Cultural Differences - Cultured and Lived Experiences - Essay Example

Cultural Differences Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Cultured and Lived Experiences 4 2.Working with the Spanish and Japanese 6 4.Teams and Cultural Differences 9 5.Historical Perspectives - The Example of Britain 10 6.Leadership & Management Development 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 Introduction I believe that culture and its related factors are quite important in the current business and social context. Literally speaking, culture in a society encompasses various facets like values, beliefs, behaviours and norms. Accordingly, it can be argued that understanding the beliefs, norms, customs and practices is quite vital for acquiring an in-depth knowledge about any sort of culture. Additionally, I firmly admit that it is crucial to understand the role plays by culture in shaping the behaviour of an individual by a greater degree. Furthermore, I would like to state that the importance of understanding different cultural factors is limited to business but it is vital for eliminating several societal problems prevailing in the community that comprise racism, gender inequalities and differences in social classes among others (Littlechild, 2012). According to my viewpoint, understanding cultural differences in the light of theories postulated by certain distinguished researchers and their implications on cultural diversity leads towards significant outcomes in terms of facilitating greater understanding different unaddressed cultural issues. Moreover, I believe that these theories guide an individual with necessary insights that promotes displaying of specific behaviour at varying cultural environment. Hence, in order to critically address the issues of cultural differences, I have chosen six primary topics like culture as well as lived experiences, working with the Spanish and Japanese, cultural intelligence, teams and cultural differences, historical perspective of British class of society and leadership along with management development. 1. Cultured and Lived Experiences Bruce Parry is one the most well-known activists who possess a comprehensive understanding about different cultures. He strongly believed that there is only one way of understanding cultures. According to his observation, in order to understand the culture for any particular tribe, it is quite important to live with that particular tribe for a certain time period. He also realised that taking part in the daily cultural lives of tribes with all its richness as well as diversity would certainly enable to understand their culture better. One of the tribes that he observed was the Penan tribe that has its existence in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It has been observed that there lay the presence of a significant portion of Penan tribe in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. (BBC, 2008). In relation to determine Bruce Parry’s view i.e. ‘to understand a culture you need to live among it-to become, for a while, ‘one of the tribe’, I believe that this particular statement of Parry depicts reality real fact. This can be owing to the reason that only theoretical knowledge about any aspects whether culture or any other does not provide an in-depth knowledge and understanding about the topic. Thus, in order to attain complete and in-depth knowledge about the culture and its aspects, I strongly believe that an individual must become a part of the tribes by living with them for certain time period. I firmly relate culture to be one of the important aspects of human beings. Culture of any human being would be known from its art, literature, custom and tradition. It is the uniqueness of one particular culture that makes it different from others. I have learnt from my study that the cultural value of one’s community give it an identity. It is the bond that ties people of a region or community together. Thus, it can be stated that it is vital to protect uniqueness of culture as it binds the identity of many people altogether (John Templeton Foundation, 2010). From my study, I have found out that there are various advantages of maintaining cultural differences in various corner of the society. One of the significant advantages of preserving cultural differences is that it supports the organizations to grow its business at large. Cultural differences aid an organization to attain unique position in the business market by a considerable level (Priebe, 1998). Conversely, I have observed from my study that there pertain certain difficulties while dealing with or encountering various cultures. In this similar concern, I had observed the facet of cultural ignorance to be one of the crucial issues of encountering different cultures. It has been apparently observed in this particular background that there are people who forcefully enforce their cultural values as well as beliefs to others. Also, it has been noticed that there are certain people who do not possess any sort of knowledge about their culture and tradition. This is regarded to be the issue of cultural ignorance. Also, there are certain people who adopts as well as implements valuable decisions based upon his/her own values and culture. This type of people is acknowledged as culturally biased. Moreover, I had also observed from my study that there are also certain people who get annoyed at the time when other people comment anything negative regarding his/her own culture. However, it has been learnt that there are certain skills that would be required to manage or encounter with such type of people belonging to different culture. In this regard, the skills comprise capability to work as well to communicate with other belonging to diverse cultures and performing cross-border collaboration among others (Lundy & Janes, 2009). 2. Working with the Spanish and Japanese According to the theories postulated by Hall, Hofstede and Trompenaars, I was able to gain valuable insights that helped me to identify similarities and differences in the cultural context of Spain and Japan. From the studies of the aforementioned personalities, I found that Spain and Japan bears polychronistic and monochronistic in nature respectively. Relating to this aspect, I identified that Japanese people firmly value the punctuality factor, while Spanish people are quite flexible about time. At the same time, I also noted the Japanese people to be low context in terms of communication, whereas, the people belonging to Spain to be high context concerning the aspect of communication (Wardrope, 2005). Similarly, I identified that certain cultural factor like the dimension of power distance is comparatively high in Spain as compared to Japan. On the contrary, I found that the degree of individualism is slightly high in Spain in comparison with Japan. Nonetheless, I found that the factor of masculinity is significantly high in Japan than in Spain. Additionally, I was also able to ascertain that the cultural dimension related with uncertainty avoidance is almost equal between these two countries. While the degree of long term orientation in radically high in Japan as compared to Spain (The Hofstede Centre, 2013). Accordingly, I was able to classify Spain under the type of affective culture where people openly express their emotions. On the other hand, Japan is classified under neutral culture where emotions are held in check. With respect to the aspects of universalism and particularism, I ascertained that both Japan and Spain falls under the category of particularism by a greater degree (University of San Diego, 2012). I firmly admit that understanding cultural differences is regarded as one of the crucial factors for successfully adjusting cultural environment by a significant level. First of all, I believe that it is vital to identify if there exists any sort of common ground between one’s culture and foreign culture. I also believe that apart from identifying cultural similarities and differences, it is also crucial to identify one’s own cultural behaviour while trying to adjust in different cultural environment. After identifying one’s own behaviour, I believe that one should try to act accordingly to the prevailing situation. It is also crucial to identify the body language of the people belonging to the foreign culture. It is because the physical and non-verbal communication is considered to be significant in cultural contexts (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2005). In addition, I further believe that it is also important to identify the norms prevailing in the foreign culture related with relationship building and the ways in which the people bearing foreign culture express their feelings. Additionally, I strongly admit that one must be capable to identify how the people in the foreign culture perceive the value of time and their perception regarding future perspective. Along with identifying the values of time, it is also crucial that how people in the foreign culture relate group efforts. I strongly believe that identifying all the aforementioned crucial factors would immensely help an individual to gain valuable insights about culture that is different from one’s own culture. Moreover, the factors would also help in efficiently adjusting foreign cultural environment by a greater level (Fjellstrom, 2005). 3. Cultural Intelligence and Peer help with Reflective Diary Entry Glimpse of Chinese Culture I believe that identification and evaluation of cultural implications of the cases related with culture greatly helps in understanding and gaining valuable insights about a particular culture. In general, I believe that identification and careful evaluation of cases dealing with culture significantly contribute towards enhancing cultural intelligence at large. According to my viewpoint, implications gained through cultural cases may facilitate in acquiring an in-depth knowledge about the Chinese culture, beliefs, norms and customs. Moreover, significant knowledge was also acquired about the lifestyle of the Chinese people and how they perceived different business as well as social aspects. Notably, I believe that the understanding of the cultural cases related with Chinese culture further strengthens my knowledge about the business culture and manners that they deals and communicates with foreign delegates. Furthermore, the theories and concepts that have been used to analysis these cases radically facilitated in enhancing my understanding related with the national, business and organizational culture of China. Additionally, the analysis provided me to gain reasonable insights about the influence of culture on the Chinese day-to-day social and business life. Additionally, the theories and concepts that have been used to analysis cultural cases also helped me to acquire insights about how people express their feelings as well as response towards different prevailing cultures (University of San Diego, 2012). The cultural cases also helped me to acquire broader knowledge about the significance of cross-cultural communication. Responsively, I strongly believe that effective cross-cultural communication can be regarded as one of the important determinants for understanding culture of different nations. On the contrary, I firmly admit that lack of proper communication can lead towards misunderstanding and can ruin the entire communication process by a greater degree. Additionally, I was able to understand that there are various barriers that restrict the effectiveness of the communication process at large. Furthermore, it can be affirmed that in order to enhance the communication skills across different cultures, it is required that the Chinese individuals should initially develop the understanding of the particular language belonging to the country. Thus, according to my understanding, it is crucial to ascertain certain important aspects that encompass linguistic competences, intercultural awareness and intercultural sensitivity in order to ensure the happening of an efficient intercultural communication (Kim, 1999). 4. Teams and Cultural Differences A team has to be built with different people belonging to diverse culture. I have learnt from the studies that building a multicultural team would need to follow certain imperative aspects. It is obvious that there lays the presence of people in a particular of diverse cultures. As per my observation, it is quite important to manage them properly in order to avoid any sort of conflict. A particular manager relating to business context should always try to reduce the gap between the team members. Also the manager would need to bear good communication as well as reasoning skills to convey messages appropriately to all the team members. These aspects concerning communication as well as reasoning skills are quite vital in building a strong multicultural team. Furthermore, there should lay conducting workshops where the team members would work together. It has been observed from the study that during the conduct of workshops, the team members belonging to different cultures would interact with each other and possess a greater understanding about each other’s respective culture (GloBus Research, 2013). In order to recognise the relevant Western management theories found in the ancient Chinese philosophies, I observed that managing the entire team efficiently largely depends upon the team leaders or the managers in the business context. Also, I have noted that the process of multicultural team building would have to be based upon equality where all the members are treated with equal importance. Moreover, I have also learnt that the factor of openness is also quite crucial in team building. All the discussion should be done in front of all the team members. The team leaders should also receive feedback from the team members in order enhance the relationship with them. From the overall study, I have learnt that managing people is quite crucial in building multicultural teams linked with cultural differences. 5. Historical Perspectives - The Example of Britain From my understanding, it can be perceived that social classes in British society are still been acting as a major determinant in the life of British people. Additionally, from my viewpoint, the perceptions of the people relating to their ability in performing any task and acquire a significant position in the community have significant influence upon their opinions associated with social classes. Even though, I obtained that British people assuming themselves as working class has been declined over the years, there has been reasonable increase in describing themselves as middle class. Furthermore, I ascertained that historically, British society was divided into three classes namely working class, middle class and upper class. I also found that a substantial portion of the people belonging to the UK considers themselves as working class. Furthermore, I identified that large minority population in the UK are increasingly identifying themselves with one or the other social classes. Additionally, it has also been ascertained that people in the UK feel happier by identifying themselves with the different societal classes. Thus, on the basis of the above discussion, it is to be affirmed that the trend of the social classes might possibly depict Britain to be a classless society (Ipsos MORI, 2009). 6. Leadership & Management Development It has been observed that management practices as well as processes differ from one particular country to other. It may happen that a managerial behaviour in one culture might not be appreciative in another culture. I have further learnt from my study that there are certain challenges which prevail in organising the development of managers from diverse cultures. It has been apparently in this circumstance that as the business market has become quite competitive, it is required that the managers of different organisations should possess the skills in order to perform business in multiple locations. I have learnt from my study that one of the biggest challenges that companies face is regarding the behaviour of the people of diverse cultures. Diverse people behave in a different way for a particular situation due to cultural differences. Again, it has also been observed that motivating the managers or employees from different culture is also a crucial challenge. The factors that motivate the employees or managers of one particular culture might not be similar for them belonging to other culture. Companies find it hard to develop and organize people from different cultures. There are different levels of training commitments in organizations. Every company has its own approach towards training commitments. A few of the organisations take the approach as a mean for accomplishing superior competitive position in the business market and others take it as a necessary expense that have to be kept minimal. I have learnt that there are four phases of training. The first phase is called trainee driven where training is mainly provided to the new comers. In the second phase, the managers identify the training needs mainly through observation. This stage is called manager driven. In the next stage, the training needs would be identified through certain form of training analysis tool. It has been observed that this process is mainly coordinated by the human resource (HR) manager of the companies who is also responsible for organizing an effective training process. The next level is called the strategy driven stage in which effective strategies are adopted as well as executed to provide better training to the multi-cultural groups (Melkman & Trotman, 2005). Conclusion According to my understanding, it can be stated that culture has multi-facet impact upon the business as well as on the society across the globe. Notably, I believe that there exist numerous cultural differences within the regional and the cross-border context. Thus, it is advisable to acquire in-depth knowledge about different cultural aspects in order to avoid any sort of cultural conflict in this modern day context On the basis of my understanding, I firmly believe that language can be considered to be an imperative determinant that impose significant impact upon the intercultural relationship. Unarguably, I admit that the viewpoint of Bruce Parry holds significant importance for proper understanding of culture. In my opinion, theories and concepts that represented by distinguished personalities or researchers have significantly contributed in understanding cultural differences by a considerable level. Additionally I believe that effective communication cannot be ascertained unless one has significant understanding about the culture and its components. Hence, my understanding reveals that it is quite crucial for the leaders of different companies who are assigned with the tasks of managing people within an organization to bear proper understanding about cultural diversity and ability to manage the people belonging to diverse cultural backgrounds. References BBC, 2008. Tribe. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/penan/ [Accessed March 25, 2013]. Fjellstrom, D., 2005. International Business Negations. Sodertorns University College, pp. 1-84. GloBus Research, 2013. Multicultural Team building and Team Management. Building Cohesive Multicultural Teams Means Building Success. [Online]Available at: http://www.globusresearch.com/multicultural-teambuilding.aspx [Accessed March 25, 2013]. Ipsos MORI, 2009. Class Consciousness. Class Is Back. [Online] Available at: http://www.ipsos-mori.com/_assets/pdfs/Class-Consciousness-Briefing.pdf [Accessed March 25, 2013]. John Templeton Foundation, 2010. Culture, Biology, and Human Uniqueness. Funding Priorities. [Online] Available at: http://www.templeton.org/what-we-fund/funding-priorities/culture-biology-and-human-uniqueness [Accessed March 25, 2013]. Kim, C. K., 1999. Improving Intercultural Communication Skills: A Challenge Facing Institutions of Higher Education in the 21st Century. Elements of intercultural Communication Skills. [Online] Available at: http://www.wiwi.tu-bs.de/marketing/publikationen/ap/download/AP99-09.pdf [Accessed March 25, 2013]. Lundy, K. S. & Janes, S., 2009. Community Health Nursing: Caring for the Publics Health. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Littlechild, B., 2012. Values and Cultural Issues in Social Work. ERIS Web Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 62-76. Melkman, A. & Trotman, J., 2005. Training International Managers: Designing, Deploying and Delivering Effective Training for Multi-Cultural Groups. Gower Publishing, Ltd. Priebe, T., 1998. The Advantages of Cultural Difference LO17043. Learning-Org Dialog on Learning Organizations. [Online] Available at: http://www.learning-org.com/98.02/0259.html [Accessed March 25, 2013]. The Hofstede Centre, 2013. National Culture. Countries. [Online] Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/spain.html [Accessed March 25, 2013]. University of San Diego, 2012. Hofstede’s 5 Dimensions. Cultural Frameworks, pp. 1-10. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2005. People, Partnerships, and Communities. Natural Resources Conservation Service, pp. 1-4. Wardrope, W., 2005. Beyond Hofstede: Cultural Applications for Communicating with Latin American Businesses. Association for Business Communication, pp. 1-9. Read More