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TopIntroduction: Culture And Strategy
Sometimes an event is analyzed and interpreted in different ways by various countries. Even the way they react is absolutely different from one another. In fact, understanding these differences via recognizing effective cultural dimensions help individuals not only to predict other countries’ reactions to strategic matters but also implement the right strategy at the right time.
When it comes to organization, we can assume organizations and their environments as subjective realities which are under certain influence of culture. So far, different definitions for the term “culture” have been presented but we assume culture as the collection of solutions for solving problems arising from external conformity and internal integration. In fact these solution and reaction are acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior. In the other words, culture affects how people think and behave” (Hodgetts & Luthans, 2003, 108). “Culture often sets the limits on what is considered as acceptable and unacceptable behaviors; it pressures individuals and groups into accepting and following normative behavior. Culture determines the rules of the road that guide what people can do” (Steers & Sanchez, 2010, 52). “All people in the organization feel culture even though they may not be able to describe it. Like manners and etiquette, some beliefs are visible, but other deeply held beliefs are invisible” (Solomon& Schell, 2009, 30). One of reasons cultural attitudes are so powerful is that the distinguishing characteristics of deeply held beliefs are often invisible. “Culture hides much more than it reveals, it hides most effectively from its own participants” (Hall, 1990, 29).