Invisible Manifestations of Culture

Values

Private Conversations (with self or confidants)

Invisible Rules

Attitudes

Beliefs

Worldviews

Moods and Emotions

Unconscious Interpretations

Standards of Behavior

Paradigms

Assumptions

The energy fields that make up a group’s culture are dynamic and change continuously. Culture is created and constantly reinforced on a daily basis through conversations, symbols, rituals, written materials, and body language. It is the small, mundane actions and behaviors that create a culture and can shift a culture.

Creating and sustaining a healthy, vibrant culture requires reinforcement of the culture through daily and proactive conversations and communications. The failure to discuss the values, purpose, and rules within a group often leads to a culture that is at cross purposes with the stated intention of the group. Poor communication creates a lot of confusion and often a crisis of meaninglessness

Since a culture is created every time a group of people come together to form a team, a company will have many sub-cultures that exist within its main culture. For example, the marketing and technology teams may have different worldviews, jargon, work hours, and ways to do things. A big challenge for today’s company is to create a strong, cohesive corporate culture that pulls all of the sub-cultures together and ensures that they can work as a unified team.

Most companies try to “fix” perceived problems by addressing the parts of the corporate culture that are easy to see. Some quick-fixes include holding Friday beer bashes and company picnics or adding fringe benefits and perks. None of these actions will have a powerful or lasting effect on a company’s culture.

The CEO and leadership team of a company have a powerful impact on culture through their conversations and behaviors. Business leaders can pro-actively create a thriving culture by understanding what culture is (and is not) and learning how to have fundamental business conversations. Unfortunately, most business leaders receive little to no education on how to have powerful conversations that generate culture and actions. Culture building can be learned, but it takes an honest commitment from the leadership team of an organization.

Questions to Unit 7

1. What is culture concerned in general?

2. What different cultures can a person belong to depending on his/her birthplace?

3. What cultural dimensions do you know?

4. How can awareness of cultural differences and similarities help you in business?

5. What are the symptoms of cultural shock?

6. How do we usually interpret others when we don’t understand them?

7. How is the word “trust” understood in different countries?

8. Why is it considered especially important to build trust in multicultural firms?

9. What does the term “diversity” describe?

10. What components constitute in-company communication policy and its culture?

11. What does corporate culture represent?

12. What factors influence the organizational culture?

13. How is ethics defined?

14. What ethical issues do business people have to face daily?

15. What do fairness and honesty mean in business?

16. What ethical problems can relationship in organization create?

17. In what situations can conflicts of interests occur?

18. What kind of ethics problems can a company face with in its relation with outside world?

19. What factors influence the ethics of decision-making?

20. What rules related to culture should you as a manager stick to?

21. How do people understand business ethics today?

22. Why do you unethical behaviour prevails in bureaucratic organizations?

23. What must people do to avoid conflicts at work?

24. Why can a corporate culture become a hidden liability? What can be done to avoid it?

25. Name visible manifestation of culture and explain how you understand them.

26. Name invisible manifestation of culture and explain how you understand them?

27. Why can poor communication within a company create confusion or even crisis?

28. What kind of sub-cultures can be created within a company?

29. How can CEO and leadership team influence corporate culture?

Vocabulary to Unit 7

1. dimension  n      измерение, величина, размах, аспект

2. directness   n      прямота, открытость, откровенность

3. consensus   n единодушие, согласие

4. dissent    n  несходство взглядов, расхождение, разногласие

5. unanimity   n  единодушие, единство (во взглядах)

6. challenge    n вызов, проблема, сложная задача

7. explore v  исследовать, анализировать, устанавливать

8. anxiety  n  беспокойство, тревога, опасение

9. weird adj. странный, непонятный, причудливый

10. awareness     n знание, осведомленность, понимание

11. assumption   n допущение, предположение

12. correlation    n взаимосвязь, соотношение, корреляция

13. trust    n  доверие, долг, ответственность, надежность

14. harness   v использовать (в определенных целях)

15. diversity    n разнообразие, разновидность, многообразность

16. seek v добиваться, стремиться, пытаться, искать

17. leverage v  усиливать, использовать в качестве рычага

18. diminish   v занижать, недооценивать, преуменьшать

19. unleash    v высвобождать, дать волю

20. inconsistency   n несовместимость, противоречивость, 

21. strive  v - прилагаться усилия, стараться, бороться с …

22. impact  v     влиять, сильно воздействовать

23. probe the ground    прощупывать почву

24. stem    (from, out of) v  происходить от, являться результатом чего-л.

25. infrequently  adv.   редко, не часто встречаться

26. fairness     n честность, справедливость, совестливость

27. honesty    n правдивость, искренность, честность

28. obey   v  повиноваться

29. ethical concerns    этические отношения

30. deceive    v  обманывать, вводить в заблуждение

31. misrepresent   v искажать, представлять в ложном свете

32. intimidate    v  запугивать, наводить страх, угрожать

33. welfare    n благополучие, благосостояние, соц. Обеспечение

Syn.: prosperity, well-being

34. bribe  n  взятка, подкуп

35. mislead   v  вводить в заблуждение; вести по неправильному пути   

36. infuriate  v   выводить из себя, приводить в ярость     

37. boost   v  поднимать, помогать подняться, поддерживать  

38. portray    v  изображать, описывать

39. inclination   n тенденция, склонность, предпочтение

40. entirely adv.  всецело, полностью, вполне

41. stick to.. v держаться, придерживаться, оставаться верным…

42. associate   n коллега, партнер, соучастник, сторонник

43. obstacle  n  помеха, препятствие, преграда

44. tight control    строгий контроль

44. irritability   n раздражительность

45. arousal    n  пробуждение

46. rub    n  камень преткновения, препятствие, затруднение

Syn.: obstruction, difficulty

47. liability  n здесь: помеха, источник неприятностей, обуза

48. hide (hid- hidden) v прятаться, скрываться

49. perks  n Pl  привилегии, льготы

50. mundane    adj. мирской, светский, принадлежащий миру моды

51. meaninglessness  n  бессмысленность, бесцельность

52. cohesive   adj.   связанный, сплоченный, связующий

53. perceived problems   осознанные, понимаемые проблемы

54. bash     - ам. гулянка, веселое сборище

Syn.: party

55. thriving culture     процветающая, бурно развивающаяся культура

Unit 8. Socio-psychological climate within and outside   

A company.