Monday, October 19th, 2009...11:18 am
Culture and Space / Ownership (ADLT 623 – Reflection #4)
Mine, yours, ours, theirs…space, ownership and territory, as Schein points out, are deeply intertwined into culture. My own work place is steeped with artifacts and even some underlying assumptions in its culture with regard to space and ownership. It will be interesting to see how our semester project develops and how I will need to filter out my own perspective while assessing my organization’s culture.
As a society, the American culture contributes to, if not creates, a foundation for organizational cultures which have so many issues and characteristics which revolve around space, and ownership. Each of us carries with us the influence of the democratic and capitalistic principles of our society and all that transcends our national foundation of freedom. We are each taught to value our freedom and to protect it. Schein talks of this characteristic within each of us as based in our innate animal instincts to protect what is ours and not be backed into a corner, I think it is more learned. I believe it is our American culture which drives us to stake our claim and that we carry that expectation into our places of work. It is only in those organizations which make a concerted effort to have employees ‘unlearn’ these larger cultural assumptions and expectations that we find true egalitarian culture and a work force which does not carry some expectation that seniority and rank equate to privileges.
On a visit to Eastern Europe, I found the same informality as mentioned in the text with regard to personal space in public. Riding on a bus or waiting in line, one is likely to get bumped or even pushed a bit, without any acknowledgment or polite apologies. This was very different from our American culture where even the slightest of touches in public seem to at least call for an ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’.
2 Comments
October 19th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
It would be exhausting to apologize or excuse yourself everytime you bumped into someone in Japan. My awareness is heightened, however, as soon as someone comes within six inches of me or my things in a public setting. It’s just the culture I guess. I visited New York City for my last birthday. I had also spent my previous birthday there. By the second trip, I stopped saying excuse me and walking behind people. Instead, I was pushing my way through crowds and making room where there was none before. “When in Rome…”
I think this is the same for a newcomer to an organization. If the masses idolize the authority figure, then the newcomer wouldn’t dare try to bond with colleagues over how deficient the leadership was. In the opposite case, if it is common to badmouth your boss behind her back, then that can be a bonding thing also for a newcomer. I have always been very wary of this alternative, however. It’s been part of the previous cultures I’ve been associated with to maintain healthy competition and to be the holder of information so as not to be put in a vulnerable position. I don’t trust my colleagues enough to join in on negative diatribe, not typically anyway.
I thought it was amusing that Ciba-Geigy prohibited faux inebriation. With the holidays coming up, there’s always a do/don’t list for holiday parties which are usually a break from the rigors of corporate culture if not just for a night. However, each don’t list has, “Don’t overstep boundaries” in some way, shape, or form. The great equalizer that is alcohol can really break down those barriers and allow different aspects of your character to shine through, good and bad. I’m excited to interview newcomers to my organization and flesh out their judgments on the assumptions with which we operate. I could keep going, but I won’t so great post!
October 20th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Thinking about the underlying assumptions of social culture is fascinating for me too. If we look at the predominate culture in the U.S., I think a major underlying assumption derives from the sense of inalienable rights of the individual that is laid out by the Declaration of Independence. I’m not sure that there is any right or wrong, but just different perspectives. However, it is also fascinating to me to gain a deeper insight into what forms culture, values, norms, and often resulting behavior and beliefs of the culture I was born in as well as other cultures. Having an insight into this could help me know how to better handle situations where there are underlying differences in culture.
Culture of a society or an organization seems so subtle, there are many layers indeed. And to arrive at underlying assumptions must take some work. Time and space from a cultural perspective are fascinating. I’ve shared a friend’s perspective on the idea of Polynesian time and European time. I think I tend towards Polynesian time, but also see the value of Euro time… Space is then another matter…
I do like my own space, but growing up in a house with 6 siblings has also influenced my sense of personal space. I remember sharing a bedroom with 2 of my brothers until I was probably 10 years old. So, the prevailing national/local culture surely has had it’s influence on me. However, that is somehow mixed with the culture/setting of my immediate family…
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