Business culture and business environment – inclusion or delusion?

Business culture in the business environment is a topic we do not discuss often and we are not aware of how much it affects us. Why culture in the business environment is important and how much we can improve our career opportunities if we pay attention to the way in which we are shaped by cultural patterns.

Do you want to change your work environment?

Business culture shapes our lives

Culture surrounds our everyday life and is an integral part of our lives. The way we dress, speak, behave and the like is partly conditioned by the culture in which we find ourselves. According to Hofstede, Western countries are characterized by individualism, while Eastern countries are characterized by a collective society.

For example, Asian countries are more focused on the collective, which is also reflected in the business environment, while in countries such as the USA, Europe and the UK, market neoliberalism reigns, which encourages market competition and individuality, where each individual must fight for himself on the labor market in accordance own skills regardless of origin, family and the like.

Multicultural centers such as large European and global metropolises employ a large number of employees of different nationalities, races and the like. On the other hand, Croatia, regardless of the smaller number of minorities, still cannot be called a multicultural center. The reason for this may also be the fact that Croatia is an economically weaker country and is not so interesting to people who prefer to seek their happiness in prospective countries such as Germany, the UK, and the like.

Business culture: Is Croatia a multicultural environment?

Therefore, there is somehow an impression that Croatian companies and enterprises mostly employ local residents. The import of foreign workers is one of the hot topics today, and it is highly debatable to talk about inclusion in this sense, given that often the lower-profile jobs intended for foreign workers are underpaid, with poor conditions and the like. We often do not discuss the importance of culture in the business environment and are not aware of how much it affects us. Why culture in the business environment is important and how much we can improve our career opportunities if we pay attention to the way in which we are shaped by cultural patterns.

On the other hand, people who are hired from outside for higher job profiles often find themselves in a very closed circle of people within the organization they work in and who are not ready to use the English language in the company of a person who does not know Croatian enough or at all, and the process of adaptation is almost insignificant according to that person. Therefore, language, socio-cultural and other barriers can often be an obstacle to the integration of such persons into society, especially in the business environment.

Can we improve?

Business culture is an important topic. Henceforth, employers should become more aware of the way in which they can implement inclusion within organizations. Inclusivity programs should be encouraged within every business environment and certainly work more on the integration of minorities within it.

Log in to our Štoradiš portal to find as many job opportunities as possible that match your profile and profession. Hopefully, you will also find a list of companies that consider inclusivity as one of the main elements of social corporate responsibility and organizational culture, which should be an integral part of every organization. You can also search for vacancies and many career opportunities on the Adecco.hr website.

Find yourself a new work environment right now!

Author: Helena Kariko