One perspective that can be used to create cultural synergy is creating a “third culture.” This style shifts the focus from individual demographics and culture to understanding how to join multinational organizations with a host.
So how do we create synergy between two very different cultures? How do we take different people from different cultures with different purposes and incorporate them into one homogenous organization? Creating a synergistic team is an intensive learning experience in which leaders and followers need to participate fully to foster personal and professional growth (Moran, 2014). This type of culture, while seemingly negative, can allow for more creativity and freedom of expression if it is not stifled by a dictatorship.
Low energy cultures are made up of a more individualistic, competitive, and aggressive population.
They strive for win-win situations and are made up of an open system of helpful, generous, and altruistic leaders (Moran, 2014). High energy cultures tend to be community oriented, focusing on the good of the order, and are usually cooperative with one another. There are two types of cultures: high energy cultures and low energy cultures. This definition leads into a deeper subject… cultural synergy. The objective is to increase effectiveness by sharing perceptions and experiences, insights, and knowledge. Innovative solutions to problems can be created that would unlikely come from just one person because, in reality, a synergistic group is smarter than the smartest individual in the group (Lovell, 2012).Īccording to Moran, “synergy is a cooperative or combined action, and occurs when diverse or disparate individuals or groups collaborate for a common cause. When the right combination of people come together and learn to work together efficiently, synergy becomes powerful. Teamwork is at the heart of synergy and each individual in that group plays an important role, and teamwork allows synergy to happen.
What is synergy? There are many definitions of the word, but in short, synergy is “the synthesis of what each individual in the group has to offer” (PSU, 2021).