Cultural Values: Essence of Work Satisfaction - Essay Example

Cultural Values: Essence of Work Satisfaction Introduction Satisfactory professional life is one of the major factors of happiness in people’s lives. Along with financial status, work relationships and work environment are important aspects of work satisfaction. Hence, a happy work culture plays an important role in creating a feeling of work satisfaction in employees. In today’s technologically advanced work environment, people from different cultural backgrounds interact with each other on daily basis. This generates a possibility of friction due to difference in their cultural backgrounds. Clashes due to cultural differences have become so common these days that many of the Hollywood movies have included this aspect of work life as a theme of their movies. ‘Armageddon’ is one such movie that handles the issue of culture difference between employees in an excellent way. ‘Armageddon’ is a story of a NASA mission to blow an asteroid the size of Texas, in order to divert it from moving towards earth and destroying the human kind. The mission comprises of drilling the asteroid and putting a nuke in the centre in order to blow it in two parts and divert it from coming towards earth. However, the NASA scientists realize that their employees are not skilled at drilling deep. Hence, the head of the NASA team, Dan Truman, takes a tough decision and invites the best deep sea oil driller in the world, Harry Stamper, to do the job. Harry agrees to work only if he is allowed to take his own team on the mission. With no choice left, Dan agrees to the condition despite of knowing that Harry’s team is a complete misfit to the NASA work culture. The movie shows how a mature leadership can lead to a success of a team and an organization. Cultural Aspects at Work Place According to Ronen (1997), culture is a “system in which individuals share meanings and common ways of viewing events and objects” (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.30). Culture is an essential aspect of work as people’s behavior, values and thinking patterns are shaped by their culture (Silverthorne, 2005, p.2). Hence, cross cultural psychology is an important aspect of I/O psychology as it helps the organizations in functioning smoothly by making them understand the differences and similarities in values from different work cultures, and forming a common platform for them (Silverthorne, 2005, p.1). The theory that is applicable to the cross-cultural aspect of I/O psychology is the theory designed by Hofstede (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.36). In his research conducted on 116,000 employees from seventy two countries, Hofstede found that cultural difference at work place can be observed in five basic aspects of work place behavior pattern (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.36). Some of the elements of Hofstede’s theory of cross-cultural aspects that are visible in the behavior pattern of employees in the movie ‘Armageddon,’ are discussed below. Individualism/Collectivism The primary aspect of culture that was discovered by Hofstede was the aspect of individualism-collectivism (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.36). The individualism-collectivism aspect of Hofstede’s theory says that people from different cultures have different ways of interpreting the emotions of people around them (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.37). For e.g., a research on individualism-collectivism found that people from Eastern cultures (Japan, India etc.) look at the broader picture and wide group of people when interpreting the satisfaction level of employees (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.37). On the other hand, people from Western culture interpret the satisfaction level of employees on basis of emotions of individuals, i.e. from a leader or a supervisor (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.37). Hence, there is a huge different in the way the team leaders from Eastern and Western cultural backgrounds interpret the satisfaction level of their employees. In the movie Armageddon, Harry Stamper is shown having a collectivist approach to the leadership. Firstly, he refuses to leave his team when he is approached by NASA to take up one of the most important mission in the world. Secondly, he demands that the wishes of every member of his team are fulfilled once they complete the mission successfully. Harry takes into consideration not only his own satisfaction level while doing the mission but also the satisfaction level of each and every member in his team. This shows that his approach is that of ‘collectivism’ and he has a broader view of interpreting the happiness of his employees. This kind of approach is usually observed in the leaders and managers from Eastern cultural background. Power Distance Power distance is an aspect of I/O psychology which denotes the degree to which the importance is given to the employees on the basis of their position or status in the organization hierarchy (Crafford et al., 2006, p.51). In the cultures that practice high power distance, the position, status and ranks of an employee are important as it is according to these aspects that a person gains power and authority over people working below him (Crafford et al., 2006, p.51). In the cultures with low power distance, employees do not give much importance to status or position in the hierarchy (Crafford et al., 2006, p.51). Everyone seems to work together and have equal degree of participation in the decision making process (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.39). In the movie Armageddon, the viewer gets to see a shift in power distance between Harry and his team members when they work for NASA. While working in China, Harry is shown exercising high power distance at work place. His authority is accepted by everyone without question. However, once the team arrives at NASA, the team is shown exercising low power distance. This might be the influence of NASA culture, where employees are shown exercising low power distance and contributing equally in decision making. This scenario could be a deviation from usual work place culture at NASA due to a shadow of unexpected threat on humanity. The low power distance also allows Dan Truman to take a difficult decision and invite civilians into NASA. Dan’s behavior shows one more cultural aspect of I/O psychology and that is ‘uncertainty avoidance’. Uncertainty Avoidance ‘Uncertainty avoidance’ is a work place behavior aspect in which people keep away from situations that can create uncertainty in the outcome (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.39). In this kind of work cultures, the environment is driven by rules, regulations, guidance and structure (Landy & Conte, 2010, p.39). In ‘Armageddon’, Harry is shown exercising a low ‘uncertainty avoidance’ approach at his work place. There are no rules or structure in the way he handles his employees. In the beginning of movie, he is shown shooting at his subordinate for having an affair with his daughter. On the other hand, NASA employees are shown adhering to high ‘uncertainty avoidance’ work culture. Later, Dan Truman deviates from this approach by handing over the mission to Harry. Masculinity Versus Femininity People working in masculine work culture value the material achievement more than things like employee welfare, relationships and bonding (Crafford et al., 2006, p.51). In masculine work culture, masculine qualities like assertiveness and competitiveness are expected from the employees. In ‘Armageddon,’ most of the employees in both, NASA and in Harry’s team, are males. Harry’s team is shown displaying all the male qualities. They are rugged, aggressive, strong and rough in their behavior and their approach towards work. Hence, the movie displays the masculine work culture of the U.S. accurately. Movie Analysis ‘Armageddon’ has captured the essence of leadership, team work and different aspects of work culture in the U.S. in an excellent way. The director has done an excellent job in sending a message that looks, physical appearance or educational qualification of a person are not the qualities that make a person a true professional. The qualities that make a person a true professional are his skills, sincerity and passion. People working under Harry are rough, unpolished and unruly in their behavior but they are all passionate and experts in their field. Hence, ‘Armageddon’ is an entertaining movie. However, it is difficult to digest the idea that bunch of people get trained in few days and land on the moon. Moreover, the skill of landing on the asteroid, handling the machines or carrying out the mission needs specific knowledge, thorough training and immense practice. If these fictional aspects are ignored, then ‘Armageddon’ can be recommended to people who love to see thrill, action and fun in movies. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that cultural background of an employee plays an essential role in his behavior at work place. Hence, understanding the cultural values of an employee is good for the organization as it helps in bringing out the best in the employee. It also assures work satisfaction in employees. In the movie ‘Armageddon’, Dan Truman understands the cultural background of Harry and his team, and gives them a liberty to carry out the mission their way. By doing this, he not only gains Harry’s trust and respect but also saves the humanity. Hence, ‘Armageddon’ gives a message that only flexible and mature leaders can lead their organization to success. References Bay, M., Bruckheimer, J. & Hurd, G.A. (Producers), & Bay, M. (Director). (1998). Armageddon [ Motion picture]. United States: Valhalla Motion Pictures. Crafford, A., Moerdyk, A., Nel, P., O’Neill, C., Schlechter, A. & Southey, L. (2006). Industrial Psychology: Fresh Perspectives. Cape Town, SA: Pearson Education. Landy, F.J. & Conte, J.M. (2010). Work In 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Silverthorne, C.P. (2005). Organizational Psychology in Cross Cultural Perspective. 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