ABSTRACT
Taking into account the increasing globalisation of international trade relations, Chapter 3 discusses the role culture plays not only within organisations themselves, but also in their ways of doing (ethical) business in different countries all across the globe. Research shows that culture can be conceptualised in different ways, which in turn leads to different views on the relationship between culture and business (ethics). A comparison has been made between approaches that view culture as a variable and approaches that look at it from a more historical and holistic perspective. It is argued that historical and holistic approaches are more helpful in teasing out the dimensions of a specific cultural disposition. In addition, it is necessary to look at the context in which individuals act and express their values and beliefs. Culture is a complex and dynamic phenomenon, which can never be ignored by organisations, since it shapes the attitudes, expectations and habits of their employees and therefore determines the way people react to ethical dilemmas. It is suggested that companies resort to constructive dialogue in order to find corporate agreement on shared values upon which the organisation and its employees could act.
