Bulls n' Bears

 

Patronage Relationships, Reciprocity and Duration

In a global organization with different kinds of individuals, one group is typically powerful or larger than others. Of all the cultural influences that majorly impact any organization culture, hierarchy plays a dominant role. Hierarchy is defined as a system of arranging or organizing individuals into different levels or ranks of importance.

Hierarchy in business, political and social affairs is a reality of life everywhere. However, what matters the most is how employees deal with their subordinates or supervisors on a regular basis. The American technique with hierarchies is influenced largely with egalitarian mindset which implies the meaning that "All men are created equal”. This captures our belief that employees are treated alike in worth and dignity. This also implies that superiors are viewed as individuals just like other employees and treat them informally, share advices or even oppose them. The basic conviction that no one is intrinsically entitled to lead disconnects us from other cultures where superiors are known by achievements.

Apart from this American way, employees give much deference to superiors and executives and avoid disagreeing with them and wait for their directives without participating in decision-making process. As leaders abroad are viewed as higher order being, their employees or followers are always reluctant to anything that sometime would usurp their prerogatives or power. Many organizations use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to understand the motivation of their employees of diverse cultures. When considering cross-cultural relevance of Maslow's theory, it is important to order the needs in a hierarchy which differs basing on cultural diversity. For instance, Eastern cultures focus more on the society needs rather on individual needs.

Although, there is great significance of hierarchy in diverse culture, the superiors and employees should be given detailed and exact prescription of what is anticipated from them as a part of an organization, thus resulting in conformity with the expense of creativity. It is important that employees maintain themselves as a cooperating member of an organization. It is this duty of a global manager in hierarchical cultures to organize, monitor and coordinate people and processes, thus adopting cross cultural management skills.