Business Organizations and Their Cultural Environment

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considered to be notoriously religious compared to others. One of the most important observation that has been made about religious groups is that they oppose almost everything that comes as a change. Extremely religious people do not want changes as they are cautious about new forms of lives that could affect their religious standing. For instance in the Middle East people try as much as possible to limit western influence among them. Most of the wars that are being fought against the West or their proxies are meant to make sure that people do not get influenced by the West. The Western culture which is based on consumerism and division of labor, each person produces a particular commodity or delivers a particular service and rely on other to get other goods and services seems to be the most suitable culture when it comes to running successful businesses. The success of any business is based on division of labor. Production of a particular commodity involves a series of steps where each person plays the role that he or she can deliver best. There are no people who tend to be jacks of all trades as everyone is fully occupied in one or just a few ventures and thus there is need for buying some commodities or services from other people. With traditional lives everyone endeavors to be self sufficient. Most if not all items that are needed in traditional way of living are derived from tilling the land or animal husbandry. These therefore imply that traditional life is incompatible with the business culture[5].

It is well known that business ideas are born out of people who would like to change their financial status. In some cases people from very humble beginnings have utilized extremely low amounts of capital to create business empires. Coming up with good business idea requires one to be from a very supportive culture. There are some cultures all over the world that could kill business ideas at inception. For instance extreme religious practices are known to be fundamentally opposed to material success. There are some religious believes all over the world that looks at suffering on earth as the only way in which one can get to live a happy life thereafter. There are other religious practices that make people believe that everything that happens in their lives happens through divine intervention. For this reason this people will therefore do nothing to change what they are going through simply because things happens as planned by their creator. Carl Max in his article “Nonsense upon the silts” noted that religion could make people suffer passively as their wait for divine intervention. He noted that people who were too religious could did not make any effort to change their lives in that their anticipated for a better life after this one. It well known that most successful business men entered in the world of business because they wanted to change their economic situation and they knew that it was possible[6].

Another way that culture can limit the success of businesses is when some cultural practices prohibit some practices that are vital for conducting a particular form of business. For instance religions as a cultural aspect can prohibit conducting business in a particular way. For instance Islam does not allow the charging of interest. To operate a financial institution of any kind one who is a pious person in this religion is expected to do without charging interest. It is known as a fact that the goal of any business is to make as much profit as possible. Without charging interest it will be very hard for people to operate successfully a business in the form of a financial institution. For instance banks will have to charge interest in order to meet their goal. The same rule that prohibits charging interest also prohibits one from getting himself in a situation where he will be charge interest. This therefore means that if you confess this religion you are not supposed to think about taking a loan from the bank in order to finance your business. This also applies to any other form of source of capital that could charge interest. Because of the risk involved in lending money there are very few people or institutions that are willing to lend their money for free. Any rational person will ask for some consideration in order to lend out some money. This therefore makes it very hard for people who would like to start a business, have no capital and are not allowed by their religious practices to take charge or be charged interest. Thus people who might have started businesses end up giving up their ideas because they do not have capital[7].

Amongst people who are not bound by the “no interest religious practice” in business it is very easy to start up a business even if you do not come from a well of family. Some lending institution have parted from the traditional way of lending where people were supposed to provide a security in form of land or any other tangible assets. Some organizations are lending to small entrepreneurs depending on the viability of their business ideas. A good business idea and no money could attract funding from a financial institution with interest as the main string attached. A wise business person who is not limited by religious practices will take this loan, start up his business and pay the loan together with interest latter after making some profit. This will have created a new business in the market and as it is well known the establishment of one business is an incentive for other people to operate other businesses either as aids to trade organization, suppliers or businesses offering supplementary goods.

Another religious practice that has had a very serious negative impact on businesses is one that prohibits gambling. In Islam participating in an income generating activity that poses an uncertainty is considered to be gambling and it is not allowed. For instance insurance thrives on the principle of taking risk for their customers at a charge. Because it is not known whether the event that the company is covering against will happen or not, there is some level of uncertainty involved, some religious people have considered insurance business to be a form of gambling. This therefore means that those who would like to be religiously pious are not supposed to enter into any arrangement with an insurance company. This will involve either taking an insurance cover for your business or investing in the insurance industry[8].

Insurance business is one of the most important aids to trade. There are some business ventures that are very profitable but the risk posed by getting into such ventures may be very severe for any business person to invest their money in such business. Insurance provides solution for such situation. A business person can enter into an understanding with the insurance company in that their business will be covered against losses arising from the