Culture plays a crucial role in the organization’s success in our days. It is a system of values that form the framework where the company’s rules are stated clearly. According to the definition of culture from Edgar Schein, culture consists of the shared beliefs, values, and assumptions of a group of people who learn from one another and teach others that their behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives are the correct ways to think, act and feel (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Each organization must develop its own culture. Culture has many advantages. It unites employees, differentiates/districts any organization from one another, generates commitment, set the standards and the rules of the organization, and provides the guidelines for the organization’s objectives. Culture has five basic elements: it can be learned (from families, institutions, colleagues, etc), shared (to other members of our in-group), integrated (interrelated to all the different parts of a system or a whole), be dynamic (is fluid and changes all the time) and based on symbols (that link each other).
Cultural awareness is defined by Cmpinha-Bacote (2002) as the “self-examination and in-depth exploration of one’s own cultural and professional background” (Carter & Wheeler, 2019). It has to do with the recognition of assumptions and stereotypes about people who are different.
Cultural awareness is a key factor in such a cross-cultural, dynamic complex worldwide business environment in developing cross-cultural perspectives. It helps to diminish stereotypes of a group of people, to overcome cultural differences, and pursue a common goal. Leaders have the power to change the organizational culture. To create business cultures that can make employees feel satisfaction, overcome difficulties, and manage any challenges of Shareholders’ expectations. Leaders who have cultural intelligence can increase the success of communication and multinational and multicultural performance in their organization. Understanding one’s culture, as well as that of others, brings you to awareness of different perceptions of leadership and how cultures come to understand leaders (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Many things can be done to promote critical awareness of culture among the organization’s personnel. Some of them are training classes about different cultural practices, celebrating diversity (with festivals, foods, holidays), having a set of policies about acceptable behavior and discrimination, bridging the gap with communication techniques (learning foreign languages), paying attention and learning from employees and foreign customer’s culture and improving hiring practices and onboarding efforts. Developing culturally literate and aware employees can enhance communication, productivity, and unity in the workplace (Deakin Co, 2017). This awareness can allow employees to communicate and serve customers better.
Culturally sensitive is the skill that allows someone to understand people that have a different cultural background. In the 21st century, employees are the most important resourstated areas for every organization and cultural sensitivity is so important and relevant in the workplace. Today companies are borderless and work with people from cultural understandings/backgrounds. If they don’t promote more culturally sensitive awareness it could have a catastrophic effect on communication of the people, the company’s reputation, and organizational goals.
In our global business environment, organizations must be able to deal with different cultures, and managers and employees should be ready to respond to challenges across national cultures. Conflicting messages can be catastrophic for the organization.
