Cultural Framework
Restituta Odhiambo (First M. Last)
School or Institution Name (University at Place or Town, State)
Introduction
Culture plays a vital role in influencing the business practices of an organisation. Studies repeatedly reveal that the national culture of a country influences the corporate culture of the organisations based in that country or some other country ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2pqrunqavl","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Khan & Law, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Khan & Law, 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1580,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/3ZDBRJ9F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/3ZDBRJ9F"],"itemData":{"id":1580,"type":"chapter","title":"The Role of National Cultures in Shaping the Corporate Management Cultures: A Three-Country Theoretical Analysis","container-title":"Organizational Culture","publisher":"IntechOpen","author":[{"family":"Khan","given":"Mohammad"},{"family":"Law","given":"Laurie Smith"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Khan & Law, 2018). The culture of the host and home country also plays a key part in the success and failure of international business, and this is why culture is considered as an important factor in international business management. Organizational culture is highly impacted by the national culture and the values of the place where a firm is located ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"9fDYkfBY","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Khan & Law, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Khan & Law, 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1580,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/3ZDBRJ9F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/3ZDBRJ9F"],"itemData":{"id":1580,"type":"chapter","title":"The Role of National Cultures in Shaping the Corporate Management Cultures: A Three-Country Theoretical Analysis","container-title":"Organizational Culture","publisher":"IntechOpen","author":[{"family":"Khan","given":"Mohammad"},{"family":"Law","given":"Laurie Smith"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Khan & Law, 2018). National culture becomes a basis of corporate culture and gives direction to a firm in framing its organizational culture. This paper seeks to highlight the culture of one of the American organisations and will see the similarities in American national culture and organizational culture of that company.
American Culture
Culture comprises the values and beliefs that are shared by the members of a country, nation or a social setup. Culture is formed, learned and shared by a group of people, either intentionally or unintentionally, and it includes everything, the ways people think, say and do something ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a27nft5r820","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (\\uc0\\u8220{}Culture definition,\\uc0\\u8221{} n.d.)}","plainCitation":"(“Culture definition,” n.d.)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1581,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/FI859IQ8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/FI859IQ8"],"itemData":{"id":1581,"type":"webpage","title":"Culture definition","URL":"http://people.tamu.edu/~i-choudhury/culture.html","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,14]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Culture definition,” n.d.). Values, attitudes, and belief system comprise together to make up the national culture. All these factors help understand the national culture. Hofstede proposed few dimensions of culture which are commonly used to describe a culture. These cultural dimensions include power distance, masculinity, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HQuNTZBh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hofstede, 2003)","plainCitation":"(Hofstede, 2003)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1578,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/TWQTTH7H"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/TWQTTH7H"],"itemData":{"id":1578,"type":"article-journal","title":"Cultural dimensions","container-title":"www. geert-hofstede. com","author":[{"family":"Hofstede","given":"Geert"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hofstede, 2003). The dimensions of national culture when applied to the United States gives an overview of the US culture. The first dimension, power distance expresses if people of a society expect unequal distribution and accept the power and authority and to which extent. In the US, the score of power distance is 40, which is comparatively lower. This means that people of the US strive to equalize the distribution and try to reduce the unequal distribution of power.
The second dimension of culture that is individualism vs. collectivism is often defined in terms of “I” and “We”. The US has a relatively very high score on individualism which means that individuals in the US are more concerned about themselves only and their immediate families. The American society is loosely-knit and people rely less on others and authorities for help. The third cultural dimension i.e. masculinity vs. femininity determines if the society has traits such as strength and assertiveness or by conventional traits such as caring and relationship oriented. Americans have a high score on masculinity, which means that American society tends to prefer individual competition, success and achievement.
Another cultural dimension, uncertainty avoidance, determines the extent to which the members of a group feel comfortable with obscurity and uncertainty. The US scores 46 on uncertainty avoidance, they do have a high degree of acceptance for new innovative products, and new ideas when it comes to new technology. However, they have generally a low score of uncertainty avoidance which means they are not risk takers and take calculated risks. When it comes to long-term orientation, it describes society maintains some links with the past while planning for present and future. Americans have usually a very low score on long-term orientation, which means that Americans are very practical and tend to analyse new information. They are driven by a can-do attitude.
Corporate Culture of Google
Google is one of the most celebrated and famous organisations of the United States. It is often said that the organizational culture at Google is the factor which pushes it towards excellence. Being an American organisation, the management culture at Google is highly influenced by the national culture of the United States. Google has a culture of openness, which means that employees are encouraged to share their opinions and information that could contribute to the success of the organisation. Google has an appropriate workplace which supports the idea of open culture. The power distance at Google is very low to encourage employees to interact with each other and share their valuable ideas that could promote innovation ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2mb8u9s4f6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Tran, 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1579,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"itemData":{"id":1579,"type":"article-journal","title":"GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management","container-title":"International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility","page":"10","volume":"2","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Tran","given":"Sang Kim"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Tran, 2017). Such a culture promotes innovation and lets employees think out-of-the-box. Employees are projected to be self-reliant at Google, and hierarchy is made to support business operations.
Innovation is one of the most important cultural dimension of Google, which is also the key cultural factor of America. Since Americans are driven by innovation and excellence, Google offers the opportunity to American workplace by providing an environment of innovation aimed at creating excellence in their products and services for their customers. Innovation makes Google one of the most famous organisations. It lets its employees to be themselves and helps it to succeed. In addition to autonomy and empowerment, Google offers many other opportunities to their employees such as free food, ample opportunities of entertainment in the form of the volleyball court, swimming pool, gym facility, free health care, car wash, oil change and other benefits ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"BLJZyVep","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Tran, 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1579,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"itemData":{"id":1579,"type":"article-journal","title":"GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management","container-title":"International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility","page":"10","volume":"2","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Tran","given":"Sang Kim"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Tran, 2017).
As Americans believe in more work and less care about the appearance, employees at Google are asked to be themselves and enjoy freedom so that they can contribute to an organisation’s success by being creative and free. When Google is asked about its success, it is always their employees who are given an exemplary work environment in which they can do best for their organisation and use their all their skills to innovate ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"84SJfD2J","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Tran, 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1579,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"itemData":{"id":1579,"type":"article-journal","title":"GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management","container-title":"International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility","page":"10","volume":"2","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Tran","given":"Sang Kim"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Tran, 2017). The individualistic culture of Americans is also depicted in the organisational culture of Google. Every single employee makes a contribution to innovation at Google and is less dependent on high authorities and higher management for their problems and issues.
Since the American culture is driven by equality, the hiring, firing and decision making is based on merit and proficiency. The American civilization is driven by competition and self-achievement. They are workaholics and are highly attracted by the rewards and benefits which could lead to high social status. Through its corporate culture, it uses a hands-on approach to HR development. Google offers experiential learning to enhance knowledge, skills and abilities of its employees ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"gN6y8hgh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tran, 2017)","plainCitation":"(Tran, 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1579,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/FGhKhGPG/items/Z9E3J6R8"],"itemData":{"id":1579,"type":"article-journal","title":"GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management","container-title":"International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility","page":"10","volume":"2","issue":"1","author":[{"family":"Tran","given":"Sang Kim"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Tran, 2017). In this way employees, experiences and learning improve which contribute to their competencies. Google offers opportunities for growth and motivates its employees with monetary and non-monetary benefits as well. Google is driven by the American culture of self-sufficiency, individualism, and independence, and it is focused on autocratic and flexible work environment for its employees, yet having control of operational level decision making.
Conclusion
To sum up, Google is an American corporation which uses American cultural values and belief system to run an organisation which is known for its competitive working environment and culture of innovation and excellence. Since Google offers all the opportunities that the member of American society wants to excel and do their best, Google is able to attract the most talented pool of employees which are the key to its exemplary organizational performance. The organizational practices of management style, employee motivation, decision making and staffing and controlling is highly determined by the general culture of American and American values. Google is also working to eliminate any biases in its systems and its processes. This is what drives Google towards excellence and success and it is due to the understanding of cultural values of its people from all over the world.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Culture definition. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2019, from http://people.tamu.edu/~i-choudhury/culture.html
Hofstede, G. (2003). Cultural dimensions. Www. Geert-Hofstede. Com.
Khan, M., & Law, L. S. (2018). The Role of National Cultures in Shaping the Corporate Management Cultures: A Three-Country Theoretical Analysis. In Organizational Culture. IntechOpen.
Tran, S. K. (2017). GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2(1), 10.