How organizational culture is impacted by nation, regional, professional culture

How organizational culture is impacted by nation, regional, professional culture

Introduction

A combination of cultural factors at the societal level, organizational level, regional level, and professional level was found to have impacts on globally distributed information technology work. These cultural influences could affect the work behaviors of global virtual team members, with respect to language skills, expectation of face-to-face interactions, communication and work styles, and time-based behaviors. As a result, the differences in employees' work behaviors could affect the adoption of ICTs, communication, coordination, and relationship perspectives of globally distributed information technology work. Evidence was found that other socio-cultural factors also had influences on global IT work, which included time-zone differences, infrastructure, educational systems, and the competitive environment. These findings substantiate the situating culture theory by providing evidence about the complex and dynamic nature of cultural influences.

English language skill was found to be a key factor that affected communication in globally distributed information technology work. First of all, an effective communication requires a shared cultural context. However, such a shared cultural context is lacking when the IT work is distributed across cultures. One incident included in the research findings showed a miscommunication about a deadline because the expression about time had different meanings in different local cultural contexts. Second, it was found that both Indian IT professionals and Chinese IT professionals were facing different challenges with respect to English language skills.

However, China is more challenged than India by the lack of a proficiently English-speaking IT workforce. Several cultural and historical factors were found to affect the English education in China and India. Third, when it comes to the question of how to improve the language skill of Chinese and Indian IT professionals, the research findings suggest two approaches. The long term approach lies in reforming the educational system to improve English education. IT companies, on the other hand, can invest in short term approaches by providing formal and informal English training to their local employees.

Discussion

Evidence was found to support that organizational culture played roles in shaping the values and behaviors of global virtual team members. In addition to cultural influences at the societal level and organizational level, it was found that regional culture and professional culture also influenced the behaviors of global virtual team members, and in turn affected globally distributed information technology work. This research identified two emerging themes of regional culture. First, the diversity of India's regional culture was perceived as a valuable asset by Indian IT professionals to enable them engaged in cross-cultural global IT collaborations. This theme was also connected to how Indian IT professionals constructed their identities. Second, the outward-oriented urban culture of Shanghai had positive influences on Chinese IT professionals in this study.

These emerging themes are in line with the situating cultural theory in that the theory views culture as situated and emergent. This research also suggested that the members of a project team might have different work styles as a result of differences ...