Issues in Cultural Divide Essays

Culture is an observable, powerful force in any organization. “Made up of its members’ shared values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviors, culture guides individual decisions and actions at the unconscious level. As a result, it can have a potent effect on a company’s well-being and success” (One Page, n.d.).

The modern business culture must, by necessity, be fluid if it is to succeed globally. There is interaction between employees, between stakeholders, and between global environments. In fact, this environment is formed through multiple interactions between the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities presented through the organization's unique culture. Since truly the one constant in business is change, it is how we adapt to such changes; as individuals and part of groups, that helps manifest behaviors as he culture evolves. Indeed, many believe that one of the templates that make up this fluidity is the concept, even more popular in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, of mergers and acquisitions (Horibe, 2001).

The case of Karen Leary illustrates the implications cultural conflict can have on business organizations and office culture. A common mistake managers make is undermining the power of cultural constraints at the organizational level. After six years as a financial consultant at Merrill Lynch, Karen Leary was promoted to general manager at the Elmville branch in Chicago. Leary wanted to achieve success at the branch office by building high-producing, successful group of professionals who work together to provide clients with complete service in meeting long-term financial goals.

America is greatly influenced and enhanced by the many versatile cultures which inhabit it. Cultural diversity has added to our economy in such a way that it brings innovated ideas and contact structures throughout the world. International cuisines have come to America through subcultures, have expanded the food industry, and have allowed English Americans to try new foods and flavors. Immigrants have brought with them religious values that greatly differ and vary from those at which were natural in the main stream American culture. The educational development through foreign nationals has led America, as a nation, to excel and be deemed one of the most intelligent nations in the world! Consequently, the subcultures have kept our

Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it;

“Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon. It includes the shared meanings associated with the symbols, rituals, and language. Culture combines the philosophy of the firm with beliefs, expectations, and values shared by members. It contains the stories and myths about the company's founder and its current leading figures. Organizational culture consists of a set of shared meanings and values held by a set of members in an organization that distinguish the organization from other organizations. An organization's culture determines how it perceives and reacts to the larger environment (Becker, 1982; Schein, 1996). Culture determines the nature

Levitt (2014) defines culture as the coherent, learned, shared views of a group of people and about life’s concerns that ranks what is important, furnishes attitudes about what things are appropriate, and dictates behavior. Macy’s corporate culture possesses a diverse leadership team to target their diverse customers and locations. Diversity, based on experiences and passion, gives the Macy’s leadership team new perspectives to promote successful business. Levitt (2014) suggests organizational diversity can be considered as a mixture of people with different group identities working in the same social system. A multi-cultural team of Americans, Italians, Germans and Swiss would adapt well in the rich bouquet of culture in Zurich, Switzerland. As a new team leader, the biggest concern would be establishing integrations between the different cultures working together at Macys.

All Organisations posses a distinct form of culture with some having more than a single culture. This culture is usually very difficult to measure, change and most especially change.

In today’s society us humans are so distinct with one another, when it comes to our norms, beliefs, representations of our groups, even material goods representing these groups. This in short, is culture “The values, norms and material characteristic of a given group...one of the most distinctive properties of human social association.” As stated in Chapter 2 “Culture and Society” under “Sociology-The Basics”. Now, something else that has shaped society and changed it ultimately is race. That being, “..any group into which humans can be divided according to their shared physical or genetic characteristics” (Cambridge Dictionary). It seems evident to me that Culture is a deep, much more personal, changeable representation of a group or an individual.

Despite overall improvements in breast cancer survival in the past 10 years, significant disparities persist which result in inequitable delivery of healthcare. Women with invasive breast cancer from lower socioeconomic statuses (SES) are more likely diagnosed at later stage, receive suboptimal treatments, and have higher rates of breast cancer mortality than their less deprived counterparts1–3. Less is known regarding disparities related to levels of rurality or urbanization in breast cancer. One study has found that, after adjusting for socioeconomic status, white women with breast cancer living in rural areas had marginally higher mortality rates than those living in urban areas2. Moreover, several studies have demonstrated differences in breast cancer management between rural and urban hospitals4,5. Although SES is correlated with rural-urban residency, few studies have accounted for both factors in their assessment of breast cancer disparities.

Globalization and technological advancement have dictated the need for managers to deal with multiple ethnic groups with different culture in their day to day interactions. According to Kulkarni (2012), cultures play critical roles in individuals, including values, beliefs, humor, worries, fears, hopes, opinions, attachments, and anxieties.

The concept of globalization, which is the increasing integration and interdependence of different countries from one another in terms of economic, communication, and technological aspects, leads one to address the concept of cultural diversity or multiculturalism. Cultural diversity in the health-care system touches lives of many Americans in one way or another. No matter what our own cultural background is, when we go receive medical care, we may encounter a care giver who comes from a different cultural background than ours(Naylor 1997,291).. In the concept of cultural diversity, it can be recognized that two terms are equally important. The first concept is culture, which refers to the total way of life of individuals, and the unique

The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professionals in a business setting is essential to make the work environment comfortable. In every culture there are basic standards of thinking, and acting and these cultural differences strongly influence workplace values and communication. What may be considered acceptable and natural in the workplace for one person may be unacceptable for another person. People from diverse cultures bring new ways of thinking, creativity and language skills needed to survive in today’s work force. In many

There are four major culture types within an organization, namely the Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy and the Market (Kim & Quinn, 1999). These four cultures are translated into a model, named the Competing Values Framework. This framework shows the cultures, organized between two dimensions. The framework shows which culture coincides with which dimension, to show the effectiveness of the organization and the organizational culture.

The classic Phrase by Mckinsey organisation, “the culture is how we do things around here” is taken as reference by many great people. It’s true that culture exist in an organisation which influences the work being done and also affects the success or failure of the project.