Reagan Fugate

Contrast the dynamics between dominant cultures and subcultures either in a work setting or society. Explain why it is important to understand the impact of culture.

“Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon (Smircich, 1984).” The dominant culture is what guides people in their day-to-day lives, the big picture so to speak. Subculture is what makes everyone tick; it’s what makes us do what we do. For example, dominant culture dictates that we get up in the morning and go to work, then in the evening we come home and go to bed. Our subculture is what tells us to go to the gym before we go to work or to eat the salad for lunch. The subculture doesn’t necessarily interfere with the dominant culture, and it often works alongside it. Being able to distinguish between the two types of culture can lead to a better understanding of processes and how specific groups work. This understanding can assist in building a strong culture which offers stability, teaches self-management, and helps integrate new employees (Baak, 2017).

Give an example where you demonstrated your awareness and or openness to understanding a cultural difference. Explain how these differences underscore the need for understanding diversity. From the information given, develop guidelines for embracing diversity.

I work in sales and marketing, in a previous role I was a door to door sales rep. Our dominant culture was to sell the products to customers; the customers could call an 800 number, go online, go into a physical store, or buy from me. The role in which I was employed had a subculture that was aligned with their dominant culture, purchase products from any source, but from my perspective was contrary to their dominant culture, buy products from only me. I understood my role in the big picture, it was my job to sell the product, and if I sold a lot, then both cultures were satisfied. Being able to see the dominant culture as the big picture open up needs for new ideas, and new ways of seeing old issues. Diversity provides fresh ideas and can spark innovations which can be very beneficial.

Baak, Donald XXXXXXXXXXOrganizationalBehavior. Retrieved from https://ashford.thuze.com/books/Baack.3633./sections/fm.

Tonisha Fields

Hi Reagan,

interesting take on Dominant and subculture, I never really thought of it in that way. I does make since to say we have a primary (dominant) and secondary (subculture) culture when it comes to us personally as well as within the workforce. What are some potential problems a subculture can have in a dominant culture in your opinion? I definitely agree that having an understanding allows for a more productive and successful organization that welcomes the differences in the ideas and perspectives of all of their employees, because they understand that this is what bring on the right change to take the organization to its next level. I believe there is always a way to improve or change a process to make it simpler and more effective, whereas an older employee may feel the way of doing things 10yrs ago is still what works today.

Sales and Marketing? That’s really cool, I think it takes a special kind of person who is in tune with the needs of people to be able to pitch a product and sell it. It easy to advertise and up sell products online or via phone, but door to door require a certain type of skill. It’s great that in that environment the dominant and subculture of your organization was not affected and the two were able exist to render positive results. Do you think if you hadn’t produced the sales that you had there would have been conflict between the two cultures?