When you travel to another country you expect to make your purchases using the native currency.  For example in Japan you use  Yen and Sweden the Kroner.

If you don’t have the countries currency you can exchange your own at a specified rate and usually a conversion commission is applied.  Or you can use a credit card and when the transaction is processed the friendly card company will convert your purchase cost to your native currency at the rate most beneficial to them.

What about cultural currency

The baseline of a culture for your city, workplace or other organization  (i.e., geographic, corporate, or other grouping) includes distinctive unique behavior standards.  You can think of these behaviors as the foundation for transaction driven currency you will need to spend to operate effectively within the culture.

This concept of “cultural currency”  is very analogous to  monetary currency.  It differs by location and generally to be successful you need to use the right currency.  Basically, the way you behave when using your “cultural currency” needs to map to the local currency, otherwise problems can ensue.

If you move from one culture (for example a work location in the south of your city) to another culture (a different organization in the north of the city) you need to adopt the new cultural currency.

If you try to transact using the currency from your previous culture misunderstandings and other negative consequences can result.

How do I determine the organizations currency?

Cultural currency is based on the standards, values, vision and objective associated with the culture.  You need to be aware of these and understand them in order to spend your currency without incident.

When moving from one culture to another the first weeks need to be spent acclimatizing, studying the behavior standards and associated expectations.  Once this is done, you can start spending the currency without fear of embarrassment or censure.