Non-essentialist model of culture within multicultural/multinational organizations

Abstract

This paper first briefly clarifies the notions of essentialism versus non-essentialism and presents widely cited models of culture with varying dimensions: five (Hofstede), seven (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner) and nine (GLOBE study) - referred to as the 5-7-9 cultural dimensions in this paper - and critiques the underlying notions of essentialism that can lead to ethical concerns restricting the capacity for agency and choice which are necessary for the democratization of organizations. It then presents a model of culture within the paradigm of anti-essentialism, adapting the model presented by Nathan (2010) within the topic of multiculturalism based on Dithey’s works on social interactionism and meaning in history, shows that the model can pave the way to the democratization of organizations, and discusses the implications of organization culture in terms of agency, identity, and structure within multinational/multicultural organizations. The paper concludes by encouraging further research to enhance the non-essentialist model of culture within organizational studies.