Importance Of Understanding Culture

5.1.1 – Understanding culture a) Introduction: Culture plays an important role in organisations. People from different places gather at a venue, play together and work together. We all know that every person is different from the other in terms of thinking, behaviour, lifestyle and beliefs. Hence to work in any specific environment, one should know each other’s culture to keep the environment active and alive. In a global business scenario, it becomes important that the leader understands the culture of his own country as well as the culture of the foreign country.
b) Definitions:
‘Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human

Culture is based on symbols: A symbol is something that stands for something else. It could take the form of images, ideas, sounds, gestures etc. Symbols vary across culture and are arbitrary. They only have meaning when people in a culture agree on their use. Language, money and art are all symbols. Language is the most important symbolic component of culture.
4. Culture is integrated: Culture has several aspects, which are interconnected and in order to learn about culture, these aspects must be understood and learnt. Culture consists of various parts and involves integrating these parts into a whole. For example Values are interlinked with customs, beliefs and religion.
5. Culture is dynamic: Culture changes constantly through exchange of ideas and symbols as they interact. The change in culture usually happens since the people have to change according their environment and since culture is integrated, a change in one component can bring about a change in all components.
6. Culture is social: Culture is a phenomena which builds social interaction. Culture cannot be acquired without the interaction or association with others. Culture builds qualities of human beings within a social environment. Denial of interactions between people means depriving the individual of human

For example, Germans are highly punctual. If you are late by half an hour for a meeting, better take another appointment. A business culture reflects the organisational and work-life of the nation. It includes the work-life balance, priorities, seniority age, role of women in work culture etc. It also guides people on how to carry everyday interactions, code of conduct, what to wear in a meeting, how to appropriately use a business card, whether to shake hands or not etc. Business culture is further divided into occupational and organisational culture.
• Occupational Culture: Occupational culture refers to groups like physicians, lawyers, accountants, craftsperson etc. It includes norms, values, beliefs and behaviour towards society. It is often seen that people with similar nature of jobs have similar cultural values irrespective of their national culture. Thus, it becomes important to understand the concept of occupational culture