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EFFECT OF
NATIONAL CULTURE ON ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING: PERSPECTIVE ON QUANTITY SURVEYING
FIRMS
ABSTRACT
Learning
remains one of the significant tools for improving performance of the
construction sector. Individual quantity surveyors practicing across the globe
in an enclave of a firm tend to tailor their organisation structure to reflect
their national culture. This feature in a way is postulated to influence, the
interaction interface during learning. This study evaluated the effect of
national culture on organizational learning with focus on quantity surveying
firms in Akwa Ibom state. The objectives were to assess national culture
mechanics of quantity surveying firms, determine factors affecting
organizational learning, and to evaluate the effect of national culture on
organizational learning. Empirical data collected using mainly questionnaire
were used to explore the causal relationship between national culture and
organizational learning. The results of the study indicated a strong
interdependency between national culture and organizational learning. Further
result indicates that; organizational learning performance is significant
determined by a group interrelated factors that developed from the culture of
the organisation. Based on the foregoing findings, the study concludes that,
national cultural orientation of a firm’s principal strongly affects the
learning performance within quantity surveying organisations in Akwa Ibom
state. To improve performace within quantity surveying firms therefore, the
dimension of power distance and individualism must be curtailed to benefit
organizational learning.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Quantity surveying firms are
service based firms that manage financially related issues for clients in the
construction industry (Abidin, 2011), using infrastructural cost and value management
expertise (Olanipekun, Aje and Abiola-Famemu, 2013). In quantity surveying
firms, employee Quantity Surveyors provide the expertise, acknowledge and skill
relied upon for service delivery. This indicates their importance to the
performance of quantity surveying firms which is in line with Espejo (2000);
Lawrence and Lorsh (1967). The quantity surveying firms are organizations where
the Quantity surveying is being practiced. One of the contexts in which
organization can be studied is their cultural effect. As opined by Zhang and
Liu (2006), there are factors that are seen to permeate organisation life and
influence every aspect of organization operation and one of such is
organization culture. National culture defines the way employees’ tasks and interact
with each other in an organization. The cultural paradigm comprises various
beliefs, values, rituals and symbols that govern the operating style of the
people in their company.
Corporate culture binds up the
workforce together and provides a direction for the company. In time of change,
the biggest challenge for any organization may be to change its culture, as the
employees are already accustomed to a certain way of doing things (Ojo, 2003).
The dominant culture is organizations depends on the environments in which the
company operates, the organizations objectives, the belief system of the
employees and the company’s management style. There are many national culture
such as highly bureaucratic and well-structured organizations typically follow
a culture with extensive controls. Employees follow standard procedures with
strict adherence to hierarchy and well-defined individual roles and
responsibilities.
Numerous factors are converging
that make teaching and learning in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts
more commonplace. Expanding world trade and globalization of industry, finance,
and many professions are creating a world in which cross-cultural interactions
occur more frequently than at any time in the past (Friedman, 2007). As well,
increasing specialization within many professions has led to a widely dispersed
audience for targeted education and training. Professionals wishing to stay
current or students wanting to develop specialized skills that match the needs
of a rapidly changing world demand access to proper educational opportunities,
even if this requires international travel or distance learning approaches
(Berge, 2007). Simpler and cheaper telecommunications, in particular, fuel a
growing willingness to teach and learn across cultures. Advances in Internet
technologies and applications make open and distance learning a fully viable
alternative to traditional education, creating a natural environment for the
development of effective virtual learning communities.
But contrary
to the growing flatness that Friedman (2007) reports, cultural diversity
remains apparent among learners, perhaps owing to deeply rooted cultural values
and modes of thinking that are difficult to separate from learning processes
(Nisbett, 2003). A growing appreciation of cultural diversity is demonstrated
by more than its acknowledgement and tolerance, but also by a desire to
preserve that diversity as a valuable asset for addressing the many challenges
faced by the global community now and in the future. Additionally, one can
recognize a strong desire to preserve diversity in response to the threat of
loss of cultural identity in the face of globalization and because of the
benefits of community cohesiveness through unique cultural expression (Mason,
2007). The growing need for educational access leads students rightly to demand
culturally adaptive learning experiences that allow full development of the
individual (Visser, 2007). As noted by Pincas (2001), students entering into
professional education in a multicultural context not aligned with their own
culture can experience significant conflict. This conflict arises not only in
regards to incompatible teaching and learning styles, but also because the
growing “professional self” struggles to maintain both a connection to the
local culture in which the student eventually intends to work and a connection
to the learning environment. Accordingly, instructional providers, including
instructors and instructional designers, especially those working in online
environments and struggling to maintain sufficient presence and student
engagement, should develop skills to deliver culturally sensitive and
culturally adaptive instruction (Gunawardena & LaPointe, 2007). This
article provides a summary and consolidation of useful existing literature to
aid in developing these skills. Although culture has begun to be addressed in
the field of Instructional System Design (ISD), it is still too often
overlooked or undervalued (Henderson, 1996; Rogers, Graham, & Mayes, 2007;
Thomas, Mitchell, & Joseph, 2002; Young, 2007). If education and
instructional design are inherently social processes (Schwier, Campbell, &
Kenny, 2004), then instructional providers can no longer take a neutral
position in developing their courses and materials. For instruction to do the
best for students, instructional providers must be cognizant of the cultures of
their learners and how those cultures manifest themselves in learning
preferences (Nisbett, 2003).
Cultural
sensitivity is not just one-way, however. Instructional providers should be
acutely aware of their own culture because their world views cannot be
separated from the training that they develop (Thomas, Mitchell, & Joseph,
2002). They should become cognizant of how their own cultural perspectives are
represented in the design decisions they make. Furthermore, instructional
providers should examine the assumptions they hold about how learners will and
should respond, keeping an open mind for potentially unexpected responses. Moreover,
they must balance the need to help students adapt to specific professional,
academic, and mainstream cultures (which instructors, by proxy, represent) and
the need to embrace the culture in which the student is embedded (Henderson,
1996). This is no small challenge; this study therefore seeks to evaluate the
effect of a firm’s principal national cultural orientation on organisation
learning.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Generally,
behaviour patterns of employees towards organisation performance are most
strongly influenced by the leaders of the organization. The words and actions
of the quality control and production managers reflect the values and beliefs
of senior management. Performance management is the process of creating a work
environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of
their abilities. According to Cascio (2006), performance is the degree of an
achievement to which employees fulfill the organisation mission at workplace.
The author added that the job of an employee is built up by degrees of
achievement of a particular target, mission that defines boundaries
performance. According to Ojo (2008), despite the Plethora of studies on
national culture in the last few decades, the empirical evidences emerging from
various studies about the effect of national culture on performance have so far
yielded mixed results that are inconclusive and contradictory. Ojo (2008)
further states that researches concur on the fact that there is no agreement on
the precise nature of the relationship between national culture and
performance. Because of these results, the question of whether national culture
affects employee’s performance is however worthy of a further research. Hence,
this study seeks to analyze the effect of national culture on the performance
of quantity surveying firms in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
1.3 Research Questions
1. What are the national cultural
elements affecting organisation learning in quantity surveying firms?
2. What are the factors affecting
organisation learning within quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state?
3. What are effects of a firm’s principal
cultural orientation on organisation learning?
1.4 Aim and Objectives
The aim of
the study is to evaluate the effect of a firm’s principal national cultural
orientation on organisation learning in quantity surveying firms in Uyo, Akwa
Ibom state with a view to improve efficiency. The general objectives of the
study are to:
1. To examine elements of national
culture affecting organisation learning in quantity surveying firms in Uyo.
2. To investigate the factors affecting
organisation learning in quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state.
3. To evaluate the organisation learning
performance of varying national cultures in selected quantity surveying firms
in the study area.
3. To evaluate the effect of national
cultural orientation on organisation learning in quantity surveying firms in
Akwa Ibom state.
1.5 Hypothesis of the Study
Ho: There is no significant relationship
between the natural culture and the performance of organisation learning in
quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state.
Hi: There is significant relationship
between the natural culture and the performance of organisation learning in
quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The study on the factors affecting
performance of quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state is significant in
the following ways. It will enlighten Quantity Surveyors and their Stakeholders
in Nigeria on the need for better national culture as the result from this
study will guide them in selecting and adopting better national culture for
better performance. This research will be a contribution to the body of
literature in the area of national culture and factors affecting performance in
quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state, thereby constituting the empirical
literature for future search in the subject area.
1.7 Scope/Limitation of the Study
This study
on the factors affecting performance of quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom
state covers all the quantity surveying firms in Akwa Ibom state by carefully
examining their national culture and their organisation performance. The study
will also cover factors hindering organisation performance.
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