atter of equity as opposed to equality.scientific and technological advance in foreign cultures is another case in point. When injected with operational meaning within the framework of the culture introducing them, technical and scientific advancements preserve the original distinctiveness of the culture that adopts them. Therefore, technological diffusion does not necessarily lead to a convergence of cultures adopting the new ways. In Israel, for instance, orthodox Jews install elevators in buildings that automatically stop on all floors during the Sabbath, so that its members do not have to press the floor keys and thereby break traditional Sabbath rules prohibiting any form of work. The technology is not only used; it is also adapted. Similarly, it is the experience of many managers in Asian countries that the adoption and diffusion of Western managerial techniques do not necessarily lead companies to adopt overall Western approaches. Instead, these innovations become new elements within their traditional overall cultural system.and fragmented behaviorfundamental problem of trying to categorize cultures is that it implies a degree of homogeneity. When describing individual cultures (whether through simplified dimensions or deep descriptive analysis), we focus on shared aspects that are frequently found across the cultural group. Since cultures are shared, by definition culture includes what is common among members of a group. Members of a cultural group invest considerable time and effort in tying together the various strands that collectively represent and define social behavior., Cultures are also fragmented in the sense that they often allow for internal variations, and even significant discrepancies, in their midst. Despite people s tendency to stereotype, logic and personal experience suggest that variations - sometimes significant - can be found in all cultures. For example, while people often describe Australia as a highly individualistic culture and China as a highly collectivistic culture, there are, in fact, many collectivistic Australians and many individualistic Chinese. In fact, many cultures overlap considerably with those of their neighbors, having more in common than not. These differences - and similarities - must be clearly recognized when trying to make comparisons across cultures or nations. While people often generalize about various cultures in order to facilitate a basic understanding of cultural trends, it would be highly inaccurate to conclude that all members of any culture behave in the same way.fragmentation, however, does not lead to a complete disintegration of a society. Cultures still remain overall systems of meanings that can help us make sense of experienced variations. The behavior of cultural outliers, for example, remains largely unexplainable except against the backdrop of their own cultural backgrounds. In the end, because cultures are simultaneously fragmented and systemic, holistic and heterogeneous, even the extreme behaviors of outliers can be explained by the fact that such individuals are simultaneously reacting against and within their own cultures.Commercial International Bank s Sahar El-Sallab s observation (above) that if you have the proper education, credibility, and integrity in the way you handle your job, intelligent men will always give you your due. That is, within a cultural context there are ways - perhaps only transparent to people within that culture - ...
