The Onion Of Culture

he traditional and mainstream theory of national cultures is known as the onion metaphor introduced by Hofstede in 1991. According to it, cultures are defined by strict political national boundaries, emphasizing nationality and the importance of nation-states. The onion model describes different layers of a culture, meaning that in the surface of the onion there are the practices of culture, that is, symbols, heroes, and rituals. The core of the onion depicts the core of a culture including basic assumptions, values, and beliefs that guide human behaviors. Thus, in order to understand the core of a culture, the onion has to be peeled to find these core values. According to the onion theory, the culture practices may change over time, while …show more content…
Yin Yang provides a holistic, dynamic, and dialectical perspective on cultures, meaning that cultures should be studied from the “bothand” perspective that takes into account the coexistence of contradicting values within a culture. For example, humans, organizations and cultures can be both feminine and masculine, long-term oriented and short-term-oriented, as well as both individualistic and collectivistic, depending on a situation. Furthermore, according to Yin Yang, paradox refers to two interdependent opposites, while the Western idea of paradox means two mutually exclusive opposites. Fang argues that “each culture is a unique dynamic portfolio of selfselected globally available value orientations as a consequence of the culture’s alldimensional learning over time” (2012:41). This means that culture-specific values can change over time and while some of the most relevant values are promoted in a certain context and time, other values are suppressed, which describes the paradoxical nature of …show more content…
This model is based on paradoxical cognitions that refer to cognitive frames and processes that enable organizations to effectively manage contradictions instead of avoiding them. The authors argue that sustained organizational performance depends on top management’s ability to effectively use exploring and exploiting mechanisms, which in turn requires identifying paradoxical cognition. In previous research it has been argued that organizational effectiveness is based on the right balance of exploring and exploiting innovations. However, Smith and Tushman argue that exploring and exploiting are connected to diverse inconsistent organizational processes, which creates challenges for the organization. Therefore, cognitive processes are important to take into account when dealing with paradoxical