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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
The Impact of Employees’ National/Regional Culture on the Adaptation to Organizational Culture
Author(s)
Ahsen Yalin
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2185/2017.05.003
Affiliation(s)
Yeni Yüzyıl University, İstanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT
In
respect of all forms of enterprises, whether it is a private or public
institution, labor cohesion and productivity is one of the most emphasized
issues. Culture, on the other hand, can be characterized as one of the
inextricable and hardly ever alterable features of human kind. Whether the
profession cohesion and accordingly productivity of those employed within a
culture discrepant from their culture of origin both due to the effect of
globalization and domestic conditions are culturally affected is a question of
importance, which must be answered with regard to state, institution, and employee. The occupational obligation to work in
various regions, encountered in public employees at a national scale,
particularly in the fields of education and health, and identified with
legislative regulations, has become a reason of preference due to economic
justifications for private sector employees. Hofstede (1990),
who divides culture, in general, into two, national and organizational, has
presented five parameters for the elucidation of
cultures. These are “power distance”, “individualism vs. collectivism”, “masculinity
vs. femininity”, “uncertainty avoidance”, and “long and short term
orientation”. By means of power distance, the conception by an
organization or social structure of power distribution of its members is
queried. In other words, the difficulty or simplicity in people establishing
communication with more influential individuals of the society is evaluated.
Individualism vs. collectivism is with regard to whether individuals consider
themselves as a distinct individual or a member of a group. Masculinity vs.
femininity is the parameter, explanatory of the mentality, rather than a form of
gender discrimination. Masculine cultures
attach more importance to competition, force, and achievement whereas feminine societies place emphasis on
emotions and life quality. Uncertainty avoidance is associated with
the attitude of societies towards uncertainties. While some may not pay
attention to uncertainties, for others, situations without clear boundaries may
be registered as a threat. Long and short term orientation is related to long
or short term planned by people and accordingly bearing expectations and in
other respects, displays the past, present,
and future oriented thinking tendency. Within the scope of this study, it is
aimed to identify the positive or negative impact of the culture of origin of
university staff, to be designated in Istanbul/Turkey, on the organizational
culture. By means of the results of the aforementioned study, the comparison of
cohesion is in terms of ability to communicate and accordingly
productivity, within the frame of Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions, between those employed
within their culture (of origin) and those employed in different cultures. In
pursuant of the results obtained from this study, an opinion can be formed for
the regulations to be issued on the matter on national scale. At institutional scale, contributions can be made in
the assessment of employee productivity from the aforesaid perspective and in
terms of the employee, awareness can be raised on the impact of working within
the body of different cultures.
KEYWORDS
culture, labor, organizational culture, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, regional culture
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