Group Culture In Dr. David Potter's Cultural Change

1002 Words3 Pages

The relaxed way to consider the concept of a differentiated culture is that of a system of sub cultures that occur in the organization. A casual look at an organization tells gigantic cultural diversity in terms of distinct offices; style of office lay out, uniforms accepted by staff groups; sharing of technology; style of technology, and work groups environment. Sub cultures are fruitful in numbers and range of cultural diversity. According to the research done by Dr. David Potter in his work Cultural Change states that the basic recipes for forming a sub culture are:
1. Two or more people come together for a common cause.
2. They encounter problems that require solving.
3. They develop solutions to solve these problems
4. More people join the group.
5. The groups are “cultivated” by the original founder or founders of the group.
6. A hierarchy starts to emerge.
7. A culturally specific expressive style emerges e.g. language, dress, and behaviors.
8. Group values, norms and established behaviors are developed then internalized by group members as the natural order of things.
9. Rituals, routines and artifacts are manufactured by the group as it grows that insulate their values, norms and established behaviors from change.
10. A cultural protocol emerges that through time is taken for granted by group members.
11. New group members are inculcated into the group culture through mediums such as storytelling, formal inductions, professional study and practical demonstrations to name but a few.
12. As the group continues to grow the established cultural themes morph into deeply held assumptions that form the cultural web of the group culture.
The American philosopher and psychologist William James wrote, “In every concrete individual,...

... middle of paper ...

...he first priority. Children are celebrated and sheltered. Wife fulfills domestic role. Mobility is limited. Difficulty separating work and personal relationships. Sensitive to differences of opinion.
Fears loss of face, especially publicly.Shuns confrontation. Where as in America/Canada Wife often fulfills dual roles and Mobility quite common. Separates work from emotions/personal relationships.Sensitivity seen as weakness. Tough business front. In case of nationalism, Mexico Very nationalistic, Proud of long history and traditions, where as American/Canada Very patriotic. Proud of "American way of life." Assumes everyone shares his/her materialistic values ( Fu, Dienes, Shang, & Fu, 2013). Title and position more important than money in eyes of society in society case of Mexican where as money is main status measure and is reward for achievement in American/Canada.

More about Group Culture In Dr. David Potter's Cultural Change

Open Document