This chapter is divided into two sections. The first section defines culture, its importance in international business and the various cultural dimensions for working globally. The next section describes the culture of India and U.K. and reviews the impact of culture on the working of Hilton Hotel Group in both the countries. Finally, it ends with a brief summary.
CULTURE
Hofstede (2003) defines culture as “the collective programming of mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from another.”
It is evident that people from diverse environment can misunderstand each other. When two people interact in an organization, culture characterizes their behavior and attitude towards others. When a company plans to start a business in abroad, employees with good communication skills and with the ability to adapt into new environment are chosen to travel and interact with people of various cultures and nationalities. (Mead, 1992)
This table shows the division of world’s population according to Region, Language and Religion which are the major aspects of determining ones culture.
Taylor (1870) defines culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society”.
Culture plays a very important role in business. All civilizations have its own cultural elements like language, religion, values, attitude, customs, education, aesthetics and social institutions. (Czinkota, 2007)
Culture passes from one generation to the other, however it can vary from one group to the other. Every society has its own point of view and opinion about various situations; however, it acts as a barrier to communication. (Daniels, Lee and Sullivan, 2004)
CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
Geert Hofstede, a much known professor carried out the study of impact of culture on individuals at a workplace. It took him six years to complete this study as it