Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Differences in Culture of America and Australia - Term Paper Example

Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 History and Geography 5 Social s 9 Education 9 Society and Religion 10 Aesthetics (visual arts, music, etc) 12 Housing 12 Business Culture 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Executive Summary The base country of company’s operations is Australia and the country understudy for investment is America. A large part of United States population is African American. The African Americans have a very rich culture and have widely affect popular arts and culture. The relationship between African American and the white population of America has a very strong impact on American Culture. It terms of beginning of human civilization, the history of Australia is much older than American native history. The Australian native culture as compared to American is much older and stronger. The affects of the United Kingdom culture is also very strong on both America and Australia. America sports are unique as compared to rest of the world. The more popular sports in America are Baseball, American football etc. This shows that the impact of British culture is less on America as compared to Australia, where Cricket is a very famous sport. The social institutions of family are very weak in the American system and are falling apart. The Australian social institutions on the other hand are similar to British. This nuclear family and extended family are closer together as compared to American system. This discrimination based on economic prosperity has strengthened the class differences in American society. Moreover this also creates two different cultures in the American society based on economic prosperity. The education system is more cohesive in Australia whereas the dominant religion in both Australia and America is Christianity. The most prominent fact about the American business culture is the Autocratic leadership style. In the Australia business culture titles have a less importance as compared to the American. Studies on both cultures conducted by Hofstede have shown similarities in culture of America and Australia. There is high level of individuality in both people belonging to both nations. These similarities point to an almost similar business culture in both countries. Introduction The phenomenon of globalization has engulfed different aspects of research and business. The reach of business organizations has reached to different continents. This phenomenon of globalization has also affected the nature of organizations. The emphasis on the service sector is continuously increasing. Not long ago any manufacturing company was represented by its manufacturing plants, engineers etc. The situation today is very different. The comparisons in the culture of America and Australia would not be possible without understanding the history of both countries and their geography. This is because the history has a great influence on culture. Studying culture with a historical context has many advantages. The different aspects of culture can be easily understood with a historical context. Moreover the companies use this context can also successfully predict different aspects of culture in unusual circumstances. The culture of Australia for example cannot be understood with an analysis of impact of Colonialism on different culture. The colonization has left a specific imprint on the cultures of colonies. This context of colonialism therefore gives specific indicators which can be very facilitating in study of culture. The base country of company’s operations is Australia. The country understudy for investment is America. As both countries used to be colonies of the British Empire at one point in time, this context would be relevant to the study. History and Geography The archeological history of modern day United States is almost fifteen thousand years old (Smithsonian, 2004). These were the first inhabitants of the United States and are the ancestor of Native Americans. The connection with rest of the world however was lost after this initial immigration. Therefore the American society during this period was totally cut off from rest of this world. This is the very reason that different aspects of societal evolution were non-existent in American civilization only a few hundred years ago. The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus was in fact the first contact of civilization to the Native Americans (Smithsonian, 2004). This discovery began an era of colonial settlers forming colonies in America. The largest and most powerful colonies were formed by the British (Smithsonian, 2004). Spain, France and Russia also had colonies in American territory. By the end of sixteenth centaury the population of colonies had reached almost to quarter of a million. The living standards in these colonies were high (Russell & Lee, 2005). This was basically due to the high availability of raw material in American lands. These improvements in living standards led to social movements and inevitably the independence of States. The bill of rights was formed a couple of decades after the independence when the initial government failed and a constitution was formed for the United States (Russell & Lee, 2005). The United States has a history of Entrepreneurs who created many different industries from scratch. These included rail road, textile, oil etc (Morrison & Michael, 1999). This industrial innovation led to millions of immigrants from all over the world travelling to America (Morrison & Michael, 1999). The culture of Unites States cannot be completely understood without understanding the history of the two world wars. The United States involvement in both wars was delayed (McDuffie, Jerome, Wayne Piggrem and Woodworth, 2005). However due to its fresh supply of soldiers and weapons it was able to turn the tide. This role has given United States and its people position of the super power of the world. During the reformation era after both wars, USA was able to gather resources and build on its already strong economic base (McDuffie, Jerome, Wayne Piggrem and Woodworth, 2005). A large part of United States population is African American. These people were usually brought to America as slave labor by Merchants. The African Americans have a very rich culture and have widely affect popular arts and culture. The richness of this culture basically stems from their struggle from self determination in the early nineteenth century. The relationship between African American and the white population of America has a very strong impact on American Culture. There have been many different types of fallout that have led to ethnic riots. A breakthrough was achieved in 1960 when African Americans were finally given the right to vote and rise to higher office. In many contexts this era of conflict has concluded with the election of Barrack Obama in America who is an African American. The history of Australia is much older than American native history. The most apparent difference rises from the sheer differences in respects of native culture and its evolution (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). The Australian native culture as compared to American is much older and stronger. The arrival of humans in Australia according to scholars is as old as seventy thousand years (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). This civilization was however cut off from rest of humanity until European travelers finally discovered a sea passage to Australia. The first travelers were Bantam and Willem, who accidently discovered the pathway to Australia (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). At this time there were almost three hundred and fifty thousand natives living in the Australian continents (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). There was already an established political system between the nations. There were almost about two hundred and fifty tribes and they mostly lived in a system of harmony. This is in rich contrast to the Red Indian system established in the United States. Red Indian Civilization was much younger as compared to the Australian Aborigines and therefore the process of colonization was different for America comparatively. The transition of power in America was much more brutal. There were initially many wars between the native inhabitants and settlers (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). The natives were subjected to salivary and treated as enemies. In the Australian transitory period the situation was much different. There are many different accounts on the level of violence experienced by the indigenous population from the settlers but it is common agreement that level of violence was much higher in America as compared to Australia. This alienation of the Natives by the hand of initial American settlers and colonizers can be one the reasons that there are differences in culture. The Natives Red Indians still keep themselves from the American Way of life and live in specific reservations. The Aborigines of Australia on the other hand are more involved in the Australian main stream community (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). According to law all discriminations in ethic races have been banned. Some aborigines even hold offices in highest parliamentary capacities (Gillespie & Richard, 2002). The affects of the United Kingdom culture is also very strong on both America and Australia. The American culture is however less influences basically because of the war of independence fought against UK. This war brought France loser to the newly formed state. The Australian society however has a very deep affect of British culture. A very good way to asses this impact is to study the love for Cricket in Australia. Cricket was invented by the British and is taken by historians as a sign of British rule. In America however different sports are more popular such as Baseball, American football etc. This shows that the impact of British culture is less on America as compared to Australia. Social institutions The social institutions in a country have a very important and deep affect on the culture. In many respects these institutions make up the culture for a country. The formation of nuclear family and its interaction with rest of the family is formulated in many generations. The institution of family is very weak in the American system. In many ways the most prominent social institutions in America are Religion, economy and education. These three institutions have a great influence on the family and extended families. The relationship of the people with the economy is very strong. This is because the people perform most of their transactions on credit. Therefore once can say that the American family system is immediately affected by the situation of the economy. As the economy is doing very badly in American currently, there have been severe negative effects on the American social system. The social institutions of American are falling apart. This break down is led by a bad economy which is forcing people to rely more on drug usage. The economic situation in Australia is much stable. The social institutions of Australia are similar to British. There is exists a strong role of a central figure in the family. This nuclear family and extended family are closer together as compared to American system. Education The education sector is much more autonomous in Unite States. The education sector is mostly run by the public sector but there are private institutions as well. These institutions have made a very drastic impact on the quality of education. The tuitions fees charged by these institutions are extremely high therefore they are limited to an elite few. The situation in public institutions is not very good. These institutions are marked by high violence and drug use. This discrimination based on economic prosperity has strengthened the class differences in American society. Moreover this also creates two different cultures in the American society based on economic prosperity. The education system is more cohesive in Australia. The state takes the responsibility of imparting education on basis of equality in people. The three tiered education model in Australia constitutes primary school, secondary education and tertiary education. The different levels are funded and controlled by the government. The government imparts a large amount of scholarships for the local population in order to create an education balance in the society. The literacy rate in both countries is close to a hundred percent. The American universities such as Harvard and MIT are still considered the largest universities in the world. They are considered the leading institutions in producing research and generating knowledge. Society and Religion The social classes in America are strongly divided on the basis of economic prosperity (Green& John, 2004). The lifestyles differences in these classes are shocking at best. The diversity can be witnessed by looking at the life styles of the prosperous economic class living in their Malibu beach houses and comparing that to the homeless people living in dumpsters. There are many different reasons for this diversity of social classes. The large flow of immigrants into America is a reason behind the vast differences in social classes. These immigrants are a source of income for their families in their home countries. They send most of their savings back home and become a burden on the American society. This inflow of immigrants has also increased the ethnic diversity in American society. The large population of America also makes it difficult for the government to create a system of equality and equal opportunities. The situation in Australia from a business perspective is different. The American market is a more diverse and large. Therefore a there is a demand for different ranges of qualities and types of products. The dominant religion in both Australia and America is Christianity (Green& John, 2004). The American constitution however forbids the dominance of any single religion and therefore allows Americans to follow religions of their choice (Green& John, 2004). More than seventy percent people belong to Christianity. Religious minorities in America include Jews, Muslims, and Hindus etc. The influence of religion on American way of life has reduced over the last few decades. The influence of religion is even lower in Australian life. There are almost 19% people who consider themselves as belonging to no religion according to the national census (Green& John, 2004). The influence of religion is considerably reducing in Australia and currently on 7.5% of the population attends church (Green& John, 2004). Aesthetics (visual arts, music, etc) The US arts and popular culture are best described as contemporary arts (Upton, 1998). This is because most of the original Greece and Roman architecture could not make a huge impact on contemporary arts of States. The US architecture therefore is a mixture of various art forms from all around the world. Combing many different forms they have actually developed an electric and multicultural art form (Upton, 1998). The American popular culture is similar in nature in its adoption of foreign culture. The dominance of this culture over others all around the world has been led mostly by television and cinema (Upton, 1998). The Australian architecture is more inspired by the colonial rulers. This impact can be seen in many different famous buildings such as the Royal Exhibition building, Parliament etc. The Australian buildings clearly show an inspiration from Georgian and Victorian architecture, adopted from the United Kingdom. Housing The housing system in America is a mixture of many different sub-systems. The lifestyle basically depends on ethnic background and economic prosperity. The economically prosperous Americans prefer living in penthouses and beach houses. The suburban colonies are filled with white American living comfortable life. The culture of credit however is very dominant in the housing sector. The American house owners mostly rely on mortgages to fund their extravagant life styles. It is not uncommon for a house owner in America to have multiple mortgages on a single house. The subprime mortgage crises therefore had a very drastic effect on the American way of life which is primarily fuelled by credit. The Australians on the other hand rely to a much lesser extent on credit. This is the very reason that despite a global economic meltdown, Australian economy is still flourishing. Business Culture There is minimal gender discrimination in the American business environment (McSweeney, 2002). The female workforce however does face a glass ceiling. This is why the higher offices and jobs are usually filled in by the male employees. The most prominent fact about the American business culture is the Autocratic leadership style. The Americans like to lead from the front and make decisions based on intuition. The country therefore has very high scores in Masculinity (60) as compared to a world average of 50 (McSweeney, 2002). This depicts in many regards the dominance of males in the society (McSweeney, 2002). In the Australian business culture titles have a less importance as compared to the American Culture. They prefer to base their judgment on firsthand experience. This therefore points to a much more open culture in Australia as compared to America. Studies on both cultures conducted by Hofstede have shown similarities in culture of America and Australia (McSweeney, 2002). There is high level of individuality in both American and Australia. This individuality is shown in both their business and personal lives. The power distance is much lower in Australia as compared to world averages (McSweeney, 2002). The score of 36 has been given to power distance in Australia as compared to a world average of 55 (McSweeney, 2002). The score of power distance given to America is 40 which are slightly higher than Australia (McSweeney, 2002). Conclusion The discussion shows the differences in culture of America as compared to Australia. The different management styles will be a challenge for the new business operation. The best technique is to hire local management. This will ensure that the transition phase is smooth. The different products and services that would be introduced into the American market should be taking into account the cultural differences. The reliance on credit of the American consumer is a very helpful and encouraging sign for startup businesses. This is because it shows a culture of spending and consumerism. The products and services being introduced should be associated to marketing phenomenon such as baseball and American Football. References Smithsonian Institution (2004). National Museum of Natural History Russell, D. (2005). The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies. Jefferson, N.C. Morrison, M. A. (1999). Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny and the Coming of the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press Foner, E, and John, G. (1991). The Readers Companion to American History. New York: Houghton Mifflin McDuffie, J, Piggrem, G, Woodworth, S. (2005). U.S. History Super Review. Piscataway, NJ: Research & Education Association Gillespie, R. (2002). Dating the First Australians Green, J.C. (2004) "The American Religious Landscape and Political Attitudes. University of Akron Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics Upton, D (1998). Architecture in the United States-Oxford history of art McSweeney, B. ( 2002). "Hofstedes Model Of National Cultural Differences And Their Consequences: A Triumph Of Faith - A Failure Of Analysis". Human Relations McCreadie, M. (2000). The Evolution of Education in Australia. Internet Family History Association of Australia Reid, A. (1999). The Redefinition of Public Education. The Australian Education Union McDonald, J. (2010). Interplay: Communication, Memory, and Media in the United States Marsden, G. (1990). Religion and American Culture. Orlando: HNJ Holloway, J. (2005). Africanisms in American Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press Fiorina, M. & Paul, P. (2000). The New American Democracy. London: Longman, Read More