Managing Cultural Diveristy
SHMS - Leysin | Leadership Across Cultures | Managing Workforce Diversity | 131LAC | Mukhtar Mammadov | BAHE 2 | 3/22/2013
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Table of Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 3 Conclusion 7
Introduction
Culture in its many forms and approaches is a very popular subject researched by many authors. The definition of culture from Geert Hofstede, the most cited social scientist according to Powell (2006) comes as "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of humans from another". (1982) He mentions that these differences exist in nations, geographic regions, generations, genders, social classes and many more. As Hofstede simply puts it, "the unwritten rules of the social game". (2013) It has also been described in a less scientific language as "something to do with the people and unique quality and style of organization", (Kilmann et al. 1985) and "the way we do things around here". (Deal & Kennedy, 1982) Other sources provide hundreds of various definitions. Lee and Yu (2004) argue that the number of definitions is so broad because of the versatile approaches and frameworks in which culture is researched. The 3 main social sciences - psychology, anthropology and sociology have different views on the issue. However, the researchers tend to agree that culture cannot be defined using one universal definition. Groeschl and Doherty(2000) quote Tayeb (1994), who argues that "culture is too fundamental to be solved through tighter definition". Greater implication for the managerial tasks, however, comes from the cultural diversity. Cox (1993) defines diversity as “representation, in one social system, of people with distinctly different group affiliations of cultural significance”. Factors differentiating these people include cultural background, race, education, age, physical and cognitive ability among other. (Seymen, 2006) These criteria indicate that difference is significant not
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Table of Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 3 Conclusion 7
Introduction
Culture in its many forms and approaches is a very popular subject researched by many authors. The definition of culture from Geert Hofstede, the most cited social scientist according to Powell (2006) comes as "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of humans from another". (1982) He mentions that these differences exist in nations, geographic regions, generations, genders, social classes and many more. As Hofstede simply puts it, "the unwritten rules of the social game". (2013) It has also been described in a less scientific language as "something to do with the people and unique quality and style of organization", (Kilmann et al. 1985) and "the way we do things around here". (Deal & Kennedy, 1982) Other sources provide hundreds of various definitions. Lee and Yu (2004) argue that the number of definitions is so broad because of the versatile approaches and frameworks in which culture is researched. The 3 main social sciences - psychology, anthropology and sociology have different views on the issue. However, the researchers tend to agree that culture cannot be defined using one universal definition. Groeschl and Doherty(2000) quote Tayeb (1994), who argues that "culture is too fundamental to be solved through tighter definition". Greater implication for the managerial tasks, however, comes from the cultural diversity. Cox (1993) defines diversity as “representation, in one social system, of people with distinctly different group affiliations of cultural significance”. Factors differentiating these people include cultural background, race, education, age, physical and cognitive ability among other. (Seymen, 2006) These criteria indicate that difference is significant not
Bibliography: Deal, T.E. and Kennedy, A. (1982) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Organizational Life. Reading: Addison-Wesley Denison, D Harvey, C. and Allard, J. (2012) Understanding and managing Diversity. 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Kilmann, R.H., Saxton, M. and Serpa, R. (1985). Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture. Oxford: Jossey-Bass.