Subculture

Cultural Culture Is one of the most fundamental of determinant of a person’s wants, needs and behavior (determined mainly by countries- wants, needs and behavior of a Japanese differs greatly from an American) Sub-culture consists of smaller cultures within cultures. It provide a specific identification and solicitation for its members. Sub-cultures includes nationalities, religions, racial groups, etc. (The Silver market differs greatly from the Gene X or Y market in their wants and needs and where they hop) Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences.

Examples are: upper Uppers, Lower uppers, Upper Middle, Lower Middle, Middle Class, Working Class, Upper Lowers and Lower Lowers. (Giordano vs… Airman Exchange, BMW vs… Cherry Q, Fine Dinning vs… Food Courts) Social Reference Groups influences the person’s behavior (peer groups in schools determine how one should wear in school). One may be a member of the reference group or not. (Students may dress In a manner that Is consistent with a reference group he/she does not belong to) Family members constitute the Influential primary preference group.

A person may acquire an orientation towards a set of values that are consistent with that of the parents or siblings. (a place of worship that a person goes to) Roles and statuses influences the buying behavior of the individual. People choose products that communicate their roles and statuses. (A senior manager may drive a Mercedes car) Personal Age and Life-cycle stage influences the buying decisions of individuals. A fresh graduate may not see the importance of buying a home vs.. Newly-weds. Newly-weds with no children may prefer a sporty car vs.. A sedan for a family with young children.

Couple whose kids are Independent and have families of their own may have more leisure time to take more and longer holidays. Occupation Influences one’s needs and wants. A blue-collar worker may volt neighbor malls, whereas a white-collar worker may volt an upscale boutique for working clothes. Economic Circumstances greatly affect one’s choices. A holiday becomes unimportant when one faces economic uncertainties. Lifestyle determines a person’s pattern of living in the world, as expressed by the person’s activities, interests and opinions.

One may choose a emote vacation spot while another may choose a vacation with a planned itinerary. Personality and self-concept. One may possess certain traits such as self-confidence, autonomy, deference, sociability, defensiveness and adaptability. One may choose to wear only certain brand of clothes from an obscure designers, and is not bothered by the influences others may have on him/her. Psychological Motivation- where is one on the Mascots Hierarchy of needs. One who Is trying to feed his family might pay little heed to the latest sports car. Perception- People perceive different situations differently.

One might be wary of a fast-talking salesperson as an aggressive and Insincere person, whereby another may deem him to be a confident and knowledgeable, intelligent and helpful. This can be attributed experience. A person may decide to purchase a similar brand of car if he enjoy a positive experience. This is one reason why marketers are willing to let consumers “try’ their products, hoping that they will enjoy a positive experience. Beliefs and Attitudes- Through experience and learning, one may hold certain beliefs and attitudes that a product can deliver. A Mercedes Benz driver will never own another brand of car.

Skinhead subculture is originated among working class youths in United Kingdom in the 1960s. The first skinheads were greatly influenced by Jamaican rude boys and British mods. Originally, the skinhead subculture was primarily based on elements of fashion, music and lifestyle, not politics or race. However, with the revival of skinhead in 1970s, the emergence of white power skinheads made them largely related to race and politics. Today, I will explain the skinhead identity by showing two clips from Romper Stomper and my partner Silvia will introduce different factions and politics of skinheads as well as their condition nowadays. Clip ] This clip presents the conversation between Hando and the woman in his room, illustrating his main purpose of becoming skinhead. Hando’s life as a skinhead is largely related to Nazi. As showed in the film, his room is decorated with a great number of Nazi objects including the Nazi helmet, posters, flag, book and tattoos on his body. The neo-Nazi culture commodities are used as subcultural capital, which is expected to raise their status and help differentiate themselves from others.

However, audience of mainstream will interpret these subculture capitals as strange, deviant things and hence regard skinheads as a subculture which cannot be accepted by the mainstream culture. Although not clearly indicted in the film, the activities of these skinheads seem to be depicted as deviance that violates social norms. The first clip we intensively represents the deviant image of skinheads through scenes such as using violence to the Asians, and close-up of their unusual living place.

Deviant acts can be a way to predicate identity, thus against norms of the dominant culture and in favor of a subculture. Fashion The identity of skinheads can be also maintained through fashion and music. Fashion is an essential element to distinguish skinheads’ identity not only from that of mainstreams, but also from different factions. Through fashion, skinhead groups form unique resources for individuals to project an image and hence achieve their identities. Skinheads are visually identified by their short hair and unique clothing styles.

Although various factions of skinheads may have tiny differences in dressing, they all conform to a general dressing style which includes braces, fitted jeans, ‘sta press trousers’, button-down shirts, polos, boots, and flight jackets. Moreover, skinheads favor of several brands such as Ben Sherman’s button-down shirts, Fred Perry’s polos and Doctor Marten’s boots. The choice of particular fashion items is orchestrated by skinheads to reflect their collective identity. Furthermore, skinheads also use fashion to distinguish between factions.

For example, several skinheads use different color laces in their boots to show their political identity, or stance on race. White laces refer to white power skinheads, red laces stand for communism and a combination of yellow, black, and blue laces refer to anti-racist SHARPs. In addition, tattoos are used to identify different affiliations. Number 69 can be found in those who pay homage to the peak of 1969 of skinhead subculture, while nazi symbols can be found on those racist skinheads.

MUSIC Music is another critical aspect for skinhead identity. Traditional skinheads were heavily impacted by Jamaican ska and reggae music. In 1960s, skinhead music was labeled as ‘skinhead reggae’ by record companies. Some bands such as Charmers, Desmond Riley were singing about skinheads. Thus, this early music reflects the clean cut fashion which is indicative of skinhead style. In 1970s, the emergence of Punk music not only drew skinheads’ attention, but also the mainstreams.

Since many skinheads label themselves as the periphery of mainstream culture, a new form of punk called Oi emerged to uniquely express skinheads’ frustration and ideology. Similar to fashion, difference could be found in various factions’ Oi music. For example, racist skinheads’ music can be easily distinguished because the themes of their songs are racism, largely differ from others. That’s the end of my part; let’s welcome Silvia to introduce the factions and politics of skinheads and their condition nowadays. http://v. youku. com/v_show/id_XMzIyNTQ0ODI4. html

Using material from item A and elsewhere assess the view that social class differences in educational achievement are the result of school processes such as labelling. Social class is typically known as social grouping or hierarchy based on differences in wealth, income or occupation. In the UK there are mainly two social classes; working class and middle class. 33% of students who are currently on free school meals achieve 5A*-C at GCSE, however 61% of students who are not on free school meals also achieve 5A*-C grades. 0% of the failing school are from deprived areas, and 79% of children from a higher professional family are more likely to go to university, whilst only 15% of children from unskilled and manual backgrounds go to work. Sub cultures are a group of people within society who share the same norms, values, beliefs and attitude that go against the main stream in society. This is usually different from or opposed to the main stream culture, for instance an anti-school subculture is more likely to be formed by pupils in lower streams.

This is backed up by “They have examined the way in which labelling is linked to other processes within schools that result in class differences in achievement” (Item A) “These processes include self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and the formation of pupil subcultures” (Item A) Therefore working class children will underachieve and middle class children will continue to progress. This can disadvantage working class children because of the use of home and school contracts.

The education triage for working class are labelled as “hopeless cases” which then produces a selffulfilling prophecy and failure, which then leads to working class children going under stereotypical ideas. However, some labelled students go against their label to prove teachers wrong, which pushes them to do just as well as middle class children. Labelling is to attach a meaning or definition. Typically teachers label students as, bright, thick or hardworking. This usually affects working class students as they are labelled ‘thick’.

This is backed up from item A “some sociologists explain social class differences in achievement in terms of school processes such as labelling” According to Cicourel and Kitsuse teachers judge students according to their ability, social class and race. Labelling can lead to self fulfilling prophecy where the student will accept the label and do what is expected of that particular label. However, this can advantage working class children to work against their label and achieve the best possible grades.

According to the Sutton Trust 80% of ethnic minority pupils aspire to go to university. This goes on to show that labelling working class children can affect their final grade. Another process that school use that affect educational achievement is streaming. This process is when students are put into groups according to capability. “These processes include the self-fulfilling prophecy, streaming and the formation of pupil subcultures” (Item A). Becker begins to believe that the capability groups are those who will pass, those who might pass and those who will not pass.

However, Stephen Ball takes the analysis a step further to abolish banding, in favour of teaching mixed ability groups. This has created new opportunities for schools and teachers. This is to differentiate between pupils on the basis of their class, ethnicity or gender and to not treat them unequally. Therefore showing that streaming is a major factor in underachievement. Finally Self-fulfilling prophecy can affect educational achievement. This process consists of a prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it having it being made.

This can affect those less able because it foes against the main stream. This is backed up by “Gilbourn and Youdell have examined the role of educational policies in creating the context for such school processes to take place” (Item A) Gilbourn and Youdell shows how teachers notions of ability conclude to their decisions of which pupils have the potential to achieve 5A*-C grade gcse’s. Neil Keddie then argues that the more intelligent students get taught more complex and advanced information and methods while the students in the lower sets are not recognised and being left behind.

However Rosenthal and Jacobson performed an experiment where they picked random students from the class who were also working class and told teachers they are able to improve, this later resulted in teachers spending more time with these ‘selected’ students which made them improve and achieve better. Therefore showing that self-fulfilling prophecy can have an effect in education underachievement. To conclude sub cultures, labelling, streaming and self-fulfilling prophecy can effect education underachievement, due to social class, gender and race.

Being labelled tends to be based on your social class, where you will be labelled between smart and dumb. Streaming is typically based on your ability on whether you’re smart or dumb. Also, sub cultures and self-fulfilling prophecy is known to go under all social class, gender and race as it is a group of people who tend to go against the norms, beliefs and values of mean stream sub culture. However education underachievement cannot just be a social class difference, it has internal factors as well as external factors.

We live in the humanity of demanding worldwide rations. We comprise the aptitude to communicate with the populace thousands miles apart at the flicker of an eye. Though this looks and is, to nearly all, a splendid supremacy to be appreciated, it can be for a few a world bewilderment and aggravation started by their own observations and values. These obstacles to culture assortment subsist because of the ways in which dissimilar cultures ease acuity and values concerning other and themselves.

Culture can be depicted as the arrangement through which communication can be invented and sporadic. Culture pacts with the manner people live. Culture is well-read through perception that is shaped in a variety of ways, where we are born and hoisted, the language we study, the people and the surroundings with which we exist and the psychosomatic spur we stumble upon. Reasonably, with the intention of successfully converse with other customs, we should first see the sights to which we pledge to recognize the ways that we present obstacles distinguish culture variations.

Culture usually refers to guides of human bustle and the figurative arrangements that give such actions significance and magnitude. Cultures can be “understood as classifications of signs and gist that even their maker’s challenge that is short of preset limits, that are continuously in fluctuation, and that interrelate and contend with one another” Culture can be cleared as all the ways of life as well as arts, beliefs and institutions of a inhabitants those are approved down from generation to generation.

Culture has been called “the manner of life for a whole civilization. ” As such, it comprises rules of etiquettes, outfit, language, religious conviction, customs, and games, norms of behavior such as law and ethics, and schemes of belief as well as the art. Great societies often have subcultures, or factions of group with separate sets of manners and beliefs that distinguish them from a larger culture of which they are a component. The subculture may be idiosyncratic because of the age of its members, or by their race, traditions, class, or sexual category.

The traits that establish a subculture as divergent may be artistic, spiritual, professional, opinionated, sexual or a mixture of these factors. Local cultures of the world arise equally by realm and ethnic group and more largely, by bigger regional distinctions. Resemblances in culture frequently happen in geologically close by peoples. Many regional cultures have been prejudiced by get in touch with with others, such as by colonization, trade, migration, mass media, and religion. Culture is vibrant and changes over time.

In doing so, cultures attract external influences and amend to altering surroundings and technologies. Thus, culture is reliant on communication. Local cultures alter swiftly with new communications and transportation technologies that permit for better movement of people and thoughts among cultures. An individual and cultural worth is a relative ethic value, a supposition upon which execution can be extrapolated. A value system is a set of constant values and procedures. A standard value is a base upon which other principles and procedures of honesty are based.

Values are considered slanted and differ across people and cultures. Types of values comprise ethical/moral norms, doctrinal/ideological (political, religious) values, communal values, and artistic values. It is debated whether some values are inherent. Individual principles develop from conditions with the external world and can alter over time. His reliability in the application of values refers to its permanence; persons have reliability if they relate their values fittingly regardless of arguments or negative fortification from others.

Values are applied suitably when they are practical in the correct area. For example, it would be suitable to concern religious values in times of contentment and in times of desolation. Personal values developed early in life perhaps opposed to modify. They may be derivative from those of meticulous groups or systems, such as customs, religion, and political party. Nevertheless, personal standards are not widespread; one’s relations, inhabitants, generation and chronological surroundings help settle on one’s personal values.

This is not to utter that the value perceptions themselves are not collective, simply that each individual have a sole origin of them i. e. an individual acquaintance of the suitable values for their individual genes, manners and skills. Values are linked to the customs of a civilization, but they are more broad and conceptual than norms. Norms are set of laws for deeds in particular circumstances, whereas values recognize what should be umpired as fine or awful. Flying the national flag on a festival is a custom, but it reveals the value of loyalty.

Wearing dark clothing and emerging somber are normative behaviors at an interment. They imitate the values of reverence and sustain of associates and relatives. Communication is the procedure of stabbing to pass on information from a dispatcher to a recipient with the use of a means. Communication entails that all parties have a region of forthcoming harmony. There are aural means, such as speaking, singing and at times tenor of voice, and nonverbal, substantial way, such as body language, sign lingo, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, or the use of testing.

Communication is cleared as a procedure by which we allocate and express sense in an effort to generate communal accepting. This procedure needs an enormous inventory of talents in intrapersonal and interpersonal dispensation, listening, examining, communicating, inquiring, investigating, and assessing. Use of these processes is developmental and moves to all areas of life residence, school, society, employment, and afar. It is through communication that association and assistance arise.

Organizational Culture Analysis Lauri Simmons BUS610: Organizational Behavior October 15, 2012 Every society has a culture that drives their core values, beliefs, and actions. Culture provides a social system and creates a sense of identity (Baack, 2012). Within each culture are multiple subcultures. Subcultures, according to Baack (2012) differentiate a subgroup from the larger group to which it belongs. This also holds true for all organizations. Baack (2012) describes three levels of culture that influence behaviors in organizations: observable artifacts, espoused values, and enacted values.

Observable artifacts include the physical signs of an organization’s dominant culture; espoused values are the explicitly stated values and norms found in organizations; the values and norms exhibited as employee and managerial behaviors are enacted values (Baack, 2012). One of the largest organizations with a strong culture and multiple subcultures is the military. Although the military requires its personnel to commit to certain core values and beliefs, many cultural layers further differentiate the individual branches of the military.

The military consists of five active-duty services and their respective Guard and Reserve units. These include the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. All branches are equal parts of the United States Uniformed Services, headed by the president as commander in chief. To join the military, you must be between 18 and 34 years old ; or 17 years old with parental consent. Even though there are many cultural differences between the various branches of the military, each with their own values and expectations, there are also many cultural similarities.

For instance, the military a whole has experienced a couple important paradigm shifts over the years. First, joining the military is now voluntary, whereas in the past, a draft was in effect. Second is the representation of women in all branches of the military and in roles previously dominated by men. Another similarity is the military language. All branches use a universal system of code words to identify letters in the alphabet. In addition to the phonetic alphabet, the military uses numerous universal acronyms to identify military programs and services, long with a method to identify time. Although the military is the dominant culture, each branch forms a unique subculture. The Navy’s subculture for instance, includes sailors, their assigned ship’s culture, spouses and children, parents of sailors, and veterans. Unlike other branches, the Navy is equipped to handle operations on and under the sea, in the air and on the ground. An enlisted sailor generally serves a term of four years aboard one of the Navy’s 285 deployable ships (United States Navy, 2012).

Another subculture develops during deployment. Deployment not only affects the service man or woman, but their families, friends, and communities. Depression and boredom sets in for many, and although counseling is available, there is still a certain amount of stigma behind seeking help, so most will not seek it out. My son Nolan, who is currently on deployment with the NAVY, described deployment in the following way (personal conversation, October 15, 2012) “When you first leave for deployment, you think, wow this is like going on vacation.

Then after a couple of weeks at sea, you begin to think, wow this is getting old. After a few weeks at sea you then say wow it is going to be a long time before I get to get home and see my family. ” Finally, Nolan advised that it is difficult to adjust to life back in the states when they return from deployment, because they are different people than when they left on deployment and so are the ones they left behind. “Infidelity is high both in sailors and in the spouses left behind. Many spouses are resentful that they are left behind, especially when children are involved.

Infidelity and divorce is so high among sailors, the Navy warns recruits in boot camp not to marry or get into a relationship while in the Navy. ” In closing, I would like to discuss Veterans as another military subculture. Veterans frequently have difficulty adjusting to the civilian world after their tour, face unemployment, often have disabilities, and problems maintaining housing. They frequently feel unappreciated, and experience mental health issues such as PTSD/shell shock, depression, and alcohol and/or substance abuse (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012).

Some cities, such as Phoenix, Arizona have housing communities specifically for Veterans and other programs. Resources America;s Navy (n. d. ) Frequently asked questions. Retrieved October 15, 2012 from http://www. navy. com/faq. html Baack, D. (2012). Organizational behavior. Bridgepoint Education: San Diego, CA Department of Veterans Affairs (n. d. ) Pre-discharge program. Retrieved October 15, 2012 from http://www. vba. va. gov/predischarge/index. htm

Punk rock is primarily a British musical genre that reached its creative and popular peak during 1977 and 1978. The precursors of punk rock were those American and British groups of the late 1960s and early 1970s who played rock music with an aggressive feel, with loud distorted guitars and nihilistic lyrics. While most punk rock groups drew influence from some earlier bands, they were specific about rejecting the majority of music produced in the early 1970s. In particular, punk rock musicians did not like what they termed the hippie music of progressive rock. Central to any discussion of punk is the band The Sex Pistols (Sabin 78).

Not the first punk rock group but certainly the most influential was The Sex Pistols. The group was formed in late 1975. Shortly after this the band started touring on the pub rock and college gig circuits. Early songs such as ‘Submission’ and ‘Anarchy In The UK’ lyrically mocked what the band perceived to be the traditional and boring nature of British society. They were against a backdrop of rambunctious guitars and drums. It was not long before The Sex Pistols attracted a fanatical following of punks equally disillusioned with British society and culture (Sabin 123).

The media furore that made early Sex Pistol’s gigs was nothing in comparison to the outrage that emerged after their actions in December 1976. Following the cancellation of an appearance by the group Queen, The Sex Pistols were invited to appear on the early evening London television show Today. After drinking heavily before the show, the band verbally insulted interviewer Bill Grundy, and caused a tabloid storm with their explicit language.

This set the stage for the release of their ‘God Save The Queen’ single, a week before the Queen’s Jubilee weekend in June 1977. Again tabloid newspapers and the public in general were shocked by the band’s direct attacks upon an institution central to British society, the monarchy. In particular the record cover, created by the band’s ‘Art Director’ Jamie Reid, created a sensation with its image of the Queen with a safety pin through her nose (Sabin 123-125).

‘God Save The Queen’ was The Sex Pistol’s high point. Later in 1977 the band released their one and only official album, Never Mind The Bollocks. Like all the band’s releases it came in a trademark Jamie Reid cover that mimicked the style of a ransom note, and contained direct attacks on central facets of British culture. The Sex Pistols found that they were unable to obtain gigs in Britain because promoters and venues showed an unwillingness to allow them to perform.

Band tensions reached a head following the band’s tour of the USA, and they split in early 1978. The band’s lead singer Johnny Rotten reverted to his real name John Lydon, formed Public Image Limited, and left the punk rock genre. The band struggled on in his absence, but the drug-related death of bass player Sid Vicious led to their inevitable demise (Strinati 89).

However, some commentators claim that the ‘spirit of punk’ is not to be found in those groups who sound like their 1970s counterparts, but in the house, techno and jungle acts who make music for reasons other than commercial gain. For many of the first generation of punk rock groups, making music was about ‘making do’ with the available technology, and they were therefore opposed to the kind of learned musicianship of previous rock genres. It is understandable that house, jungle and techno acts, with their cheap sampling equipment and their own production technology, consider themselves to be the direct descendants of the first punk rock bands.

The Sex Pistols were attracting media attention, a whole wave of other punk rock bands were forming, notably The Damned and The Clash in London and The Buzzcocks in Manchester. Although none received the same mixture of notoriety and fame as The Sex Pistols, many considered them to be musically more interesting. In the wake of the successes of The Sex Pistols, many young people began to form their own bands in 1977 and 1978. In particular these bands developed a ‘DIY’ attitude to making music. The Sex Pistols developed different styles of punk, but maintained a central ethos of opposition to mainstream British society. Either implicitly or explicitly, this political ethos was central to punk rock (Sabin 103).

The degree to which The Sex Pistols has influenced subsequent rock styles is hotly debated. Throughout the 1980s, new bands formed and drew inspiration from the events of 1976 and 1977. In particular, indie bands’ faith in the seven-inch single and suspicion of the LP has been interpreted as directly related to punk’s ‘DIY’ approach. Musically, The Sex Pistols has been particularly influential upon American bands, with Nirvana, Hole and Mudhoney all having had chart successes in Britain. These ‘post-punk’ bands developed a similar sound to the stripped-down aggression of the first generation of The Sex Pistols. Some British rock groups, such as The Wildhearts, Therapy and the Manic Street Preachers also have their musical roots in punk rock (Curtis 60).

In fact, the absence of a symbol of class solidarity made The Sex Pistols more important than it had ever been before. Moreover, punks realized that they no longer had to be passive spectators, for rock ‘n’ roll had always meant self assertion of one kind or another. In this sense, the key punk song is the Sex Pistols’ “No Feelings,” especially the line, which Johnny Rotten screams over their version of the wall of sound, “I’m in love with myself.” What we have here is an assertion, not of a political program, but of the discovery of what Daniel Yankelovich called personal entitlement.

The Sex Pistols made a terrific impact because through them their audience discovered that they didn’t have to go through their lives saying “sir.” It was as though they had discovered the working-class equivalent of black pride, and had realized that they didn’t play the equivalent of Uncle Tom to their betters—or to their peers, either. After seeing them for the first time, Coon noted:

What impressed me most…was their total disinterest in pleasing anybody except themselves. Instead, they engaged the audience, trying to provoke a reaction which forced people to express what they felt about the music. Quite apart from being very funny, their arrogance was a sure indication that they knew what they were doing and why (Coon 70).

For many people, spiked hair and dog collars had become a joke, the domain of soda pop ads and television dramas. But did punk disappear with the utter sell-out of its foremost corporate spokesband, the Sex Pistols? Did punk rock vanish when pink mohawks could be found only on pubescent heads at the shopping mall? If the spectacular collapse of punk rock was also the collapse of spectacular subcultures? What crawled from the wreckage? In what ways can young people express their unease with the modern structure of feeling? A new kind of punk has been answering these questions.

Today, to a certain extent, punk rock means post-punk – a nameless, covert subculture reformed after punk rock. To recap: early punk rock was, in part, simulated ‘anarchy;’ the performance of an unruly mob. So long as it could convince or alarm straight people, it achieved the enactment. For its play to work, punk rock needed a perplexed and frightened ‘mainstream’ off which to bounce. But when the mainstream proved that it needed punk rock, punk’s equation was reversed: its negativity became positively commercial.

As mainstream style diversified, and as deviant styles were normalized, punk rock had less to act against. Punk rock had gambled all its chips on public outcry, and when it could no longer captivate an audience, it was wiped clean. Post-punk, or contemporary punk, has foregone these performances of anarchy and is now almost synonymous with the practice of anarchism. Long after the ‘death’ of classical punk rock, post-punk and/or punk subcultures coalesce around praxis.

The Sex Pistols called attention to themselves with their clothing as well as with their music. The torn clothing, which they wore, like the tattered shirts, the chains wrapped around their bodies, the safety pins in their cheeks, said something of great importance. The Sex Pistols created a fresh moral panic fuelled by British tabloids, Members of Parliament, and plenty of everyday folk. Initially, at least, they threatened ‘everything England stands for’: patriotism, class hierarchy, ‘common decency’ and ‘good taste’ (Curtis 98).

When the Sex Pistols topped the charts in Britain, and climbed high in America, Canada, and elsewhere, punk savoured a moment in the sun: every public castigation only convinced more people that punk was real. Fortunately, The Sex Pistols meant more than excitement in a few clubs and big sales in safety pins. The Sex Pistols also produced one of the great bands of the seventies—The Clash. If rock ‘n’ roll is a universe, The Clash and the Sex Pistols are different planets.

Works Cited

Coon, Caroline. The New Wave Punk Explosion, New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1978.

Curtis, Jim. Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954-1984. Bowling Green State University Popular Press: Bowling Green, OH, 1987.

Sabin, Roger. Punk Rock, So What? The Cultural Legacy of Punk. Routledge: London, 1999.

Strinati, Dominic. Come on Down? Popular Media Culture in Post-War Britain. Stephen Wagg. Routledge: New York, 1992.

Discuss whether an organization might be better considered as consisting of many sub-cultures which are conceptually different, rather than one ‘major’ culture. * An introduction Culture, whether in some organization or society, is about people. People play a key role in culture. People create culture.

And because people are individual units with different opinions, values, goals, attitudes, wants and needs but at the same time they interact with other people, they share all of these things with others on the base of the communication and they influence each other, so naturally it leads to exchange of their opinions, many confrontation and conflicts. But confrontation and conflicts do not always mean something wrong, it can bring improvement, progress, and change. And likewise, it goes the same in organizations. One person is equal to one opinion in some particular issue.

And nobody can say this is a good or bad way or decision. For somebody it is obvious that some manner is the best and for another person it can mean something totally different. More people, more opinions and more points of view. Sometimes it can make more difficulties and another time make things easier. That is why it is not easy and clear to say whether an organization might be better considered as consisting of many sub-cultures which are conceptually different, rather than one ‘major’ culture. Because we have to take into account all of these things which I mentioned before.

In this essay I try to assess all factors related to corporate culture and its sub-cultures and find out pros and cons of one ‘major’ culture and sub-cultures in the organization. * A central part In the beginning let’s have a look at two basic terms which are fundamental in this topic. These are corporate culture and sub-culture. Everybody knows what to imagine under these words. But everybody can imagine something else, each of us perceives corporate culture differently and this is the reason why there exist a lot of definitions of culture.

Of course I will not write down many definitions here but I would like to mention just one which on my opinion is the most apposite. According to Andrew Brown (1995, 1998) who stated the definition of organizational culture in his book Organizational Culture is the following: “Organizational culture refers to the pattern of beliefs, values and learned ways of coping with experience that have developed during the course of an organization’s history, and which tend to be manifested in its material arrangements and in the behaviors of its members. Simply said, organizational culture is everything what surrounds us at work. Organizational culture influences everything what it happens in a company, company’s success and efficiency. When we are taking into account two companies with the same technological equipment, so theoretically they should be equally successful, but they are not. Why? The answer is different corporate culture. Corporate culture can support strategy and company’s goals but on the other side it can mean for company obstacles in progress, higher cost and low competitiveness. Every organizational culture can contain many sub-cultures.

And sub-culture in organization is the second very important term which I want to mention. We can say that sub-culture is natural phenomenon within the company and a subgroup of a larger organizational culture with the unique values and beliefs. Subcultures are caused by a particular employee’s interests, different levels of management (e. g. hand worker x manager) different functional areas (people have another scope of employment or solve totally different types of problems or with the same scope of employment but with insufficient cooperation – e. . Human resources x Informatics) or by large distance within the same organization. In many cases the presence of sub-cultures is desirable for company and positive but the culture in the company has to be dominant and people within the sub-cultures have to follow common goals and values. In other cases it is counter-productive and subcultures deny dominant culture and they can damage the whole company because subcultures can get in to the conflict and complicate integration and coordination within the organization.

For dominant culture are typical definite communication within the company, clear company’s goal and values, desirable behavior, uniform attitudes and following quick decision making and planning and increasing motivation and team belonging. The majority of company believes in the core values of organization. But the strong cultures have to deal with some problems as less flexibility, sticking to the past experience; company is not too willing to accept change, isolation from the surrounding environment and information.

On the other hand there exist weak corporate cultures where there are really bad communication among members of company, variety of opinions and values and people do not follow company’s core ideas. If the managers do not support meetings, cooperation a communication among employees, sharing information and experience, then people look for their own way how to communicate, solve the problems, make decisions and set up the priorities according to their own values, needs and wants. * A conclusion And back to the question “what is better”? One company = 1 culture or 1 company = many subcultures?

Do we want one major culture where the well-defined values and principles will be followed by almost all employees in the company? If course, we do. But what will be happening if these values and principals are not so clearly defined and managers do not follow it? Or these values are considered as fundamental and unchangeable and company never wants to accept another new approach although things are changing with time. The company finds itself in crisis. And what about the other possibility? What about the presence of some subcultures in the company? The one strong culture and co-existed other subcultures?

Subcultures which are different from each other, with different values, needs, behavior for example according to level of management or function but still identifying with the core values of dominant culture of the company. But what will be happening in the case that the culture is not so dominant? Then people in the subcultures will have totally different opinions, they will follow other values and the goal of the company will be different and company will have big difficulties to achieve their goals, satisfy their employees and also customers, the communication will be confused and a lot of conflicts will be occurred.

So how to get to the ideal solution? As we know nothing is ideal but we can try to get to ideal solution as closer as possible. In case of one main culture and other subcultures on my opinion the organization should insist on clear and accurate definitions of its strategy, mission – the fundamental purpose of the organization, what business the company is, vision – where does company wish to go? , core values – what are the desired behavior and characters, attitudes and etc. Also another really important thing is clear formulation of well-arranged conditions of work, e. g. equired ways of behavior at work (dress code, manners), assessment, remuneration, education and trainings (mandatory or voluntary) of employees. Company should inform their employees not only about changes but also about all things mentioned above as much as possible. Each a new employee should be familiarized with company’s strategy, its values, mission, vision and so on. Company should also support communication among particular subcultures for example organizing regular meeting where they will make them acquainted with all news in each subculture, with changes, outcomes, future plans and all important things which happened.

Another advice which I would recommend is to arrange teambuilding activities and trips, company-wide actions (cultural, sport, charity) which converge employees together. And managers also take care of different opinions and values of his employees and appropriately motivate them. In case of the one dominant culture without any subcultures in the company I would recommend to target the opened mind during a decision making and take into account and assess more alternative than one and for example the company can hire some external experts in a lot of tasks because they can bring a lot of new ideas into the company.

Also an employee participation in many staff trainings, courses and seminars and their exchange of experience there can help to see things in a different light. Because nowadays the life is going really fast, things are change every day, technological progress and also people’s thinking as well that is why I think that company should be open to all changes, new approaches and methods so on my opinion and with respect to present time the one strong culture with many subcultures is the most suitable for companies.

And we have to take into account that organizational culture is not important only for current employees of the company but also for new coming employees; sometimes people prefer atmosphere in the company to for example salary. And corporate culture gives current employees some confidence what direction the company will take and what they can expect. Because when we have a look at this fast going and changing world it is clear and understandable that people need security jobs and income and the right corporate culture can help to find it and also maintain it.

A list of referenced sources Books: LUKASOVA, R. , NOVY, I. and et al. : Organizacni kultura, 1. ed, Prague: Grada Publishing 2004, 176 p. ISBN 80-247-0648-2, s. 64 SIGUT, Z. Firemni kultura a lidske zdroje. 1. ed. Prague: ASPI, 2004. 87 p. ISBN 80-7357-046-7. Internet: SUN, S. cit. : “BROWN, A. , Organizational Culture. (2nd ed). Pitman Publishing, 1995,1998” in: International Journal of Business and Management 2008, December http://ccsenet. org/journal/index. php/ijbm/article/view/760/726] ——————————————- [ 1 ]. SUN, S. cit. : “BROWN, A. , Organizational Culture. (2nd ed). Pitman Publishing, 1995,1998” in: International Journal of Business and Management 2008, December [http://ccsenet. org/journal/index. php/ijbm/article/view/760/726]. [ 2 ]. LUKASOVA, R. , NOVY, I. and et al. : Organizacni kultura, 1. vydani, Prague: Grada Publishing 2004, 176 p. [ 3 ]. SIGUT, Z. Firemni kultura a lidske zdroje. 1. ed. Prague: ASPI, 2004. 87 p. ISBN 80-7357-046-7.