My Blog on the Nation of choice is on Turkey. It is a country that I have been aware of, although I do not know very much about their culture, society, norms, values or traditions.
Traditional markets of industrial goods drive the economy of Turkey, while one fourth of the nation’s employment is derived from their agricultural endeavors.
According to the new agriculturalist “By international standards, Turkey is a major producer of grain, cotton, tobacco, grapes, sunflower, pulses (chick peas and lentils), dried fruit (hazelnuts, seedless raisins grapes, apricots) , fresh fruits” (New–Ag, 2016).
Once again according to the New Agriculturist “ Turkey is one of the world’s biggest wheat and barley producers “(New–Ag, 2016).
Turkeys agricultural contribution to the Middle East and its surrounding territories is quite astounding, “ Cereal production occupies 75% of Turkey’s cropland” (New–Ag, 2016).
As far as religious preferences the nation is predominantly Muslim. Our textbook support that statement ”almost 99 percent of Turks are registered as Muslim but this information holds true only for identification purposes” (Moran, p.311). I find that national fact to be very odd indeed, why on Earth would you state that you follow a particular religion, when in fact you may not ? It seems to me that the nation or its collective society imposes heavy expectations on their fellow citizens. Due to that fact one would surmise that there would not be common inter-racial conflicts aside from the obvious connections from neighboring immigrants who have come from the Balkans, Central Asia, and Caucasus. The latter being an area that I had to perform a thorough “wiki search” on to be honest.
In relationship to the Hofstede’s power distance 6D model “ Turkey scores high on this dimension (score of 66) which means that the following characterises with Turkish style: dependent hierarchical, superiors often inaccessible in the ideal boss is a father figure”(Hofstede, 2016).
As far as individualism comes into play “ Turkey, with a score of 37 is a collective estate society. This means that the “We” is important, people belong to in–groups (families, clans or organizations) who look after each other in exchange for loyalty”(Hofstede, 2016).
On a positive note, since the majority of the nation shares one religion, I would also assume that they share very similar cultural values, and beliefs, as well as social norms making uniform business, banking, and investment opportunities.
According to our text book that states “ Turkey is a dominantly Muslim country and Turkish cultural is largely affected by Islamic traditions” (Moran,p.311).
The above passage, leads me to think that one who is not Muslim, or not Turkish may find it difficult to do business in that nation, or with people who happen to be from Turkey. Due to that fact, my next logical thought would be if one happens to be a non-Turk or possesses a different religious belief than that of the Muslim faith, one would wonder if the nations people, their businesses, or the Turkish coast government would be prone to cooperate with such an outsider’s viewpoints in general, not to mention cultural or religious beliefs completely different from their own.
References :
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, (10,2016). Retrieved from:
https://geert-hofstede.com/turkey.html
The New Agriculturalist, Turkey, (10,2016). Retrieved from:
http://www.new-ag.info/en/country/profile.php?a=878
The CIA World fact book, (10,2016). Retrieved from:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
Moran, R. Abramson, N. Moran, S. (2014) Managing Cultural Differences, 9th edition. Routledge Publishing New York, NY.
Hi Carl,
Your comment about Turkey’s common religion is interesting to me. You said, “Since the majority of the nation shares one religion, I would also assume that they share very similar cultural values, and beliefs, as well as social norms…”
Yet, it strikes me that based on what we’ve learned in our course about differences within cultures, there are still likely to be substantial differences in beliefs and behaviors between adherents of Islam.
As someone who considers herself Jewish, my beliefs, behaviors, and social norms vary substantially from many others who also consider themselves Jewish. Among the many Muslims I know, they, too, vary widely in their beliefs and behaviors–including how they dress, when, how, and whether they pray, and how they conduct their business.
I would offer that, as a Jew, there are frequent examples of my having more in common with a Muslim friend than another Jew whose approach differs broadly from mine. I’m hopeful many of my Muslim friends would say the same.
So important to remember the individual component which frequently trumps the cultural component.