Understanding Workplace Values Around the World

What is power, who has power, can it be given away like a five dollar bill; is it something everyone would like to have like a top position in a company. Power can be viewed as a form of control, the ability to influence other people around you, or a higher status amongst a certain group of people. It’s also something that can be received at birth, “ascribed status”, it can also be gained during the lifetime of a person, “acquired status”. Is the power struggle in our society today a public issue, or is it a personal issue? My attempt in writing this paper is to go against the grain, and explain why people with power are similar to people who are powerless, or the less powerful in society. The only difference we share is our current status in society, but we’re similar in many ways. People with power, who are a part of the apex of society use their powers to their best ability. Many people believe that it’s for their selfish desire, or to obtain personal gains. The people with power assert themselves as bettering themselves while giving benefits to the people around them. We would all do the same thing if we were in their position.

When we are called upon to make decisions, several factors are taken into consideration before this decision can be made. Depending on the type of decision, such factors could be cultural beliefs, personal beliefs, and organizational beliefs. We have come to realize that there are fundamental challenges in trying to apply ethical principles in a cultural and organizational environment. Each culture has unique distinctions in values, which may or may not be considered ethical by each individual within society. These differences in culture and personal beliefs influence any decision, whether personal or professional, of any individual. Certain

(b) Power is defined as strength, ability, or a driving force. (c) Difference is defined as the way in which two things are not the same. (d) According to MacIntosh there are two types of privileges. The first is based on what she calls "unearned entitlements," which are things that all people should have. Some examples are feeling safe in a public place or working in a place where they feel that they belong and are valued for what they can contribute. The other type of privilege is what MacIntosh calls "unearned advantage," and occurs when "unearned entitlements" are restricted to certain groups. An example would be a white person feeling out of

In my experience, power is defined in many ways, it is the deciding factor of everything. Power can make or break a person or

The contrasting values of the generations can impact manangment and human resources in the workplace. Currently, the diverse generational wokplace is a challenge that leadership must face. The genearations contrast in value set can impact the leadership style found in workplaces (Twenge, 2010). Managing Baby Boomers includes earning their respect and communicating with them in person. Because Baby Boomers are the oldest generation in the workplce, they tend to be in higher leadership positions. As a leader they need to keep in mind that the younger geneartions may not value the same things as their generation (Gibson et al., 2009). Workplace leaders need to recognize that Generation X values a work/life balance, so they can offer them flexible scheludes to accomadate their value set. In addition, leaders need to be giving these workers stimulating work, because they value it (Gibson et al., 2009). Unlike, other generations, Millenials favor friendship and working in groups. Leaders should recognize this value and allow their workers socialize in the workplace (Gibson et al., 2009).One way leadership could allow their employees to socialize is through group projects and company parties. It is crucial for leaders to recognize that the generations value many of the same things like health, family security and honesty.

It is important for all individuals to understand what things in life that they value. These values can stem from personal experience, cultural beliefs, religion and in some cases political beliefs. Identify and understand what core values are and attached them to our personal and profession beliefs and conduct. Core values are the qualities or characteristic that we represent who we are individually and collectively. They are represented as the fundamental driving force within our lives that control why we believe one thing over another and the significant of our actions based on this belief. Identify our core values is the beginning of understanding what they represent. Understanding how people acquire and change these values are also

There are many different forms of equality and inequality. Inequality refers to the degree to which culturally valued material and social rewards are received disproportionately by individuals, families, and other kinds of groups. This essentially means that depending on the individual, family, or categories a person can have a harder time getting resources. Some of the most common resources are wealth, power, and prestige.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index- A county behavior on the high end of the scale is considered not flexible on acceptance to behaviors of traditional thoughts or suggestions. Countries on the low end of the scale are calm when it comes to standards over concept.

Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which a culture feels threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations and tries to avoid them by establishing more structure (Lustig, Koester, 2006, p.119). Some cultures believe change is beneficial because of what is unsure ahead while others believe that change is unnecessary and stay with the status quo. Hofstede create an uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) to judge a cultures attitude toward change. Those countries with a relatively low score have a high tolerance for uncertainty and have minimal rules that govern social conduct and behavior (Lustig, Koester, 2006, p.119). Examples of these countries include Jamaica, Denmark and Sweden. Conversely, those with high UAI’s prefer to avoid uncertainty. They try to ensure certainty and safety by rules, regulations and laws. Dissent is not tolerated. Examples of these countries include Greece, Portugal and Guatemala. Mexico has a high score in the UAI (65) (Lustig, Koester, 2006, p.121). It is resistant to change, some of it due to the fact that Mexico is a Catholic country which

Power Distance is one of Hofstede’s dimensions which is used to measure how the difference in power between the people is seen in a country. A country that has a high power distance is one where people are considered superior according to their gender, status, education, race, or family background. A good example of this dimension is India, mainly because of their caste system and females being looked down upon. Indian population is split into 5 groups, and each group has a separate power status and one you are born in the lowest caste, you cannot marry or associate with the highest class other than being servants of the higher class. Cultures with low power distance include Canada, Austria and Israel. People in these countries see each other more as equals.

It is evident from the survey that Australia is similar to the Philippines in terms of Uncertainty Avoidance. Both countries shared similar views and the majority of results were reasonable and not unusual. These two countries are seen as a safe place to live from the results of the survey. Geert Hofstede had his research on the comparison of Australia with the Philippines with Australia on 51 and Philippines on 44. This comparison is very close with a 6% difference and demonstrated the similarity of results between the two countries on the survey. The survey didn’t have any obvious clues that could demonstrate a significant difference between Australia and the Philippines. Therefore it is seen that the uncertainty avoidance is alike between these two countries.

In Power Distance Index, she sometimes agrees and sometimes disagrees with her family when they are wrong so she is in the middle. However, she tends not to raise her voice against her teacher when he or she discriminates students. As a result from the survey, she fairly accepts inequality. In China, people are less likely to oppose others who have higher power. It is clearly to see that she is influenced by culture in her country. It means like Chinese people, she tends not to have a strong disagreement with inequality (Hofstede, "What about China?").

Coming straight from training to Cloths and Accessories (C&A) store located in Vitoria, David clearly failed to understand organizational culture and employee value system. He should have picked up the cue from former store manager, Douglas Fischer, “to know his team before introducing any change”. Organization, just like countries have their own culture and values (Cable and Judge, 1996), David was apt in observing that employee were not smiling, mannequins were always dressed without any accessories, he however should have reflected on those instances as a symptom and should have made an attempt to probe it further. Just like self awareness, it is perhaps was desirable for David to be aware

Brian C. Satterlee (2014) discuss, “Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values goals, and practices that characterized a society, or in the business sense, an organization” (p.42). The definition of Cultural values in the Cultural values Business Dictionary (2015) lists, Cultural values are commonly held standards of what is either acceptable, unacceptable or the opposite of both. Also, an organization can be described as a group of people that interact with each other to “perform essential functions that help attain goals” (Daft, 2013, p. 12). Combine these three underlying concepts combine the cultural values of an organization.

Social Inequality is the existence of socially created inequalities; it occurs when ideology and power combine to make one group of people feel inferior to another. From a sociological perspective people are able to assess both opportunities and constraints that characterize their lives as it relates to age, sex, gender, race and class and based on this, many ills that the world faces today are derived from some person’s blatant disregard for differences.