Managing Different Culture in an Organization

Abstract

The tenacity of this paper is to explain how we can manage different culture in an organization. As many organizations have knowledge that communication with people of different cultures is especially challenging. Furthermore, research shows us how cultures can provide people with ways of thinking, ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the work environment. Thus the same words can mean different things to people from different cultures, even when they talk the same language. When the languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate, the potential for misunderstandings increases. To decrease the misinterpretation cultural skills must subsist. This is where invisible aspects of culture take place, especially those essential for building relationships; different or competing values, attitudes and cultural norms - require attention and skill to manage successfully. The influence of organization cultures on information behavior and the role of information culture are known in information research. So, acquaintance with other culture-specific research in the management field can reveal new aspects, problems and help to conceive new ideas in our own field.

The character of any organization is called organizational culture. It means that culture contains the following conjecture: values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members and their behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture of an organization. According to Hofstede " An organizational culture distinguish different organizations within the same country or countries, and cultures manifest themselves, from superficial to deep, in symbols, heroes, rituals and values." Culture is one of those terms that are difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it. For example, the culture of a large, for-profit corporation is quite different than that of a hospital which is quite different than that of a university. You can tell the culture of an organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what members wear, etc. -- similar to what you can use to get a feeling about someone's personality.

According to Deal and Kennedy (1982), a corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs include feedback from, e.g., society, professions, laws, stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The process is based on our assumptions, values and norms, e.g., our values on money, time, facilities, space and people. Outputs or effects of our culture are, e.g., organizational behaviors, technologies, strategies, image, products, services, appearance,