Cultural Dilemma in the US Postal Service Essay

There argon numerous ethnical differences in our societies as a result of the numerous divers(a) burnishs that muckle belong to. Each glossiness has its own paths of doing things with distinct heathenish norms, values, perceptions, as swell up as behaviors. peck from certain glosss allow for practice the values, norms and perceptions that their cultures belief in and therefore result end up having difficulties when interacting with stack from polar cultures who allow project differing cultural norms, values and perceptions.These cultural differences ar populaceifested in the workplace as contrastive people from different cultures come unneurotic to work together for the common goal of the origination or arrangement they work for. Since our cultural values and norms influence our one-on-one understandings and perceptions, people will react differently towards events and circumstances that could occur within us and in the environs. These differences in percept ions will affect how employees within an memorial t subjectt will interact with each other and work in unison so as to satisfy the drives of the organizations stakeholders.As such(prenominal)(prenominal), cultural differences argon a major concern for managers within organizations as they could wait on the organization achieve its objectives or hinder it from achieving them. The objectives of an organization ar set in place by its stakeholders who make up invested in the organization in one mode or the other and expect to derive from such an investment in future. It is therefore the responsibility of managers to find a way in which the employees within an organization feces work together in a seamless manner despite their differences in culture so as to ensure the organization operates continually for the common genuine of all stakeholders.The get together States Postal go The Postal Service is an power authorized by the constitution of the United States and is respon sible for the provision of postal supporters to the upstanding of the United States. Established in 1775 in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin with the enactment of a decree passed by the sulfur continental congress, it experienced minimal growth and was later transformed in to its current form as an single-handed organization through the sign language of the postal reorganization act of 1970 by President Nixon.As an independent organization, the postal service is self sufficient and does not rely on taxpayers money for its operations. The Postal Services mission is to brook the American people with relyed wide-reaching postal services that ar at afford fitting prices. As such, the Postal Service is the only delivery service within the United States with the responsibility of providing all of the non-homogeneous features of a world(a) postal service at reasonably priced rates. The Postal Service conveys about 660 million mails to about 142 million delivery spot around the United States.Although the postal service enjoys a monopoly as contained in Article I, (8), (7) of the system that grants the Postal Service with the special undecomposed to make delivery of letter in addition to the power to restrict the access to mailbox that are exclusively meant for mail. Its major competitors are United Parcel Service and FedEx. The postal service manages 32,741 post offices within the United States with a labor effectiveness of about 656,000 employees. Cultural differences of management and how they affect the US Postal ServiceThe United States is a country that is full of cultural diversity with different cultural practices establish on the numerous ethnic groups that live in the United States. The employees working in the postal service are cadaverous from these different cultural groups. As such, managers at the postal service have to deal with these differences effectively so as to ensure continues success of the organization. In doing so, managers nee d to be aware of and understand the seven-spoter balances of culture actual by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner detailed in their book locomote the Waves of Culture sagacity Diversity in Global Business.Below is a discussion of these seven propertys. Universalism v/s Particularism This dimension is found on the view of how a culture perceives sees and relationships. Cultures that embrace universalism hold the belief that universal rules, values, codes, norms and standards take tasting over other particular needs, claims of friendship and other relations. In a society that is universalistic, the rules unremarkably apply equally to all of the members of the universe (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).Exceptions to these rules are deemed as to weaken them. Universalism is base on finding rules that take a broad and general picture. In the event that there lacks a rule that fits for accomplishing something, universalism advocates for taking the alternative of e stablishing the most appropriate rule. Cultures that embrace Particularism perceive the archetype culture as one that is based on human friendship, and inside relationships . People in these cultures view the spirit of the jurisprudence as universeness more significant than the letter of the law.This has the effect that when the rules within a culture take a perfect fit, people in such a culture will judge the case based on the advantages of the law instead of attempting to force the rule to fit. Rules and regulations within particularistic cultures merely systematize how people are supposed to relate to one another. Individualism v/s Communitarianism This dimension is based on the view of how members of a culture functions, whether in groups or as individuals. Individualism has a basis on rights that appertain to an individual.This is normally experienced in communities that have loose ties connecting their members resulting in an expectation of individuals to look after them selves. Individualism is aimed at giving individuals the right to individualized space as well as the freedom of doing things as per individual liking (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). It permits each individual to develop or die out on an individual basis, as well as perceiving group-focus as mark the person of their absolute rights. Individualistic cultures are more egotistical and pull emphasis to their personal goals.People resulting from individualistic cultures have a craving of thinking only on personal basis. Communitarianism or collectivism is based on rights that appertain to a group. Collective cultures usually place a cope of emphasize on groups and are more touch with the whole rather than on the single individual. Harmony as well as loyalty within a group are very pressing and ought to be maintained al slipway (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). Confrontations of any anatomy are super avoided with people using expressions and phrases that would describe an argument in less detrimental manner.Saying no to others is considered to be wrong and deemed as a way of destroying the harmony found within these groups. Neutral v/s turned on(p) Emotional or neutral perspectives are used in the commentary of how cultures articulate their emotions. Emotional cultures articulate their emotions in a natural way (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). This is witnessed in re performances that occur instantly through verbal and/or non-verbal authority such as mimic as well as soundbox signals. Members of the emotional culture unlike those in the neutral culture debunk a tendency of overreaction creating scenes.Emotional cultures are usually focused on the individual and rarely on the object or position of discussion. It is considered to be alright for one to use emotional intelligence when making decisions. It is as well as okay for people to show various forms of physical contact small-arm in frequent and during the communication process. T he neutral culture tends to avoid displaying emotions human beingsally. This is based on the fact that neutral cultures do not reveal what they are thinking in a way that is more precise as well as direct (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).This is an scenery that has the likelihood of leading to misunderstandings. This is because emotions of a certain kind may not ineluctably demonstrate a certain situation. Neutral cultures usually appear to be rather dumb, an aspect that cannot be viewed as an indication of their disinterest or boredom. This appearance of second-stringer is based on lack of emotional tone. On a general perspective they harbor feelings of discomfort over contact in public resulting in a mode of communication that is more subtle frankincense making it hard for members of another culture to understand. item vs. diffuse Specific cultures are those that usually have a small area reserved for secrecy and its separated from the public life. People in these societ ies have numerous interactions with the outside world and are constantly involved in such activities such as socializing in various areas that involve many another(prenominal) people. People from these cultures have a rather small amount of privacy preferring to share there interests with others who are within their groups of socialization (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).People from such a culture deal with specifics and will view the whole as a sum of these specific move. The life of an individual is divided into several(prenominal) specific parts and one deals with one part at a m. Conversely, diffuse cultures are usually concerned with maintaining peoples privacy. People in these cultures will avoid any kind of confrontations in the public and have a high degree of privacy preferring to share dependable a small amount of their private life with other people especially strangers (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).People from diffuse cultures usually start with the whol e sooner passing game down to the various parts that make it up. Each of the parts is viewed in the viewpoint of the whole total with all of these parts being related to one another. These people prefer attri unlesses and behaviors that help draw trust and honesty fostering the building of strong relationships. Achievement vs. ascription This dimension is concerned with the situation accorded to individuals within cultures. In cultures that are achievement oriented, the status of an individual is based on the accomplishments that one has achieved and accomplished.Individuals from these cultures gain their status from the various things that they have accomplished on their own (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). A person with such a status has to show prove of what he or she is value with the various powerful positions within the culture being accorded to people who have certain accomplishments. In cultures that are ascription oriented, the status of an individual is based on the groups that one is associated with. In ascriptive societies, individuals gain their status mainly through birth, gender, wealth, or age (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).A person who has an ascribed status does not necessarily have to accomplish something so as to preserve his status since his or her status is accorded based on his or her being. Sequential vs. concurrent This dimension is concerned with the attitude of a culture towards clock. People who are from straight cultures tend to carry out one thing at a sequence in a sequential manner . They examine time as distinct, and made up of consecutive divisions which are both open and divisible (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).People from these cultures strongly prefer to plan for their time and will keep to these plans once they made them so as to aid in implementation. Any time commitments that one might have are usually taken seriously and staying on schedule is considered an important aspect of time management. Sequential people in particular place a lot of importance on the value of completing of tasks. Conversely, people from cultures that are synchronic usually perform several tasks at a time.These cultures view time is a constant flow that allows many things and tasks to be carried out at the same time (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). Time is perceived as a force that one can not be able to contain or control. Time is to a fault regarded as flexible as well as intangible. Time commitments are often desirable but not absolute with plans that people could be having being easily changed. Internal vs. external control This dimension is concerned with the attitude of a culture towards the environment. In internal cultures, people usually posses a mechanistic anticipation of nature.They perceive nature as an conglomerate machine and which can be directed if one has the correct expertise needed to do so. People from these societies do not believe in the existence of luck or any form of predestination (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). These people are directed towards the inside as ones personal decision is usually deemed to be the starting position for each action that they will do. They also believe that one can live the kind of life that he or she wants to live if that are in a position to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that might come on the way.In addition, they believe that man is capable of dominating nature if he wishes to do so. . In external cultures, people usually posses an organic outlook of nature. They perceive that mankind is one of the forces of nature and should therefore operate in one accord and harmoniously with the rest of the environment. These cultures hold the believe that man should subdue to nature as well as get along with the other forces existing within the environment (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).These people do not believe in their ability of shaping their own destiny but rather hypothesize that nature m oves in rather mysterious ways hence one can not never know what is going to happen in the future. As such, their actions are directed externally to the environment and are adapted to the external circumstances surrounding them. Conclusion establish on these seven dimensions, the American culture is individualistic, achievement, emotional, internal, sequential, universalistic, and specific.These dimensions have several implications that managers need to consider in order to make sure that the employees are able to work in a manner that benefits the organization as well as themselves especially in a large organization such as the postal service that employs over 600, 000 employees. In addition, due to the cultural diversity present in the United States and the growth of globalization, there are numerous citizens from different cultures in the United States that do not descend these seven dimensions of the American culture and therefore follow different aspects of the seven dimension s.With the postal service being a national agency that offers utilisation to all citizens irrespective of their cultural backgrounds, managers need to ensure that the employees are able to work in a manner that benefits the organization. This will require the managers to build cultural understanding through twist awareness of cultural differences. Educating the employees on the various strengths and limitations of different cultures within the workplace Educating the employees on the Building skills the dissemble of cultural differences within the workplace Educating the employees on various adaptive behaviors that could help them to realize valuable results within a setting with cultural differences. Building unity and consistency through team working Developing a dual-lane understanding and vision between the employees Establishing effective communication take amongst the employees to facilitate quality exchange of ideas between themselves Establishing feedback mechani sms aimed at reviewing and improving the employees awareness of cultural differences.In addition, the managers need to come up with strategies that will enable the postal service to compete effectively. This will require them to actively develop A shared understanding of the organizations goals and objectives An extension of the significance of diversity in contributing towards expertise. A clear and shared comprehension of the role of professional pooling of skills and knowledge within the organization. Reference Trompenaars, F. , & Hampden-Turner, C. (1998). Riding the Waves of Culture Understanding Cultural Diversity in Global Business. stark naked York McGraw Hill.