title: The cultural mosaic: a metatheory for understanding the complexity of culture.
abstract: Workforce population trends have increased the numbers and kinds of culturally diverse people who work together. Researchers in organizational behavior have often examined culture through values; however, cultural values can be based on collections of people other than traditional nation states. A cultural mosaic is presented as a framework to identify demographic, geographic, and associative features underlying culture. An individual's unique collage of multiple cultural identities yields a complex picture of the cultural influences on that person. Developments in chaos and complexity theories are proposed as a theoretical base for study on the complexity of culture at the individual level. Additional developments in network theory serve as a theoretical base for cultural research at the group level. The cultural mosaic is described as a complex system with localized structures, linking cultural tiles in ordered and chaotic ways. Research propositions examining multiple cultural identities at individual and group levels are discussed.
authors.affiliation: The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1122, USA. chaog@bus.msu.edu
authors.forename: Georgia T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moon
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D017146:Models, Organizational; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009935:Organizational Affiliation; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012945:Social Values