In the world we live in today, it is hard to find a company that is not playing in the global market at some level. From the smallest company that might be only selling or providing services to the country of origin but may get supplies or outsource to other countries. Then we have large global companies that operate all over the world, with employees living and working in all these countries. No matter the size, culture has become a critical topic in this evolving multi-national business trend. Culture is a broad term that we can break down into organization culture and national culture. Both have a profound role in an organization with different characteristics.
In my professional life, I work for a large global company, operating in over one-hundred countries, employing nearly four-hundred thousand individuals. Not a day goes by that culture is not brought up or witnessed in some way. In local offices, we can find a diverse culture of employees, some born and raised in the country they work, others transfer in from other countries.
Before digging into how this effects the day to day life of working in this environment, we need to understand the two type of culture. National culture, is the characteristics, behaviors, and values that one acquires early on in life, typically tied to the culture of the country. The online Penn State commentary on this provides an excellent example of this. “When we say that person is “Brazilian” we are not necessarily implying that the person is from Brazil, but more likely that the person behaves like someone from the region called Brazil. What we more precisely mean when we say something like that is this: That person has experiences that make them act like someone from the area of the world known as Brazil, and therefore that person is relating to us in a Brazilian manner.” (PSU WC, 2020, L. 2, p.4)
Organization culture is a little different, this tied directly the characteristics, behaviors, and values that we acquire later in live, typically in our professional life. One important note when comparing the two is the qualities of organization culture can change and typically do, whereas qualities of national culture are permanent parts of who we are. Organization culture has been a trending topic for years, especially based on the significant effect it can have. A famous quote on this made by Peter Ducker, “Organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast.” (Baiorunos, 2017)
How do does play a role in our day to day professional life’s? I would also consider culture as one of the life-bloods of an organization. Leadership should be connected to it and using it anyway they can. It can make the differences in some cases between motivated employees with high moral and defeated employees hating every second at work. Renee Baiorunos with Forbes makes the statement “look around your organization. Your employees are the ones getting the work done, right? What do you know about them? How well do you understand their pain points? And how have you attempted to resolve them?” (Baiorunos, 2017)
I my organization, you never who you are going to work with and where they stand culturally. We are a German owned company and I find myself working with colleagues from Germany on a regular basis. When we talk about those national culture characteristics, this is evident in these cases. My German colleagues are always, direct, hardworking, and don’t stray from the task at hand during the workday. This is almost completely typically opposite for the those of us born in the United States. Neither side is wrong, but it is display of these cultural differences that play such a critical role.
Bringing this back around to this course based on leadership in a global context. This is one of the many principles that leadership needs to be aware of. The statement that Peter Ducker made was directed at Organization Culture, but we can almost apply it to both types. Imagine leaders that understand the strengths each culture brings to the table and develops work groups that provide these complimentary characteristics. Does doesn’t mean it’s all easy, with complimentary characters there also comes competing and clashing characteristics. This isn’t bad though; I see this as an opportunity for the upcoming generations of global leaders to shine.
Baiorunos, R. (2017). Why Organizational Culture Is The Most Powerful, Practical Tool For Impact And What To Do About It. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2017/06/06/why-organizational-culture-is-the-most-powerful-practical-tool-for-impact-and-what-to-do-about-it/#68bd9c7b2907
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). OLEAD 410 Lead Global Context. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2041071/modules/items/27977820
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