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Effect Of National Culture On Organisational Learning: Perspective On Quantity Surveying Firms
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Quantity surveying firms are service based firms that manage
financially related issues for clients in the construction industry
(Abidin, 2011), using infrastructural cost and value management
expertise (Olanipekun, Aje and Abiola-Famemu, 2013). In quantity
surveying firms, employee Quantity Surveyors provide the expertise,
acknowledge and skill relied upon for service delivery. This indicates
their importance to the performance of quantity surveying firms which is
in line with Espejo (2000); Lawrence and Lorsh (1967). The quantity
surveying firms are organizations where the Quantity surveying is being
practiced. One of the contexts in which organization can be studied is
their cultural effect. As opined by Zhang and Liu (2006), there are
factors that are seen to permeate organisation life and influence every
aspect of organization operation and one of such is organization
culture. National culture defines the way employees’ tasks and interact
with each other in an organization. The cultural paradigm comprises
various beliefs, values, rituals and symbols that govern the operating
style of the people in their company.
Corporate culture
binds up the workforce together and provides a direction for the
company. In time of change, the biggest challenge for any organization
may be to change its culture, as the employees are already accustomed to
a certain way of doing things (Ojo, 2003). The dominant culture is
organizations depends on the environments in which the company operates,
the organizations objectives, the belief system of the employees and
the company’s management style. There are many national culture such as
highly bureaucratic and well-structured organizations typically follow a
culture with extensive controls. Employees follow standard procedures
with strict adherence to hierarchy and well-defined individual roles and
responsibilities.
Numerous factors are converging that
make teaching and learning in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts
more commonplace. Expanding world trade and globalization of industry,
finance, and many professions are creating a world in which
cross-cultural interactions occur more frequently than at any time in
the past (Friedman, 2007). As well, increasing specialization within
many professions has led to a widely dispersed audience for targeted
education and training. Professionals wishing to stay current or
students wanting to develop specialized skills that match the needs of a
rapidly changing world demand access to proper educational
opportunities, even if this requires international travel or distance
learning approaches (Berge, 2007). Simpler and cheaper
telecommunications, in particular, fuel a growing willingness to teach
and learn across cultures. Advances in Internet technologies and
applications make open and distance learning a fully viable alternative
to traditional education, creating a natural environment for the
development of effective virtual learning communities.
But contrary
to the growing flatness that Friedman (2007) reports, cultural diversity
remains apparent among learners, perhaps owing to deeply rooted
cultural values and modes of thinking that are difficult to separate
from learning processes (Nisbett, 2003). A growing appreciation of
cultural diversity is demonstrated by more than its acknowledgement and
tolerance, but also by a desire to preserve that diversity as a valuable
asset for addressing the many challenges faced by the global community
now and in the future. Additionally, one can recognize a strong desire
to preserve diversity in response to the threat of loss of cultural
identity in the face of globalization and because of the benefits of
community cohesiveness through unique cultural expression (Mason, 2007).
The growing need for educational access leads students rightly to
demand culturally adaptive learning experiences that allow full
development of the individual (Visser, 2007). As noted by Pincas (2001),
students entering into professional education in a multicultural
context not aligned with their own culture can experience significant
conflict. This conflict arises not only in regards to incompatible
teaching and learning styles, but also because the growing “professional
self†struggles to maintain both a connection to the local culture in
which the student eventually intends to work and a connection to the
learning environment. Accordingly, instructional providers, including
instructors and instructional designers, especially those working in
online environments and struggling to maintain sufficient presence and
student engagement, should develop skills to deliver culturally
sensitive and culturally adaptive instruction (Gunawardena &
LaPointe, 2007). This article provides a summary and consolidation of
useful existing literature to aid in developing these skills. Although
culture has begun to be addressed in the field of Instructional System
Design (ISD), it is still too often overlooked or undervalued
(Henderson, 1996; Rogers, Graham, & Mayes, 2007; Thomas, Mitchell,
& Joseph, 2002; Young, 2007). If education and instructional design
are inherently social processes (Schwier, Campbell, & Kenny, 2004),
then instructional providers can no longer take a neutral position in
developing their courses and materials. For instruction to do the best
for students, instructional providers must be cognizant of the cultures
of their learners and how those cultures manifest themselves in learning
preferences (Nisbett, 2003).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Learning remains one of the significant tools for improving performance of the construction sector. Individual quantity surveyors practicing across the globe in an enclave of a firm tend to tailor their organisation structure to reflect their national culture. This feature in a way is postulated to influence, the interaction interface during learning. This study evaluated the effect of national culture on organizational learning with focus on quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state. The obje ... Continue reading---
