Assignment

HR-07
TOPIC-Recognize the impact of culture on individuals and their relationships. Identify key
factors of cultures and how it differs from other world cultures.

Submitted By – Mohit Gupta

PGDM- 2016-18
Culture

So what is “culture”? There are many cultures: professional, corporate, educational,

national (with geographical differences), religious/spiritual, sexual orientation,
generational, family and gender. All of these cultures influence us—we see the world
through our cultural lens(es). Another important point is that we learn culture and
cultural language is not inherited.

Sometimes one or more cultures may take dominance over another culture,
depending on the situation. Examples are:

• Corporate culture dominates over national culture

• National culture dominates over religious culture
• Religious culture dominates over sexual orientation
• Generational culture dominates over gender culture

Loosely defined, culture refers to the shared values, beliefs and norms
of a specific group of people. Culture, therefore, influences the manner
we learn, live and behave. Because of this, many theorists believe that
culture is an important shaper of our personality. One of the general
assumptions asserting the effect of culture to personality is that people
who are born and bred in the same culture share common personality
traits.

According to Franz Boas, pioneer of Psychological Anthropology or the study of the

relationship between culture and personality, personality is obtained thru culture and
not biology. His theory called Cultural Relativism gives a comprehensive
understanding of the underlying relationship between culture and personality.

Boas' student Ruth Benedict expounded the research on the effect of culture to
personality through studying cultural various patterns and themes. Although she
admitted that the global cultural diffusion has made the cultural patterns of civilized
societies are difficult to trace, primitive societies located at the remote areas have
preserved their shared personalities through their values, beliefs and rituals. When
Benedict wrote her book Patterns of Culture, she mentioned her comparison of the
cultural patterns of two different northern American Indian groups as well as an
Indian group located off-coast of Papua New Guinea. In her study, she found out that
although they are from similar genetic collection, these groups have significant
differences in their respective value systems. For instance, one tribe's idea of a
""good man"" differentiates to that of another. Her book, The Chrysanthemum and
the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture, included a detailed description of
Japanese belief and value system as well as a hypothesis on the reason behind the
actions of the Japanese during World War II.

How does culture influence us?

A number of cultural aspects influence the way we interact with other people,
including national culture, gender culture, corporate culture and various
communication styles. All these elements influence;
• how we conduct work
• our behavior and style
• our use of language
• how we solve challenges, problems, and conflicts
• how we negotiate and
• how we go about creating relationships.
How culture affects our
relationships
Structural conflict:

This is built into our social structure and results from differences that are
created because our various cultures place us in different categories such as
gender, tribe, race, and class.

At the societal level, structural conflict leads to real conflict by creating

mistrust among the different categories of people, leading to problems such as
ethnic/racial violence. Unfortunately, sometimes we import this conflict into
our relationships. This week, we will look at some of the key areas this conflict
happens and how we can deal with it.

INBUILT CONFLICT

In theoretical terms, there is conflict in any system. Think of a car engine as a

system. It does not need an external agent to go haywire; sometimes it just
acts up.

Likewise, in our relationships, the potential for conflict based on how we are
socially and culturally wired is always there. Every small difference between us
is a potential source of conflict. It is how we choose to deal with it at the
personal level that makes a whole world of a difference.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

One of my favourite discourses is the role of culture in relationships,

particularly in regard to gender differences. In the most accepted modern
folklore, it is believed that culture favours men over women by giving men a
position of authority. This has spawned all sorts of stereotypes and ideas on
how each gender should deal with the other, some embracing tradition, others
advocating the modern ways.

The real trouble, however, is when couples start treating each other on the
basis of culture or importing into the relationship the same stereotypes that
society pushes on us.

For example, you might hear someone saying that all men are the same,
insinuating that they all cheat even though their partners have not been caught
in any act of indiscretion. Likewise, men regularly describe women as
unhelpful or inconsequential while in fact, in some cases, men rely on their
women.

ETHNIC/RACIAL DIFFERENCES

In our society, when you marry a person from another community, it is

common for other people to identify him/her on the basis of that community.
“He married a Kikuyu.” Or “He married a Luo woman.”

We should not be concerned when people refer to us and our spouses in those
terms, but we should be concerned if we view our spouses in terms of their
tribe.

The question is, whom did you marry? A Shadrack, an Agnes, a Luhya man, or
a white woman?

ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES

A young man I know was offended when his girlfriend used a local term for
rich people in reference to his family background. She comes from a really
humble background while the young man comes from a well-off family.

This man felt that his girlfriend was not relating to him as a person. As it
turned out, she was afraid that his family and their circles would reject her or
assume that she was just after his money. The man assured her that his choice
was personal, one based on love.

WAY FORWARD

The point of all this is not by any measure a call to ignore culture, because that
will be counterproductive. Rather, it is a challenge in two directions.

First, we all need to realise that culture is dynamic, allowing for continuous
change. Second, and this is very important, to recognise that modern
relationships are run on shared “‘amorphous” entity called society.