Literature Review On How Individualism And Collectivism Impact The Way We Work

Question

Task: Conduct a literature review on how individualism and collectivism impact the way we work.

Answer

Provide a literature review on how Individualism and Collectivism impact the way we work.
A central role of the culture on the specific development of which has been recognized at the time of Max Weber, by the classical work "The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism". This argued about the protestant of the ethic of Calvinism which had been a powerful face in the development of capitalism with several early phases. Individualism mainly emphasizes on personal freedom as well as achievement. On the other hand, collectivism, in contrast, emphasizes the embeddedness of the individuals in a larger group. It also encourages specific conformity and discourages an individual from standing out individually. Individualism and collectivism have been broadly discussed below in detail.

Individualist culture mainly awards to social status and personal self-accomplishments which relate to achievements that are great and artistic in nature, innovations, and several discoveries. On the other hand, collectivistic work or society depends on group harmony and consensus. These values create a difference and intricate a specific communication style. This includes a transfer of business message which is specifically targeted towards a particular group of audience. In collectivism, people are often considered good only if they have a generous, dependable and helpful culture. This is the place where there is a contract formed with the individualistic culture (Mercado and Trumbull, 2018). Individualistic culture often places a greater emphasis on certain characteristics that are assertive and independent in nature. There is a specific importance of both individualism and collectivism in business management. Individualism holds the main building block of society as well as in an organization which is considered as the most important thing. Whereas collectivism holds a specific group and that people are more important in a group rather in a form of .individual identity (Jiang et al. 2016). Therefore, this literature review paper has been prepared with the relevant credible sources.

There are several areas in a business management system where an individual opinion plays an important role in delivering a proper idea. Whereas, at times there are join effort and ventures required in order to achieve something critical while handling business management projects. At that point in time, in the work area, it is very important to have a group discussion on the current issues that are being faced. This will further help in the further improvement of the work with group coordination. In such aspects, each and every aspect discussed in the group are an important part of the work. The studies of cooperations are generally abundant in many social sciences. On the other hand, organizational researches are calling for integration with numerous concepts on the cooperation and in the meeting of several new challenges of differences in culture. There are several mechanisms of cooperative behaviors that mainly theorize on the collectivism theory (Kim, 2017).

A productive workforce generally refers to creating an environment, which supports the diversity that is mainly managed within the pressure of the management, cost and time. There are several resources utilized to prepare this study of literature review that provide proper tactics in communication in an organization that are culturally diverse in nature. People mainly communicate on the basis of their understanding and comprehension of decisions and ideas across a proper cross-cultural background. There are at times, several problems in certain behavioral statements and the overall concepts of mindedness and acceptance. Therefore, it is important to maintain proper and effective cross-cultural communication. This will enhance the communication within the team members as well as with the authority and the client. This is because workplace communications always tend to provide various opportunities and challenges. This place has a strong emphasis on the development of a conscious difference in culture and embraces the surface toward several opportunities (Farooq et al. 2017).

Cultural Theory on Individualism and Collectivism
The literature review developed on the concept of cultural theory on Individualism and Collectivism emphasizes the evolution of the antecedents which are found in the ecology, structure of the family, distribution of wealth, diffusion of culture, demography, and conditions that are situational in nature. There are several consequences that take place once collectivism and individualism take place together, these are like differences in the attention, cognition, emotion, self-definition, and style of communication within an organizational setting (Wong et al. 2018). According to the cultural theory, a proper application of individualism and collectivism can lead to improvements in several conflicts, international relations, and also in cross-cultural training. Culture is mainly related to society as memory is related to an individual. This is because without a proper cultural understanding, the communication system will face a major gap. This will further create a problem in the individual or group behavior. The theory underpins that culture is mainly a shared understanding which is made .by manifest in the act of artifact. Therefore, the theory persists that culture is the shared behavior and aspects that are human-made with the aspects of society (Cho and Payne, 2016).

There is some organization that encourages employees to work and think independently. On the other hand, some organization emphasizes interpersonal relationships and teamwork. Cultures vary according to demography. People in the United States are taught to rely on themselves and make their own decisions whereas, Asian countries believe in collectivism or joint effort. The approaches are selected on the basis of the work and the culture for sure (Bray and Schommer-Aikins, 2016).

According to sources utilized to prepare this literature review, there are high performing teams that are aligned with the organizational culture of an organization. Therefore, it is important to keep all the employees engaged within the workplace, make good communication as well as feel a positive and an appreciable response. There are some individuals who prefer working alone and making decisions to excel in their own responsibilities. This at times has a strong opinion on several accomplishments that are approved by the superiors (Gajda and Oie, 2017). These kinds of employee or people are also called as an individualist. Therefore, an organization that takes up individualism as their ideal employees rather than appointing groups for a collectivist approach. According to t a survey done by Mercer, the employees are more interested in creating individualism as a workplace approach. This creates self-respect with a distinctive appreciation. Individualism also creates a proper innovation and creativity which engages the employees to be their best accomplishments and strive to make the achievement at the peak of performance (Aparicio et al. 2016).

There are several organizations that are looking for a candidate who can work in a group and be a part of the team. Such an organization appreciates collectivism and focuses on greater food on the team's performance and not on individual achievements. These kinds of organizations emphasize a cohesive group effort. These are the only reasons there are several teams and departments made in an organization. This involves the sales team, administrative team, and external relationship management team and so on. In all such departments, a team collectively works on the progress of the organization as a whole. In such cases, the employees also receive equal opportunity, responsibilities, and rights which are divided equally among the members of the definite team (Triandis, 2018).

In the end of this literature review, it can be said that both individualism and collectivism can have several negative impacts on the organization. At times, with the process of individualism, an employee can disagree to adhere to the predefined norms and principles of the company. This also can lead to the development of unethical competitive edge which can often be used as a ladder to climb in higher departments. Whereas, in collectivism, individual efforts are overlooked and often individual talent within the group is disapproved. Therefore, it is better to keep a balance between both individualism and collectivism. The works will be assigned to the team and departments for achieving the result in the desired pattern. But the organization will still evaluate the individual performance and contribution of employees within the teamwork. This will further help the organization to handle and tackle difficult projects with group work without any problems. There should be specific awards and appreciation given to the main man of the team on whose ideas the project worked. This will also help the employees to get motivated and recognized as an individual employee. Therefore, it is on the organization's choice on how to manage the employees and make the best out of them. These choices impact a lot on both the employees and the organization as well.

Reference List
Book
Triandis, H.C., 2018. literature review Individualism and collectivism. Routledge.

Journals
Aparicio, M., Bacao, F. and Oliveira, T., 2016. Cultural impacts on e-learning systems' success. The Internet and Higher Education, 31, pp.58-70.

Bray, S.S., and Schommer-Aikins, M., 2016. Health professions students’ ways of knowing and social orientation in relationship to poverty beliefs. Psychology, 6(10), pp.579-589.

Cho, I. and Payne, S.C., 2016. Other Important Questions: When, How, and Why Do Cultural Values Influence Performance Management?. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 9(2), pp.343-350.

Farooq, O., Rupp, D.E. and Farooq, M., 2017. literature review The multiple pathways through which internal and external corporate social responsibility influence organizational identification and multifocal outcomes: The moderating role of cultural and social orientations. Academy of Management Journal, 60(3), pp.954-985.

Gajda, A. and Oie, M., 2017. Between individualism and collectivism: Perception and profiles of creativity in Poland and Japan. Creativity. Theories–Research-Applications, 4(2), pp.198-217.

Jiang, X., Flores, H.R., Leelawong, R. and Manz, C.C., 2016. The effect of team empowerment on team performance: A cross-cultural perspective on the mediating roles of knowledge sharing and intra-group conflict. International Journal of Conflict Management, 27(1), pp.62-87.

Kim, M.S., 2017. Culture?Based Conversational Constraints Theory. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication, pp.1-10.

Mercado, G. and Trumbull, E., 2018. Mentoring beginning immigrant teachers: How culture may impact the message. literature review International Journal of Psychology, 53, pp.44-53.

Wong, A., Wei, L., Wang, X. and Tjosvold, D., 2018. Collectivist values for constructive conflict management in international joint venture effectiveness. literature review International Journal of Conflict Management, 29(1), pp.126-143.