Eth 316 - Cross Cultural Perspectives

Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Shatari Wilburn

ETH/316

March 2, 2012

Tammy Matthews

Abstract

Organizational culture is the term used to describe the shared beliefs, perceptions, and expectations of individuals in organizations. Culture changes dramatically within organizations on a daily basis whether it is for better or for worse. Organizational culture does not automatically occur when an organization is created. In order for organization to have an organizational culture, an organization must have group stability, shared experiences, and history to form a culture. In this paper I will share with you the cultural issue within the organization, identify ethical perspectives in the global organization, and also compare the ethical perspectives across cultures involved in the global organization.

Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Based on decades of study, professors Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn have identified four basic types of organizational culture: Collaborate, Create, Control, and Compete. Each one carries different attitudes, behaviors, and work patterns that must be recognized to enhance effort and performance. Although no culture type is better but, they all have values that assure an organization's success in the end. There are many issues that occur within organizations globally. The first issue that I find that occurs a lot in organizations and that would be diversity in the workplace. Have you ever looked around your office and wondered is everyone just like you? You will realize that everyone is different and being different can have its pros and cons. According to Lindenberger (2002-2011), Diversity is no longer just a black/white, male/female, old/young issue. It is much more complicated and interesting than that. In The Future of Diversity and the Work Ahead of Us, Harris Sussman says, "Diversity is about our relatedness, our connectedness, our interactions, where the lines cross. Diversity is many things - a bridge between organizational life and the reality of people's lives, building corporate capability, the framework for interrelationships between people, a learning exchange, and a strategic lens on the world." As you can see there are many issues when it comes to diversity in the workplace but, there are also positive aspects of being a diverse workforce because, it gives organizations the ability to tap into the many talents that the "different" employees have to offer and those talents or differences can be used to learn about different background, perspectives, or even the pros and cons of their culture as well. The next issue that occurs within organizations would be international marketing. The recent issue with international marketing would have to be adaptation based on the fact that reliability of data has not only been questioned because data was not sampled properly in order to provide accurate data in the United States but, also in the United Kingdom. In order for international marketing being successful, then marketers must determine the cultural viability of markets in order to assure success.

Ethical Perspectives

During my research on cross-cultural perspectives I found one organization that has had their share of cross-cultural issues and that organization is the Nike Corporation. According to DeTienne & Lewis (2005), Nike first emerged as Blue Ribbon Sports and was founded by Philip Knight and Bill Bowerman who turned to other countries such as Japan to save money on the cost of labor and production. As the corporation grew, the corporation expanded to other countries such as Pakistan. In Pakistan, the company faced issues of allegations of their inappropriate work condition due to the child labor based on the fact that in Pakistan children worked for companies who were responsible for the products of Nike. The child labor issue affected the Nike Corporation but, they made the necessary changes to how the organization in Pakistan works. They abided by stricter regulations and paying attention to how they are contracted offshore factories produce products and who they hire as well. Nike faced with global expansion meant that there were several things that needed to consider changing such as the cost. In order for Nike to stay competitive in price, then Nike would have to outsource some of the manufacturing which in the end will give them advantage over their competition. Another consideration for Nike would