Culture, Ethnocentricity & Cultural Literacy - Coursework Example

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Name Date Culture, Ethnocentricity & Cultural Literacy Concept of Culture Culture is a term that has attracted lots of attention from different quotas of study. The term has continued to prove a challenge to define. Such notable American anthropologists as Krober, and Kluckhon engaged in an extensive study of the term and came out with more than 164 different set of definitions (Loader 258). In the early 1990s, there was no single definition that was accepted by different scholars despite a century of efforts to have its meaning identified and defined. Today, however, the definition and thus, the overall meaning of culture have been widely accepted. It is defined as ‘a set of values, beliefs, rules and a distinct form of institutions that are held by a group of particular people’. It is a complex aspect that involves such important components as knowledge, belief, customs and other notable capacities and habits that are, in time acquired and exercised, by humans within a particular societal setting. It basically engulfs a set of patterns; that are both explicit and implicit, as well as distinct behaviours that are acquired and thereafter, showcased as symbols; and other notable embodiment in artefacts (Loader 268). It is quite clear to ascertain that the concept of culture extends to that which is traditional-so that it is historically perceived and selected notions and attached values. A people’s culture involves what they deem to be beautiful and tasteful; existing beliefs , conventional way of handling issues as well as the specific ways for which the take to relate to one another and their immediate surroundings. The different components of culture are discussed as follows; first, culture is defined by the immediate aesthetics (Schwartz 7). Aesthetics is indeed what the underlying culture ascertains to be a positive taste in their arts; symbolism of such aspects as colours as well as the provocativeness portrayed by specific expressions. For instance, it is emphasised that music is a highly cultural aspect that should be always incorporated within different forms of business promotions. Secondly, culture constitutes the aspects of both values and attitudes. It is crucial to note that values are the immediate notions, customs and beliefs for which people will be emotionally attached. For most cases, the aspect of value will affect work ethic and desire for financial possessions as other culture value leisure while others the need for working hard at all times (Schwartz 7-9). Notably, attitudes are the immediate negative or positive analysis, personal feelings and engagements that people possess in regards to handling or relating to specific objects and concepts as well. In the current organisation setting, there is a different degree of attitudes that include; attitude towards time. This can be well expounded by different perceptions people have towards time. For instance, in Latin America and African cultures, the people are always casual about time while in Japan and the USA people would always tend to arrive early for meetings and maintaining committed schedules (Schwartz 9). Attitudes towards work indicate that some people’ culture will portray a strong work ethic as others sustain a balanced pace in both work and relaxation activities. Notably, a people’s culture will also involve aspects related to their manner and customs. Studies on culture ascertain that it is indeed important to comprehend the two components in order to prevent possible confusion and mistakes in foreign countries (Schwartz 10). Manners is the proper way of conducting behaviour, speaking and dressing within a cultural setting. For instance, it is common to conduct business during meals within the United States of America. On the other hand, customers are the immediate habits for which one behave towards particular happenings that are always passed down through one generation to another. Another important component of culture relates to personal communication. It is interesting to note that each and every culture has a way of implementing an effective communication system for purposes of relaying attributes related to thoughts, feelings and knowledge. The ability to comprehend a culture’s verbal and non-verbal communication ways provides efficient information on why people think and act in particular ways (Schwartz 10-12). Culture is a concept that then exhibits lots of attributes. Some of these attributes are expounded as follows; First, it is note that culture is portrayed at distinctive levels of depth. In the course of analysing the aspect of culture of a specific group of people, research indicates that it will only be effective if three basic levels for which culture is manifested are clearly established (Nash 69). These levels constitute; observable artifacts; values and fundamental existing assumptions within a particular setting. The observable artifacts are defined by what a person can feel and observe within a particular environment. It is mainly related to the physical layout; dress code of people; emotional intensity as well as the manner in which different people address one another within a given organisational setting. In evaluating values, the aspect involves analysing the rationale behind why members behave in a certain way within the environment for which they are positioned. Considering the fact that values are not easily observable, the best way to determine its immediate existence is by way of conducting rigorous interviews with notable members of an organisation or rather have a clear evaluation of content artefacts like organisation’s policy documents (Nash 69-71). It is safe to note that while identifying and defining values within an organisation, it is ascertained that they would accurately manifest as espoused values of a particular culture. This is to say that they would only focus on whatever that people are saying would definitely reflect their behaviours as much the whole process remains concealed and unconscious in its entirety. To effectively comprehend the aspect of culture and establish a group of people’s values and overall behaviours, it is of great importance to specifically analyse the underlying assumptions that are for most cases; unconscious but can efficiently determine a group’s level of perception, feelings as well as the manner for which they engage in thinking out (Nash 79). The assumptions involved in this case are noted to be well-formulated responses that are derived from espoused culture. Taken-for-granted assumptions are deemed to be powerful in this setting given that they present a less debatable and confront-able model when compared to espoused values. Secondly, it is ascertained that the concept of culture will definitely affect aspects related to a people’s behavioural patterns and their interpretations as well. Singer (240) argues that despite specific aspects of culture being perceivable physically, their immediate cultural meaning rests with the way their engagements are interpreted by the insiders. For instance a ring gesture would mean a position of agreement has been met amongst specific parties in the UK and USA but the same connotation might reflect an insult when done in most of Middle East countries. Certainly, the manner for which people dress can be interpreted on a more different manner by different types of people in relation to an indication of wealth, decency and ostentation amongst many other things. Third, it is ascertained that culture is easily differentiated from both a universal human nature point of view and unique individual personality. The concept of culture amongst people is basically learned as opposed to being inherited. It is directed derived from a person’s immediate social environment as opposed to it being inborn (Nash 79-83). As a result of this distinction, it is important that culture is distinguished from human perspective on a single side and from individual’s level of personality on the other hand. It is safe to indicate that human nature is all similar for all people despite the geographical locations in the world. It represents the universality of human mentality. However, though the manner for which people interpret the feelings and expresses their elements of joy and observations is indeed modified by the aspect of culture. In contrast, personality of a person refers to their unique personal set of mental perceptions that are unique to only them (Nash 83). They are mostly based on traits that are; to a smaller extent inherited with individual set of genes and, partially learned. Consequently, it is noted that culture is a directly attributed to social groups. It is quite clear to note that culture is always a shared concept between two or more people but societies are more than these people (Nash 84). It thus goes without saying that whenever a solitary person thinks and behave in a specific manner; the thought and action related to that is purely on a personal level and not viably cultural for that matter. Thus, for a notion, or belief to be deemed as being cultural in nature then it must be shared by a specific type of social group or society for that matter. Considering the fact that each and every person would most certainly belong to a specific number of different groups and categories of persons, they would involuntarily formulate numerous layers of mental perception that is positioned within them that would otherwise correspond to different levels of culture. A good example can be seen at a national level setting where notions are defined in relation to one’s immediate country; at gender level whenever it is ascertained that the birth of a child is associated with that of a boy or girl (Nash 85). Following this line of argument, it can be vehemently established that each and every person is indeed a member of a number of different set of groups and thus, they can comfortably possess a multi-cultural membership status. Another important attribute of culture lies with that fact that it is learned. It is indeed learned from people one interacts with on day-to-day basis as a part of their socialisation process. Interestingly to note, culture is indeed expounded by explanations that people have for both the natural and human events that occur around them. The idea that a culture is acquired through the process of basic learning ascertains crucial implications for the immediate activities of international business processes (Nash 85). First, its arguable correct to note that understanding the fact that culture is easily acquired then it can result to a great deal of intolerance for cultural differences, which is in itself a fundamental requirement for executing intercultural communication within a given international business setting. Importance of Avoiding Ethnocentricity & Adopting Cultural Literacy It is important to note that ethnocentricity is the immediate belief that a person’s immediate ethnic group or culture is indeed superior in comparison to that of their counterparts (Hemmige 16). The notion related to ethnocentricity can act in a negative way to overlook international business undertakings. This is attributed to the fact that the notion would always result to people perceiving other people’s cultures in comparison to their own and thereafter, overlook the possible benefits that might arise from these new and different cultures. Companies trying to penetrate international markets through setting up of a subsidiary in these different cultures have in time or another failed miserably (Hemmige 16). The failures are mainly caused by managers ignoring the basic aspects of a local culture that would otherwise have led to a backlash by the immediate local communities. The fact that now than ever both suppliers and buyers have resorted to treating the world as a single and interconnected village, it is of great importance that managers of multinationals engage in the elimination of possible biases that is characteristic of ethnocentric views and perceptions. The need for formulating and this developing cultural literacy is thus apparent. Cultural literacy allows people to understand the differences that exist between cultures and thereby benefit from this kind of knowledge. It helps to improve a person’s capacity to manage employees, market different products and engage in extensive negotiations within different countries (Browne, Chrissie & Panu 44). For instance, Apple, being a multinational company, has managed to successfully maintain a competitive advantage over its immediate rivals since it has established a positive name for itself. A manager that is deemed to be culturally literate is able to compensate for immediate domestic needs and wishes and thereby bringing their organisation closer to the end consumer while at the same time improve on its overall competitive edge. Strategies that can be adapted to Achieve Goals in International Business Context In this era of intense globalisation, organisations would benefit greatly by having workers who execute their respective duties without any form of ethnocentricity mind-set. Managers would thus deploy such strategies as; f First, formulating and maintaining a cultural adaptability framework. This is especially seen whenever managers can easily switch their behaviours to fit in with people from different cultures. A manager that is able to acquire a global mind-set can effectively assess existing cultures in an unbiased manner while at the same time motivate and lead multi-cultural teams. Secondly, it will be important to develop a global-like mentality (Czarnecka & Maja 23-26). This can be efficiently done by organisations applying personality-testing approaches for purposes determining the global aptitudes of managers. This way, the approach can help identify areas for which mangers are strong and areas that they can benefit by training. It is worth noting that a global mind-set requires managers to act without pride and ego while at the same time ignores possible cultural presumptions. Consequently, these international-based goals can be easily achieved whenever it is ascertained that flexibility is indeed paramount (Czarnecka & Maja 26). Managers should understand that the higher they portray their behavioural perspectives then the grater that will have on the local cultures. Works Cited Browne, Charlyn Harper, Chrissie Castro, and Panu Lucier. "Honoring Parenting Values, Expectations, and Approaches across Cultures." Innovative Approaches to Supporting Families of Young Children. Springer International Publishing, 2016. 43-56. Czarnecka, Aleksandra, and Maja Szymura-Tyc. "The competencies of global managers in multinational corporations." “Economy Today. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Contemporary Economic Challenges”, ed. P. Urbanek, Ser. “Economy”, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2016;. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2016. Hemmige, Bhargavi D. "Inter-Cultural Communication for Business Management in Contemporary World." International Journal of Business Management Insight & Transformations 2.2 (2016): 15-26. Loader, Colin. "Alfred Weber, ‘The Sociological Concept of Culture’." Cultural Sociology 9.2 (2015): 256-270. Nash, June. "Reassessing the Culture Concept in the Analysis of Global Social Movements: An Anthropological Perspective." Conceptualizing Culture in Social Movement Research. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. 67-87. Singer, M. Kagawa, et al. "Culture." Social Science and Medicine 170 (2016): 237-246. Schwartz, Shalom H. "Rethinking the concept and measurement of societal culture in light of empirical findings." Journal of cross-cultural Psychology 45.1 (2014): 5-13. Read More