Unit 1 Discussion Assignment
BUS 5211: Managing in the Global Economy, University of the People
How does an organization accurately identify the elements of its own culture? How does it go about promoting critical awareness of culture among its personnel? Does cultural awareness play a role in organizational success? Is a global organization, in the 21st century, obligated to provide opportunities for its employees to become more culturally sensitive or increase their cultural awareness through an understanding the cultural system of values, assumptions, and symbols? What do they stand to lose if they don’t?
Grade: 9.5/10 (435 words)
According to Cultural intelligence for leaders. (2012, December 29)., cultures are shown and are expressed in many ways. However, all forms and levels of cultures are composed of three fundamental aspects: values, assumptions, and symbols.
- How does an organization accurately identify the elements of its own culture?
Organizations can identify the elements of culture by beliefs, values, and assumptions of an organization. Also, there are many kinds of Team Cultures in an organization. (Cultural intelligence for leaders., 2012, December 29) "The values, beliefs, and norms of culture are present in team environments, dictating the team's operations and efficiency" (Cultural intelligence for leaders., 2012, December 29). Understanding macrocultures are essential to understanding the organizational culture more accurately. For example, Catholicism is categorized as a macroculture. (Cultural intelligence for leaders., 2012, December 29)
- How does it go about promoting critical awareness of culture among its personnel?
Ahmed introduced 4 methods for promoting critical awareness of culture.
1. Create Cultural Awareness Guidelines and Policies
- Celebrate Diversity and Cultures
- Communicate Clearly and Avoid Misunderstandings
- Learn From Differences (Ahmed, 2020, July 2).
- Does cultural awareness play a role in organizational success?
Cultural awareness is essential for organizational success because culture controls corporate members' behavior, values, assumptions, and beliefs. (Cultural intelligence for leaders., 2012, December 29) Therefore, if leaders want to lead the organization to success, they must manage and create a positive organizational culture.
In the 21st century, most organizations should provide opportunities for employees to develop cultural awareness by understanding the cultural system of values, assumptions, and symbols. For example, my workplace, a private university in Tokyo, Japan. The number of international students and foreign staff has increased dramatically in recent years. Traditionally, about 98% of the population of Japan is Japanese, so most Japanese are not familiar with other cultures. However, as stated before, the number of foreigners has increased in my organization, so understanding the differences in culture and dealing with them properly is essential for our organization to provide appropriate educational services for every student. Also, the declining birthrate and aging population in Japan are crucial problems. It is inevitable to improve cultural awareness, and expand international applicants to develop our organization.
I introduced the importance and specific methods of developing cultural awareness of organizations. Organizations can’t grow without promoting cultural awareness of employees because culture controls complete members’ behavior, values, assumptions, and beliefs. Also, as external factors, the demand for understanding different cultures is increasing. Organizations should identify the elements of culture and develop and manage its culture for success.
References
Cultural intelligence for leaders (v. 1.0). (2012, December 29). Lardbucket.
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/cultural-intelligence-for-leaders.pdf licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 or for download here.
Ahmed, A. (2020, July 2). Culture awareness in the workplace. Small Business - Chron.com.
Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/culture-awareness-workplace-737.html
