Week 7: Social identity and cultural norms

Introduction

Welcome to Week 7 of the course.

In Week 6, you focused on diversity and the benefits it can bring to a team in terms of new ideas and perspectives. You considered different categories of diversity and how they might have an impact, and researched some of the ways different employers support diversity within their organisations.

This week, you’ll start by exploring social identity, looking at social identity theory and reflecting on your own prejudices and biases. Next, you’ll investigate cultural norms, using Hofstede’s model of national cultures to identify cultural differences and consider how they might impact on team relationships.

To begin Week 7, watch the following video in which Lynne Johnson introduces what you will be learning about this week.

Download this video clip.Video player: wdt_1_week_6_lynne.mp4

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Transcript

LYNNE:

This week, you'll be looking at the question of social identity and thinking about cultural norms and the expectations we might have for different groups. In particular, you'll look at one theory of social identity as proposed by Tajfel and Turner in 1979. This theory helps us to explain the them and us phenomenon and roots this in our tendency to group things and people together. You'll also examine the difference between a stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination, and explore some of the stereotypes you might hold yourself without even being aware of it.

And you'll listen to a case study of my own time working in Japan in the early 1990s and consider how Hofstede's six dimensions of culture could have helped me in working as part of a team within a Japanese high school. I didn't know about Hofstede then, so we're looking at it with the benefit of hindsight, but perhaps it can help you with the teams you're currently in.

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By the end of this week, you will be able to:

• understand Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory
• describe the difference between a stereotype, prejudice and discrimination
• recognise stereotypes or prejudices you may hold
• understand how Hofstede’s model of national culture could help improve communication and working in a culturally diverse team.