Some of the most Important ways for learning culture are given below:
Important Ways for Learning Culture
Culture is learnt in the form of instructions, stories, rituals, language and material symbols. The learning process starts from childhood and continues through the rest of one’s life.
1. Instructions:
Parents are the basic element of culture. Children are given certain instructions which are followed by them.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The newly appointed employees are like the newly born children of an organization. They are given certain instructions which are followed by them.
Training is the first stage of culture. If the instructions include the way of life and ancient systems, people are developed accordingly.
Image Source: socrates-learning.com
2. Stories:
Parents and peers tell stories of outstanding personalities. Children try to transfer them into practice.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
An organization has also started telling stories of successful businessmen who have come up from the lowest rung of life to the highest place in society.
Cultural Id is administered in childhood through story telling or drama observation. Mahatma Gandhi was influenced by the drama about the life of Satya Harischand for practicing truth and non-violence in every field of life.
Similarly, many great men were influenced by stories. Great Shivaji was influenced by his mother Jija Bai who told him stories of Lord Rama and King Vikramadhitya. Stories told by seniors have a great influence in the building of culture.
3. Rituals:
Rituals are important factors for inculcating culture. Birth celebration, naming ceremony and marriage functions are living examples of the formation of culture.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Similarly, the formation of an organization performs several rituals or formalities. The appointment of the top management, middle management and employees are various stages which determine the cultural values.
The top management with a high vision and mission makes high practicable rituals in an organization.
Employees selected after a long selection process such as screening test, written test, group discussion, attitude measurement and interview are important rituals which form the organizational culture.
Apart from these procedures, appointment made directly by political recommendations may distort the culture.
4. Language:
The organizational culture has a language base. Language carries culture as its literature is full of cultural facts and fictions.
Culture and sub-cultures are developed with an organization. Code number is generally used to denote the culture.
Accession number, relational operator and other code numbers are instrumental for cultural formation. An organization has its own behavioural terminology expressed in different forms of language.
5. Material Symbols:
An organization learns culture through the behavioural pattern of its employees. Openness and equality help cultural development.
Employees’ behaviour in private life also influences the culture of an organization. Their jogging, swimming, yoga, dance and drama have important bearings on the learning of culture in an organization. The facilities enjoyed by the top management have a great influence on the organizational culture.
Authoritative, participative, individualistic, socialistic and other kinds of behaviours influence the behaviour of employees who are a part of the organizational culture.