Very Short Question Answer
1. Enlist the social class in Nepal.
Nepalese society has three classes.
- Upper class
- Middle class
- Lower class
2. Define socio cultural environment of business.
Socio-cultural environment of business refers to all the cultural surroundings that influence business activities. It includes knowledge, customs, traditions, morals, and values, religion, language, symbols, works of arts and architecture and accepted behavior pattern of people.
3. Enlist the components of socio-cultural environment.
The components of socio-cultural environment are listed below:
- Attitude
- Belief
- Religion
- Language
- Education
- Family structure and social organization
4. Define belief.
Belief is an organized pattern of knowledge that an individual holds to be true about the world. It is based on knowledge, opinion and education. It represents viewpoint about any idea, concept, object, events and people.
5. Write about reference group.
It is a group of people with similar values, beliefs and attitudes. It affects behaviour and life styles of people which affect the buying behaviour. Friends and peer workers are important source of reference group. They show a certain life style.
6. What is attitude?
Attitude refers to the reaction of an individual or group about an object, person or situation. It could be positive or negative. People’s attitude is affected by education, language, culture, belief, etc. The work environment is one of the important components to build attitude. Employees with positive attitude are more likely to seek solutions and remain committed towards the organizational goals.
7. Enlist any two widely held attitudes of the Nepalese customers.
Attitude is the judgments about a person, object, idea or activity. Some of the widely held attitudes of the Nepalese customers are as follows:
- Nepalese products are inferior in quality
- Favour to family members and others closer
8. What is social class?
Social class is formed due to difference in income levels. The members in a class are likely to have similar values and attitudes. It affects buying behavior as well as social mobility. Class system is widely prevalent in Nepalese society.
9. Briefly discuss about the social organization.
Social organizations are in the form of common interest group and communities. They can exert significant pressure to the business. There are many social organizations working as pressure groups in Nepal. They can be reference group and social class.
Short Answer Question
1. What do you mean by attitude? How does it affect a business?
Attitude is the judgments about a person, object, idea or activity. It may be positive or negative. It is expressed in the form of like and dislike. It is the way a person responds to his or her environment.
The work environment is one of the important components to build attitude. Employees with positive attitude are more likely to seek solutions and remain committed towards the organizational goals. Positive attitude makes a person abr helpful and action oriented. It brings the people together to build teams. It boosts confidence level and helps make better decisions. Attitudes are learnt, developed and built from parents, society, employers, superiors, and friends. Attitude determines how a person looks at life and his work environment. Understanding how people form attitudes and those attitudes affect work behavior help managers improve their ability to deal with undesirable attitudes. The positive attitude of the customers towards the business creates opportunity. Employees’ attitudes affect the work related issues. Study of employee attitude is very important since organizations can influence employee’s attitudes and behavior by using different management strategies and creating strong organizational environments. An employee with positive attitude produces the desirable behavior towards his/her job. The negative attitude of the employee’s influences his behaviors towards low productivity. It further leads to poor performance, regularly staying away from work, poor business ethics etc. On contrary, employees with positive attitude, typically respond differently and exhibit appropriate behavior in the workplace.
2. How do social variables affect business practices? Write.
Social environment of business refers to all the social surroundings that influence business. Social environment is made up with the components such as demographics, social institutions, pressure group and social change. Demographic forces consist of size, distribution, density and growth of population, age and gender mix of population, urbanization of population and migration of population. Social institutions consist of family, reference groups and social class. Pressure groups are the special interest groups organized to use the political process to advance their position on an issue of social concern. Social change implies modification in relationships and behavior pattern of individuals and groups in a society.
The social environment of business includes social factors like 16/1W. like customs, traditions, values, beliefs, poverty, literacy, life expectancy rate, etc. The social structure and the values that a society follows have a considerable influence on the functioning of business firms. The positive attitude and beliefs of the customers towards the business create opportunity. Employees’ attitudes affect the work related issues. For example, during festive seasons there is an increase in the demand for new clothes, sweets, fruits, flower, etc. Due to increase in literacy rate the consumers are becoming more conscious of the quality of the products. Their consumption is also increasing due to their higher level of income. Due to change in family composition, more nuclear families with single child concepts have come up. This increases the demand for the different types of household goods. It may be noted that the consumption patterns, the dressing and living styles of people belonging to different social structures and culture vary significantly.
Long Answer Question
1. Discuss the different components of the socio cultural environment of business.
Social environment of business refers to all the social surroundings that influence business. Social environment is made up of components such as demographics, social institutions, pressure groups and social change. Cultural environment of business refers to all the cultural surroundings that influence business activities. It includes knowledge, customs, traditions, morals, and values, religion, language, symbols, works of arts and architecture and accepted behavior patterns of people. Thus, the socio-cultural environment consists of both the social system and the culture of the people. It consists of the elements, conditions and influences which shape the personality of an individual and potentially affect his/her attitude, disposition, behavior, decisions and activities.
A business has to interact with society continuously. Hence, the managerial functions are connected with the socio-cultural components. People are a vital and integral part of business. Social factors such as poverty, illiteracy, skill, family system, caste and religion structure, culture and traditions, citizens’ rights and consumerism affect the operation of a business directly or indirectly.
Components of Socio-Cultural Environment.
- Attitude: Attitude is the judgments about a person, object, idea or activity. It may be positive or negative. It is expressed in the form of like and dislike. Employees with positive attitude are more likely contribute towards the organizational goals. Attitudes are learnt, developed and built from parents, society, employers, superiors, and friends.
- Belief: Belief is descriptive thought about something. It is based on knowledge, opinion and education. It represents viewpoint about any idea, concept, object, events and people. Employee belief shows how they organization and contribute towards its goal achievement.
- Religion: Religion provides philosophical foundation for beliefs and value. also determines the social relationship. It determines the difference in the attitude of the people in a society. It affects the ways of life such as food habit dress up, purchase behavior, and communication.
- Language: Language is one of the important parts of culture. It is the medium of communication. Language diversities in a society create communication problem. It is a tool of understanding the people. It is important in information gathering and evaluation. It provides access to local society.
- Education: Education makes a person conscious and active. A business is affected by the education level of people. Education level of the people affects the decision in media selection, type of people available for staffing, method art of thinking, organizational structure, and productivity.
- Family: Family is a social institution. It significantly affects business decisions. In Nepal, decisions are mostly made by the head of family mainly male. The males are mostly engaged in earning livelihood and females are engaged in family management. However, educated women are also found to work in different organizations. There is the tendency of joint family in Nepal. However, this is gradually shifting towards nuclear family. The average family member in 2068 is found to decrease to 4.7 from 5.44 in 2058.
- Reference group: It is a group of people with similar values, beliefs and attitudes. It affects behaviour and life styles of people which affect the buying behaviour. Friends and peer workers are important source of reference group. They show a certain life style. They also determine buying decisions.
- Social class: Social classes are formed due to difference in income levels. The members in a class are likely to have similar values and attitudes. It affects buying behaviour as well as social mobility. Class system is widely prevalent in Nepalese society. Nepalese society has three classes.
a. Upper class: They have high income with luxuries life style. They prefer branded goods. It is very small in Nepal.
b. Middle class: They have medium income. It is formed by professionals as le doctors, engineers, teachers etc.
c. Lower class: This is a very low income class. They have low purchasing power. This class dominates Nepal.
2. Define the impacts of socio-cultural environment on Nepalese business organizations.
The impact of socio-cultural values on Nepalese business organizations may be explained in the following points.
- Management: There is dominance of family business in Nepal. The family members hold the top level in managerial positions. The authority is centralized. There is lack of corporate culture and professionalism. However, some corporate businesses are exceptions.
- Widespread corruption: Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. The level of corruption is very high especially in government offices. It has adverse effect in business sector as well.
- Gender difference: Nepal is still a male dominating country. Gender difference is widely prevalent in Nepal. The business sector is mostly dominated by male. The top level is largely occupied by males.
- Social responsibility: Nepalese businesses lack social orientation. They still believe social welfare is the sole responsibility of the government. They don’t take proactive approach in social responsibility. Very less but importantly, some businesses are actively involved in social responsibility.
- Modernization: With globalization and development of information technology, significant changes may be noticed in the taste and preferences in Nepalese customers. They are heading towards westernization.
- Lack of Planning: Nepalese organizations lack formal planning. Decisions are made on contingent approach. They lack long term horizon. Decisions are made for short term benefits.
- Workforce diversity: Nepal is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country. This has impact on workforce diversity. The rate of cultural mix in Nepalese organization is increasing. Hence, management of employees in Nepalese organization is being more challenging.
- Attitude towards Work: Nepalese people are found to lack motivation and commitment towards their work.
- Resist to Change: Nepalese people are found to resist change. There exists fear of change due to power loss, job loss or other reasons. There lacks a risk taking culture.