Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th Edition

Part TwoWHAT LEADERS NEED TO KNOWABOUT MACRO CULTURES

Macro cultures are nations, ethnic groups, and occupations that have been around for a long time and have, therefore, acquired some very stable elements, or “skeletons,” in the form of basic languages, concepts, and values. At the same time they have evolved and will continue to evolve, primarily from contact with other cultures. To compare macro cultures we need general dimensions that cut across them and that have remained relatively stable in spite of historical experience. The problems of making multicultural groups work well is that those stable elements can clash in unanticipated ways and can cause both desired and undesired changes. To provide some historical context, let’s begin with a couple of interesting stories from anthropology.

The murder of Captain Cook in Hawaii. The interaction of macro cultures can best be understood in historical examples such as those cited by Sahlins (1985) in his analysis of the interaction of the British with the Hawaiians and the Maori of New Zealand. The Hawaiian “mystery” was why Captain Cook was brutally murdered when he returned to Hawaii after a very successful first visit in 1778. When Captain Cook first landed in the Hawaiian islands he was viewed as the god that their mythology had predicted and was, therefore, highly revered. The Hawaiian women believed that sleeping with the sailors was culturally appropriate because the sailors were godly as well. Cook at first forbade ...