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Answers to Questions on Multicultural Organizations

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Business
Wordcount: 1864 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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Explain briefly the meaning of organizational culture and ethnic culture and also explain the main difference between those cultures. Provide suitable examples to support your explanation.

Culture refers to the following Ways of Life, including but not limited to:

Language: The firstborn human establishment and the easier medium of expression.

Arts & Sciences: most advanced and refined forms of human expression.

Thought: ways in which people perceive, interpret, and understand the world around them.

Spirituality: importance of organization transmitted through generations for the inner well-being of human beings, expressed through language and actions.

Social activity: shared recreations within a cultural community, demonstrated in a variety of festivities and life-celebrating events.

Interaction: social features of human contact, including the give-and-take of socialization, negotiation, protocol, and conventions.

Reference (http://www.roshan-institute.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=39783&PID=474552)

Organization culture is build on the value, beliefs and behavioral norms of organizations it is includes values, beliefs dress code, language, way of personality, rules and regulation, policy and the way they work together.

For Example: Imagine and spend one full week inside any one organization – from Monday to Friday – and on Friday at 5:00 PM , conclude the most part such as, the eye catching decision-making style, team-based decision-making, process of sharing information, communication, using symbols, individual responsibility, equal opportunities, etc. these all the process and activity based on so many issues. Generally, this function is the part of organisation and role definition.

Situation that the thoughts, meanings, beliefs and values people learn as members of society determines human nature. Persons what they are learned. The Optimistic cultural determinism places no limits on the abilities of human beings to perform their task towards the organisational goal and/or objective.

Ethnic culture: A characteristic of a people, esp. a group (ethnic group) sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the origin, classification, racial, characteristics, etc.,

Being a portion of an ethnic group, esp. of a group that is a minority within a larger society: for example: ethnic Chinese in New Zealand.

Designate or of an inhabitants subgroup having a common cultural heritage or nationality, as distinguished by customs, characteristics, language, common history, etc.

Ethnic culture has own group in the organisation for achieving the organisational goal trough the sharing ideas and performing as a team player but for that they should understand the different culture , respect other values, beliefs, tradition, dress code and skills and experiences.

For Example: Culture exists everywhere, at various levels of society, and everyone belongs to at least one, at the supranational level (Western and Eastern civilizations), at the national level (American, French, Japanese), at the ethnic level (Chinese and Maori in New Zealand, WASPS, Blacks and Hispanics in the USA), and so on. Culture can also be applied to other social units such as occupational group (lawyers, accountants, and physicians), corporations (IBM, CALTAX, McDonald) and even tourism sectors (restaurants, hotels, airlines).

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Question 2:- Select a leadership example from a culture other than your own and:

(a):-Explain how cultural perceptions may influence the leadership style and behavior of the individual or organization selected. Give suitable and relevant examples to support your arguments.

(b):- Explain how your own approach might differ because of your own cultural perceptions and what will be the impact on your behavior. Give suitable and relevant examples to support your arguments.

A) Cultural differences may occur in the societies from one another. In modern global world, the world is certainly becoming smaller and people of various cultures are able to communicate freely. Nowadays there are different ways to express thoughts, ideas which can wider across cultures through different forms of media like the television, news paper, internet and magazine.

All cultures are known to have a set of belief and it defines the code of conduct and values for that particular culture. For example when we work in a multicultural company we share the same culture

The major differences of the cultures are:

1. Communication styles

2. Attitudes towards conflict

3. Approaches to completing task

4. Decision making style

5. Attitudes towards disclosure

6. Approaches to knowing

The different cultural people have different perceptions, values, beliefs, expectations, attitudes, etc. therefore, the leader should closely observe and try to grasping the organisations values, strategies, structure and flow of work, functions of different divisions and communication and rewards system. When leader understand the legal, political, demography and other environmental factors which affects the culture and the inter relationship.

Cultures – National and organizational – be different along many dimensions. Four of the most main are:

1. Truthfulness

2. Chain of command

3. Consensus

4. Individualism

(B) Everything has meaning and significance, and everyone is connected at the deepest levels.

The major differences are:

• Power distance Index.

• Individualism

• Masculinity

• Long term orientation

The organisation culture is taught by the leaders and it adopted by the follower Culture influence leadership as much as leadership influences Culture. Organisation culture with its value and guidance can stop their staff and administration to use their personal power from lower to top level. Leader needs to be very assertive and attentive to the appropriate beliefs, Values, rites, assumptions embedded in the culture. In the organisation different cultures have different value and different features like honesty, rituals, behavior, customs, dressing style, languages etc. Leaders who can understand the culture and its impact can adjust their leadership style to be more effective for the people of different cultural back ground.

The leader should handle the conflict constructively:

For example:

1. Work delays

2. Poor performance, etc.

Influence others:

The leader make it their job to know both the formal power structure and the informal influence networks within the organisation and to develop relationships with the key individuals in both systems.

This leader has own style of working. Talk less about his own actions and achievements.

Language/communication that focuses more on the specific task/ goal of the organisation and the other people involved.

Clearly present his ideas in a more straightforward way.

Take an opinion.

Question 3:- Describe what you mean by a multicultural organization. And also explain the advantages and disadvantages of being a leader in this type of organization. You will be able to show you appreciate the positive aspects of a leader in a multi-cultural organization and be able to provide examples to support your comments.

Multicultural organisation means it is organisation where people coming from different cultural back ground and who are diversify in their culture behavior, customs, languages, style, rituals, beliefs, attitude which works together.

In multicultural organisation leader should understand the concept of working together and then going in depth of the venturing or merger on a global assignment, it is probably necessary to identify the cultural differences that may exist between two different countries.

Where the differences exist, leader must decide whether and to what extent the experience of practices may be adapted to the foreign environment. Mostly time the differences are not very apparent or tangible. Certain aspects of a culture may be learned consciously like way of respecting people; some other differences are learned subconsciously like methods of problem solving. The building of multicultural awareness may not be an easy task, but once accomplished, it definitely helps a job done efficiently in a foreign environment.

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Sometimes the leader Discussions and reading about other cultures definitely helps build cultural awareness, but opinions presented must be carefully measured. Occasionally they may stand for 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 a right way to get good idea from varied viewpoints about the same culture.

The Advantages of multicultural are:

Leader can develop their new skills and up gradation of knowledge

Leader can learn new things and adopt new culture.

Leader can learn new languages, rituals, Values, beliefs from the multicultural organisation

Leader can learn how to find out the problems and can learn new techniques for problem solving in multicultural organisation

Leader can get different ideas, critical thinking power, and different plans for the different people.

Leader can recognize them personally by their culture, traditional values.

The Disadvantages of multicultural are:

Leader has to face communication and understanding problem

It can be difficult to manage the different cultural people who are coming from different back ground

There might be arises conflict between multicultural people

They can be face less communication between different cultural people and less social interaction between them.

Leader can face different issues of understanding of languages, behavior, customs, way of dressing, etc.

Leader has to face interpersonal problem between multicultural people.

There are many positive and negative aspects of leader in Multicultural organisation.

Power distance: – Like short power distance and long power distance.

Short power means Leader desire to hold power of employee and Long power distance means Leader are always strait to the point and less social interactions with their follower.

For Example America believes in short power distance. They are likely hold short power towards their employees. And china and Arab Emirates they are likely conscious about their position, seniority, symbol status, they respect their seniority and staff.

Most of the Leader uses their high power to do the task appropriately and most of the time they use low power people to get the profit in the business. Japan is more participative country rather than other country they are more active with their supportive staff and use their power to co-operation with the staff.

 

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