Intercultural Awareness Evaluation - Essay Example

From my experience in dealing with people from various cultural backgrounds, I have learned that I have strength in establishing mutually beneficial relationships with culturally different people. Sometimes, a person from a different cultural background and I can reach a mutual agreement on how to do something, even though we do not particularly hold the same views. Most of the time, this is achieved through compromise and an evaluation of which way best suits the situation, thus ascribing to the “my way and their way” form of cultural awareness (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 2001). In such cases, therefore, I chose to appreciate our cultural differences and not try to force similarities. This way, if the chosen way does not work, we can always resort to the way of the other culture, where possible. This has taught me that there is no single culture that has “one best way” of doing something (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 2001).

Nonetheless, I recognize that I am not fully culturally aware. Although I recognize that there are different cultures, I am sometimes biased in passing cultural judgments on people. For example, I question the necessity of bowing to a senior person while greeting them, as the Chinese do. I sometimes think that such an action portrays inferiority on the part of the person doing the bowing. In addition, I am particularly judgmental of those cultures that, for example, still practice female circumcision in Africa. I question their beliefs and end up convinced that nothing could, in my culture, rationalize such practices.

My primary step is devising ways of appreciating people, given that I am familiar with the fact that I am capable of building rapport with people from numerous cultures and I intend to build on that. Next in the plan should be identifying the reasons why some persons from some cultural milieu conduct themselves in a specific way whilst others react to other situations differently. Later on, I should use my connections with persons from varied cultures to allow me to gain a clear understanding of their conduct and opinions. Consequently, I will get to a point where I am on recognizable terms with the fact that I have an approach to doing things, while different person has their way of conducting themselves.

I think I should, first of all, do more research, for instance, on why some Africans observe female genital mutilation, to evade my shortcoming in making judgments on the culture of other persons. I believe more research will allow me to be more knowledgeable of the reasons why female genital mutilation is such a critical ritual of passage. Secondly, I should endeavor to put myself in the situation of the person I criticize based on their culture and see if I would have done anything differently if I were the one in the alleged culture.

It is fundamental in a managerial setting that managers increase their levels of cultural awareness, as this goes a great mile in determining the outcome of organizational activities. As Gardenswartz and Rowe (2001) put it, a manager may be required to pass information to employees, or to solve conflicts among employees. Since the workplace is usually a multicultural setting, the manager would need to be culturally aware if they are to manage the organization. For example, on time management, there are those people who come from cultures that are relaxed, while others come from cultures that advocate doing things speedily. The manager should be able to recognize this and assign and schedule workload accordingly. Gardenswartz and Rowe (2001) state that cultural awareness enables a manager to coordinate activities within an organization while ensuring that each employee is treated fairly and not subjected to cultural prejudice. A culturally aware manager should also aim at educating the employees on the need for cultural awareness and the importance of cultural tolerance. In essence, intercultural awareness among employees is essential for the growth and sustainability of any organization.