Concept of national culture and its impact in guiding management practices

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie 

Date Published: 11 / 12/ 2013

Write a critical analysis of the concept of national political culture and its importance in guiding management practices.

As the world continued to get fused together due to the increase in globalization, it has become a common contextual model for writers to seek an understanding of the concept of cultural management as it relates to what is acceptable in a given country and how the country utilizes these norms in forming the common standards for business operations. A number of articles have discussed the influence of culture on global unionism. Bird and Fang (2009) presented a discussion of three articles that have been passed on this concept of national political culture and its importance in building guiding management practices.

The first article by Tipton is focuses on the change in national identities and cultures. This article critiques the static typologies of culture as developed by Geert Hofstede; instead attaching a high level of importance to the contextual and temporal factors that are contained in the study of national culture. The basic argument presented in this case is that due to the presence of mobile phones and internet, common interests, meanings, values and cultures can then be created amongst people from different cultures. A number of researches (such as Smircich, 1983; Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Anthony, 1981) have come in support of this ideas and the general understanding presented is that these information and communication technologies influence culture by creating a common view and based on things that relates to people in the society from different countries. As such, there is the development of a consensus to norms that are generally acceptable irrespective of the individual’s location. Basically, this can be viewed to be true on a personal perspective. For instance, the Hollywood has transformed numerous cultures in the world and now represents what music, movie and fashion across the world should look like.

The second article was developed by Chevrier, and it continues with the political perspective, arguing that national cultures are meaningful even when they are viewed from the context of the global economies. While national cultures are defined not in terms of shared values, but instead with view on national political culture, Chevrier demonstrated this with Switzerland as an example in which it was shown that people from culturally heterogeneous society also have the potential of achieving a workable national norm by not eliciting arguments cross-culturally but instead intra-nationally, and thereby demonstrating how people function within cultural society and in a multicultural organization. Basically, the argument presented in this case is that companies don’t need to change their values but instead should focus on creating a corporate culture that is similar irrespective of what market they operate in, in order to have a common business objectives (Chevrier, 2009). This argument is correct and it can actually be linked to the success of McDonald’s for instance, which adopts a “think global, act local” view to business in which the company adopts a globalized corporate culture corporate culture that is centred on providing customers with quality products and services, while also localizing their product offering. The focus of the company as such makes it easier for them to operate in all markets.

The third article was developed by Van de Vliert, Einarsen, Euwema and Janssen presented an argument that while the cultures of might be globalized; the impact of the environment with special reference to climate cannot be ignored or marginalized. The argument is that while the internet technology and other features might seem to be bringing the world together, the ecological settings of the world still limits this globalization sphere and the core elements of people’s value still remain intact irrespective of their exposure to different cultures. This argument can be viewed to be corrected as well based on previous literatures (such as Rossi and O’Higgins, 1980). Just that the cultures are becoming globalized doesn’t mean Muslim will start reading bible or Christians making use of the Quran in their daily preaching.

From these three arguments, it can be seen that national political culture is shaping the view and ways of business operations in different society. This is because companies must adjust their business practices to be aligned with what is obtainable in the law of the countries they operate in, as well as create a base for operation for its workforce by detailing them with what is obtainable from the company itself and how businesses must be conducted irrespective of the cultural view of the different individuals.

Do this concept and its theoretical framework provide managers with the ability to ‘appraise the legitimacy of the management practices that they are trying to implement’ (Chevrier, p.181)?

Yes! This is based on the understanding that the concept is all about trying to convince companies to focus more on their corporate culture and adopt a similar corporate culture irrespective of the market they exist in. Basically, corporate culture defines what is obtainable in a company with respect to what they expect to achieve and how they want to achieve such expectations. As such, once a clear corporate culture have been defined, the company can be sure to focus on their business process as it relates to what they intend to achieve and not be fused out by the fear of differences in the cultures of nations. So long as they agree to abide by the regulations of business process in these markets, they can be sure that their corporate culture is the main pinnacle for increased growth and focusing on it instead of trying to change the culture view of the market (which is normally impossible) will be the right answer to ensuring business sustainability.

References

Bird, A. & Fang, T. (2009) 'Editorial: cross cultural management in the age of globalization', International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9 (2), pp. 139–142, Sage Premier Database [Online]. DOI: 10.1177/1470595809335713 (Accessed: 21 December 2009).

Chevrier, S. (2009) 'Is national culture still relevant to management in a global context? The case of Switzerland', International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9 (2), pp.169–181, Sage Journals [Online]. DOI: 10.1177/1470595809335723 (Accessed: 23 December 2009).

Ouchi, W.G. (1981), Theory Z, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.

Pascale, R. and Anthony, G.A. (1981), The Art of Japanese Management, Warner, New York, NY.

Rossi, I. and O’Higgins, E. (1980), “The development of theories of culture”, in Rossi, I. (Ed.), People in Culture, Praeger, New York, NY, pp. 31-78.

Smircich, L. (1983), “Concepts of culture and organisational analysis”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 28, pp. 339-58.