ORGANIZATIONAL AND NATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational and National Culture



Organizational and National Culture

Introduction

Aims and Objectives

The aim and objective of this report is to analyze assess organizational culture and how it influences organizational behavior within a company. Furthermore, the report will also discuss some of the significant organizational models and theories, and apply them to an organization. The report will focus on an organization with respect to national culture and organizational culture.

Chosen case study

The organization which has been chosen for this report is “Apple Inc.”. The report will assess the organizational culture of the company and discuss key historical background.

Apple Inc. is a multinational U.S. company which is based in Cupertino, California. The company designs and manufactures electronic equipments and software. Some of the well-known hardware products which the company manufactures are Macintosh, the iPod, and the iPhone. There are a number of software which Apple is known for. This software include the Apple operating system Mac OS X, the operating system IOS, media explorer iTunes, the suite iLife (multimedia), the suite iWork, Final Cut Studio (a suite of professional video editing), Logic Studio (audio editing software for audio tracks), Xsan (software for exchanging data between servers), Aperture (software for editing RAW images), and the web browser Safari.

In his influential study, Hofstede (1980) found that there are cultural differences between countries with respect to four dimensions. These dimensions and there applicability in Apple is given below:

Discussion

National Culture

Apple Inc. is a U.S company which is based in Cupertino, California.

National Culture Model

Power Distance

It is the degree of acceptance of people who have less power in society, the fact that power is distributed unequally in society. The first dimension is the inequality of individuals in a society. What Hofstede has called power distance refers to a tendency in a society to accept or reject human inequality. The answers to the questions of inequality can range from; inequality is a normal and desirable thing, which means a large power distance, and the inequality should be avoided as much as possible, which means low power distance (Aarons & Sawitzky 2006, pp. 189).

High degree of acceptance means that there is a need for a strong dependence

Acceptance of inequality,

The need for hierarchy,

Superiors are often inaccessible,

Privileges for those in power,

Change through revolution.

Low degree of acceptance means that there are weak dependency needs.

Inequality is minimized,

Hierarchy only when necessary, and for convenience,

Higher available

All have equal rights,

Change through evolution.

Apple gives equal opportunities to its employees. The leadership gives liberty to its employees to work in an open environment and facilitate decision making and participation.

Individualism vs. Collectivism

The second dimension refers to the relationship of individuals with a society. The answer to this question ranges from; everyone acts for himself, which has been called as individualism. On the other hand, the need for people to stay tied or related to a particular group throughout his life is called as collectivism (Ashkanasy Wilderom & Peterson 2000, pp. 114).

Individualism refers to people who only care about themselves and their immediate environment.

There are certain groups of people who fall under this category (families, clans or organizations) who care for them and in return expect loyalty from these groups.

High - the "Individualism" consciousness

Private views

Fulfills its obligations with respect to itself,

Loss of ...