The adoption of individualism in the work culture in Mexico
Much is said that teamwork is the most efficient and viable way of carrying out a certain activity, and of course there are many pros and cons of this theoretical model. However, the adoption of either a team organization or individualistic culture system depends largely on the culture, uses and customs of a given region.
But first, the bases and principles of organizational culture must be established:
"Organizational culture is an idea in the field of organizational and management studies that describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural) of an organization" (source http: //www.financialencyclopedia..com/)
In-depth research is generally done by companies, since a very important factor in their profits depends on this, labor. Large corporations have always been in search of maximizing their profits, so to establish production plants, they look for the places with the best policies and production costs, but a very important factor is the culture of the workers.
Mexico is a country with a diversity of uses and customs, however the culture has been adopted since its creation and as everywhere it is changing with the important events throughout its history. The formula in the organizational culture of Mexico, that is, the sum of beliefs, norms and values results in a very rare culture in the world.
The sum of the latter could be justified in a pathological fear or fear, that of conquest according to theories of Octavio Paz (writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature), which tries in some way to define Mexican culture by explaining the syndrome of the conquered of the Mexican (in his literary work the labyrinth of solitude.)
Most likely, this means that the organizational culture of the Mexican, is individualistic, either due to the lack of identity and that is threatened, justifies that teamwork does not work in Mexico.
However, transnational companies have brought the organizational culture schemes of teamwork, and with training they have founded and in some cases the implementation of this system has been successful. Analyzing in this regard it is possible to define what in itself is individualism and collectivism.
"Individualism vs. Collectivism. The contrast to individualism is collectivism, and it refers to the extent to which people expect to be told what to do, or act predominantly as a member of the group or organization. ”
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Regarding the eternal war of masculinity vs. feminism, the profile of the Mexican for his culture is defined as macho, and the goals focused on the short term.
An important characteristic in Mexican culture is that Mexican society responds very well to a hierarchical system with a high score, that is to say, it is expected that the chain of command exerts a strong influence on decisions, if not absolute.
Leaving aside contemporary organizational culture elements such as empowerment, in which workers are empowered to make certain decisions, the culture seems to respond to the comfort of not assuming that responsibility or authority.
The research of Rich and De los Reyes (1996), concludes that one of the characteristics of Mexicans is their lack of propensity to create, belong and participate in intermediate organizations between the family and the State, unlike the Americans, who they have as a general and national characteristic, the art of associationism, which are described by Fukuyama (1955). (http://www.eumed.net/)
To conclude, it can also be emphasized that the little participation of Mexican society is matters regarding politics, civility or what involves third parties. This to affirm the initial hypothesis "THE ADOPTION OF INDIVIDUALISM IN THE WORKING CULTURE IN MEXICO".
When a company seeks to expand its business in different markets, it must consider the headquarters of its production plant, either to produce in the target market where it wants to position itself, or to establish the factory in a country where the workforce and relationship of costs are more profitable to have a better profit and a more competitive price.
Factors to consider, is the culture, beliefs, uses and customs of the chosen country, the combination of this is to implement an organizational culture in the factory.
In Mexico, the worker's profile is very determined, so it is important to implement theories that consider these factors. The transnational companies can come to battle with the culture of human capital, in Mexico individualism has been adopted, far from regretting the current situation, it can be used to exploit the characteristics of the worker individually.
Elements in favor of individualism will be the speed with which things are executed, it would be necessary to focus on the efficiency of work. To conclude, it is worth highlighting a positive factor that would be the Mexican's attachment to the family, in the culture it is implemented that the family is paramount, in the work culture this determines how willing a worker will be to sacrifice hours with his family to work or work longer. But you can take advantage of family bonuses to encourage good performance.
