The Impact of Cultural Theories on Management - Literature review Example

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL THEORIES ON MANAGEMENT Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City Date Culture is a concept that has existed for a very long time. Different experts have presented a varying perspective on what culture is. One of this perspective argues that culture is the cumulative deposit of knowledge, beliefs, values, knowledge, meanings, attitudes, roles, spatial relations and material objects. Another perspective on culture looks at it as the system of knowledge that is shared with a relatively large group of people. Culture is also a communication (Hofstede, 2013). Wider view on culture presents it as a cultivated behavior. This is to say that culture is the totality of what a person has learned, accumulated through experience then socially transmitted. All this perspectives present’s quite varied view of culture, but the unifying things is that they all related to some leaned behaviour or values. Many theories have emerged trying to analyze what culture is and how it is transmitted. This paper seeks to analyse these varying theories and see how they relate. Theories of culture Culture as a cognitive system This theory is presented by theorist such as Ward Goodenough. Ward beliefs that culture is a system of knowledge. The culture of a society consists of the things that one is supposed to know in order to function in a manner that is acceptable in the society or to be accepted as a member of the society. From this perspective culture is not a material phenomenon in the sense that it does not consist of the people’s things, behaviour of emotions. It is simply an organisation of things. Diffusion theory The theory was proposed by E.M. Rogers in 1962. Theories of cultures is an aspect that anthropologist have been trying to unravel for a long time. The earliest anthropologist conceived it is as a collection of traits and thus presented the diffusion theory to explain the spread of culture. They argue that culture spread from one society to another. The failure in this theory is that it could not explain how some culture passed from some community to others and others did not pass (Smith, 2016). Diffusionism as a theory attempted to explain culture on the basis of origins and that the traits spread from one society to another. This theory has the belief that all culture emerged from one society and spread to other places. This theory emerged in the mid of the 19th century and its aim was to provide an understanding of how culture is distributed across the world (Knudtzon, 2016). Cultural evolution theory The flaws in the diffusion theory paved way for the emergence of cultural evolution theory. The theory emerged in the 19th century and was an outgrowth of the Darwinian evolution theory. The theory was proposed by Talcott Parsons (1902-1979). The theory argues that cultural change comes as a result of human adapting to some non-cultural changes such climate change. The theory differs slightly from Darwinian Theory in the sense that it is directional. That is to say that as human population transforms their cultures becomes more complex (Miller, 2015). An important thing to mention is that cultural change is not defined and directed by strict adapting to change or biology, but it is rather a complex web of environmental, social and biological factors. Ecological approaches try to focus on how people live in different parts of the world not based on their degree of evolution rather their adaptation to the specific environment. The theory speculates that ecological factors have a lot of impact on the culture of people. As good example is when people develop technological means to harness the environment. The convergence and divergence of the theories Despite the theories having some divergent views there are some point that these theories also have some similarities. When looking, for instance at the diffusion theory is based on how culture spread from one point to another. This theory was developed by theorists Ronald Rogowski. This theory is very different from the evolution theory since it points out that culture keeps on changing as the society changes. As the human try to adapt to the society they also develop a way of running their life that is adapted to the said society. While diffusions theories were quick to dismiss the view brought about by evolutionist the thing they failed to understand is that both these theories have a lot in common (Miller, 2015). When looking at culture traits one will agree that they originate from some people and then diffuse to other nations. This is to say that the diffusion and evolutionary theories work hand in hand. While one theory explains the origin of culture the other one explains the way the cultures has been moving. Culture does not change from one theory to another. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the ecological perspective on culture differs from the other theories. The ecological perspective of cultures concentrates on how the factors in the environment force man to adapt to a new way of life and as such change their culture (Smith, 2016) How do cultural theories help in managing people? A good understanding of cultural theories is a vital aspect in understanding human behaviour and as such being able to manage their behaviour. When it comes to management, especially in the work environment the HR manager might find this information vital in managing the workers. With the various perspectives on how behaviour is spread, a manager can be able to control the workers by reducing the prevalence of bad behaviour in the organisation. An HR manager will understand that some behaviour might arise from one worker and diffuse to others based on the diffusion theory of culture (Chand, 2014.) As well the manager can understand that introducing some specific behavior in the organization can help to diffuse it to the other workers. It is clear that this information plays an important role in understanding and thereby controlling behaviour, not only in an organisation but even in other environments like schools. There are a number of aspects that have emerged in this discussion. Frist is the fact that culture is an intricate part of the society and the base for moral values. Culture is passed from one generation to another. The passage of culture from generation to another and the idea of culture is an issue that has troubled anthropologist and theorist over the years. Anthropologists have sought to provide an understanding of what culture is and this has been achieved through the theorization of culture. Theories such as evolution, diffusion and cognitive system help to explain what culture is and how it moves from one community or generation to another. The understanding of the theory is an important aspect in understanding people’s behaviour. Through the understanding that culture evolves with time an organisation can cultivate a particular culture and how to pass it over to the successive generation of worker. Not only does passing help to maintaining the behaviour of people in the organisation, but knowledge of culture also helps to control peoples' behaviour. Reference Chand, S. (2014). Cultural Change: Main Factors and Causes of Cultural Change. [online]YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. Available at: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/culture/cultural-change-main-factors-and-causes-of-cultural-change/23392/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Hofstede, G., 2013. What is culture? A reply to Baskerville. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28(7), pp.811-813. Knudtzon, K. (2016). Social and Cultural Theories. [online] Available at: https://www.cs.umd.edu/class/fall2002/cmsc838s/tichi/social.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Miller, R.L., 2015. Rogers’ Innovation Diffusion Theory (1962, 1995). Information Seeking Behavior and Technology Adoption: Theories and Trends: Theories and Trends, p.261. Smith, E. (2016). Diffusionism and Acculturation - Anthropological Theories - Department of Anthropology - The University of Alabama. [online] Anthropology.ua.edu. Available at: http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=Diffusionism%20and%20Acculturation [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016]. Read More