MANAGING IN TURKISH CULTURE
Acar Baltas Ph.D.
In Western languages, there are no exact equivalents for the concepts “vefa”, “hatır” and “gönül”. Although “fidelity”, “sake” and “heart” are respectively used to represent them in English, these words are not thoroughly able to express the cultural meanings attributed in Turkish. That is because these concepts do not exist in the cultures from which Western languages originate. Conversely, there are no equivalents for the Western concepts of “vision”, “mission”, “strategy” and “plan” in Turkish. In our tradition, “Once the caravan gets going, the steam will surely follow.”
The linguistic psychology reflecting the manner of thought in a culture sets forth the reasons for the existence or non-existence of such concepts and their projections in contemporary life. Just as linguistic psychology, this book studies how Turkish business life is influenced by its own cultural values and aims to show how a leader who takes local values into consideration, can be successful both in his/her country and on an international scale.
Contrary to common practice, success in professional life is not achieved by adopting imported processes and criteria. It is achieved by adapting them to the local cultural style and structure; only then can they truly give good results.
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