Riding the Waves of Culture, Fourth Edition: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, 4th Edition

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National Cultures and Corporate Cultures

Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner

WHEN PEOPLE set up an organization, they will typically borrow from models or ideals that are familiar to them. The organization, as we explored in Chapter 2, is a subjective construct, and its employees will give meaning to their environment based on their own particular cultural programming. The organization is like something else they have experienced. It may be deemed to resemble a Family, or an impersonal system designed to achieve targets. It may be likened to a vessel that is traveling somewhere, or a missile homing in on customers and strategic objectives. Cultural preferences operating across the dimensions described in the previous chapters influence ...