Cultural Awareness
What is culture ?
• It is a complex of knowledge ,beliefs and values shared by a group
of individuals
• Unite them and make them a society
• Each individual belongs not to just, but at least one culture
• Its norms define the roles of the people who are part of it
• Makes people’s behavior predictable and understandable
Means
• Raising people’s understanding of the influence our culture
• On how we do things ,how we communicate or even how we go about
our work
• Being mindful of this diversity allows us to be more respectful
• Helps you to understand yourself better, your weaknesses, your
psychology
• A positive influence on their ability to perform their awareness
Iceberg of culture
• Conscious of one’s own culture
• Values
• Beliefs
• Perceptions
• Biases
Importance
• Helps us break down cultural barriers
• Builds cultural bridges
• Learn how to love
• Appreciate those different from us
• We begin to understand ourselves
Develop
• Learning as much as we can about other cultures
• Understanding the assumptions
• We have impact our impressions of the outside world
• Participating in unconscious bias
• Harassment training
Is it a skill ?
• The soft skill in a multicultural world to improve:
• Critical thinking
• Complex problem solving
• Self management skills
• Innovation
• Analytical thinking
Effects of poor intercultural communication
• Misunderstanding and poor collaboration among employees
• Hostile working environment
• Consequent employee turnover
• Low productivity
• Loss of clients and lower profits
Understanding culture=Respecting the
individual
• Interacting with others assuming that culture is not important
• Then they showcase your own culture lens. This attitude is “ethnocentrism”
• When working with people from different cultures
• One should never make assumptions about individual traits based on a
person’s country of origin
• You need to be aware of cultural differences and respect them
Why it is important in workplace ?
• Helps understanding and appreciate your culture
• Impact of cultural myopia
• Creativity and innovation
• Quick judgement calls
• Mistakes, wasted time and unwanted errors at work
• Communication and collaboration
Culture is not static !
• It guides act as basic introductions only
• Each society, country and culture will have numerous nuances
• It irresponsible to suggest a uniform approach to understanding culture or etiquette
• Cultures of individuals, whether be religious, regional, gender or corporate
• Loose guidelines can assist in better understanding and avoiding offence
Levels to develop
• Awareness of visible culture traits
• Sensitivity to subtle cultural differences
• Reflection of self in relation to others for meaningful interactions
• Understanding how another culture feels from an insider perspective
Reasons
• Culture is our past, present and future
• Most societies increasingly reflect diverse cultures
• Cultural awareness impacts communication
• Awareness shows respect for other cultures
• Lack of awareness may lead to accidental disrespect
Steps towards
• Determine why you want to become culturally aware
• Learn and practice interculture communication
• Reflect on cultural identity and biases
• Understand that developing culture is an ongoing process
• Integrating culture awareness into our everyday lives
Overcome cultural barriers
• Create space for other cultural requirements
• Ensure clear and polite communication
• Employ diversity training
• Do your homework
• Be aware of how others may perceive your culture
• Focus on local integration
Promotions by organization
• Training
• Policies
• Religious holidays
• Communication
Elements
• Religion
• Education
• Political philosophy
• Social structure
• Economic philosophy
• Language
Elements in case-culture
• Performances
• Decision making
• Atmosphere
• Team approach
• Structure
• Communication style
Orientations
• The nature of people
• The relationship to nature
• The relationship to other people
• The modality of human activity
• The temporal focus of human activity
• The concept of space
Classification
• Culture and nation
• National culture
• Organizational culture
• Corporate culture
• Professional culture
• Culture and management
Model
• Time focus
• Space
• Structure
• Action
• Time orientation
• Communication
• competition
Organizational location of global cross-
cultural interactions
• Domestic firms
• Multidomestic firms
• Multinational firms
• Global firms
Culture web
• A tool used to analysis of behavior, physical, and symbolic manifestation of
culture
• Informed by the taken-for-granted assumptions of an organization
• Interdependency of cultural aspects
• Serve as a diagnostic tool when organizational strategy is being devised
• The issues around culture change in organization are dealt
System approach
• Educational system
• Kinship system
• Economic system
• Political system
• Religious system
• Association system
Degrees of cultural awareness
• The way is the only way
• I know their way, but my way is better
• My way and their way
• Our way
Opportunity for cultural awareness
• We expect other people to behave as we do, but they don’t
• Others expect us to behave as they do, but we don’t
• We react with anger, worry
• They react with anger, worry
• We withdraw or attack
• They withdraw or attack
How do we manage cultural diversity ?
• Think of ways of embedding the culture into your work
• Managing diversity is to recognize it & not to fear it
• Admit that you don’t know
• Suspend judgements
• Empathy
• Systematically check your assumptions
Benefits
• Achieving genuine equality of opportunity for other cultures
• Cultural competences
• Foundation of communication and ability of standing back
• Build your cultural knowledge
• Treat people as individuals
Elements
• Products
• Ideas
• Behaviors
Culture-In peace operations
• Military (international)
• Civilians
• Military-civilians(organizational)
• Local communities
• International actors local communities
Understanding it
• Eating habits
• Religion
• Family and gender
• Communication
• Body language
• Dress code
Case studies
• The market place
• The toilet experience
• To walk hand in hand
• Movement control at the airport
• The gift
Strategies
• Be aware of your cultural influences
• Be aware of judging other people’s behavior and beliefs
• Be aware of making assumption
• Understand behavior and believes of the people
• Increase knowledge about different cultures
Levels
• Unconscious incompetence
• Conscious incompetence
• Conscious competence
• Unconscious competence
Unconscious incompetence
• Where you don’t know what you don’t know
• In this world we don’t know and we are ok with that
• Starting is all learning
• We must acknowledge that there will always be things about our jobs
• We need to improve while trusting that when the time and circumstances is
right
Conscious incompetence
• This stage is knowing what we don’t know
• There is a gap and identify the exact skill we need to develop
• The journey of learning this skill and intentional about living with it
• Our choice will always be to learn and grow
• What is life without consistently learning and professionally
Conscious competence
• Where the learning begins
• We are actively working on the skill but we are yet novices
• We try some things, we fail, we learn some lessons and try again
• Ways to go before our competency becomes as a part of DNA
• To be persistent and determined and not giving up
Unconscious competences
• We have mastered the new skill or behavior such that its instinctual
• We aren’t practicing anymore
• We’re still learning and growing
• We’ve established a strong foundation and can be confident about our
competency
Challenges
• Colleagues from other culture let their voice to be heard
• Integration across multicultural teams
• Professional communication can be misinterpreted
• Navigating visa requirements
• Different understanding of professional etiquette
• Conflicting working styles across teams
Cultural sensitivity
• Begins with culture differences
• These differences are reflected in the way of communication
• More than an awareness there are differences in cultures
• Competent persons views all people as unique individual
• Realizes that their experiences, beliefs, values and language affect their
perceptions
Question to ourselves ?
• Do we try to learn the names of those from other cultures ?
• Are we patient with their attempts to use English ?
• Do we make assumptions about people based on their race,
ethnicity or gender ?
• Are we doing everything we can to learn about them ?
• People harbour positive and negative stereotypes about people
Taking it into reality
• During this class
• Talk about your experiences
• If you agree or no!
• Talk about you contact with other cultures
• Express your thoughts!
Dangers
• Stereotypes
• Prejudices
• Ethno-centric perspectives
Cultural shocks
• A condition of disorientation
• Affecting someone who is suddenly exposed to an unfamiliar culture
• Way of life or set of attitudes
• More isolated
• Lack immediate support system
Cultural shocks
• Unfamiliar:
• Language
• Climate
• Currency
• Road signs
• Colleagues
Cultural shocks
• Adaptation process:
• Honeymoon-contact with new culture
• Initial confrontation-feeling with new culture
• Adjustment crisis-Problem intensify
• Recovery-Sense of belonging to culture emerges
Symptoms of cultural shock
• Lethargy
• Hostility towards local
• Boredom
• Withdrawal
• Homesickness
• Irritability
• Excessive sleeping
Culture awareness
“If you are
• Humble
• Respectful
• Friendly
You will always be fine”
Bibliography
• Understanding cross-cultural management –Marie joelle browaeys & roger price
Thank you
