The Cultural Environment

1
The Cultural Environment

• Aim To discuss the characteristics of culture
• and its constituent elements.
•  

2
The Cultural Environment (cont.)

• What is culture?

3
Definitions

• Culture is a learned, shared, compelling,
• interrelated set of symbols whose meanings
• Provide a set of orientations for members of a
• society. These orientations, taken together,
  provide
• solutions to problems that all societies must
  solve if
• they are to remain viable.
• Terpstra/David

4
Definitions (cont.)

• to talk of the culture of a society is
  misleading
• insofar as each section, group or class within a
• society has varying cultural forms and values.
• This larger view of culture suggests three
  features of
• the cultures of industrial societies diversity,
  
• relativity, change
• Gulbenkian Report

5
Definitions (cont.)

• Culture is the collective programming of the
• mind which distinguishes the members of one group
  
• or category of people from another.
• (Hofstede)

6
Definitions (cont.)

• Culture
• Primary socialisation
•  Provides sufficient shared understanding
• among persons in a society to allow
• adequately predictable, co-ordinated activity.
•  

7
Definitions (cont.)

• Business Culture
• Secondary socialisation
•  
• the learning of additional cultural knowledge
  relevant to a persons participation in the wider
  socio-economic world.
• the effective rules of the game, the boundaries
  between competitive and unethical behaviour,the
  codes for conduct in business dealings

8
Definitions (cont.)

• Corporate Culture
• a further specification of codes within the
  business culture.
•  
• the way things are done around here
• (based on Terpstra/David)

9
The nature of cultural differences

• Level Place of
• socialisation
• Nation Values Family
• Occupation School
• Practices
• Organisation Workplace
• (Hofstede)

10
Definitions (cont.)

• Human Nature Culture Personality
• Specific to Inherited and
• individual PERSONALITY learned
• Specific to group Learned
• or category CULTURE
• Universal HUMAN NATURE Inherited
• (Hofstede)

11
Elements of Culture

• 1. Material culture
• Technology
• Economics
• 2. Social institutions
• Social organisation
• Education
• Political structures

12
Elements of Culture (cont.)

• 3. Humans and the universe
• Belief systems
•  
• 4. Aesthetics
• Graphic and plastic art
• Folklore
• Music, drama, dance
•  
• 5. Language
•  
• (M.Mestevits)

13
Also note

• Stereotypes
•  
• Assumptions about collective properties of a
  group
• are applied to a particular member of that group.
• Examples???

14
Also note

• Self-reference Criterion
•  
• An unconscious reference to ones own
• cultural values, experiences and knowledge as
• a basis for decisions.

15
Also note

• Cultural Change Strategies
•  
• - Culturally congruent strategy
•   - Strategy of unplanned change
•   - Strategy of planned change
• Acceptance - Resistance - Rejection
•  
• CONSIDER CONSEQUENCES OF CULTURAL CHANGE!!!

16
Summary

• Definition
•  Culture?Business -?Corporate Culture
•  Human Nature - Culture - Personality
•  Elements of Culture
•  Stereotypes
•  Self-reference criterion
•  Cultural change strategies