Culture and Technology

Over the years, the way of life of a people has advanced with the change in technology and increased awareness. These changes are also influenced by the increasing migration of people resulting to existence among different races and ethnic communities. The question of whether technology or culture influences the other has been widely discussed with many controversial results given. However, this concept is determined by which of the true is more important to different groups and the level of development they have. Culture has also been known to act as the comfort zone of many people where they fit in comfortably. Therefore, the circumstances that may lead to its change are very slim. It responds also responds less to technological changes (Finin, 2006) as opposed to how technology would respond to peoples way of life. Areas of life such as leadership, eating habits, perception to certain issues in the society and governance are a determinant of culture of a people. Aside from the technological influence that is equalizing the world today and covering up the differences, culture is the tool that distinguishes one group from another. This goes further to illustrate the relationship between culture and technology in an organization. It reflects the coexistence between employees and the norms they are more acquitted to over the operating period. It is also worth identifying some of the cultural practices experienced in organizations. This could be in terms of the ethical standards practiced and leadership of the firm. For instance of leadership, it could be either transactional or transformational. Some organizations have been known to encourage the transactional leadership such that it becomes a tradition/cultural practice in the organization which every leader lives up to. This is where use of threats and reward is done to manipulate good performance from the employees. In most cases, the leader uses this to get personal favors from the voiceless employees. Transformational leadership on the other hand is whereby the leader incorporates various ideas to achieve proper changes for the benefit of the organization. It is adopted by the later leaders in the same organization due to its obviously good results and basis of honesty, transparency and integrity (Moe, Pappas, Murray, 2007). According to this research, technology is likely to be positively accepted where the leadership is transformational since it works towards upholding the good image of the organization and eliminating the detrimental qualities. The situation is contrary to the transactional leadership for fear of discovery of the forceful acts that the use of technology might expose. As discussed earlier, technology advancement is reliant on the working/ethical culture of the organization, thus determines its acceptability. In relation to leadership, leaders vary depending on their field of specialization. For instance, the leadership required in a hospital is totally different from that in a law firm. Workers in a law firm are trained towards working to win cases and bring to the organization as much money as possible. Their culture is money sided where failure to achieve this goal is a threat to a persons employment. Transactional leadership is put into much more use here than other leadership styles. In the event of technological change, the incorporation of advanced methods may be seen as a hindrance to the development (Moe, Pappas, Murray, 2007). Therefore, it is altered to suit their goals and ethical culture or totally scrapped. On the other hand, the employees in a hospital are trained towards saving lives and serving the patients/clients first. Making money and maximizing profits is secondary to any other objective. Therefore, achieving this must is possible under the leadership of a transformational leader who encourages and finds better ways for the employees to improve their skills. As was discussed earlier, this trend is carried forward by the leaders who take after, thus, making it their culture. For the sufficiency in serving, technological changes are well received and approved since they provide better ways to reach the patients with all transparency. Effectiveness in this case is also an advantage. Dafoulas, and Macaulay, (2001) argue/state that, virtual software development teams and how cultural differences between them or their members may affect activities in different stages of the development cycle. The previous discussions have focused on the effects of leadership and the relationship of the same to technology and culture. However, the effects of culture are not only seen in leadership. Existence of teams in organizations and any other association is influenced by culture and the technological effects on the culture of the people. This may be because of different beliefs and work ethics among the different team members. It is also because of the cultural differences in the team and the environment or the tasks they are exposed to. Therefore, caution is important in the implementation of the activities with regards to cultural differences. As opposed to an organization leadership where the leadership style is emulated to uphold the culture, here the most important factor is getting the team mates to work together. In this case, technology may be acceptable depending on the ole it plays towards enlightening the team members. For instance as (Dafoulas, and Macaulay, 2001) argued, it will be more acceptable where it enhances communication between different teams for better coexistence. Conversely, its reception will be quite hostile in a case where the technological changes are meant to change the working system of the team or team members. This is attributed to the attachment of people to their organizational/individual/team culture such that any change whether for the better is resisted. Besides accepting of changes, culture has also been known to largely influence the performance of the team depending on the task. According to Brannick, Salas, and Prince, (1997), the extent to which team members share strong, common artifacts and symbols will influence their shared knowledge structure they will be more accepting of each other (Pg 74). The author bases the findings on a research that proves people with the same origin, beliefs and possibly background are ore understanding of each other than would be those with different origins. This is because of the shared expectations, hardships and experiences which they feel bind them together. Absence of this bond creates tension among team members due the unpredictable nature of each other. This illustrates the influence that culture may have on peoples performance. Working together for the good of the organization will be more likely where trust is built before any work begins. However, research has also proved that team members can become fond of each other even where they are not from similar backgrounds, thus performing as expected. This happens where the culture of the organization they are working for is supportive of team work and healthy competition. Instead of the teammates fighting to outdo each other, their energy is more focused towards glorifying each other and building the organization. (Brannick, Salas, and Prince, 1997) elaborate this concept by stating how use of a reward system gives the team mates morale and enhances appropriate behavior and attitude towards work, thus enhancing the spirit of healthy competition. Teas are known to be set up to work together, incorporate a wide range of ideas depending on the area of specialization to achieve a defined goal of the organization. However, another kind of teams researched referred to as learning team has an equally tasking responsibility towards enhancing the performance of the organization. Here, the members focus on providing proper training to the organizations employees and offering solutions where they are needed. Incase of trouble by the members of the firm, the team mentioned offers referral services though a system specifically set up to meet the needs of the workers (Hawkins, ). This is very vital for any firm to avoid circumstances where mistakes are made for lack of confirmation services and proper guidelines. Like any other department in an organization, they have a set of rules and regulations that they work with which they have adhered to and made a culture. Fro instance, intense research is needed to ensure readily available solutions incase of trouble with the system or the procedures. Here, technology can be best adjusted to suit the needs of the organization. This is because there is need to ensure a well functioning system and full knowledge of the members here. It is therefore not very rigid to introduce technology in this sector as it affects the work positively and eases the work of the members, thus the culture can be adjusted as well to work well with the introduction of the new technology. In future, research based on the influence of culture and technology on teams could be more comprehensive. This is to ensure all the factors affecting the issue are well addressed. For instance, the views of team members on the effects of technological changes and the value they attach to their culture should be incorporated in the research. Secondly, I would suggest that the researcher conducts their own investigations of work ethics and culture to ensure they get an independent opinion of influence of culture and technology to their work and ability to perform. This is essential o compare the interviewees views with that of the independent findings of the researcher. Another important aspect of the research would be to understand why people are reluctant to changes in their way of life. Mostly, people would rather maintain old habits than adjust to what the society considers better for them. It is therefore necessary for the researcher to understand this concept. Thus, it will enable them impose technology acceptance to the people depending on the loopholes found and the possibility of the changes influencing their lives positively. In the study of culture, technology and their effects on various ethics and working components of organizations such as team work, it is possible to discover gaps that may lead to security problems. For instance, distributed and located teams may cause controversy to the organization in terms of performance ability. Where the team members are not in ne location, technology is important to enhance communication and relationship among them. It also keeps them updated in all areas of the associations operations where they will work in line with the agreements. This is not the case in areas where they are located because it is easier to communicate without much involvement of technology. Conclusion The discussion of culture and technology is detailed in terms of which of either are more influential to the other. This is a discussion brought up by the debate over whether culture is more diverse and adhered to or whether technology has better chances of getting reception over culture. It is however evident that culture is more critical and people attached to a particular way of life are less likely to adjust to new lifestyle. However, here is evidence that technology incorporation in an organization culture is dependent on the field which the firm works on and the degrees of benefit if the proposed technological change is applied. Certain factors such as leadership, team work and learning teams also determine the reception and incorporation of technology. However, it is more beneficial for most organizations to use advanced technology in their operations. Hough culture is known to bind people together technology has the advantage of bringing different people together, thus, wider range of ideas and better coexistence among the organization members and management as well. References Finin, T. (2006). Does technology change culture or culture change technology Retrieved from http//ebiquity.umbc.edu/blogger/2006/07/10/does-technology-change-culture-or-culture-change-technology/ Hawkins, T. R. (1997). The learning congregation A new vision of leadership. Louisville, Ky Westminster John Knox Press. Brannick, M., Salas, E., Prince, C. (1997). Team Performance Assessment And Measurement Theory, Methods, And Applications. Routledge. Dafoulas, G., Macaulay, L. (2001). Investigating Cultural Differences in Virtual Softwae Teams. Moe, J., Pappas, G. Murray, S. (2007). Transformational Leadership, Transnational Culture And Political Competence In Globalizing Health Care Services A Case Study Of Jordans King Hussein Cancer Center. Globolization and Health. Culture and Technology PAGE MERGEFORMAT 3 Y, dXiJ(x( I_TS 1EZBmU/xYy5g/GMGeD3Vqq8K)fw9
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