Module 6: Critical Thinking
Kevin Schook
ISM510 - Information Technology in the Global Enterprise
Colorado State University – Global
Dr. Omondi Opala
April 19, 2015

Module 6: Critical Thinking
Anywhere that humans live culture will also exist. All cultures are different and no two cultures are the same. Some of the elements of culture include symbols, language, values, and norms. Each one of these elements is different between each culture, and may even change as society evolves.
1. Symbols: A symbol can be described as anything that is used to stand for something else. This could be a gesture, sound, object, or image.
2. Language: Language is used to communicate with each other. Between cultures language is different. Some languages include English, Russian, and Spanish, Etc. Even though American and English speak the same language they each have different slangs.
3. Values: People of value decide what is good and what is bad. For example, in America we encourage competition and personal achievement. If a promotion is given to a person then they are praised for their hard work and talent.
4. Norms: This is known as expectations of behavior. A set of guidelines of how our culture should behave and what is inappropriate.
Culture in a Global Enterprise
My understand is that we are all human but our traits, religion, language, and way of living are all different amongst ourselves. In a global enterprise we all represent the business as one unit. It may be difficult for managers to manage people with different culture from themselves but it is not impossible. Without culture differences we would live in a pretty boring world. I do not believe that culture is a critical factor in managing IT in a global enterprise because the manager should be able to deal with different people from different backgrounds in order to make the business successful. Also the HR department should have some type of policy in place with strict rules so that each employee knows discrimination of any person will not be