Ethnographic Research on Business Culture Ehtnographic Research Literature Review

Ethnographic Research on Business Culture

Ehtnographic research as it pertains to business culture

Influence of culture on business management

According to Cox (1993, 45-56) cultural diversity in an organization includes the different ways in which the entire workforce experiences a unique group identity that is either based on sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender or age. Cox further ads on that culture entail the beliefs, values and customs of each distinct group and that organization can be classified into any of the three groups depending on their cultural diversity, which are the monolithic, plural or multicultural organization. Scholarly literatures have shown that cultural diversity has an influence on business management accountability and decision making strategies.

Accountability has been portrayed as a rational practice that is a requirement in the governance structure of business organizations, while accountants present it as the main aim in financial reporting. Fernandez (1991, 112-123) noted in his studies that different cultures embrace accountability in business management in different ways; his studies further enlist guilt and shame as the two main factors that influence accountability and are also responsible for the way different cultures perceive accountability. Individuals from cultural background where guilt is common tend to practice accountability through the disclosure of information, while individuals from cultural background where shame is common are perceived to be poor in their accountability and rarely do they give out information.

Human resources consultants have observed that expatriates working in cross cultural organization have being forced to adapt to cultural change in respect to accountability and that host managers tend to instill good knowledge of foreign culture and respect to foreign culture on them so as to enable them adopt the new culture of accountability.

As companies expand and emerge into new markets it has become apparent that there is need for host managers to understand cultural values of foreign cultures in order for them to make decisions that will cater and keep into consideration all of the cultures encompassed in their business organization. Cox (1991, 23)pointed out in his studies that culture, belief system, values and customs all have an influence on decision making strategies because different cultures view ethical issues on different perspectives i.e. certain cultures promote ethical practices that are can be viewed to either discourage or encourage what is perceived to be ethical behavior or practice in another culture. The culture-based consequentiality model is an example of a model that tries to explain how cultural value differences change ethical actions of managers responsible for the decision making process.

Influence of communication on business management

Communication is key factor to consider in…