ABSTRACT
Libya. Academic journals, conference proceedings,
text books and websites are the main sources of
information.
3 CULTURE
Culture is strongly connected with communication
and is defined in many ways. Martin & Nakayama,
(2004, p. 337) have defined culture as “learned pat-
terns of behaviour and attitudes shared by groups
of people”. Moreover, the American Psychologi-
cal Association (2002) defined culture as “The
belief system and value orientations that influence
customs, norms, practices and social institutions
including psychological processes (language, care
taking practice, media and educational systems)
and organisations (media educational system)”.
Thus, culture at the societal level is manifested in
values and less in practice. However, culture at the
organisation level is more likely to be manifested
in practice and less in values (Hofstede, 1997).
Therefore, culture can be defined as the shared
patterns of behaviours and interactions, cogni-
tive constructs, and effective understanding that
are learned through a process of socialisation.
These shared patterns identify the members of a
culture group while also distinguishing those of
another group. Due to national cultural influences,
Twati & Gammack (2004) consider organisational
