Social Construction
In today's modern world, organizations have become global, where people from different countries and cultures come together to work for common and shared organizational goals. Several cultural issues arise when employees from distinct backgrounds are in the same place. Religion is one of the most critical ones since it is the set of spiritual beliefs and values that individuals follow in their daily lives. They expect their organizations to give them leverage for following their religion as this provides for their personal development. Enhancement in personal self would support bettering individual and group performance; hence, upgrading in organizational competitiveness would be observed.
Hofstede said that the religion practiced in a certain region is the result of cultural values that were followed previously by the ancestors in the same area (Mazur, 2010). The existing cultural strength is increased when people follow a religious guideline as they can with themselves and their spiritual entities whom they worship. Values are then created within the organizational culture based on these cultural qualities. Personal characteristics are combined with national and religious cultures, therefore, becoming a part of the organizational working environment. The states that have people from various ethnicities living in one area have heterogeneous religious backgrounds. The individuals' attributes and the environment under which they function are affected by their respective religions and beliefs that they pursue.
Within an organization, a group of humans works together, hence formulating a human society of its own. Their behaviors and religions shape the work relations created within these human societies. Since nationality has different dimensions as well, in which religion is counted, individualism is therefore modified that today's managers have to understand. In international organizations, it is important to understand individuals' religious orientations to understand how they can be compensated, motivated, and rewarded based on their spirituality.
The social construction of gender and religion are quite evident in modern globalized organizations. The social context of each culture takes religion and gender in different ways. For example, in some religions touching and staring at women is considered inappropriate, and the same values are meant to be practiced within the social settings. The gender differences...
References
Mazur, B. (2020). Organizational culture under religious influence. Intech Open. Retrieved from https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/organizational-culture-under-religious-influence
Nandi, A. & Platt, L. (2018). The relationship between political and ethnic identity among UK ethnic minority and majority populations. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(5), 957-979. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1539286
Raday, F. (2003). Culture, religion, and gender. Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law, 1(4), 663-715. http://arabic.musawah.org/sites/default/files/Culture%2C%20Religion%20and%20Gender.pdf
Ramos, M.R., Massey, D., Bennett, M. & Hewstone, M. (2019). Social diversity is initially threatening, but people do adapt over time- new research. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/social-diversity-is-initially-threatening-but-people-do-adapt-over-time-new-research-118066
Seyranian, V., Atuel, H. & Crano, W.D. (2008). Dimensions of majority and minority groups. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 11(1), 21-37. DOI: ff10.1177/1368430207084843ff.
Winkel, H. (2019). Religious cultures and gender cultures: Tracing gender differences across religious cultures. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 34(2), 241-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2019.1621540
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