Module 1– Case Mgt 501 Management and Organization Behavior

The term "culture" has been used more and more recently but what exactly does it mean? Some have even regarded culture as "the most central problem of all social science" (Malinowski, 1939). According to Merriam Webster (2016), culture is defined as the arts and other manifestations of human achievements. If culture was as simple as Merriam-Webster defines it then the lives of anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists would be much easier. As we know, culture varies greatly across religion, countries, and some cases in just states; the difference between the north and the south. We can conclude that culture is a set of shared thoughts, values, and cognitions (Geertz, 1973). With culture in itself varying tremendously based on values and location, then surely organizational culture is no simple concept either. The term "organizational culture" has just recently become to be used more (Barley, 1988). Though there may be disagreements on defining culture universally, researchers tend to agree that culture is of vital importance in an organizational context, whether that organization is a company or a government (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa, 1986).

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.).

Classical organization theory evolved during the first half of this century. It represents the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory.

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.

I am very interested in a career field in Human Resources. For this paper, I interviewed Lillian Mannino who is a Human Resource and Personnel Manager at the UC San Diego Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy. As a manager, Lillian serves as the link between the graduate school’s management and its employees. She is in charge of overseeing recruitment, employee relations, policy development, payroll, and benefits. Personnel management is a special branch of management that is focus on the concerns of employees at work and their relationship with the organization. Her educational experiences consist of a bachelor degree at UC San Diego in Management Science and a professional Human Resources certificate from UCSD Extension. She has been working in the academic administration for almost ten years and earned her current position as manager through climbing up the ladder. She started off working in this field as a student affairs officer then was promoted to an administrative specialist. Her prior work experience paved a path for her to build up professional experience as well as a solid network within the UCSD administrative system.

In this essay about managing culture in the post-bureaucratic era, I am going to argue how the practices of managing culture have changed in this era and how they differentiate oneself from the bureaucratic era. Furthermore I describe the cultural influences especially in organizations and how the importance of those influences changed over the time. In the first section I am going to explain the content of managing organization culture to get a first insight in the topic and to express the knowledge about the influences of the culture in an organization. In the next chapter I separate between two perspectives of the cultural organizations and explain which of the both are relevant for the assignment question. The next step of my

The organization in which the problem I will be presenting is the United States Marine Corps and my role in it is a Corporal. The location would be Camp Lejeune, NC which is where my unit was stationed. The business line would be the military. The unit is 2nd Marine Division, 6th Marine Regiment, Headquarters Company, S-4, and Supply Section. The unit’s size is 400 Marines of which 11 Marines are assigned to the supply section.

In this research paper I will be analyzing the cultural perspectives of doing business in South Korea. In doing so, I will be answering the four major questions as it relates to the major Elements and Dimensions of culture in South Korea. Also, since the dimensions of culture in any nation are many, it is necessary to analyze each category that makes up the Dimensions of one’s culture, these categories have been in place for many years in any given country. If we simply consider the Dimensions of Culture in the United States alone, which range from Religion to our Ethical standards, it would be clear

The Hofstede Centre (n.d.) defines culture as the “collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from another.” Chipulu, Ojiako, Gardiner, Williams, Mota, Maguire, Shou, Stamai, and Marshall (2014), note that “culture can be at once tangible and observable; latent and unobservable; or even an abstraction altogether” (p. 367). Culture therefore has many dimensions. Some aspects of culture can be observed by analyzing symbols, ceremonies, dress, and other aspects. On the other hand, some aspects are not observable from the outside, but have to be experienced. Looking only from the outside gives us only a glimpse into the culture values. A large part of culture is the unwritten rules of how things are done. This part of culture is not necessarily observable to an outsider. To fully understand the cultural values of an organization, you need to be inside the organization with access to those with years of work experiences.

Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may

Mismanaging cultural differences can render otherwise successful managers and organisations ineffective when working across cultures. As stated byOsland (1990, p. 4) ``The single greatest barrier to business success is the one erected by culture''. Hofstede (1983) defines culture as "the mental programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another" (Hofstede 1983 p. 25). Through the comparison of Chinese culture and Australian culture using Hofstedes five cross-cultural dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and long-term orientation an insightful view into the differences and similarities of the cultures can be obtained (Chong & Park 2003). Human Resource Management

For Ms. Myers, being successful in America, did not translate to being successful in South Korea. Although she was an executive, she had many barriers that hindered her from adequately helping the company in the ways that she wanted.

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.

“Culture is defined as the collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from another. Statements about culture do not describe “reality”; they are all general and relative”. So depending on the person, everyone see things in a different view. According to the case study the question is asked: How does culture and environment affect institutions and their management? I will define the problem of what went wrong during Ms. Myers tenure from my point of view. I will explain the problem Ms. Myers is encountering using Hofstede's five dimensions of culture to compare Korean and American assumptions about interpersonal

Understanding the influence of culture in business practices and managerial decision-making requires explaining the differences between cultures. This is why, Hofstede (appendix 1) presents a well-known model based on four dimensions of culture: