Introduction
Culture refers to a collection of behaviors, traditions, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that distinguish a society or an organization from another. Culture determines the rules that should govern the way a firm or an organization should operate in a particular environment. Values refer to the central viewpoints that inspire and steer people’s proceedings and mindset in an organization or a particular society. Virtually all organizations have values that bring and hold their staff members together. This paper presents the crucial role that these two concepts play in an organization and/or society.
The Role of Culture and Values in Societies and Organizations
Values and Culture in Problem-solving
Culture reflects the standard and long-term behavior that an organization adopts and/or adheres to in its operations. It is normally is transmitted from a member of a society to another. According to Daft (2011), the elements of culture are also interrelated and that they can change in response to external forces, which affect the society or organization’s operations. In an organizational setting, culture has been adopted as a tool that defines what it stands for. It is used as a reference point when instilling measures against any worker who does contrary to what the culture prescribes. Various national and global problems are effectively solved by the practical application of human values in all the societies. In fulfillment of this goal, humanity has been considered the highest value within the global human society (Wagner & Ostick, 2013). The test for this value has been in terms of achievement of unity among people throughout the world through their concerted efforts to preserve ethics, historical, and cultural differences, inclusive of the distinctiveness of each nation and/or community. Such unity in the societies can only be driven home in recognition of human values such as tranquility, compassion, love, reverence, decorum, and amnesty among others. These values are strictly determined, upheld, and strongly treated as mere obligations in most of the organizations.
Culture and Values in the Maintenance of Social Relationship
Culture and values form a central concept within the field of social sciences because they play an important role in defining social relationships in the society and in organizations. Practically, societies or organizations find it easy to partner with others if their culture and values do not depict a significant difference. The partnering bodies must have an almost similar agenda, despite the differences in their execution plans. As Daft (2011) confirms, culture and values act as the basis for individuals who lead an exemplary life. Culture has a cognitive structure that describes various ideals of people’s life, priorities, principles, their preferences, and their general behavior. Apart from defining people’s personality, culture and values give life to organizations and societies in terms of guiding the ideals that mold individuals’ social relationships. Culture and values provide several checks that depict what people and/or organizations must not do.
Conclusion
The adoption of culture and values has drastically reduced the probability of persons and organizations conducting themselves illogically or negligently. In an organization, people are held responsible for their deeds based on the constraints that are prescribed by culture and values. Culture and human values play an important role in shaping the moral standards and behaviors that promote unity and oneness in the society. Hence, they are very vital aspects in the society and organizations.
Reference List
Daft, R. (2011). The Leadership Experience. Nashville, Tennessee: South-Western College Publishers.
Wagner, W., & Ostick, D. (2013). Exploring Leadership. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.