The issue of culture in organizations is not an aspect that can be called simple. Within the space of organizational theory, not much informative and documentary material is available, compared to other more widespread topics such as structure or change.
It could also be affirmed that the interest on the part of companies in this topic is not what it should be, since it is still diffuse for those who should be the main stakeholders to know and recognize "with what you eat that"; In other words, what is the use of taking a detailed look at the organizational culture? Paradoxically, culture is practically everything that happens in an organization, as Tierney points out quoted by Hindle (2003: 63): "The culture of a corporation is what determines how people should behave when they are not being observed."
In this sense, the culture in the organizations has to do with explicit and implicit aspects: the explicit aspects have to do with the values, norms, policies, structure and the declared purposes of coexistence such as mission and vision. The implicit ones are more linked to the behavior, beliefs and habits that are part of the organization's daily routine. Following the above, we can express that we cannot avoid culture in any way and live organizationally isolated from it, since as the air is always there, as Schein (1990: 110) affirms: “Culture is omnipresent. It covers all areas in the life of the group ”
This being the case, cultural dynamics have a decisive influence on how things happen in the organization and their understanding contributes to approaching views that are more adapted to reality, with greater possibilities of considering impacts and trends.
This is particularly interesting for people who have had to migrate from one country to another and find themselves at work with a completely different culture from their country of origin. How you feel in your new work experience away from your "comfort zone" could determine results that can be classified as success or failure. Sometimes the worker, with his mind set on the classic concept of corporate culture, believes that, being the same multinational company, he will find the same organizational behavior in another locality, colliding with norms and habits that he did not expect to find. Although it has very well written mission, vision and values statements, an organization does not guarantee, due to the complexity of human coexistence,that the organizational culture is the same in both Buenos Aires and Caracas.
It is worth asking why if there is an awareness and intention of alignment of values and therefore of modes of behavior, uniformity is not achieved in this regard? A response approach to the above is that the organizational dynamics are not only guided by intrinsic forces that are going to dominate the internal culture, but are inevitably and profoundly influenced by external forces coming from an environment with well-differentiated singularities from one locality to another. another, what he calls Hellriegel and Slocum (2006) “cultural context”.
Understanding that relationship of forces that translate into emotions, language and particular actions is fundamental for both the worker and the organization itself. If you do not know how to deal with culture, it will generate frustration for both the worker and the company, becoming victims of your lack of understanding. Both will suffer problematic processes of adaptation that go from job fatigue to the abandonment of the position by the worker and perceptions of poor performance and dismissals on the side of the organization. In both cases, glances that see beyond the obviousness of an organizational identity are required for more “laboratory” work that has been done in the organization to build its own organizational culture.
In order to "survive" different cultures, the worker must be an open observer that allows him to consider that life is a constant change and to have as a premise the disposition to learn and the wit to see in a new scenario a world of possibilities for improvement but above all an expert in adapting to the circumstances that correspond to act. The development of the competence called by Hellriegre and Slocum (2006) “Cross-cultural management” is extremely useful since it allows, among other things, the development of communication skills taking into account the levels of cultural context, avoiding the frequent obstacles associated with culture.
As for the organization, when it joins a geographically different market such as in the case of an acquisition or merger of companies, it must take extreme care to be respectful of the idiosyncrasy of the country or city where it intends to integrate and take into account what This is how people express themselves culturally, after all, they will be part of and inject "different blood" into the organization; Processes of planned change and organizational cultural transitions are recommended.
In conclusion, we can affirm that organizational culture is not an aspect of organizations to be taken lightly, and its understanding is vital both for people who move from one place to another for work motivations and for companies that intend to succeed in every way (economic, market, processes and people) in a different environment than the one of origin.
Bibliography
Hellriegel, Don and Slocum, John (2006) Organizational Behavior. Thomson Learning. México Hindle, Tim (2008) Management: The 100 ideas that made history. Editorial Cuatro Media. Buenos Aires Schien, Edgar (1990) Organizational Culture in American Psychologist Magazine 45, num. 2, February 1990, pp. 109-119.
