Influence: the global tilt

Summary: In diversity, influence may still be carried by race and social culture.


Research suggests that the ability to influence comes from personality characteristics, and the fit between person and organizational culture.

Person-culture fit?

Like extraverts have more influence in team-orientated organizations; conscientious introverts are more influential in organizations dealing in technical tasks.

The researchers say this influence carries, through demographic details such as gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. But in diversity, does it really?

The flow pattern

Those constituting ‘diversity’ in global organizations might argue that in the tilted world, diversity never fits the organizational culture! Individual personality characteristics can’t compete with group identity.

So far, the flow of global influence is carried by race and social culture. What is aired or published or practiced comes predominantly from Western intelligentsia. ‘Who’ rather than ‘what’ counts in being heard, seen or quoted, and often other thought is minimized, shelved or dismissed.

Booming Asia?

Revenue is the focus, also for the data flow. Regarding Asia, for example. When we’re informed, “Asia is booming!” it’s a Western perspective, and mayn’t quite be what Asians think!

The point is there’s generally little or no interest in Asia’s intellectualism, business practices or traditional cultures. These others don’t sell in the ‘developed’ world, and hence are unnoticed or ignored.

Underscore divides

But cheap in labour and rich in raw materials, Asia, the new economic frontier, is most fashionable for Western business.

Also Asian poverty, population explosion, ethnic/communal strife, etc, may find some coverage. These may be of interest since they underscore ‘them’ and ‘us’ divides – and open the continent to ‘big brother’ influence and sales.

Power and dominance

The reality is that in global politics and business, power still originates in the West. Their habits of world dominance grown over the past several centuries, continues.

The glass ceiling still operates in Western-orientated organizations. They don’t much trust the rest of the world. Even in companies seeking a global presence, the same flow pattern generally determines who is to be at the top, or visible.

The subtle bias

The tendency is to identify with the perceived dominance also by those who don’t belong to it! Attitude tests report findings that, irrespective of their actual race, 80 percent of all people who have taken the test are pro-‘white’.

This subtle bias permeates interactions in diversity. It causes the conscious or unconscious reactions to various demographic categories – the ‘dominant’ group with the others, and the rest amongst themselves - that may not be articulated or show up in individual testing.

Cont’d 2…interrupt the flow