Cultural Value Examples: Meaning and Need At The Workplace
The Facts
Q&A
Culturally diversified groups add more value to a brand. It helps increase the brand's market value and improve the brand image to attract more people. The term 'culture' refers to the beliefs, behavioral patterns, and thought processes shared by people residing at a specific place.
As a result, it may also be associated with someone affected by culture over the internet rather than living among individuals of that ethnicity/race. Culture may be explained by shared behaviors, genders, clothes, beliefs, people, or objects. And by objects, it means significant artworks or maybe clothing patterns, like the Christmas tree is considered a ceremonial object and hence represents the western culture and the reason for the national holiday.
The Need for Cultural Values
However, any cultural group is responsible for carrying a specific thought process, belief patterns, and practices to the world. For example, in the United States, it is widely believed that you should never sit next to a single person on a bus.
However, this is acceptable in countries like South Africa or China. And hence it can be confusing for a diverse group of people to fit into American norms since they are different from other countries. Therefore, to make an employee feel inclusive of the workspace environment, the company should undertake programs to help them discern that they are a part of the company.
Since every culture has distinctive beliefs, feelings of inclusiveness are not the same for everyone. So you need to take care of every employee so that they feel respected, heard, and valued at the same time. Because Americans have diverse belief patterns and firmly believe in individualism, they may find it inefficient to work in a team. So many points are considered since they contribute to making an individual feel not included.
Meaning Of Organizational Culture
An organization's culture refers to attitudes, beliefs, belief patterns, and goals that every company adopts to sustain work excellence. Also, to maintain a healthy work environment, these norms are made. As a result, an employer must understand organizational culture and how it may generate a sense of inclusion among employees.
The culture of a company can be palpable in itself. The sense of belongingness can be made evident by the practical leadership qualities and interaction style. The leadership qualities of the supervisors can affect the person to a great extent, like if the person is being heard and appreciated; they will put extra effort into achieving the goal. But if you listen superficially and the conversation is one-sided only, they won't feel like a part of the company, which will not keep them motivated. Hence they won't consider retention as an option.
Cultural Values of a Company
Values are the principles or criteria for the ethical code of behavior in every case in their literal sense. However, in an organization, values play an essential role in defining what behavior is valued by the firm. Since every coin has two sides, hence nothing is wrong. But in an office setting, it is necessary to mention the behavior which is promoted. Some sets of values followed by every organization are as follows:
- Goal-oriented - Focusing on the achievements and the performance.
- The behavior of the employees should be directed towards patience, tolerance, respect, and teamwork.
- The employees should focus meticulously on the details to outperform the competition in the market.
- The workers should follow a predictable path and follow all the protocols so that no one falls into the mishap.
- Innovation - the team should thrive to become creative and productive at the same time. Also, experimentation and risk-taking should be allowed in controlled conditions.
- The employees should have the ambition and aggressiveness to beat the competition in the market and help the company stand out in the limelight.
Importance Of Inclusiveness and Diversity In Addition To The Cultural Value
- It provides a sense of competition to the company
Organizations with a more diverse workforce share a better brand image and can enter new markets with the help of the diverse group of people they have. Indeed, the inclusion of different cultural groups provides better quality of work, along with the scope to increase their market shares and open new brands.
For instance, Nike has collaborated with other companies who have marked the juneteenth a paid holiday for all employees in the company. And Juneteenth is regarded as the day ending slavery in the US. Hence, it creates a good market image and helps people connect with them.
- Higher financial performance
After gaining a higher market share and receiving good competition in the market, it expects more elevated performance levels to let them survive in the market. According to research, there has been a 10% rise in the inclusivity of diverse individuals, which has resulted in a 0.8 percent gain in profits. For example, johnsons and johnsons were the number one company in 2018 for incorporating a culturally diversified workforce. They tend to battle against gender prejudices in the hiring process, which has resulted in a rise in sales and an enhancement in the brand image, making it more widespread.
- It symbolizes adaptability
Adaptability is a crucial feature for any company to grow and expand. The higher the company exhibits flexibility, the higher it can adapt to the dynamic set of markets. And hence, the decision-making procedure becomes easy and makes a more comprehensive image of the company to the world.
- Enhances and promotes creativity and innovation
Indeed, a homogenous set of employees are more vulnerable to thinking in the same direction. Since they have been born and brought up with similar sets of beliefs, their thoughts will coincide in some way or another. The problem won't occur with a culturally diversified group of people. Since they have different beliefs and distinctive personalities, they will look towards the problem from a different perspective. This will not only deliver the solution faster but will also assist others in broadening their view.
- It lowers the turnover of employees.
The recruitment and hiring process is a strenuous task and requires increased funding from the department. Hence, if the employee turnover is higher, it acts negatively on the company's growth. With the inclusion of a diversified set of people, a company can achieve success. But you need to emphasize that they should feel accepted, respectful, and heard when they share their opinion. Because most employees depart when they believe their input is not valued in the decision-making process. So it would help if you made them feel closely associated with your company—employees who feel involved and a part of the organization work nearly five times as hard as others.
- Diversity is capable of benefiting society as a whole
Nowadays, the issue lies in who can effectively run the business that the CEOs have established. They are not able to find the appropriate people for the job. This has opened up the opportunity for diversified cultural groups. And due to this, the US is regarded as the largest generation of millennials.
Conclusion
The inclusion of cultural groups in a professional environment invariably leads to profitable results. Since everyone has a unique thinking process, they can find unique and innovative solutions. Many brands tend to use it as a marketing strategy to make a good market image. Big brands like Nike, Alibaba, Reddit, and many more have used it and have gathered a good market share. Hence, the inclusion of such a group of people can increase the brand's value.