Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations

Beyond the Corporate Context

Robert T. Carter

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN:
  9780761905493
  9780761905486
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506338750
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Changing demographics are forcing organizations in the United States to address cultural issues. Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations analyzes how unexamined cultural patterns influence an organization?s culture. Organized into three sections, this volume was written by a panel of experts with extensive research and publication histories in psychology, education, and organizational consulting. How organizational leaders shape and influence the agenda surrounding culture and how culture matters in the country?s organizational life is explored, as well as institutional and organizational issues in corporate, educational, mental health, and service organizations. Various organizational intervention strategies and approaches are also discussed. This book provides groundbreaking conceptual models as well as ideas about how to build practical approaches to organizational interventions.

PART I

Perspectives

1

Perspectives on Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations

Robert T. Carter

During the past three decades, organizational psychologists and other social scientists have given more recognition to the influence of race and culture in organizational systems than was previously given (Block & Carter, in press; Carnevale & Stone, 1995; Chemers, Oskamp, & Costanzo, 1995; Cox, 1994; Morrison, Ruderman, & Hughes-James, 1993; Sackman, 1997; Thompson & Carter, 1997). Carnevale and Stone (1995) point out that societal culture is embedded in our organizations. They observe that “people naturally bring their culture to the workplace. The dominant culture of most American organizations reflects the values of the American born white (Anglo) males [and females] who established them” (p. 93). How societal culture influences organizations is a central issue in this chapter and also in subsequent chapters.

Several factors have contributed to the increased attention to cultural difference, or what many call diversity, in organizations. This chapter describes these factors and how organizational literature has conceptualized diversity issues. Subsequently, a model of racial identity and a framework for understanding cultural patterns in organizations are presented. Finally, I contend that organizations may approach diversity from one of four perspectives: universal, ubiquitous, traditional and race-based. In conclusion, I discuss the ramifications of each of these perspectives on organizational diversity in terms of policies, practices, and outcomes.

Cultural Issues in Organizations: The Changing Workforce

Organizations and institutions have been motivated by numerous forces to consider and incorporate cultural issues into their organizational “cultures.” As Cox (1994) noted, these forces include effectiveness and work performance as well as legal and moral considerations. More important, many laws have been enacted during the past three decades to ensure that people from various groups that historically have been treated unfairly in the workplace are given nondiscriminatory access and opportunity in North American organizations.

In addition, the concern about diversity has been driven by reports such as Workforce 2000 by Johnston and Packer (1987). These reports project changes in the North American population and implications for the workplace, the most significant being the growth in the number of people of color and women. Carnevale and Stone (1995) note that in the 1960s 1 in 10 working Americans were People of Color. By the 1980s, the proportion had risen to 2 in 10; by the 1990s, 3 in 10 working Americans were people of color. “The growth in the diversity of the nation’s population is projected to continue well in to the next century” (Carnevale & Stone, p. 33). By the middle of the new century (2050), people of color will comprise approximately half (47%) of the nation’s population. Whites will account for the other half (53%), representing a decline from two thirds (73%) of the population. It is expected that Hispanics will show the largest increase, followed by blacks and Asians.

Although workforce participation of people of color has increased considerably during the past few decades and will continue to increase, whites will still comprise the majority of the population and perhaps hold on to their positions of leadership, power, and control in organizations. For example, Cox (1994) notes that although women comprise 46% of the workforce, they hold less than one half of a percent (0.5%) of top executive positions, and white males hold 99.5%) of the top-level positions in the country.

Diversity Issues in Organizational Literature

The growth of scholarship on managing diversity began when it was predicted that the proportion of women and people of color entering the workforce would increase. It is these demographic shifts in the workforce that have raised interest in and commitment to diversity-oriented organizational interventions. However, in the literature in organizational psychology or management, little is said about how cultural issues will influence organizations in the future. When diversity is discussed, it is done so in terms of how to manage the people of color who are entering the workforce.

Organizational literature typically focuses on general concepts, models, and issues, such as communication, interpersonal, group, and leadership skills that enhance managerial competence. Managers, administrators, and organizational employees are expected to acquire a range of skills and competencies that will increase organizational effectiveness, performance, and productivity. For managers and executives, organizational specialists would argue that these skills and competencies include self-awareness, dealing with personal stress, developing creative problem-solving strategies, being able to create supportive and effective communication systems, and enhancing job performance through effective motivation. Managers and executives also must be able to understand and use power and influence while learning to create processes that improve effective group decision making. Moreover, they must be able to foster leadership capability while managing conflicts and delegating authority.

As the workforce becomes more diverse, it is essential that the aforementioned factors be understood from a more complex cultural perspective. There is considerable evidence to support the proposition that people from varying cultural groups perceive the world and attribute meaning to events and experiences differently. Thus, self-awareness, communication patterns, decision making, support systems, interaction styles, and motivation are simply different for people from different cultural or racial groups. Kochman (1989) demonstrated this process in the cultural styles of blacks and whites. For example, other researchers have shown that cultural identity variables influence how people interpret their experiences.

Knowledge of these skills sets is enhanced by an understanding of individual personality and human developmental processes. Comprehension of the bias of people’s attitudes, perceptions, problem-solving techniques, and behaviors is critical because the individual is the core unit of organizational systems. Moreover, knowledge of individual processes and functioning needs to be enhanced with information about interpersonal and group processes, particularly because an organization requires work to be done in groups by individuals who interact with one another. It is in group interactions that issues about communication, such as how group members within and between groups interact and then form attitudes and perceptions, become salient.

The individual is the core unit of the group and therefore the organization. The individual is also, in part, defined in terms of group memberships, and many of these groups are social and cultural in nature. In fact, for some people their pride and self-esteem are grounded in some of their cultural group identities. Also, group or cultural identities have salience, even when unimportant for the individual’s self-concept, because they will influence how others interact with the person.

Cultural identity may manifest itself for a person in two ways. It may derive from one’s subjective worldview and represent membership in a range of salient groups, such as the Boy Scouts, one’s region of birth, a school, an ethnic group (one’s nationality or religion), one’s social class, a political group, relationships, and hobbies. Cox (1994) refers to these types of groups as sociocultural identity structures. This notion is taken from Trandis’s (1976) notion of subjective culture, which refers to sharing with others a particular worldview and perceptions of the environment. Culture in this context is defined as a group that shares norms, values, and goals, and these patterns distinguish the group from others. Cultural identity strengths or sociocultural group memberships reflect groups that have personal significance for the individual, and the strength with which one identifies each group may vary.

In addition to the subjective personally significant or sociocultural elements of cultural identity, there is racial or cultural identity. Some groups are visible because of physical characteristics, such as race, gender, and physical appearance. Associated with these are attributions about skin color, physical features, hair texture, attractiveness, and so on. Visible aspects of identity form “our initial impressions of, and predisposition toward, people . . . [who] are greatly influenced by them. Reactions such as stereotyping and prejudice are typically activated” (Cox, 1994, p. 45) by such characteristics. According to Cox (1994),

We use visible signals as a basis of categorizing people, men, women, blacks, Asians, [whites], physically disabled, and so on. Once the visual identification has been made, our minds automatically call forth any stored data about other members of that group. A set of expectations and. assumptions is therefore often attached to these . . . identifications and predispose us to interact with a person in a particular way. (p. 45)

Racial Identity

Racial or cultural identity is associated with psychological variation. A member of a cultural or racial group may or may not identify with membership in that group. Culture has meaning only on a group level, but it is expressed and enacted by individuals. Scholars have presented models of cultural and racial identity to explain how individuals’ psychological orientation to their various racial or cultural group memberships may vary.

Racial identity theories were first introduced in the 1970s. The first models of racial identity were proposed to explain the black American metamorphoses from a people referred to as colored to a people who insisted on being called black Americans. Thomas (1971), for instance, proposed a stage model that was the precursor for later models. In the typical stage model of racial identity, a person would move in a linear progression from the least developed stage to the most advanced stage (Cross, 1980) in which less group identification was expressed at the lower stages and it was more personally significantly expressed at the advanced stages. Each stage had associated emotional, psychological, and behavioral elements.

Scholars began to apply black racial identity theories to other groups in the late 1970s and 1980s. Atkinson, Morten, and Sue (1979) introduced a minority identity development model that was supposed to be applicable to all people of color. In the mid-1980s, Helms (1984) introduced a white racial identity model and subsequently extended and expanded black racial identity theory and presented a people of color model (Helms, 1995).

Recently, racial identity theory has been expanded further (Carter, 1995, 1996; Helms, 1995; Helms & Piper, 1994; Sue, et al., 1998; Thompson & Carter, 1997). The theory now contends that racial and cultural identity development is applicable to all racial groups, even though separate models are presented for blacks, whites, and members of other racial groups. The different models reflect distinct sociopolitical histories of the groups because each group’s history and sociopolitical interactions in the society have some impact on how racial or cultural issues are understood and dealt with. Second, racial identity involves two sets of worldviews and cultural and individual lenses, one about self that influences how one views self as a racial and cultural being that in turn affects how one understands members of the dominant and nondominant groups. Finally, racial and cultural identity represents ego differentiation of the personality, in which one’s racial and cultural worldview is more or less mature. Less mature ego statuses derive definition from external sources (peers, media, family, institutions, etc.) and more mature and differentiated racial and cultural identity ego statuses are internally derived through a personal process of exploration, discovery, integration, and maturation.

Thus, current theory and research on racial and cultural identity refers to these processes as ego statuses or levels. The manner in which one’s own racial and cultural identity is integrated into his or her personality depends on one’s family composition and experience, the composition and attitudes of one’s neighborhood or community, one’s personal and unique interpretive style, and the way in which peers validate or ignore race as an aspect of one’s identity. (For a more in-depth discussion of racial and cultural identity, see Carter [1995], Helms [1990], and Thompson and Carter [1997].)

In American society, visible characteristics have also taken on cultural meaning. As Cox (1994) notes, “the most important group identities have both physical and cultural significance. Among them are racioethnicity, gender, and, in many cases, nationality” (p. 45). The concern of this book is groups and culture. Cultural analysis by its very nature is a group phenomenon.

Cultural Patterns in Organizations

Each organization in our society is embedded in the dominant cultural patterns of our societal culture. As noted previously, whites have been the dominant racial and cultural group in North American society. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture has been at the core of American cultural patterns (Marger, 1997). Some would argue that there is no distinct dominant white American cultural pattern. Katz (1985) and Stewart and Bennent (1991), however, believe that white Americans, regardless of social class, share a common set of racial and cultural values and beliefs. These scholars suggest that white culture is the integration of ideas, values, and beliefs merged from descendants of white European ethnic groups in the United States. Thus, Katz argues that white cultural patterns are superordinate to ethnic background. Some of the dimensions that characterize white American culture are rugged individualism, an action orientation measured by external accomplishments, a majority-rule decision-making system when whites are in power—otherwise, a hierarchical structure is used, a communication system that relies on written and “standard” English forms, a view of time as a commodity and future oriented, a religious system primarily based on Christian ideals, social customs (e.g., holidays) founded on and celebrations of the Christian religion, white Euro-American history and male leaders, a patriarchal family system centered on the nuclear family structure as the ideal social unit, and aesthetic qualities that emphasize the value of music and art based on European cultures.

The cultural values that form the foundation for many organizations and institutions in our society are grounded in the values described by Katz (1985) and Stewart and Bennent (1991). It is possible to compare and contrast cultural systems and values by using the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961) model of value orientations that suggests that each cultural or racial group must solve five common problems and that each problem has three possible solutions. The following are the problems: (a) What is the innate character of human nature? (Good, Evil, or Mixed); (b) What is the relationship between people and nature? (Subjugation, Harmony, or Mastery); (c) What is the temporal focus of the culture? (Past, Present, or Future); (d) What is the appropriate form of self-expression? (Being, Being-in-Becoming, or Doing); and (e) What are the proper social relations? (Lineal, Collateral, or Individual). Researchers (Carter, 1990; Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck, 1961; Papajohn & Spiegel, 1975) have found that dominant white American cultural values can be characterized by preferences for Person/Nature, Mastery-Over-Nature, Doing activity orientation, a Future time sense, and Individual social relations.

According to Carter (1995), People seldom question their racial-cultural learning. Only when they encounter others who are different and the conflict of diverging worldviews is experienced do they begin to question their worldview or racial and cultural underpinnings. Consequently, it is only those whites who experienced themselves in racially-culturally different relationships that have had the opportunity to develop knowledge and awareness of themselves as racial-cultural beings. Their worldview influences the way white Americans live and develop. For example, the future temporal preference is expressed in the manner in which white Americans plan their families, educations, and occupations. The Doing preference for self-expression is seen in how they compete for upward mobility and their emphasis on controlling feelings in most human interactions. White American children are taught from childhood to be independent, and to express their own needs and desires. As Spiegel (1982) notes,

The dominant American choices in each dimension fit together nicely. Thus, if the personal achievement implied by Doing is to be facilitated, then it is good to be able to plan for the Future, as an Individual not too constrained by family or group ties, with optimism supplied by the Mastery-Over-Nature orientation, and the pragmatic morality, with which such self-interest is justified, afforded by the Neutral view of the Basic Nature of [people], (p. 42)

Each organization within the context of the dominant culture also develops its own culture that refers to the values, beliefs, norms, and principles that ground its management systems and that in turn direct its policies and practices. Each organization has socialization practices, performance expectations, and other elements that characterize its organizational culture. Hellriegel, Slocum, and Woodman (1998) defined organizational culture as “a pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by organizational members” (p. 546). Thus, the organization’s mean...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• PART I: Perspectives
• PART II: Organizational and Institutional Settings
• PART III: Interventions and Applications for Training
• References
• Name Index
• Subject Index
• About the Editor
• About the Contributing Authors