Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Communication - Essay Example Cultural decisions establish correct or acceptable behavior by determining individuals’ positions with regard to one another and with regard to other aspects of the social and natural environment. Thus the way we seem to â€Å"naturally† feel toward family members, authority figures, or the environment is determined by well-established traditions that arise from cultural decisions regarding the appropriate relationships between people as well as with other living things. For example, while domination of humans over nature is the norm in American and other Western cultures, in other contexts such as some African cultures, the appropriate position of humans with regard to nature is harmony and coexistence (Communication & Cultural Diversity Lecture). The prevalence of cultural decisions in controlling behavior over the long term often leads to a tendency to believe that the culture-specific view is the â€Å"right† view. From within one cultural perspective, the different values and beliefs of another culture or co-culture tend to seem misguided or wrong, leading to ethnocentrism (Communications & Cultural Diversity Lecture). It is easy to think of extreme examples where another culture’s beliefs are clearly abusive or otherwise harmful to society, but ethnocentric attitudes are probably more common and exceptionally dangerous when directed against less severe differences of opinion. Anthropological theories of culture are extremely useful and easily applicable to the mini-societies we call workplaces. By applying anthropological concepts to businesses, a new discipline called Business Culture theory emerges. The valuable insights of Business Culture theory offer an excellent method with which to evaluate potential employers, and by doing so determine to what extent the culture of a business is consistent with our own values. Evaluating the culture of a business requires that we analyze the workplace environment and