Social Construction of Reality
Culture is ubiquitous. Culture can reflect a specific race, a country, a town, a neighborhood, or even a family. The same holds true for a workplace. Organizations have culture and different parts of that organization may have a more unique culture than others. An effective leader is one who can reflect on both organizational history and organizational culture and learn to meld them together.
Internal group culture (within a group) can vary from external group culture. In other words, what might be acceptable (i.e., words, phrases, gestures) within a group can be very foreign-or even culturally insensitive-if witnessed by someone external to that culture.
Cultural intelligence requires cognitive, physical, and emotional/motivational understanding for leaders. Head/body/heart working together form the constructs of effective cultural intelligence (Earley & Mosakowiski, 2004). This Harvard Business Review article opens with a visual image of a global bank's brand icon. The bank's picture story has been created to illustrate culture and to visually articulate a message that the bank understands and appreciates cultural differences.
Picture the image of a grasshopper. The advertising slogan reads:
"USA-Pest. China-Pet. Northern Thailand-Appetizer."
To Prepare
• Review the Learning Resources.
Description of the "social construction of reality" through the lens of values, beliefs, and assumptions. Does a multicultural workforce need to conform fully to the same construction of reality? Provide examples to illustrate your position.