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The oldest sub fields in the “discipline of sociology are those that concentrate on social phenomena that have not previously been adopted as objects of study by other of the social sciences.” 0 These include marriage and the family, social inequality and social stratification, ethnic relations, “deviant” behavior, urban communities, and complex or formal organizations. Sub fields of more recent origin examine the social aspects of gerontology and the sociology of sex and gender roles. Because nearly all human activities involve social relations, another major source of specialization within sociology is the study of the social structure of areas of human activity. These areas of teaching and research include the sociology of politics, law, religion, education, the military, occupations and professions, governmental bureaucracies, industry, the arts, science, language, medicine, mass communications, and sport. Consequently, society with all of its twists and turns generates an intriguing and long disputed social phenomenon, culture. Culture is generally defined as a set of beliefs, behavior, language, and an entire way of life of a particular group of people at a particular time. It includes customs, ceremonies, works of art, inventions, technology, and traditions. Thus the term’s interpretation entails and describes the intellectual and artistic achievements of a society in general; it’s the societal “mental programmer”. Across time, man has been identified as an analytical creature. He tends to break things into pieces, study each one separately, trying to manipulate his studies in the hope of improving his and others’ lives. In application of this observation, we learn that many sociologists have attempted to dissect culture. After a lengthy period of field experiences, statistical studies, and conceptual reasoning, one of the prominent studies in this field- by Geert Hofstede- have led us to believe that all societies seem to share a set of common problems. These conflicts correspond to one’s relation with authority, one’s conception of his own self, his conception of femininity and masculinity, and finally, the ways people deal with conflicts existing within themselves or shared with their environment. Relatively, Hofstede concluded that culture is to be divided into four dimensions, power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, femininity vs. masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. In this research, we wish to concentrate on a dimension of most interest to us, individualism. It is a “doctrine promulgated by such theorists as the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes and the Scottish economist Adam Smith, that explains how society is an artificial device, existing only for the sake of its members as individuals, and properly judged only according to criteria established by them as individuals.” 0 An individualist does not necessarily subscribe to the doctrine of egoism, which regards self-interest as the only logical human motivation. He may instead be guided, in political and economic thinking, by unselfish motives, rendering a high value to both social and organizational interests as a whole. What characterizes such an individualist thinker, however, is his conception of the community as composed of independent units, which are usually in opposition to the interference of the state with the happiness or freedom of these units. Furthermore, practical distinctions between individualism and its antitheses, collectivism, are often difficult to make. Individualism differs from collectivist theories not so much in setting a high value upon the well-being and free initiative of the individual as much as in subordinating the demands of the community as a whole to individual welfare. Based on the fact that culture occupies a large portion of people’s lives, an individual’s behavior and performance is observed to be partially determined by this “software of the mind” and alternatively by the personal power of creativity and innovation, indicating a certain degree of deviance from the learnt cultural norms. Consequently, individualism, as one of the basic societal cultural dimensions, will certainly have profound impact on personal and collective performance. Thus, it will influence such aspects as drive, public concern, influences, innovation, professionalism, and flexibility in the realms of both the community and the organization. Hence, we have chosen our focal point in this research to be an attempt to prove the existence of a positive correlation, in the organization, between the independent variable, individualism, and the dependent variables, public concern and innovation. This study will be developed in the hope of allocating a theory that, if applied correctly and effectively, could bring relative success and development in various fields, such as in the Lebanese Bureaucracy. Sociologists use nearly all the methods of acquiring information that are used in the other social sciences and the humanities, from advanced mathematical statistics to the interpretation of texts. They also rely heavily on primary statistical information regularly collected by governments, such as censuses and vital statistics reports, and records of unemployment, immigration, the frequency of crime, and other phenomena. “Although popular stereotypes have sometimes pictured sociologists as people who bypass qualitative (direct) observation of human experiences by reducing them to quantitative (statistical) summaries, these have never been accurate…for even in the humanistic disciplines of philosophy, history, and law, quantitative research has always had a strong tradition.” 0 Increasingly refined and adapted to computer technology, quantitative methods continue to play a central role in the discipline of sociology. Moreover, quantitative sociology includes the presentation of large numbers of descriptive statistical data, sampling techniques, and the use of advanced mathematical models and computer simulations of social processes. A common tool utilized today by the quantitative method to collect statistical data, and the one specifically used in this research, is survey. The term survey, or questionnaire, research means the collection and analysis of responses of large samples of people to polls and questionnaires designed to elicit their opinions, attitudes, and sentiments about a specific topic. “For a time in the 1940s and 1950s, the construction and administration of surveys, and statistical methods for tabulating and interpreting their results, were widely regarded as the major sociological research technique.” 0 Although surveys are an important sociological research tool, their suitability for many types of investigation has been widely criticized. The sample survey, on the other hand, allows the sociologist to secure uniform but superficial information about a much larger portion of the population. Survey research usually does not take into account the complex structure of relations and interactions among individuals that shapes their social behavior. Since the 1960s sociologists have made greater use both of traditional research methods associated with other disciplines, such as the analysis of historical source materials, and of more sophisticated statistical and mathematical techniques adapted to the study of social phenomena. Development of increasingly complex computers and other devices for handling and storing information has facilitated the processing of sociological data. Unfortunately, due to our limited resources and short time table, we will restrict our studies to the data produced to us by the questionnaires we have developed. These surveys will be handed out to a well-known organization, XXX CO. The answers that will henceforth be received will be subjugated to factor analysis, examining if the data forms any specific kinds of clusters, to identify possible correlations between the elements under study. Basically, the questionnaire here is used in the aim of spotting a positive correlation between the independent variable, individualism, and the dependent variables, public concern and innovation. Of course, we took into consideration that by distributing these questionnaires we might be intruding on an organizational culture, foreign to us. Thus, we had to take precautions in formulating our questions, so as to not cross any border that went beyond the organization’s norms and lines of decency and etiquette. Most importantly, we wanted to design a survey that accurately reflected the issues in question, and one that would be truthfully and honestly answered, without “stepping on anyone’s toes”, so to speak. Consequently, if we have succeeded in attaining these goals, we will have produced a survey that is both reliable and valid. INDIVIDUALISM: a cultural dimension that entails thinking of one’s self as a unit separate from the group, and acting according to personal interest that is supposed to coincide with the organization’s. 1. How highly do you value your autonomy in decision making? 2. If you committed a profound error relating to your job, you would have the following reaction: a. ashamed of the reaction of your coworkers (C ) b. feel guilty to have not sustained a certain level of accomplishment (I) 3. Do you consider sustaining an ineffective employee in the organization as an act of: 4. How highly do you value your opinion over being in harmony with your work environment? 5. Do you prefer to receive feedback through: b. a refrain from granting you a favor INNOVATION: an aspect of organizational performance which encompasses all motivational factors that lead to an increase in employees’, and thus the organizations’, productivity levels. 6. You would consider a job innovative, if: a. it gives you a sense of accomplishment (I) b. it allows you to have a sense of prestige (C ) c. it insinuates a certain amount of preference on your behalf (C ) d. it allows you to reinforce your opinion in the organization (I) 7. What kind of impact do you think that feedback would have on you professionally? a. it will cause you to lose face, if not done discretely b. it will help you locate your mistakes to improve your performance level c. it will discourage you from progressing in your job 8. Which of the following do you think is a primary innovative factor for you, on the job? b. your ability to fully employ your skills on the job d. extra time for personal/family affairs PUBLIC CONCERN: an aspect of organizational performance that entails the employees of an organization taking up a certain level of interest in the welfare and satisfaction of the community. 9. If you committed an error relating to your job, your first reaction would be of you: a. being concerned as to how it will affect the final product presented to the customer b. setting it as a self rectifying note c. hoping that your mistake would go unnoticed for fear of your coworkers’/superior’s reaction 10. Do you place more preference on 11. If you felt that your suggestion, if went announced, would compromise the quality of your organization’s produced goods, you would: Individualist societies generally entail individuals who put their interest as a priority to that of the social group they exist within. Commonly, individualists assume that they are unique entities, separate from the world that envelops them; they identify themselves with the pronoun “I”, whereas everyone else is to be addressed as other “I”s alien to him. Such a mass mentality obviously should have been tamed and nurtured by a distinctive background, including one’s family, school, workplace, and community in general. To begin with, the cradle of all personality developments originates within the family, where an individual’s primary traits and fundamental mental tendencies are set. Individualists are known to grow up in a nuclear family, which consists of one or two parents and very few children. It is here where the youngster is taught that speaking one’s mind is a plausible virtue, honesty is a definite must in communication with his family and the society at large, and that a man without an opinion is one that will long live on the margin of life. Moreover, attitudes of self-defense, challenge, and self-respect are labeled as righteous traits that every successful man should carry. As well, independency is an issue that is recognized as essential throughout a person’s financial, social, and professional life. Just as the youngster is physically and mentally capable of leading his own life, he is encouraged to leave his parent’s home and start paving his own path. At this point any success or financial income incurred will solely be related and enjoyed by that individual. At another level, individualist societies are characterized with a low-context communication culture; people feel an urge to constantly record or state the self-evident. This type of people seems to find silence an abnormal situation, causing a certain degree of unease. In addition, individualists seem to have a certain way to deal with any immoral or illegal act they commit. Generally speaking, they do not focus as much attention on societies’ opinion of them for being realized as a sinner or criminal, thus not experiencing any feelings of shame or loss of face; instead, they are confronted with a feeling of guilt, “as they are ridden by their own conscience” 0, due to their disregard to the established social laws. The school is a continuation of the family’s cultural education. It reinforces within us values previously taught to us in our childhood and introduces us to new ones. Consequently, an individualist is instructed to speak voluntarily, challenge his teachers by his personally formulated opinions, and stand up to challenges in the classroom or playground. This kind of student regards education as a mean to prepare himself to find a place in society as a highly accomplished and independent individual, hence improve his economic worth. As a person graduates from school or college he is confronted with another cultural teaching tool, the workplace. An employee of individualist traits is usually the one that tries to match his and the organization’s interests, maintain a formal and professional relation with his employer, and prefer to accept feedback through a personal appraisal interview. He tends to look down on favoritism or particularism, regarding them as actions of nepotism, not loyalty to a certain group of people. Thus, individualists are supporters of universalism as a dominant factor on the workplace, where all employees are treated equally, and hired, rewarded, or fired on basis of merit and performance. A now more mature individualist is aware of the state as an influential factor in his every day life. He recognizes that the state often places certain social and financial limitations through its proclaimed laws, challenges one’s freedom of speech, and seems to be the basic representative power of its citizens interests and demands. Definitely, such an independent person will not accept to be subdued to all these restraints. Thus, we find in most individualist societies that the state’s power is commonly challenged by citizens and organized interest groups, and the press seems to also have a relatively high rate of freedom of expression. Bibliography: Word Count: 2448
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