ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the foundation to cultural intelligence: culture. Although the term culture had its origins within anthropology, interest in organizational culture started to gain popularity within business circles only during the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the management theorists of the day, such as Charles Handy, started to discuss the workings of organizations in terms of their culture. Since organizational culture entered the mainstream of business thinking, consultants, business leaders and academics have maintained their interest in it for a variety of reasons. In particular, three have been especially significant over the past couple of decades: the implications of globalization, the effects of downsizing on organizational performance and the difficulties experienced in merging and acquiring companies. It should be recognized that an organization's culture does not exist in isolation, as there are two other dimensions that must be considered. These are the national and functional dimensions.
