BUS 5211: Managing in the Global Economy

Unit 1
Discussion Assignment
Instructor: Dr. Nassrullah Zonozy

Introduction
This discussion will be on how an organization accurately identifies the elements of its own culture
and how it goes about promoting critical awareness of culture among its personnel. We will answer
the question on whether cultural awareness plays a role in organizational success and will discuss
whether a global organization in the 21st century is obligated to provide opportunities for its
employees to become more culturally sensitive or increase their cultural awareness through an
understanding of the cultural system of values, assumptions, and symbols and be stating what the
organization stands to lose if they do not do the above.

The traditions, customs, behavioral norms, rituals, symbols and the way an organization does things
are the obvious signs of its culture; when someone walks into the organization, these are what one
immediately notices. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked
well for the organization in the past (SHRM, n.d.). An organization can go about creating critical
awareness of culture by its personnel by creating and instituting guidelines and policies surrounding
diversity is a critical step to ensuring your employees are culturally aware. By setting rules about
what is acceptable and ethical behavior in the workplace, you can provide clarity around how
employees of diverse backgrounds should interact with one another. Organizations should also
review local laws surrounding discrimination in the workplace, and include those regulations in the
company policies. They should also ensure everyone – from the leadership team to the front-line
employees – is aware of what constitutes discrimination (Ahmed, 2019).

Bringing together the mission statement, values and vision of the organization and making sure they
are well articulated to the understanding of all staff should be the goal as management creates and
manages culture in the organization. If this culture thoroughly cultivated throughout the organization,
it will be well noticed as it boosts how employees relate with one another within and even outside the
organization. It will equally enhance employees’ behavior towards the organization’s external
stakeholders like customers, guests, vendors and the authorities, this in turn leads to repeat
customer experience to the benefit of the organization. Organizational culture generally describes
the ethics, behavior and collective beliefs that touches all aspects and areas of the business. It is
more like a feeling that one experiences rather than particular programs that are in place. It’s
affected by the way that the organization is led and is hugely influential in the organization’s success
(MSU, 2020). A global organization in the 21st century is obligated to provide opportunities for its
employees to become more culturally sensitive. The importance of cultural sensitivity is that it allows
us to optimally and adapt in other cultures different from ours and makes for value and respect of the
other cultures. This benefits organizations as it reduces the gaps and builds bridges for better
engagements between the staff of the organization and the customers (What is Cultural Sensitivity?
- Definition, Examples & Importance, 2016).

In conclusion, a lack of cultural awareness could lead to decreases in respect and mutual
understanding among those involved in the organization also leads to decreases in creativity in
problem-solving through new perspectives, ideas, and strategies (Brownlee & Lee, n.d.).

References
SHRM. (n.d.). Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture. Retrieved from
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-
samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx

Ahmed, A. (2019). Culture Awareness in the Workplace. Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/culture-awareness-workplace-737.html

Michigan State University (MSU). (2020). The Impact of Organizational Culture on Success.
Retrieved from https://www.michiganstateuniversityonline.com/resources/leadership/the-impact-of-
organizational-culture-on-success/

What is Cultural Sensitivity? - Definition, Examples & Importance. (2016, January 26). Retrieved
from https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-cultural-sensitivity-definition-examples-
importance.html.

Brownlee, T & Lee, K. (n.d.). Section 7. Building Culturally Competent Organizations. Retrieved from
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culturally-competent-
organizations/main#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20building%20an%20organization's,perspectives%2C
%20ideas%2C%20and%20strategies.