Name: Mohammed Daud

Module: Understanding Organising

Module Code: HRMG1202

Assignment 4

National Culture and Organisations

The two countries I have chosen to discuss in this essay are India and Japan. I am going to discuss how the national cultures of these countries have an effect on the culture of businesses. This means that I am going to analyse the behaviour they expect due to their day to day culture and how this changes the behaviour of people in the workplace. After that, I am going to discuss how India and japans culture are different to companies in the west. Both India and Japan have different national cultures which in turn lead to the companies in those countries having different type of cultures. In India, the culture is more about authority and contains the characteristics of a hierarchy. It’s expected in India to be respectful and listen to your elders and this reflects on to how the management is in Indian companies. In Japan, the culture is more of unity. They think about everyone and how they can be affected. This reflects in their companies as there is less emphasis on a hierarchy.

In India, there has always been a change of culture. They have been through many stages where they have been influenced by different factors which have lead to the culture changing. Around 5000 years ago they had the Vedic culture which was influenced by the books of Vedas. Then Buddhism started to increase in popularity and then this became the theme of the new culture. Then they started the Hindu culture which was followed by the Delhi sultanate around the tenth century. Then came about the introduction of the Hindu Muslim culture which was based on national feeling and not religious beliefs. India has never been able to keep one culture and has always been changing from one culture to another (hussain, 1992). Many people have found it difficult to define the Indian culture, many researchers have come up with their own definitions but none of them seem to be similar. India has once been referred to as a soft state as the people are too dependent on the state for support and don’t want to take responsibility and solve their own problems. (Sinha and kanungo 1997). At this moment in time, many people have the belief that Indians are unable to be independent. They need a helping hand at all times. This is one of the reasons why there is such an emphasis on the hierarchy. The inferiors almost feel lost without their superior’s guidance. You can relate this back to how things are expected to happen in the household. Everyone in the house shows a huge amount of fear and respect towards the head of the household. The fear of making decisions by themselves leads to the level of delegation being low. I think the low initiative taken by people in the household leads to the same happening at work.

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So with all this change in the national culture, there must be huge reflection of that in the way things happen at the workplace.  Just like the household, there is a huge emphasis on the hierarchy and the respect you are expected to show to someone on a higher level then you. I think the lack of initiative they are able to show has a negative effect on the confidence of some staff members which leads to them not being able to socialise very well. So they prefer to work by themselves rather than in groups (Sinha and Sinha 1990). ...

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