National Cultures, an added value to Organization's performance

According to Hofstede's definition, culture is "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from other", so the culture characterizes by: 

A culture belongs to one particular group and not others. 

Culture is learned through an active interaction with family members and other members of the society. 

Culture includes a system of values.

According to Hofstede's definition "values are assumptions that members of a culture group make about how they should behave". As the values are taken for granted by the members of the society , they are the most reliable predictors of the individuals behavior. Other elements that are included in the culture are: beliefs, attitudes and opinions.

As one of the most important elements of the culture, the values are reflected in many practices of the material culture, for example the arts and crafts can communicate in an indirect way what the group's values state. The use of the technology also depends on the values orientarion,the technology could be used for the group purposes in a colectivistic culture, meanwhile in an idividualistic culture, the technology just can pursue our own interests.

The political ideology of one group just can be legitimized in the long term, when this ideology  reflects the values of the national culture.

At the moment to implement any structural change within an organization, the knowledge about different national cultures would allow the international manager  to be prepared to face all the obstacles and challenges that could bring the cultural differences.
An international manager, who is interested to maximize the performance of the company's multicultural groups should focus on the promotion of the creativity, tolerance and competitiveness.


For further information, please remit to the book: International Management, cross cultural dimensions by Richard Made.
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