Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.
It is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artefacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.
The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
Culture combines many elements to create a unique way of living for different people.
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They are guidelines we use to determine how we should behave in any given situation and what would be considered inappropriate behaviour. For example, we know that we should stand in line to use the restroom without even thinking about our behaviour. If someone cuts in front of us, we are certainly irritated - if not angry - that the other person has not followed the norms of our culture.
Norms vary in their perceived importance and in the way that others react to their violation. Some norms are turned into formal rules and laws, while others are simply unwritten rules of etiquette for everyday behaviour. These unwritten rules can typically be categorized as either folkways or mores. Folkways are norms that dictate appropriate behaviour for routine or casual interaction. In our culture, boys wear pants instead of skirts, and we all know not to pick our nose in public. These are casual rules for behaviour; although we may think that people who violate them are weird or rude, we don 't think they should be imprisoned for their
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However, the cultural environment (communications, religions, values and ideologies, education, social structure) has special importance in multinational business. Table II gives an overview of the complexity of the cultural environment in multinational business. “Culture is an integrated phenomenon and by recognizing and accommodating taboos, rituals, attitudes toward time, social stratification, kinship systems and many other components, modern managers will pave the way toward greater harmony and achievement in the country in which an multinational business operates” (Sherman et al., 1995).
Different cultural environments require different managerial behaviours. Strategies, structures and technologies that are appropriate in one cultural setting may lead to failure in another. Managing relations between multicultural organizations and cultural environment is thus a matter of accurate perception, diagnosis and appropriate