Various Aspects of Culture That Present in the Field of Organizational Behavior - Coursework Example

Executive Summary Various studies and research carried out in the direction of social culture highlights that the work habits is influenced by culture and the entire nations or place work habits is influenced by it. This situation is called “cultural consequences” (Jacob, 2003, p.3). Apart from the work habits there are various other factors like “skills, knowledge and learned behavior” (Harris, 1998, p.15) which has an influence on the social culture and brings a change in behavior. This is due to fact that the culture prevalent at the work place and the strategies has changed with time resulting in a change in culture. The report looks into the various aspect of culture present in the field of organizational behavior and the changes that has to be done to due to globalization thereby changing the workforce diversity. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Globalization 4 Literature Review 5 Globalization and Workforce Diversity 6 Globalization and Employment Relations 7 Globalization and Workplace Value & Ethics 8 Culture integration in globalization 9 Cultural Integration and ethical & legal issues 11 Ways to handle cultural diversity 12 Recommendations 13 Conclusion 14 References 16 Introduction Cultural globalization is a phenomenon which is witnessed in this revolving world. It is referred to cultural changes that are taking worldwide due to the opening up of economies and increasing relations and contacts between them. This is basically opening of economies to one another which give birth to new societies where trade relations between the countries are established. The magnitude of problem multiplies due to distribution of power in the map whereas some proponents state that cultural globalization gives birth to imperialism and fascism. The essay thereby looks into the negativity of cultural globalization due to growing presence of western culture which has destroyed other cultures and overtook other cultures. Workforce constitutes an important aspect for every organization and every organization look towards ensuring that the workforce is able to work together so that the goals of the enterprise can be achieved. To ensure an efficient workforce the management looks towards recruiting, selection, training and development of the employees. The importance of the workforce increases with growing competition. This has made organization look towards globalization which has resulted in creation of diversity in workforce. The paper thereby looks into the concept of workforce diversity and the manner in which it has affected the decision making. The paper also looks to present the manner in which strategies can be drawn to ensure that the workforce is able to use the diversity in the workforce to their advantage. Globalization Globalization is seen as one of the major factor which has revolved many cultures. The world started to witness globalization during the 1990’s when the world integrated as on the borders between countries disappeared. Different economies started to share different things like intellectual capital, goods, services etc. (Mcshane, 2008, p.10) leading to a situation where trade between countries was considered essential for growth. Economies united and started to function as a single unit on matters which required amalgamation of knowledge. This resulted in the creation of BPO’s and KPO. This created a situation where the employees were not given luxury of free time and had to work hard. This made the job monotonous and exerted heavy pressure on the employees leading to chronic health problems. This also changed the mind set of the employees and made them more money oriented. The overall changes that the world witnessed due to globalization thereby resulted in changes in the work force culture and made it important that organizations evolved with changing times. This is seen in the Middle East. The region is dominated by followers of Islam. So a multinational companies coming with a service that goes along with the custom of that country helps to build relations. Those companies are favoured and they find it easy to market themselves. This is a concern for company as it can backfire. A miscalculation or interpretation might result in ruining the name. This would put a stop for the company to grow in countries which are similar as they loose reputation. Thus understanding the local typologies helps multinationals to pave a path which they can follow for their success. Multinational companies need to be more active by moulding themselves to the local conditions. Multinational companies need “to look into more cultural sensitive factors to be able to win consumers”. (Slawomir, 2010) This is a very vital point for any company. This helps them to win the hearts of consumers and as a result get loyal customers. Multinational companies need to ensure that they bring about a change in the perspective so that they can enter a new market. Literature Review A research conducted shows that “with decreasing customer base organisations have to ensure that customers stay back and at the same time new customer become a part research needs to be carried out”. (Considine 1995) This will help to identify areas which needs to we worked on. It will also help to evaluate areas where the organisation is lacking and will help to grow. The magnitude of the problem multiplies due to increase in work force diversity thereby making it imperative that the management looks into managing the workforce in a manner that it helps to achieve efficiency. A research shows that employees belonging to different culture and caste have different ways of being influenced which makes it difficult for the organization to ensure that the workforce is able to work towards the goal resulting in delay in decision making (Ralston, Hallinger, Egri & Naothinsuhk, 2005). This has made it difficult for the organization to ensure that the diversity in the workforce helps the organization to achieve best results. A study also supports this and states that the management needs to look into different aspect of the workforce diversity and have managers who are able to guide the employees and ensure that they work together towards a common goal (Wright & Pandey, 2010). This has made it difficult for the organization to find the correct leaders who are able to understand the diversity in workforce and use it a manner that helps to achieve efficiency. A problem witnessed by the organization dealing with diversity in workforce is that it helps to create inequity among the inmates which has an effect on the growth prospect of the employee (Lively, Powell, Claudia & Carr, 2008). The study finds that when as employee does not perceive equity it gets reflected elsewhere also. When the inmates don’t perceive equity performance gets affected. This decreases productivity. This creates disharmony among the workforce and having diversity multiplies the problems which needs to be looked into. Globalization and Workforce Diversity The workforce has undergone wide changes as people belonging to the backward classes have seen a shift in jobs (Mcshane, 2008, p.11). The jobs for women have also increased and today the world witnesses some very important positions being filled by women. This was not the case during the 1990’s where the work force was mainly of people who were educated and the backward class had to do work which didn’t require any knowledge. Also, the inclusion of women due to privatization and liberalization has resulted in the work force to change. This has affected their personal lives to a certain extent as the work load and pressure has increased resulting in health problems. This has helped some poor and developing countries as the fertility age of women has risen and women want to continue working and marry at the later stages of life. Having a space for the under previleged and reservation of seats have resulted in some compromise on the quality but the development seen in the work force diversity has resulted in widespread changes in workforce culture. This becomes more necessary for multinational companies who render services in the UK. Since “they look to earn by satisfying customers on a regular basis an understanding of the condition such as culture, caste, religion and prevalent customs” (Kundu & Merchant, 2008) in UK goes in a long way to build relations. This is seen by the fact that companies who were able to “delve themselves on the basis of customs were successful”. (Kundu & Merchant, 2008) This is seen in the UK. The region is dominated by a mix of different religion. So a multinational companies coming with a service that goes along with the custom of that country helps to build relations. Those companies are favoured and they find it easy to market themselves. This is a concern for company as it can backfire. A miscalculation or interpretation might result in ruining the name. This would put a stop for the company to grow in countries which are similar as they loose reputation. Thus understanding the local typologies helps multinationals to pave a path which they can follow for their success. Globalization and Employment Relations The changes encountered in the work culture have resulted in the employment relations to change. Previously when an employer looked towards employees and highlighted the areas that the employees need to work on was considered a grievance. Employees were of the perception that employees slowly move up the hierarchy and need not be guided as it’s a process which takes time. Employees also looked towards having a work culture of 8 hours and were reluctant to work for long hours. This has changed with the growth witnessed in the work culture. Employer and employees also raise their voice if they disagree to something thereby changing the work culture. It is even seen that in the modern time a contract is entered between the employer and the employees and if any party breaches it then they can be punished (Brockner, 2009, p.646). One of the prime reasons which have resulted in employer employee contract is that employees today have to work 24/7 so balancing the work life with the personal life has increased the work load for the employees. Also, the development of technology has enabled that the employees don’t have to be present at the work place thereby bringing a change in work culture which has affected employment relations. Globalization and Workplace Value & Ethics Work place ethics and values have also gone tremendous changes as the world today considers it an important part of the professional life and try to integrate it with their working environment. This was a phenomenon which was not present in the 1990’s as employees and individuals felt that ethics and values have no importance in professional life and is a part of personal life. This is seen from an example of a multinational company Google who presents the motto “don’t be evil” (Mcshane, 2008, p.12). Having ethics and values in the work place has ensured that the efficiency of the employees increase and provide a directive to monitor the performance of the employees. Employees that work on the values and ethics prevalent in the organization ensure that they are able to deliver proper results even in times of difficulties (Lagan and Moran, 2006, p.vi). This was a concept which is gained relevance and is now considered an important aspect of the work force. Culture integration in globalization Cultural globalization argues that most of the capital investment made to develop projects of large magnitude has resulted in the local economy to grow. This has been substantiated by a finding which states that in Europe around 60% of the products consumed are imported and have not resulted in cultural changes (Fukuyuma, 2009). Countries which are developing and rely on the external world for investment fall in the trap of cultural changes as looking towards accomplishing the development brings mass changes in the cultural environment. This has been supported by a fact that most western multinationals bring about the change in culture as they are more adaptable to western culture (Akande, 2002). The problem is higher for products which are essential and to produce them cultural changes has to be integrated brings about cultural globalization and has an impact on the local culture. It has been founded that different economies have different culture and some economies look towards protecting their culture and want to preserve it from the influence of other culture. However, since the sixteenth century western civilization had tried to dominate the world and had tried to undermine other culture and looked towards dominating those. This has resulted in widespread diversification and influence of western culture on other culture. This is added by the fact that people believe that globalization has an effect on culture as the other culture looks towards dominating the local culture. For example, it has been identified that the American culture is somewhat different where people look towards wearing Levis, watching CNN and drinking coffee at Starbucks by forgetting their traditional life which is absolutely different from other cultures (Wasserstrom, 2003). This thus has an influence on other culture as it destroys the local culture. The influence of culture magnifies for countries which are weak on certain front and gets easily adapted to the influence of outside culture (Hanlon, 2003). The effect of this has so strong that it has resulted in many cultures being loosing their relevance and cultural globalization has taken place. This brings an important highlight that local culture gets influenced by cultural globalization. This can be seen in Abeokuta in West Africa where the local people followed the western education without knowing that it was getting influenced by British power which gradually transformed the culture (Akande, 2002). Also, America has been influenced by the fascism of the food industry which has revolved the culture and resulted in creation of chains like the McDonalds (Marcel, 2003). The impact of cultural globalization has been very strong especially for developed countries as to show their dominance and power they have looked towards dividing the world based either on economic or cultural concepts thereby having a much larger role to play in cultural globalization. This can be witnessed during the 1980’s when Disney entered China and was sold at the streets. The resulted in the popularity of the Disney culture and resulted in cultural imperialism (Wasserstorm, 2003). Cultural globalization thus had a wide impact on imperialism and fascism and had resulted in the transformation of culture by adopting other cultures and loosing relevance of the culture present in the country. This can be seen from the case of McDonalds in India. India being a culture sensitive country and high on religious favour companies which have this fundamentals. McDonalds when it entered the country came with beef in its products. It even used oil which contained animal fats. The religious custom didn’t allow those. McDonalds was not able to gain its market share. The company understood the culture and came again with a variant. They launched the vegetarian variety and removed beef from its menu. It even stopped using oil which contained animal fat. This resulted in the company gaining market share. Consumers started liking the product and McDonalds was able to capture a good chunk of the Indian market. Cultural Integration and ethical & legal issues Companies working in the global climate faces issues regarding being ethical and ensuring that the labourers are paid fairly. (Wild, Wild & Han, 2010) This creates dicrepancies in the working condition prevalent in different countries leading towards over exploitation of labourers. For example, it was seen in 1998 that Chinese manufacturers who were producing goods for companies like Ralph Lauren, Nike and Adidas paid wages at 13 cents per hour where as the same labour in the US was paid $10 per hour. (Klein, 2001) This was a case where labourers who were abundant in China were exploited and used to become a market leader. This is an important consideration that multinational companies need to look at and ensure that labourers are faid fairly to ensure proper governance. A case which highlights multinationals being unethical in their proceddings is seen in Chile. Employees were mad to work in the toughest conditions and were paid poorly. The employee had to stand in a cold refrigerated room and crack chickens at the rate of 41 each minute. The workers were also paid poorly and resulted in an average salary of $200 and were fined $30 for being absent from work each day. (Globalization, 2002) This is a case were multinationals exploit the poor and developing countries which is creating a situation where companies are benefitting at the cost of the poor. Ways to handle cultural diversity Organization can look towards solving the above problem by designing their compensation package ensures that both the intrinsic and extrinsic demand is met. This will help to ensure that the employees are high on motivation and remains the part of the organisation. This tool will thus help the organisation to design the compensation packages accordingly to the employee and ensure maximum return for the organisation and employees (Stephen & Timothy, 2008). This will help to reduce the differences that exist between the workforces and will help to reduce the problems faced due to diversity in workforce. This problem can be mitigated by developing a model which helps to pass the message effectively and ensure maximum efficiency in the operations. Managers at all levels like top level managers, middle level managers and lower level managers in small or large organisations ensure that activities are carried out efficiently by people. This ensures effective communication and proper strategy as managers communicate among themselves. (Gable & Martin, 2005) This will help to improve the value for poor performing organization as the efforts will be directed in the right direction. Developing this model will help to improve the objectives of workforce diversity and help to guide the organization in difficulties. Recommendations The paper thereby highlights the widespread changes that the field of organizational behavior has encountered. This makes it important the organization looking towards developing new strategies incorporate the changes in their planning process. Doing so will ensure that the business is able to garner the best results and the new system that is designed provides the best results. This helps to provide the following recommendations based on the above Organization can look towards having work outsourced but need to ensure that the policy and terms are entered into through an agreement. The government should also look towards framing laws which helps to protect the interest of people working in different organization like KPO and BPO. Organization should look towards providing training and education to the employees so that they are able to understand the changes and incorporate it. The organization should also look towards developing the listening process so that the message is correctly passed on (Chew, Cheng and Petrovic-Lazarevic, 2006) The government needs to develop more policies and laws that support the inclusion of women and the backward class in the working scenario Organization needs to ensure more investment in research and development so that the process of logistics management improves. Along with it research and development will help to develop other areas as well. Conclusion The paper thereby presents the manner in which the growth in workforce diversity has resulted in increasing the complexities for organization. This makes it important for organization to ensure that they are able to develop a model which helps to guide the workforce in a manner that the organizations are able to yield maximum efficiency in their working environment. This will help organization to yield the advantage that accrues due to workforce diversity and guide the employees in a direction that helps to achieve both the common and personal goals of the organization. This will thereby guide the workforce to ensure that they are able to prosper in the job and fill responsible positions in the organizations. To conclude, the essay presents the manner in which cultural globalization has hampered the local culture and customs and brought about widespread changes. The result has been strong due to the economic benefits which make societies look towards other countries resulting in cultural transformation. The effect is stronger as the local culture becomes weak in the presence of other culture which leads towards erosion of the culture and has an influence on the local heritage. This has made many economies understand the imperialism and fascism of globalization which is affecting culture. Economies have understood the negative effects of globalization and are looking towards preserving their local culture through means which make them present themselves as a different place. This increases the role of the government and third parties to ensure that the local culture is not effected cultural globalization and appropriate steps and strategies are developed to counter those. This will help to develop the economy and will prevent them from the shocks of cultural changes. References Akande, W. 2002. The drawbacks of Cultural Globalization. Retrieved on September 15, 2011 from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/162-general/27594.html Brockner, J 2009. Business and Economics. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 30, pp. 480, 646-648. Chew, M.M.M., Cheng, J.S.L. & S. Petrovic-Lazarevic. 2006. Managers’ Role in Implementing Organizational Change, Journal of Global Business and Technology, 2 (1), 23-29 Fukuyama, F. 2009. Economic Globalization & Culture. 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