implicitly believe our way of doing things and
seeing things is the right and only way. As a result, we negatively judge behaviours
that don’t conform to our world vision. We perceive other’s behaviours as odd and
improper. Ethnocentrism also creates an “us versus them” mentality that can be
detrimental. In a previous company I worked for, countless times I’ve heard the
French complain about the Americans in an ethnocentric way and vice-versa.
2- STEREOTYPING
It’s also common to rely on oversimplified clichés about people from different
cultures. In fact, there are quite a few cross-cultural trainings in the market that are
focused on memorizing cultural differences and can reinforce stereotyping. Learning
about differences can be useful as a starting point. But individuals are unique; you can
never predict a person’s behaviour based on his or her nationality. When we were
moving to the UK, French friends told us, The British never invite you for dinner,
which is a common social activity in France. We happen to have the loveliest British
neighbours who invite us for dinner often.
Prejudice
To manage cross-cultural teams successfully, you need to flex your own style. It’s not
easy to go against your natural preferences. People can feel unauthentic and
incompetent. I know the case of a French manager who went to the United States. He
found out that his typical French style of giving feedback, focused on what was
“wrong” rather than on what was working well, was undermining his team’s
confidence. He realised what the problem was, but he felt artificial acting the
“American” way. He went back to France as soon as he could.
LANGUAGE BARRIERS
All teams have a common language, but when some people are more fluent than
others, it creates social distance between members. In global teams, people who are
less fluent in English tend to withdraw from communication, which means the team
may not get all the input it needs. Understanding what’s said can be challenging if
people speak too fast or use too much slang. This also might have an influence on
how people’s competence and performance are perceived. I worked for an
organisation where non-English native speakers felt that their career progression
opportunities were not the same as for English native speakers.
