BY:
Charles Lamson
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More and more, new technologies and the elimination of cold war barriers to economic activity mean that organizations also are becoming globalized. Increasing levels of education in the non-Western world, especially among women, have combined with the creation of a truly global flow of capital and trade to create a new environment for organizations the world over. The increasing diversity of employees of contemporary organizations challenges traditional modes of operating from the inside. The globalization of major organizations is challenging them from the outside. Workers and organizations compete directly with people half a world away, as well as with people down the street. The insulation, comfort and predictability provided by traditional barriers is rapidly disappearing. Others who once were so far away, are now right next door. When multinational organizations, based in Western societies, enter a new geographic area, they bring with them a distinctively Western set of values - individualism, commercialism, separation of church and state, liberty and laissez-faire economics. These things are alien to Islamic, Confucian, Daoist, Hindu, Buddhist, or Orthodox Christian cultures. Many of their products, from rock music, to fast food, to cosmetics, are also distinctively Western.
Some observers argue that these trends will lead to cultural homogenization, a bland world in which the rich cultural diversity that correctly exists, will be squeezed into a single and standardized Western, or U.S. pattern. Different writers have created their own cliches for these trends - McWorld, Coca-Colinization, McDisneyization. The challenge imposed by globalization is for countries and individuals to find a healthy balance between preserving a sense of identity, home and community, while living and acting within a global economic system.
 Western consumerism is distinctively oriented toward consistency and name-brand identification. Everyone who discusses globalization has his or her own story. Sociologist, Peter Berger talks about a visit to Hong Kong. He went into a Buddhist temple and found a middle-aged man in a business suit and stocking-feet, standing in front of an altar, facing a large statue of Buddha, burning incense and talking on a cellphone. Cultural homogenization is fueled by mass advertising and the status that accompanies Western or U.S. products in much of the world. In fact, the phenomenon seems to be closely linked to the emergence of a global economic elite, people who have become wealthy as a result of the global economy and who are increasingly tied to one another, and increasingly isolated from non-elite people in their own societies. In the long run, homogenization will minimize the challenges faced by global organizations - once the process is complete, differences will be minimized.
When the world becomes a smaller place, cultural differences become more visible, and potentially more alienating.
Effective organizational communication and organizational effectiveness depend on taking globalization into account.
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