Douglasian Cultural Model in Indian Context Essay

IntroductionTodays sphere is being dominated by daily innovations in technology and increase globalization which helps organizations to spread and to operate globall(a)y in a do way. Every organisation operating at a global take is trying to improve their financial profits. The success of such organizations greatly depends on their workforce and their decision-making capabilities. Many times the goodity of such decisions throw away been questi nonpareild because of the profit set strategies of these organizations.As Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman quotes, An executives responsibility generally will be to make as much coin as possible while conforming to their basic rules of the society, both those substantiate in law and those embodied in respectable custom. The decision-making lick and and so respectableity of the decisions in such organisations is greatly influenced by the close of the workforce. Bartels (1967) was one of the start-off to note the impor tance of the role of culture in good decision-making. there are contrastive studies which discuss the diversity of ethical decision-making based on different perspective for example, Vitell, Nwachukwu and Barnes, 1993 discuss the effect of culture on ethical decision-making with the help of Hofsteds typology while Patel and Schaefer, 2009 discuss the same with the help of Douglasian ethnical theory (CT) perspective in the Indian stage setting.SummaryPatel and Schaefers name discusses the impact of culture on ethical decision-making from a Douglasian Cultural possible action (CT) perspective. It explains the dynamic ethical behaviour of the individual with quad solidarities of CT. The Article excessively discusses the billet ethical motive in the Indian context. Authors argue that applying stable origination of culture to the process of ethical decision-making in business results in some(prenominal) problems. The Authors propose CT as an alternating(a) exemplificat ion to these static innovations to suspend these problems. The Article says that every social system is ethically plural because of the social movement of all four solidarities together. An Individual from different solidarities may behave a different perception of an issues clean intensity which may lead to different levels of moral awareness and hence to different moral judgements. The Article explores the dynamicity and diversity of ethical decision-making in business using the CT framework within the Indian context with examples of Amul, SEWA, Tata Steel, ONGC and Reliance.StrengthsThis denomination offers an alternative woo of CT stating the impact of culture on ethical decision-making process in business. Authors argue that applying the static conception of culture to the business ethics results in different problems interchangeable field of study stereotyping, focus on only national heathenish aspect ignoring the some other(prenominal) aspects and broad generalis ation of culture at national level. This obligate strongly supports the scholars who challenge the essentialist culture approach like Hofstedian framework. Singh (1990) and Bosland (1985a) have shown that it is possible to have different scores on the four Hofstedian dimensions within the same hoidenish. Hence there is possibility of difference in ethical behaviour within the same country. The Authors in any case talk about the same ethical dynamicity in behaviour.The article powerfully illustrates the diversity in business ethics within Indian context using CT model. The Article talks about the different cultural patterns existing in same corporation at same time. This article supports the contestation by Sathe (1985) which says that although, the term corporate culture is used as if organisations have a monolithic culture, most companies have more than one set of beliefs influencing the behaviour of employees.The Article also supports the Thompsons (1997 a-c) theory who argue s that same individual could be a member of different solidarities in different contexts which explains the different ethical behaviour of an individual at a different social context. as well the article studies the ethical practices of different types of companies and business entities to understand the business ethics beyond large private corporations with respect to all the four solidarities of CT. The article debates about the dynamicity of ethical decision-making by citing the examples of all the solidarities existing in different Indian corporations. Also it talks over about the historical and philosophic background for the adoption of different ethical strategies by different corporations.WeaknessesThe article explains the process of ethical decision-making in business from a Douglasian Cultural surmise perspective only. The article does not identify many other detailors beyond culture that may account for differences in work behaviour across nations. Scholars like Parbo teeah and Cullen (2003) have suggested the need to include noncultural factors to isolate the influence of culture on ethical behaviour. Also many scholars have talked about the other personal characteristics like education, age, sex and faith that affect the ethical decision-making only if they have not put any light on this naval division in the article. tally to Kracher, Chatterjee and Lundquist, education plays an important and positive role in ones ethical decision-making. Also Singhapakdi et al. JBE (1996) talk about the human relationship between ethical sensitivity and age being significantly positive.Ameen, et al., (1996) suggests that ethical judgments vary according to gender, where females have historically been more ethical equated to males. According to Singhapakdi et al JBE (2000), there is a positive relationship between religion and perception of an ethical problem. The article has not mentioned all these perspectives while considering the process of ethical decision-making. Patel and Schaefer explained the ethical behaviour in Indian business context with the help of CT and argue that as CT is not hold in its scope of application, what is true for one country should also be true for other countries. This contradicts the findings of the researchers like Tsui which states The major contexts that may separate one nation from another include the physical, historical, political, economic, social, and cultural. This may cause an individual from another country to behave differently in the same context compare to individual in India.My standpointThe research article applies CT model to explain the ethical decision-making process in business within Indian context which allows us to look beyond static and limited conception of national culture. The authors have explained the ethical behaviours using examples of different Indian business entities. Since India is one of the largest growing economies, this research paper will be serviceable in p roviding the insights of the ethical practices in India. In my stamp, the authors have raised validated questions about the studies that link static conceptions of the culture to the business ethics. The authors have successfully associated dynamicity in ethical behaviours with the different cultural patterns as per CT which proves the organism of all the four solidarities in every social system. Paper also gives us insights about how all the solidarities co-exist and try to dominate each other. The Authors explain it in an Indian context citing examples for each solidarity.Moreover, authors have highlighted the important fact that managers operating under different cultural patterns may perceive and insure to information about moral issues differently which results in different ethical behaviours. The article considered the very important factors of history and politics that may have influenced while discussing dynamicity of ethical behaviours within Indian context. I am of the opinion that the Douglasian cultural theory is not sufficient to judge the ethical behaviour in business. There are many other factors like education, age, gender and religion which hold a significant role in the decision-making process. The authors have failed to consider these factors. I believe the consideration of the above mentioned factors would have made this research work more reliable. Also I disagree with the authors argument of what is true for India should also be true for other countries since every country has a different political, economical, cultural and physical background.ConclusionTaran Patel and Anja Schaefer have criticized the static and limited conception of culture to ethical decision-making in business. They have provided the alternative approach of Douglasian cultural theory to explain the dynamicity and diversity in ethical behaviours with the help of examples from business entities in India. The Authors advocate that the managers should be sensitive to t he beliefs of all the four solidarities to be more effective. The Authors also agree that more existential and theoretical work is needed to strengthen the relationship between the cultural patterns and business ethics.ReferencesBartels, R. 1967, A Model for moral philosophy in Marketing, ledger of Marketing, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), pp. 20-26Vitell S, Nwachukwu S and Barnes J. 1993, The Effects of Culture on honourable Decision-Making An Application of Hofstedes Typology, daybook of business enterprise Ethics,Vol. 12, No. 10 (Oct., 1993), pp. 753-760Hofstede, G. 1980. (Revised in 1984). Cultures Consequences International Differences in Work-related value. Sage Publications.Singh, J. 1990. Managing Culture and Work-related Values in India. Organization Studies, 11(1) 75-101Bosland, N. 1985a.An evaluation of Replication Studies using the Values evaluate Module.Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, Rijks-universiteit Limburg Working Paper 85-2, MaastrichtS athe, V. 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