Managing Across Cultures

Managing Across Cultures

  • Submitted By: chennai5767
  • Date Submitted: 03/08/2010 11:07 AM
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51 The Two Cultures: Bridging The Gap

I believe the intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups. (C.P. Snow, British scientist and author) Throughout my career, I moved back and forth between the practice world and the academic world. While in campus settings, I found that the liberal arts and the professional programs still constitute two rather distinct groups. These two cultures are alive and well and part of the stimulating diversity we find within and outside of universities. There are still at least two campus camps at most universities. The Two Cultures In a 1959 lecture, British scientist and author C.P. Snow1 described the literary culture and the scientific culture. Applying Snow’s two culture models to many universities, the scientific culture might very well be defined as encompassing what we call professional programs—for example, business, engineering, technology, nursing, law, and a growing number of programs in the liberal arts colleges. The literary culture might be defined as the remainder of the academic programs. In describing the gulf between the two cultures, Snow noted that the literary culture views the scientific culture as being “brash and boastful” and as being “shallowly optimistic, unaware of man’s condition”. In contrast, the scientific culture views the literary culture as lacking foresight and not being really concerned with humanity. Members of the literary culture, also according to Snow, see a social, economic, environmental, or other problem as something to dissect, discuss, and debate. In contrast, scientific culture members see problems as something to solve. Members of the scientific culture tend to share a systematic, rigorous approach to problem definition and solution. In contrast, the literary culture operates in a less disciplined mode. Snow notes that the literary culture reads more and reads widely. The scientific culture reads less and reads narrowly. And so...

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