Ethnocentrism as defined in context is a feeling of superiority of culture, belief and ideas by an individual and the expression of same. There’s no specific belief or religion with ethnocentric people, instead it’s more a psychological phenomenon that exists almost everywhere in the world with a little or no variation. And of course casts a cloud on almost all the fields, but one that’s effected more is business.

Considering employees or fellow workers as lazy, idle, inefficient or so just by relating them to their community or ethnicity is neither suggested nor appreciated. If an employer is suffering from such a feeling, the ultimate result is low productivity, decreasing business, and negative growth plodding to nip the business in the bud. And if the sufferer is an entrepreneur or a worker, this corporate culture disease may stop his professional growth. Some general perceptions that denote ethnocentric belief are: ‘I’m the best’, ‘All the country men are fool just because he is’, ‘all countrymen can’t do this because he cannot’ etc. In fact there’re some people lacking specific skills, but identifying all others as same is no wisdom.

According to experts, ethnocentrism is the ultimate outcome of mismanaged cross-cultural communication, and that’s true. Variation in life styles, beliefs, working styles, communication styles, economic and social systems, etc develops a particular mind set. This is helpful for maintaining an identity but following a strict mind set with no space for alternatives or exceptions, is not fruitful neither in social networking nor in business growth.

If you’re a business concern or an entrepreneur, and you’ve had an unpleasant deal with a member of a particular community, do not build a specific mind set about the whole community. Business is working with individual people so knowing them individually is a must. Do rely on assumptions but do not trust them, identify people by exploring more and more, and there’s room for improvement for everyone so here’s it for you. Along with knowing others, keep an eye on yourself knowing and improving your own attitude, skills and communication.

Cure and kill the ethnocentrism before it eats your business and corporate relations.