Cultural Influence on Managerial Thinking

Culture has always been a source of influence on human behavior. In today's competitive world, the work place is becoming more unstable and unpredictable than ever before. To make the right judgement in the right context is the right choice of the present time. This study attempts to establish a link between organizational culture and managerial thinking. This kind of analysis would help managers to adopt tactics to effectively deal with people in a cultural context. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of organizational culture on managerial thinking and to develop possible OD interventions to enhance executive effectiveness. The present study followed a 2x2x2 factorial design of research. It was observed that the managers in MNCs preferred autocratic, technocratic and entrepreneurial culture profiles in comparison to managers of PSUs who showed a preference for bureaucratic culture. With regard to managerial thinking, it was observed that managers of MNCs relied more on analyzer and implementer type of thinking than the managers of PSUs who believed in collaborator style of thinking. The future implications of the study are discussed in the light of the present findings in this paper and possible OD interventions to enhance executive effectiveness have also been suggested.