Page 54 - DMGT545_INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS

Unit 3: Cultural and Social Environment

viewed as being more important than group membership, while in other societies the reverse is notes
true.

Individual

Individualism is more than just an abstract political philosophy but is the basic building block of
social organization. This is reflected not just in the political and economic organization of society
but also in the way people perceive themselves and relate to each other in social and business
settings. The value systems of many Western societies, for example, emphasize individual
achievements. The social standing of individuals is not so much a function of whom they work
for, as of their individual performance in whatever work setting they choose.
Individualism also finds expression in a high degree of managerial mobility between companies,
and this not always a good thing. One positive aspect of high managerial mobility is that executives
are exposed to different ways of doing business. The ability to compare business practices helps.
The emphasis on individualism may also make it difficult to build teams within an organization
to perform collective tasks.

Group

In contrast to the Western emphasis on the individual, the group is the primary unit of social
organization in many other societies. In Japan, the social status of an individual is determined
as much by the standing of the group to which he or she belongs as by his or her individual
performance.

The primacy of the value of group identification also discourages managers and workers from
moving from company to company. Lifetime employment in a particular company is the norm
in certain sectors of the Japanese economy.

Social Stratification

All societies are stratified on a hierarchical basis into social categories-that is, into social strata.
These strata are typically defined on the basis of characteristics such as family background,
occupation, and income. Individuals are born into a particular stratum and they become a
member of the social category to which their parents belong. Individuals born into a stratum
toward the top of the social hierarchy tend to have better life chances such as better education,
better health, a better standard of living and better work opportunities, than individuals born
into a stratum towards the bottom of the hierarchy. Although all societies are stratified to some
degree they differ in two related ways that are of interest to business organization. First, they
differ from each other with regard to the degree of mobility between social strata and second,
they differ with regard to the significance attached to the social strata in business contexts.

Social Mobility

The term ‘social mobility’ refers to the extent to which individuals can move out of the strata
into which they are born. Social mobility varies significantly from society to society. The most
rigid system of stratification is the caste system. A caste system is a closed system of stratification
in which social position is determined by the family into which a person is born and change in
position is usually not possible during an individual’s lifetime. Often a caste position carries with
it a specific occupation like shoemakers, butchers etc. These occupations are embedded in the
caste and passed down through the family to succeeding generations. Although the number of
societies with caste system has diminished rapidly during the 20 century, one partial example
th

lovely Professional university 49