Culture Leading with Cultural Intelligence

Question: Discuss about theCulturefor Leading with Cultural Intelligence. Answer: Introduction Culture can be explained and defined as a social domain which can strengthen the practices, talking, oratory, expressions, behaviour that can express the continuation and discontinuation of social meaning of life of the common people. But the definition of culture can be explained in various ways (Eliot, 2010). In the chapter two of the book Leading with Cultural Intelligence by Mai Moua has been described about the understanding of the culture. Here she maintained some bullet points and examples to explain the culture. Culture can be learned and shared to others, a group of people can lean it from other individual or group, and it is a learning, sharing and systematic process. The three fundamental aspects of culture are values, assumption and symbols. The main five layers of culture are national, regional, organizational, team and individual. Hofstedes model of value dimensions are identity, power, gender, uncertainty, time are helpful for the leaders in the organization to underst and the value of the culture (Hofstede et al., 1991). It is also related with economic and social environment of a country. In the study of cultural economy there is included social norms, social identity, ideology, believes, trust etc.(Murray, 2012).The sociocultural environment includes the culture where an individual lives and do study to get education and the people and organizations with whom the individual is connected (Furham, 2012). Culture is Learned Cultural learning is referred to a process through which an individual or a group of people in a society or in an organization can learn the culture of that society or the organisation (Chudek et al., 2012). When a person moves to a new place then he have to learn the culture of the place to stick to that place for a long period of time. In the book Leading with Cultural Intelligence the author mentioned that, according to Hofstede culture consists of some mental programmes, it is the software of the mind. Each end every human being carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout their lifetime (page no.37). But according to Peter Senge Like a computer, we are programmed to act or behave in certain ways (page no.37). The author Mai Moua gives an example in her book to explain that culture is a learning thing. When a new employee is appointed in an organization, at the first day of office whatever he learns from the orientation session, communicate with other employees and management, these things are helpful for him to learn the culture of the organization and he adopts it for a long term basis. Culture is Shared Culture can be shared by an individual or a group to other individual and group (Crmer, 1993). The author Mai Moua in her book gives some example to state that culture can be shared. Ming, a college graduate pass student has got job in an accounting firm where she tends to spend some of her free time with some of her colleagues which are Asian. She feels comfortable with that group and they share each other ideas and values. This become helpful for her to learn the culture and the environment of the organization spontaneously. Culture is Systematic A lot of interrelated and interconnected parts are combined with each other to make a whole system. Culture is also systematic (Cameron Quinn, 2005). From the upper portion of the iceberg it cant be understand that how much deep is it, the shiny tip of the iceberg only can be seen. In a conference the leaders of the organizations are like the tip of the ice berg. Everyone only see the presentation of the leadership. If one the leaders presentation is not quite good then no one cares about any problem or conflict of the organization. On the road when a white woman sees a black man then she becomes frightened and more careful and hold her bag more tightly but when she sees a white man then she holds her bag lightly because all of them are totally submersed in the system. The woman grows up in a culture where it is always assumed that the black men are criminals and white men are good. So the culture wherever it is, in the society or in the organization, it is systematic. Author Dr. Mai Moua is a Hmong-American and in the year 1979 she came to the United States as a refugee from Thailand. She is the resident of Fremont, Calif and St. Paul, Minnesota. She has got doctorate from Gonzaga University. She completed B.A. from Brandeis University on sociology. She is the president of Leadership Paradigms. It is an organization development consulting firm. It provides leadership training, workshops, development of leadership programmes etc. Dr. Moua works in various non-profits government and private organizations. She has organised many leadership programmes and also presented research work on leadership, organizational effectiveness, cultural competency and diversity (Tobor, 2014). Apart from these she takes part in strategic planning for leadership scholars and academic, practitioners and the students from Middle East, Europe and Canada. Evaluation This is an ideal book to understand the culture properly. With the examples mentioned in the book the culture of the society as well as the organizations can be understood very easily and spontaneously. She has explained cultural system as a tree. All the parts of the tree are interconnected and the growth of the tree depends upon the surrounding environment like the culture of an individual or a group also depended upon the surrounding environment. So it is seen that the cultural system is described very distinctly so that everyone can understand it. This chapter can be a supplement material in the text and the lecture because of the presence of distinct examples related to all the topics. This book is helpful for a leader in an organization to understand his responsibility and to understand any conflict related to culture in the organization. When an individual comes to a new place or join as an employee in an organization the book is very much helpful for him to survive in that pl ace for a long period of time and he can adopt the culture of that new place spontaneously. So the chapter is relevant to the contemporary life. Conclusion It is always difficult for an individual or for a group to understand the culture in a new environment. Sometimes people are not able to adopt the culture of a new environment and as a result some people quit their jobs. This book is very much helpful for them to learn about culture and be aware about how to adopt a new culture and how to survive in a new place. Reference Cameron, K. S., Quinn, R. 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