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Cultural Change in the age of Globalization

International business has changed the way business perform their operations. Business is

changing rather evolving in terms of work culture. Cultural change is something every

organization undergoes in order to enter the foreign market and get accustomized to the

prevailing situation over there. In order to compete globally, the organization needs to realizethat there are cultural differences between the countries and they must learn the characteristics of

those cultures. The requirements of multinational organizations like expansion plans ininternational market have continuously increased the need to understand the cultural dimensions

of different countries to achieve better results. The process of acculturation- adjusting and

adapting to a culture other than ones own is one of the key to success in International Business

operations.

Now with cultures of various locales converging to towards a common module of operation, the

International Business-related practices are becoming similar. A Standard, culture-free business

practices are emerging now. Global Organizations like MNCs which have become the key todomestic economy growth and prosperity. Organizations involved in global operations are

adapting to all these changes (Ball, 2008).

Values in Culture

One major dimension in culture is Value. Values are the basic principles and convictions that are

accepted by the members. Cultural value often originates from the beliefs and traditions. The

value system tends to be relatively stable and do not change rapidly, but changes can occur in

managerial values as a result of both culture and technology under circumstances. Cultural

attitudes about factors likeT

ime, Age, Education, and Status reflect the value and in turn theyshape the behavior of and opportunities available to international business operating in culture. .

According to Geert Hofstede (year), the five dimension of culture which shape a persons value

system are:

Individualism Social Orientation Collectivism

Power Respect Power Orientation Power Tolerance

Uncertainty Accepted Uncertainty Orientation Uncertainty Avoidance

Aggressive Goal Behavior Goal Orientation Passive Goal Behavior

Long-Term Outlook Time Orientation Short-Term Outlook

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Social Orientation refers to the relative importance of the importance of the interests of

individual against the interests of the group.

Power Orientation refers to the appropriateness of the power/authority within the organizations.

Uncertainty Orientationrefers to the emotional response to uncertainty and the change.

Goal Orientation refers to what motivates the people to achieve different goals.

Time Orientation refers to the extent to which the members of the culture adopt a long-term or

a short-term outlook on a work (Griffin, 2005).

All the above mentioned factors are based on the culture and these can act as a barrier to

international business when it involves people who are pretty new to the other peoples culture.

For example, when an American organization does business with a Japanese organization, the

cultural values of Japanese have to be embraced by the American even though it is different in

order to do the business which is not possible otherwise. Hence the learning of other culture is amust for the international business operations.

National, Organizational and Corporate Culture

There are several sub types of culture depending on the factor like locations.

National Culture is culture that is followed at the nation level while Organizational culture is

culture followed in the organization in which the person is working. A person has to change his

attitude and behavior pattern as he adjusts to the organizational culture. Same is the case withcorporate culture.

National Culture refers to the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the

members of one group from the other.

Organizational Culture refers to the sum total of an organizations past and current

assumptions, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together and are expressed in its

working style, interactions with the outside world and future expectations.

Corporate culture refers to theblend of values, beliefs, taboos, symbols, rituals and myths the

company has developed over a period of time.

All of these culture clashes with one another and the person who is able to adapt to the various

culture is the one who will be successful (Czinkota, Ronkainen, & Moffett, 1994).

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