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Organisational Culture

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How national culture of Sri Lanka impact on organizational culture and leadership

Culture describes our behavior, our thoughts, our religion, our customs and everything in relation to our lives. Sometime it may be tangible and may not be tangible. From childhood culture is attached to our lives. Majority of the people in our country accept this culture without questioning it. As citizens in Sri Lanka we have a unique culture than the other countries. It can be called as “national Culture”. According to Geert Hofsted national culture means collective programming of the minds that distinguishes members of one group or category of people from another. We learn our national culture intentionally or unintentionally in our early childhood.
As Sri Lankan people we highly respect others and also respect our family relationships. Especially we respect elder persons in the country. But in western countries they do not think seriously about family relationships. We show our feelings well. We cry when we sad. Laugh when we are happy. But Japanese people do not show their feelings to outside. Majority of the people are Buddhist in our country. Because of that Buddhist culture is embedded to our national culture. In India majority is Hindu people. They are not eating beef. Once Mc Donnels sells beef in India, Indians sued against Mc Donnels. That is to protect their culture. Although western people always try to keep a distance physically when they are talking, we do not have like this distance. That distance shows the mental distance they maintain with people. When we concern the country of China, everyone works for collective benefits rather than individual benefits. Most of the people in our country give priority for the individual benefits. All of the above aspects emphasize the cultural differences in different countries. Every country has their own unique national culture that reflects their own values, beliefs and customs.
Culture is learnt from our parents. They learnt it from their parents and we teach it to our children. This culture is shared by generation to generation. Then our behavior is shaped by the culture in our country. When the lecturer comes into the classroom all the students stand up to show the respect instead of them actually respect them or not. These are come from our national culture. Indian people used the roads for their toilet needs in order to chase British people from India. Still Indian people are doing this. Now it has become a part of their culture. In that way spiritual things convert to material things because of culture. Therefore consciously and unconsciously the culture is attached to our behaviors. Not only family and individuals national culture is also affected to organizations. Organization is a culture not has a culture. Organizational culture is designed in relation to the national culture in the country. According to Schein organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.
Organizational culture is guided by the dimensions of national culture introduced by the Geert Hofsted. Power distance, degree of individualism, degree of gender and gender roles, uncertainty avoidance and long term vs. short term orientation are those dimensions mentioned above. In Sri Lanka has high power distance. Therefore organization also can be seen high power distance among top level managers and lower level people. Because of that lower level people talks to their superiors using words like sir, madam. As Sri Lankan we are always avoid risk. Many organizations do not accept new ideas and innovations because they are risk averse. Degree of individualism is high in our country. Employees in an organization first think or care about their family and personal benefits and secondly concern the organization. They think organization as a place where they can earn something. But Japan becomes a collective nation after the Second World War and therefore they work for meals not for money. Organization is concerned as a family by them.
Another dimension is gender and gender role. Sri Lanka is a Male dominant country and therefore organizations are male dominant cultures. South Asian countries males are always superior to female. Equal opportunity is not given by the organization. There are some jobs specially designed for females like secretary and receptionist and some jobs are designed for males like president, engineers and drivers. All the national cultural dimensions influenced to the organizations in the country and it caused to substantial changes in the organization. So it is proved that national culture impact on the organizational culture. In the past Sri Lankan culture is based on the “Gamay, Pansalay”, “Weway, and Dagebay”. After the globalization it is changed. Now we have mixture of cultures. There are different religions, different languages and different dressing patterns in the country. Economical and technological aspects are changing everyday due to the globalization. Managers should be aware on cultural changes in order to motivate employees within the organization. As an example in Australia majority from the population are migrates. Therefore organization has to work with diverse workforce. In such countries managers should have competency to manage the workforce. In our country also has same problem when we are working with people who related to different religions and different languages like the way Galle, Mathara and Kandy people are talking is different than Colombo style.
Physical signs are different from nation to nation. When we are working with foreign employee we should understand their culture. Government organizations make performance evaluation sheets annually in Sinhala language. But it may occur a problem with Tamil people sometime. Leaders should pay attention those problems as well. When hiring employees the most important thing is their competencies not the candidate’s nation and country. No need to consider the nationality. Managers should respect individual culture. That will lead to increase profit. To do that manager need to have a very good understanding on cultural differences. We can conclude that national culture is very much important and impact on organizational culture and leadership.

References * Hofsted,G., Hofsted, G.J. and Minkov, M. (2010) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind; Intercultural Cooperation and its importance for survival, McGraw-Hill, USA.

* Schein, E. (2010) Organizational Culture and Leadership, Jossey-Bass.

Department of Business Administration Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce University of Sri Jayewardenepura

B.Sc. Business Administration (Special) Degree Year III Semester II

BUS3322 Culture and Leadership
How National Culture of Sri Lanka impact on Organizational Culture and Leadership

CPM 10079
MC 67006

Words 1021

February 2015

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