3.1 When communicating with people from different backgrounds or cultures care and sensitivity should be shown when communicating. We must not be too ready to take offence to a gesture or language that is not the norm in our own culture, and be aware of our own body language and gestures. Care should also be taken with the language used and the tone of voice used and they can be misinterpreted.…
This dimension is defined as “a society’s tolerance for ambiguity”. Meaning, people are faced with the choice to either accept or thwart a situation that is either unexpected or unknown. Countries that score a high number in this dimension are said to have societies that demonstrate strict codes of belief and behaviour, and are intolerant towards the ideas and behaviours that are different and eccentric from the usual norm of carrying out something. Countries that have a low score will have societies that have less stricter guidelines and attitudes. They believe “practice counts more than principal”.…
As a Peace Corps Volunteer it is essential to learn the Intercultural Communicative Competence, a composite of abilities fundamental to perform and interact effectively with other cultures (Fantini, 2005). When we asked our previous Peace Corps volunteers on how they first felt about interacting with others from different cultures, they replied that they have fears of miscommunication and judgment (Dupraw & Axner, 1997). In order to communicate with others abroad while avoiding any conflicts, the Peace Corps has been providing all volunteers with six patterns of cultural interactions.…
The Uncertainty Reduction Theory deals with behavioral and cognitive aspects. Behavioral uncertainty is usually concerned with how to behave and following accepted conventions or protocols. On the other hand, Cognitive Uncertainty is concerned with who is this person and acquiring more information about the other. The general concept of ethics is related in a way that it also deals with morality and the principles relating to right and wrong conduct.…
Living in multi-cultural society it is important to be culturally aware in our interpersonal interactions. It is includes not only cultural differences but also the differences in values…
In our most recent exam we learned about an acronym called C.R.A.S.H., which will be very beneficial to keep in mind while meeting those different than myself. The ‘c’ involves many aspects of communication including the understanding of language variations, appreciating the individuals, accurate interpretation of volume of speech as well as nonverbal cues. The ‘r’ stands for respecting all the differences in the culture and ‘a’ stands for being able to assess and affirm differences. The ‘s’ involves being self aware and sensitive to the other culture and the ‘h’ states that we should do all of this with humanity. Additionally is important to identify family roles and how they function as a…
In this paper I shall try to explain myself on how I feel on the different topics of perceptions, attitudes, biases, and beliefs of culturally different groups to include other areas of my reactions to knowledge about values, practices, and experiences of individuals who are culturally different from me. What biases, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs might you hold about culturally different groups? In every work environment there are different cultures of people working together for a common purpose of supporting themselves or a family, and as always there is a different in work ethnic among workers because of the different culture. Many times when more than one person of the same culture is working on the same job they seem to bond and become inseparable during the course of the job. Several times I was placed on a job where I would seem like the outsider. The same people you work with everyday seem to change once joined with others from their culture, the different conversation are carried on and not understanding what they are saying seems to bother me a lot, I have no idea if they are talking about me or the job, a weird feeling of guilt appears to come to me as I walk by them talking in a language that is not recognizable to me. The feeling of not being wanted or the feeling that you are being talked about, because every now and then they look at you and start laughing as if though you are the punch line of their jokes, it is just a weird feeling being the foreigner, but yet you work with the same people every day, and yet you get the feeling that you do not know them as well as you thought you knew them. How might attitudes or perceptions influence your interaction with individuals who are culturally different from yourself? The attitude I have against working with others from a different culture appears to be…
I enjoy my interactions with them. I have learned in most of the dealings that I need to be more patient and speak in more global terms to get my point across. With reading this chapter, I defiantly need to understand more on dealing with the implicit cultures method to be more successful.…
To increase my own cultural competence I must open my mind to new experiences and opportunities outside my comfort zone. I must be willing to not judge nor over analyze the outcome based on fear of the unknown.…
The importance of understanding cultural, ethnic and gender differences by managers and professionals in a business setting is essential to make the work environment comfortable. In every culture there are basic standards of thinking, and acting and these cultural differences strongly influence workplace values and communication. What may be considered acceptable and natural in the workplace for one person may be unacceptable for another person. People from diverse cultures bring new ways of thinking, creativity and language skills needed to survive in today’s work force. In many work environments there are a diverse group of people who make up the departments in the school setting, hospitals and corporate America.…
From this difficult challenge in my life and many other experiences I’ve had in my life, I am learning that working together with all people is the only way to bring forth success. We all have to embrace the cultural differences of people we live and work with daily. We should always respect and accept the differences we find in each other, be inclusive, and learn from each…
Given that diversity thrives, the project of understanding each other is both terrifying and important. It is a journey never finished, because the process and the end points change constantly. We live in a world that feeds from communication. We can’t get from point A to point B without communicating but when cultural differences come into play it can be a bit difficult. I will be discussing three theories that I relate to everyday at work and at home. Understanding culture, communicating and cultural variation, the function of language and using language to share information and lastly why we listen and being empathetic listeners is important.…
I honor the integrity of my client’s culture. Clients culture should be respect and social workers should gain knowledge about the client’s culture background. My personal and profession life consist of interactions with people from other cultures. I am very comfortable with interacting with individuals that are culturally different from me. I conduct ongoing conversations with individuals that are culturally different from me about our difference to educate myself and others about our differences. Unfortunately, I do not speak any other…
How culturally aware are you? Try your hand at our cultural scenarios and see how aux fait you are with cultural differences in behaviours.…
A barrier to intercultural communication happens when the behaviour of an individual is different from your own (Chaney and Martin 2000). However, it is not only the cultural differences that cause a communication barrier but the inability to recognize and understand the cultural differences. A number of barriers to communication have been identified in the literature, including the following by Hodgettes and Luthans(2003),…