Guidelines for Individual Developmental Plan: Self Awareness and Cross Culture - Article Example

There has been a lot of debate pertaining to the cultural differences among people. Due to globalization and migration of people, a lot of countries have now undergone multiculturalism. United States is considered as highly multi-cultured country however, every other country including United Kingdom, Canada, Australia have now become multi-cultured due to extensive movement of people from their own country to another. My own experience highlights the issue of multiculturalism in a comprehensible way. I have been brought up in a conservative society that is in Saudi Arabia. I did my graduation in Saudi Arabia and then moved to Canada in 2009. I started my MBA in Canada and now, after three months I will be completing my MBA as well. The cultures of Saudi Arabia and Canada are very different from each other and therefore I had to do a lot of struggle to get acquainted with the culture of Canada. Common Values and Attitudes Having diversified cultures, background and religion, both the countries are very different from each other. There isn’t a single commonality between both of these countries and in fact both of them are opposite of each other for instance, the culture of Saudi Arabia can come under the head of High Power Distance culture, where there is high consideration about manipulation, social role etc whereas culture of Canada can be considered as low Power Distance Culture because of increased level of multiculturalism. Perspective for Each Others Culture As per my opinion, I have observed that Canadian people consider Saudis as more conservative and narrow minded whereas Saudis consider Canadians as broad minded and modest. The reason for this perspective is the widespread norms, values and standards of the cultures of both the countries. As per my observation, the differences which persist between the mentality of the people of both the countries are due to this reason. Despite of that, if people learn to value the differences, then there wouldn’t be any problem in understanding and adjusting with each other’s culture. I put forward this strategy because I myself have also adopted this criteria and got succeed in accepting and adapting the Canadian culture. Points of Disagreement There is a lot of difference between the cultures of both of these countries. Differences persist on the basis of religion, ethnicity, style of dressing up, food and drink, psychology and behavior of people and so on. For Saudis, it is difficult to adopt the Canadian culture and for Canadian it is impossible to adopt the Saudi culture unless one turns himself/ herself into Muslim as it is restricted for non-Muslims to enter into the most sacred places of Saudi Arabia. The people of both the cultures have distinctive viewpoint for each other. It is barely possible that interaction between two cultures can be harmonious. Personal Style Having brought up in a conservative society, my personal style depicts more elements of Saudi culture. I had to do a bit struggle while adjusting in Canada due to differences in cultures. Despite of that, I managed to adopt the Canadian culture to certain extent. My personality has now become a mix of Saudi-Canadian culture, and that is the reason due to which I am easily surviving in Canada. Milton Bennet Model Milton Bennet Model distinguishes one’s perspective in two broad categories. They are: i. Ethnocentric Stage; At this stage, a person tries to be in either isolation or separation. ii. Ethno relative Stage; At this stage, acceptance, adaption and integration between the person and the culture persist. While I was inflowing to Canadian culture from Saudi culture, I was more in an ethno relative stage because I was fully provoked to adopt the Canadian culture as I was looking forward to stay in this country in future as well. Hofstede’s Dimensions Acknowledging the rapid changes among cultural background, Greet Hofstede came up with different set of models which represent different perspective of people. The five dimensions of Hofstede’s Model include: i. Power Distance; refers to social equality and justice ii. Individualism/ Collectivism; refers to ‘I’ and ‘We’ mentality of the individuals iii. Masculinity/ Feminity; refers to acquisition of wealth and assertiveness or social support and nurturance iv. Avoidance Index; determines the level of tolerance of uncertainty and avoidance v. Long Term Orientation; perspective of society in terms of ‘time horizon’ for instance how they associate future with present and past. The culture of Saudi Arabia can be considered as Individualism whereas Canadian culture is more inclined toward Collectivism. Canadian culture can be considered as the one having Low Power Distance because people are not treated on the basis of social class and status where Saudis are High Power Distant, giving high importance to social class and not considering equality. My forefathers were businessmen having contracts from major companies of countries including China, Italy and France but I do not have good knowledge of cultures of these countries, therefore I believe I have to study their culture, for if in case I need to interact with them in future period of time. Since, I have done MBA and will be doing a job at managerial position therefore I need to have good knowledge of almost every culture. It will assist me in my business meetings and getting more contracts. Therefore, a bit of knowledge is required of every culture if you are at managerial position because some elements might be considered as lawful and legal while exactly that same thing can be banned or illegal in some other country. For a manager, it is also required to have substantial knowledge of communication styles and marketing and advertising strategies of the culture of the relevant country. Cultures that can be safely ignored Out of all the famous cultures of the countries, there are certain cultures which can be easily learnt. Culture cannot be ignored without any reason. For different situations, there are different reasons which make it important to ignore the culture. For example for businessmen, who deem to expand their business in international countries, it is very important to ignore their local culture. The reason is the distinguishing features and interpretations of certain things. For instance, certain style of clothing can be acceptable in United States but will be certainly unacceptable for the culture of Muslim countries. Therefore, before ignoring any culture, certain basis must be developed upon which the culture can be ignored. Cultural Strengths and Weakness Strengths Every person possesses some strengths and weaknesses pertaining to differing cultures. I believe my most phenomenal strength is to have the ability to adopt, interact and accept new cultures. Despite of being brought up in such a conservative society, I managed to send my life easily and peacefully in Canada. I have adopted the necessary changes as long as they do not conflict with my personal values, norms and standards. I consider this ability as my strength because I have seen many people having conflicting opinions regarding different culture during their course of migration and therefore they end up having problems with settlement in a new country. Weakness I believe weaknesses are as important as strengths as they enable a person to acknowledge them and rectify them. I think I do not have any such weakness when it comes to cultural changes because my biggest strength compensates all my weakness, which is my ability to adopt new cultures. Despite of that, I believe that my biggest weakness is lack of being acquainted to new languages instantly. Some people have this remarkable habit of learning new languages easily while for me, it takes a lot of time to learn and get acquainted with new languages. I have lived three years in Canada, and yet my English has not been improved as it should be. I often make grammatical mistakes which hampers my reputation and often my work as well. Resolving Weakness I do not have very bad communication skills and I do easily communicate with the people having first language as English yet I believe that I need to make progress in this area. Living in Canada without being proficient in English or French can be precarious. Definitely, it is very essential for me to improve my spoken and written English. It will not only help me in my future stay in Canada but will also assist me in my professional career. Currently, I do not have any plans of moving to another country therefore I will be trying my best to improve my communication skills and to be fluent in English so that my personality and career, both can be improved. Model of Freedom Model of freedom helps in drawing organizational, vocational and national cultures. By developing model of freedom, one can have an idea about different cultures and their way of working, behaving etc. Moreover, the model helps in leveraging cultural advantage, clarifying past, analyzing present and predicting future. The basic purpose of Model of Freedom is to facilitate the business persons in understanding the international languages and cultures. Exploitation of Strengths From now and onwards, I have been trying to convert my weakness into my strength as well which means to improve my English so well that I do not hesitate in communicating with anyone in a fluent manner. My strength of accepting and adopting the Canadian culture has helped me a great deal. This strength has given me confidence that I can easily survive in any culture without having any problem related to cultural differences. In this way, I have fully exploited my biggest strength which is appreciated by not only me, but by my other fellowmen as well. Personal Goals On the basis of cultural perspective, I have divided my personal goals in three broad categories. These categories are briefly mentioned in subsequent paragraphs. Short term Short term goal usually ranges from 3 months to 1 year. My short term goal is to work and stay in Canada and get acquainted with the Canadian culture. I am interest in learning more about Canadian culture as well as improving my fluency and proficiency in English language. Medium Term Medium term goal usually ranges from 2 to 5 years. As I have discussed earlier that my forefathers have been involved in the business in which they have to deal with the companies originated from China, Italy, France etc, therefore I plan to go back to my grandfather’s country and learn about the culture of these prior mentioned countries so that I can assist them in their business dealings. Long-term Long term goals are those which range from 5 to 10 years. It can also exceed to 20 or even 30 years. Since I have already worked with people of Britain, India, China and Canada, my long term goal is to establish such a business which can utilize my skills of dealing with cross cultural companies. It will not only enhance and polish my skills, but will also help me in starting some business on my own. It will be fruitful for me and my children as well. 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