Organisational Cultures

In Ancient Rome the orator Cicero defined culture as “cultura animi” that means cultivation of the soul. National culture forms part of each individual, since we are born the first contact we have is with our family. We learn from them how to communicate, behave and react. Even unconsciously we get attached to values and ethics that will emerge without us realizing it. As we grow up, we will find in our society people who think and act the same way as we do and those who act differently will be seen as strangers. Culture even defines our personality, one must play by certain rules accepted by society. Every person has goals, a life plan and for it everyone has a strategy.

As well as we have our own philosophy and standards, a firm has its own organizational culture. There are certain factors that would determine it, like in which country the firm is located, the characteristics of their employees and the leadership by which they work. Nevertheless organizations have to deal with the problems caused by the emergence of different cultures at the work place, if it is a multinational organisation or if it hires people with different nationalities. A key factor of success in an enterprise is its work force, having the right team and making them work efficiently. The firm also has to analyse what motivates the employees, when people are motivated they become more productive. Another factor is the strategy of the firm. How they settle and continue competing with the emerging market, what makes them different from other firms and how they adapt to the region and national culture where are established.

We could think of an organization as an individual, with its own principles and values. What motivates us to act are the goals we define and the strategy that we will take to accomplish them can differ because our religion, gender, age, nationality, etc. National culture impacts the organizational culture because it forms part of it, every member of the firm has a background, its own culture and way of thinking. Motivating the team and the way it is being lead differs from one nationality to another. Also communication problems might arise as different ways of communication and spoken languages are involved. These conflicts caused by manifestations of culture at the workplace have to be controlled to keep on operating efficiently and in a healthy environment.

For example take into account two enterprises from the same industry, let’s say electronics. The biggest at the moment are Apple Inc. and Samsung.

Apple is an American multinational corporation with headquarters in California, US. If we analyse Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture in USA we find low power distance, high individualism and low uncertainty avoidance. Apple Inc.’s values are innovation, collaboration and team working. Seems that their organizational culture has same qualities as national culture and the region where it operates. There is an interview with Steve jobs when he was still the CEO, and it’s interesting to analyse his leadership style. His managing activities were more focused on meeting with teams and having discussions other than supervising, they trust that the job was being done. One thing that I found interesting was that he said he loved having arguments with his employees, and that it didn’t matter that he was the CEO the best ideas would always win, creativity over hierarchy. In some cultures where an intellectual trade of ideas is the norm, conflict could be misread as an insult. Also the firm has spotted that a motivational factor for employees is to feel that they have contributed in the creation of the product. Each employee knows the strategy of Apple and the role that they play on it. Therefore people that work there must be motivated by creativity and are challenged to create new products.

On the other hand we have Samsung another multinational company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. Again analysing Hofstede’s dimensions we will see that national culture assimilates to Samsung’s organizational culture. First for South Korea we have high power distance, the Chairman of Samsung Electronics Lee Kun-Hee in some articles is referred as the most respected even feared meaning that everyone in the organization knows who to report to. Then talking about low individualism, in the company’s values it is established that for achieving their goals it is needed to recruit the best in each area and work as a team. A society with high uncertainty avoidance as well as Samsung’s organizational culture, the hierarchy established in the company makes sure that everyone knows with whom to report and the role they are playing. Employees are constantly supervised and under training for constant development. And finally the highest of all dimensions is long term orientation, since the company was established it diversified into different areas but the most well-known is electronics. They knew that electronics would be a big deal and they decided to expand into that area and make a strategy to be an outstanding company.

In both cases, the organizational culture of Apple and Samsung can be seen as a representation of their national culture, but both have to deal with customers and negotiate all around the world, even have subsidiaries in other countries. Meaning that problems of communication between employees or clients could occur. That is why it is important that management knows how to deal with cultural awareness.

National culture can also impact organizational culture on this it is managed, the level of hierarchy and the freedom granted to employees to come with ideas of their own. We can take for example Hofstede’s family organisational model, there is a Mexican enterprise that sells materials for construction. It was founded by the father and then inherited to 3 sons and 2 daughters. In Mexican culture men are the responsible for sustaining the family, so in this enterprise the 3 sons were the ones who took managerial spots. The oldest brother was on top of the hierarchy everyone should report to him. And for the 2 daughters, they just took charge of the administrative issues and were there to support their brothers. Each one has different tasks assigned and as long as they accomplished them, their job is done. There is no room for creativity or change.

Organisations also have to deal with the rules of the game that include

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