In the workplace, there are many different cultures that coexist — including the company culture, the local culture of the business and the national or regional cultures of employees.

The culture of the workplace starts with the company’s vision, mission and core values and helps the leadership team manage the employees. It affects all major operations, including recruiting and onboarding employees, providing employees with compensation (赔偿金) and benefits and rewarding employees for good behavior. It also informs the way an organization trains and develops its staff, how it promotes employees and any workplace traditions it follows.

The work environment is deeply affected by the culture of the organization. For example, if one of the main elements of the workplace culture is teamwork, employees will know how important it is to help one another. They will be less competitive with each other, and will instead focus on succeeding together. Such a cultural characteristic can enable teams to be highly productive and motivated.

Local culture affects the way people behave in the workplace. For example, if it is a custom in local culture to spend a lot of time enjoying the natural landscape, then many employees will place importance on that activity as well. This may mean that employees spend their evenings and weekends hiking in the woods or swimming at the beach.

Employers can use elements of local culture to connect with and motivate their employees. Using this example of cultural behavior, the workplace can offer outdoor recreational passes as prizes for hitting business targets. In addition, having company functions outside at the beach or at a local park can further engage and inspire employees.

In today’s global economy, it’s common for workplaces to be made up of people from different national and regional cultures. Being culturally sensitive and aware helps employees to communicate effectively with their teammates and work toward shared goals. It’s important for employers to take cultural diversity into account when establishing their workplace policies. Teach employees how to be culturally sensitive to their colleagues and customers who have different cultural backgrounds. This can be done through cultural sensitivity training, and by learning about fellow workers. Consider creating a cross-cultural etiquette PDF and documenting how different cultures behave with regard to specific aspects of work. National and regional cultures can affect the way people communicate with one another, the holidays they celebrate and their relationship to time.

【小题1】Which one does good workplace culture NOT contribute to?

A．The rise of level of performance in the workplace.

B．The promotion of workplace traditions.

C．The building of teamwork.

D．The more competitive working environment.

【小题2】Why should the workplace offer outdoor activities as for achieving business goals if it is a tradition to enjoy the scenery?

A．It matches employees’ hobby.

B．It is a way for the employees to get close to nature to relax themselves.

C．It is a cultural behavior used to effectively motivate the employees.

D．It is a custom to follow.

【小题3】How can an international company make its employees get along with each other?

A．By giving business training.

B．By cultivating cultural awareness.

C．By reading a cross-cultural custom PDF instead of paper.

D．By changing the holidays its employees celebrate and their relationship to time.

【小题4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．Local culture.	B．Nature and outdoor activities.
C．Cultural behavior in the workplace.	D．Cultural diversity.