Communication, Business Culture and Cultural Decisions - Essay Example

Cultural decisions establish correct or acceptable behavior by determining individuals’ positions about one another and other aspects of the social and natural environment. Thus the way we seem to “naturally” feel toward family members, authority figures, or the environment is determined by well-established traditions that arise from cultural decisions regarding the appropriate relationships between people as well as with other living things. For example, while the domination of humans over nature is the norm in American and other Western cultures, in other contexts such as some African cultures, the appropriate position of humans about nature is harmony and coexistence (Communication & Cultural Diversity Lecture).

The prevalence of cultural decisions in controlling behavior over the long term often leads to a tendency to believe that the culture-specific view is the “right” view. From one cultural perspective, the different values and beliefs of another culture or co-culture tend to seem misguided or wrong, leading to ethnocentrism (Communications & Cultural Diversity Lecture). It is easy to think of extreme examples where another culture’s beliefs are clearly abusive or otherwise harmful to society, but ethnocentric attitudes are probably more common and exceptionally dangerous when directed against less severe differences of opinion.

Business as Culture
Anthropological theories of culture are extremely useful and easily applicable to the mini-societies we call workplaces. By applying anthropological concepts to businesses, a new discipline called Business Culture theory emerges. The valuable insights of Business Culture theory offer an excellent method with which to evaluate potential employers, and by doing so determine to what extent the culture of a business is consistent with our values.

Evaluating the culture of a business requires that we analyze the workplace environment and company philosophy using anthropological concepts. Relevant criteria for analyzing a culture include studying its language, artifacts, customs, values, heroes/heroines, legends, co-cultures, and renegades. Like societies on a much smaller scale, particular industries and businesses use unique slang and terminology, have special symbols such as iconic imagery or slogans, follow traditional customs of behavior in the workplace, adhere to certain values, and possess a distinctive collective memory that tells of heroes and heroines, the role of co-cultures, legends, and renegades (Organizational Communication Lecture). Together, these elements combine to form a coherent business culture particular to the company that serves as crucial information for would-be employees.

By researching key aspects of a business’s culture before going to work for a company, job seekers can compare these aspects to their own beliefs and, if there are discrepancies, decide whether or not assimilation to the company’s cultural attitudes, perspectives, and values is possible or desirable about an individual’s standpoint. If a job-seeker does aspire to assimilate into a company’s culture, a road map can be then composed using knowledge of its customs and values that will serve as a guide in learning to conform to the culture and creating an image that management will easily recognize as someone who will fit in well in the workplace--a vital consideration in hiring decisions. Read More