MGE Papers

According to the study of cross-cultural psychologist Harry Triandis on cross-culture, culture can be divided into objective culture and subjective culture (Intercultural Communication, n.d.) Objective cultures : are materials made by human beings and transmitted from generation to generation. These could be touched by hands, seen by eyes, smelled by nose and are the symbols of the diverse culture forms of national traits, cuisine, religion, life style, etc. In order to get to know the objective dimension, people do not need for cultural sensitivity but the observation and knowledge acquired. Subjective culture : in the other hands, this dimension of culture refer the intangible aspects of culture which could not be observed by physical touch but the feelings of less obvious aspects of culture, including ideas, attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs (Intercultural Communication, n.d.) Culture is often compared to iceberg which consists of 3 layers of surface, beneath and the botto

When an organizational leader is working with a diverse team to accomplish a goal and he observes dissonance, he may attribute the conflict to observable cultural differences, such as gender or age.  However, there may be underlying cultural contributing factors, such as a belief to follow orders rather than to present ideas, or a belief that work is serious, therefore joking around is not appropriate. The process of accomplishing a task might vary between individuals based on their personal cultural background. Saylor Academy (2012) describes culture as the collective programming which differentiates groups in terms of beliefs, values, mind-sets, reasoning, behaviors, and practices. Leaders who delve into understanding the reasons will be able to use outward and underlying culture knowledge to motivate the team. Hanley (n.d.). describes the surface culture, or top of the culture iceberg model as observable elements such as language, arts, religion, music, sports, and food.  Other

According to (Schein, 2014): "There are three levels of culture: Artifacts, Espoused Beliefs and Values, Assumptions. The term level meaning the degree to which the cultural phenomenon is visible to the observer". Culture is usually explained with the iceberg analog, where what we can see in (the part outside the water) is the very top of the iceberg, but under the water several other things composite the culture. Schein, a used the same analogy where culture has visible and not visible parts, but he went deeper and added another level called, assumptions which it is part of the not visible part of the culture. Schein refers to artifacts as the "things" the people can see from the organization, like the logo, dress code, people, skills, management, processes, among others. In short, artifacts are all visible from the organization. The organization structure like the chain of command is an example of an objective dimension of culture. In contrast, how the staff

When we compare culture to iceberg, we begin to understand a very important quality that all cultures have in common, an important feature of an iceberg is that most of it is underneath the water and only 10-15% is above water, so is culture the rest of the characteristics of a culture is a mystery, we know its there but we can’t identify them right away. (Intercultural English, 2018, March 14).             Culture as an iceberg is composed of three levels of culture, one that we can see (language, Art, Traditions, customs, Rituals, Traditions, Religion, Food, Dressing, and Institutions) , the second that we are aware of  like beliefs, Ideals, norms, roles, and concepts the third one is  that we are unaware of like values, desires, assumptions, attitudes, tastes, (Intercultural English, 2018, March 14), the components can be subjective or objective in nature, as explained below.             Simmel describes subjective culture as the ability to embrace, use and feel culture, that

Cultural Makeup That Is Visible Subjective Dimension: “I believe in hard work.” This is a fairly common dimension in European, North American, and Japanese cultures, as it is often noted in textbook examples (Krietner, & Kinicki, 2012). Objective Dimension: “The majority of movies emphasize characters that lead busy lives.” Movies are a mirror of society and although they are fiction, they base the credibility of their narratives on the similarity of cultural elements of the characters with those of the audience. Cultural Makeup We Are Aware Of Subjective Dimension: “I shouldn’t make eye contact with someone for longer than X seconds, because if it is a man, it would be a sign of hostility and if it is a woman I would be proposing myself.” This is a statement I heard in North America, and I never heard of it before in my country in Europe. Objective Dimension: “It is considered bad-manner to hold eye-contact with someone for a protracted period of time.”  It is a belief

The iceberg is a commonly used metaphor to describe culture - the tangible, as well as the intangible things we see, hear, feel, and perceive (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012, p. 30). Encyclopedia of Management (n.d.) categorizes organizational culture into those that are visible and the majority of those below the surface level as invisible. The invisible organizational culture can be then further classified as the cultural makeup that we are aware of and the cultural makeup we are unaware of. According to the Encyclopedia of Management (n.d.) vision, strategy, shared values, goals, and procedures fall under the visible cultural makeup category; structures and policies are viewed as cultural makeup we are aware of; and beliefs, shared assumptions, perceptions, traditions, values, norms, unwritten rules, stories, and feelings are a few examples of the cultural makeup that we are unaware of. Even within these categories at a different level, each of the organizational attr

          Having a thorough understanding of cultural influences and components is a prerequisite that helps employers and the human capital managers tolerate and better manage individuals and employees with cultural differences to avoid misconceptions and altercations due to “cultural misunderstandings” (Lynch, 2017).           In as much as there are tangible aspects/elements of culture such as dressing, language, food, etc., the biggest components of culture are actually hidden beneath the surface. This comprises of the invisible values and rules that differentiate one culture from the other (Penstone, 2011). It is always difficult to use the rule of culture to interpret the components of another culture. Crucially, the tangible and visible aspect of a culture is usually influenced by the hidden components, such as values, notion, attitudes, and assumptions (Penstone, 2011). Edward T. Hall in his 1976 theory described culture as an iceberg that has two main components, the inter