Individual Developmental Plan Analysis - Article Example

?Fawaz Alghamadi 13 July Individual Developmental Plan I was born and brought up in Saudi Arabia, which is my native home where I attended my schooling. My chance to leave the country came when the Saudi Arabian government started a scheme of empowering society through the awarding of scholarships for higher education to male and female members of the society. This was among the many steps taken by the government in developing a pool of human resources in the country. The program was primarily based on the purpose of clearing the way for young people to obtain further education for the betterment of society. My ambition to become a productive, efficient and effective member of the business community of Saudi society was ignited by the scholarship to study MBA degree from the University of New Brunswick. While considering my future plans related to improving my education and professional level, I established that UNB best suites my inclinations and requirements. I intended to pursue my further studies for the Masters Degree in Business Administration at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. This was an opportunity for me to travel and reside in Canada where the culture was quite different from what I had been used to back in Saudi Arabia. Studying for my MBA at University of New Brunswick was a cultural experience in which I developed in the process of learning the new culture and adjusting to it. In essence, the Arabian and Canadian perceived me in different ways, and they brought out the dissimilar part of me through the social exemplification of culture and personality. Owing to the fact that the two cultures are quite dissimilar from each other, they exemplify different characters in me. For instance, the culture in Saudi Arabia portrayed me as a conservative, cultured and traditional man since the cultural inclination of Saudi Arabia rewards and appreciates such characters. So while in Saudi Arabia I epitomize the Arabian culture of being religious and cultured but in Canada, the culture perceived me as a liberal, talkative and funny individual due to the cultural background that appreciates such characters. Therefore, the cultural experience in Canada had a lot of impact on my personal character because it exposed certain areas in my personality that was perhaps hidden by the Arabian culture back in my native country. This was symbolized by the constant need for me to adjust to the new culture, which was quite dissimilar to my home culture that I was familiar with. Comparatively, the cultures of Saudi Arabia and Canada have a lot of features in common that I witnessed in my experience in both places. Basically, culture espouses similar values that bond the society together. For instance, the social values of Saudi Arabia and Canada are the same in the sense that they are governed by religious activities. Though the two cultures profess different religions, Islam for Saudi Arabia and Christianity for Canada, the religions play a defining role in social life and influence the social norms. Similarly, both cultures are based on strong family values which govern the society and the family values are founded on the principles of love, unity, and godliness. In my experience, I witnessed several points of divergence in the cultures, which stemmed from the fundamental principles governing the respective cultures. First and foremost is the aspect of religion, which is the basis of culture. In Saudi Arabia, the culture is purely based on the Islamic culture whereby worship is an integral aspect of the culture. The Arabian culture is inherently conservative, and social relations are restricted with boys and girls separated from each other. Canada, on the other hand, is a liberal society that is based on Christian ideals; the culture emphasizes strong family values and contemporary social behaviors. My personal style had a lot of influence on the process of cultural development while studying in the University of New Brunswick. The similarities with the cultures lay in my personal style, which was epitomized on both cultures in a diverse way. First was the aspect of social relations, which underscores the foundation of both cultures. I realize that social relations are based on attitudes and stereotypes, which are based to the cultural inclination of respective cultures. Being a very social person, the diverse cultural settings seem more or less same though in a different context. The Arabian culture in Saudi Arabia cultivates social relation though the relations are restricted by gender, family and social stratification. In Canada, social relations are free and open in the sense that a person can interact openly with people of different genders, families, and social class. Though the basic aspect between the Arabian and Canadian cultures is that both permit social interaction, the only difference is what governs these interactions. While in Saudi Arabia, I interacted immensely with people of my gender, class and family and we shared a lot. In Canada, my interaction was also good particularly without the social restrictions. Compatibility was a significant consideration throughout my experience. In both cultures, my personal style was less compatible because of the various underlying factors in the cultural inclinations. In the Arabian culture, in Saudi Arabia, I was not compatible with the social restrictions to interactions more so the gender barriers that hindered interaction between men and women. I am naturally very social, and I grew up very close to my mother and sisters so I really like the company of women but the culture there never permitted me to interact with the female gender. In Canada, I met a very liberal culture that permitted all forms of social relations some of which were quite offensive with me (Maude 66-78). Though I appreciate open social interaction, I am somewhat conservative, and I found open interaction of people of different sexual orientations quite offensive. Studying at the UNB provided me with an opportunity to learn from the world community and also share my experiences with my other classmates. This gave me the required impetus to launch my business career in Saudi Arabia as regards inter-cultural experience, business ideals along it networking. This was a very advantageous opportunity for me to create a wider network through which I could use developing my profession in business. The intensive approach adopted in MBA program blends real world experience with practical applications and classroom learning. Such a program enabled me to obtain the required skills through both theoretical and practical approaches to cement my ability to venture into business. Small class sizes at the UNB will give a chance to teachers and students to interact with each other individually and help develop innovative entrepreneurial leadership skills in students. This interaction improved the students understanding of the relevant concepts through informal interface with teachers. In overall, my experience with two cultures has exposed me to the real understanding of culture and how it affects life in general. I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia where the culture is primarily based on Islam, as a religion, and culture is very conservative with restricted social life. I studied in the University of New Brunswick, Canada where the dominant religion is Christianity and culture is liberal where social interactions are open with no restrictions at all. When I compare my culture with the culture in Canada, I see a lot of differences that I experienced. The paper has discussed my experiences in the two cultures and how I rate myself using established models. Through established models, the paper has exemplified my experience in both cultures portraying the underlying differences and their implications on culture and wider society. Work Cited Maude, Barry. Managing Cross-Cultural Communication: Principles and Practice. Washington: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print Read More