Culture and Traditions - Essay Example

Reflective Paper Task Introduction Culture is an aspect that is exceedingly diverse as relating to different collections of people encompassing the world. Around the globe, diverse people entail contrasting cultures based on their lifestyle. Having grown up in India, instilling of the Indian culture was paramount to my growth. This however was short lived when I joined boarding school and interacted with children from all edges. Mingling of cultures was something that was inevitable in the course of learning. My university life was yet another era of culture exchange that saw us appreciate our own cultures. This paper seeks to reflect on the different cultural encounters I experienced, how they built me and how I intend to succeed in my career using the diverse cultural experiences. Growing up in North India, Meerut Setting in boarding, Hampton Court and St. Georges College, was one of the encounters that made me grow concerning my culture. Interacting with high school students was a vital step that shaped my cultural life. For example, people spoke in contradicting languages depending on their origin. Though we all spoke using a unifying language, which was English, people with same languages still communed via them. This gave me an avenue of learning what these languages entailed. It was also a great opportunity of appreciating other beliefs and cultures. This experience equipped me to handle life while being less hypercritical and tolerant. This is because it taught me that people are different and that they require skillful handling. Different languages made me assimilated to different cultures. This helped me know that people have different beliefs, and that it is vital to ensure that they are safeguarded. Assimilation of these cultures would help me in my future career as a resource manager (Lane et al, 2010). This is because leading people entails respect of their beliefs and their cultures. I will have to make decisions that not infringing on their heritage. Respecting the religion of my resource team is something that I will have to keep in mind. This is because employees have dissimilar religions with convictions that should be respected. Failure to respect employees’ beliefs is infringing on their autonomy of faith. It is upon every leader to champion for the rights of his staff. Therefore, my main aim would be advocating for the welfare of the staff through ensuring that they feel appreciated. My staff would work with lots of motivation since there is no interference with their culture. It is crucial to note that rights of employees have to remain intact. Interaction with people of different cultures would make me know how to handle people without intimidating them. Tolerance to people’s beliefs while in boarding made me apprehend that one cannot afford to think that their practices are greater to others. Therefore, as a resource manager, I would ensure that I do not down look on people’s beliefs. South India, Manipal for two years While in South India, the place had people with strong beliefs about Lord Krishna. Religious values were at the heart of the subsistence of the people of this place. They respected their traditional beliefs and had to observe them all the time. Interaction with the people of this place made me know that the main objective of life was to live. This means that people have diverse customs, and tolerance is something that people should develop (Lane, 2010). This is because with tolerance, someone can handle people from all places. Therefore, as a resource manager, I would seek to understand my staff. Understanding them meant that I would not disregard their views based on culture. While in Manipal, the student town, I learnt to appreciate my own culture, enrich it with positive practices of the natives and respect all. Being a resource manager is a sensitive post that requires neutrality. Therefore, I would act with without bias of people that I lead. Another thing is that I would bring equality to my staff. Equality is a matter of observance by all people of the world. This is because there is no person that is contented with awful treatment. One of the areas that would require equivalent treatment would be in promoting my staff. Promotion would be based on a person’s skill as opposed to their cultures. This is exceedingly necessary because people in the present world have experiences required in job premises. Acting based on culture, beliefs and origin would not be fair treatment of my staff (Lane, 2010). The people of South India treasured their cultures, and honored the wider populace. Therefore, the same way they treated me, I would treat my employees who are from different backgrounds well. Experience, skill, tact and commitment would be the basis for the promotion of my employees. Therefore, I would ensure all people feel equal and appreciated in job premises. Equality would also be in the field of motivation. This is because the efforts of the staff should be esteemed. When the staff does their work well, the organization should look for ways of rewarding their efforts. This is because hard work among employees is something that requires esteem. When employees become motivated, they work with extra commitment than before. In addition, they get to know that someone cares for them, and that their efforts are recognizable. By learning that people have different cultures, discrimination and people’s status would not determine appraisal. Glasgow Scotland for four years, University of Glasgow While in Glasgow University, our class comprised of people from all edges. Some of the people were from China, Scottish, English, Irish, Indians, French, Malaysian and many others. Citizens of these countries comprised of diverse cultures. Therefore, their dressing styles, food and languages were exceedingly contrasting. University life comprised of many associations set for people with same languages and cultures. This was meant to encourage people to maintain their tradition. While there, I was an active member of the International Society. This society comprised of friends from diverse countries. Therefore, we had to tolerate the ideas of each person and respect their cultures. Getting to tolerate people’s cultures is something that matters concerning leading to the human resource administration (Lane, 2010). I learnt that borrowing culture from different people is an exceedingly acceptable aspect. I also learnt various languages from my friends. Learning different languages would enable me in my future career as a human resource manager. Knowing diverse languages would enable me to work in any part of the globe. This is because I would have a better chance of understanding my employees. The company of my friends fed me with new ideas. These ideas equipped me with knowledge on how to handle life issues. Awareness of how to deal with life matters would enable me to deal with matters arising from my workers. Tactfulness would be paramount in handling matters. Having different encounters with my friends was a leeway of operating with different employees in my company. Cultures that I learnt modeled me to be selfless towards people, and to handle everyone well. For example, as a team we had to relate with a common goal. The same way, I would expect that employees that I lead as a human resource manager work with same objectives. While in Scotland, I worked at Pizza hut with different nationalities. The nationalities comprised of people from Spain, China, Scotland, Dutch, and Japan. It was through working in the pizza center that I leant skills like remaining composed amidst challenges. This is because I encountered many customers who had different characters. Handling of such customers would enable me handle my employees with extra patience. This is necessary because at certain times, employees can behave in quire ways, and handling such challenges requires skill. Being tranquil would enable me to deal with employees suitably. While working at the pizza place, life was not all rosy. This is because at times, I recorded poor sales due to poor customer turn up. This experience made me have self-motivation. Self-motivation enabled me to work harder to make more profits. This skill would enable me to work as a future resource manager. This is because work can at times be hectic. At such times, self-motivation is a trait that would help me to thrive in my career. Without self-motivation, it is hard to deal with challenges arising from a job. For instance, dealing with different people who have different cultures and characters is a challenge. Working with motivation is something that can help overcome such a situation. My local guardian in Scotland is from Pakistan. This aspect enables me to get mentorship from someone who is not from my locality. Therefore, I have being able to relate with my guardian the same way someone does with their friends. Having to deal with him is something that prepares me to value people’s disparities. My future career as a resource manager would require that I would be able to champion for the cultures and ideologies of other people. My employees would expect that their leader does not categorize people based on their culture (Lane, 2009). This is because a leader cannot afford to act with segregation at all. Belgium, working for four years After pursuing my course in university, I got a job in Belgium where I worked in a company. The company comprised of Belgiums, except me who was a non-Belgium. Although, I was the only non-Belgium, our customers included European Space Agency, Thales Alenia Space and customers from other countries. Working in the company was one of the best experiences of work. Working in a company required that I would have to learn working with many people as one. Exposure from diverse people made me appreciate people. One of the aspects learnt was that of teamwork. Working as a team enabled me to learn a lot from different people. Working as a team made me to be selfless enough to tolerate people’s ideas and decisions. This aspect would enable me to advise my employees to have act with unison. Unity is something that I would also want to see in my workers while I become a human resource director. With unity and teamwork, people work with correlation (Locke, 2009). The other thing that I was able to acquire is that of being an excellent time manager. This aspect was outlined in such matters as attending meetings for the company. Being an employee of the company, we had to attend meetings with punctuality. This is a quality that I would have to carry on to my future career as a leader of employees. Acting as a role model would make my employees act with more caution in their work. Being time conscious in performance of work is a requirement that workers should have. Working with different customers helped me develop trustworthy traits. This is because the customer had to have trust in us since we offered them timely services. Developing of trust with our customers made dealings easier. It also brought the aspect of saving time because we would operate directly with the customers. This is something that would compel me to be able to cultivate trust with predictable employees. Trust is the key to working with motivation in a certain career. Therefore, facilitating trust among the employees would make my employees work with more confidence. Those employees who know that directors discriminate them based on their culture cannot work well in their career The other thing that the working experience taught me was customer skills (Locke.2009). This is because I became equipped on how to handle challenges emanating offering services to clients. It was clear that the managers had the greater task of ensuring that the situation became in order. Managers have to ensure that any wind of scolds in the company was refuted. Moreover, my future career expects that I would be able to stabilize matters. I would be answerable to problems emanating from customer deals. Problems faced while in Belgium Language obstacle was a problem while working. This is something that made communication difficult with clients. Therefore, we had to learn skills and ways of operating with them. The other problem was that Belgians have more reservations, and are independent than Scottish. I had to loran to blend with their living to avoid challenges at work. This tolerance is a skill that lies with employers and mangers. The other problem faced was shock of cultures. I kept wondering what life it would be living with people of different traditions. Being an amateur, I was supposed to learn principles of effectual solidarity. All this problems made me more skillful in working. How I intend to continue to improve my CQ over the course of my career In the course of my career, I intend to develop things like organizing my employees online. This would ensure that I cut on the cost of paying supervisors who have to keep track of employees under human resource control. The other thing that I would want to do is blend people’s different cultures by picking on what is necessary. This would ensure that workers feel appreciated in the working environment. In conclusion, a person is what they perceive life to be as opposed to cultures that they entail. Therefore, someone can decide to perform exemplary in a foster country. What one ought to do is blend with people, and appreciates their cultures. This would make working a great experience. What culminates the whole issue of culture and traditions is for people to behave as Romans when they step in Rome. References Lane. H, Maznevski, M. Deetz, J. & DiStefano, J. (2010) International Management Behavior: Leading with a Global Mindset. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Pp. 100-210. Print. Locke, E. (2009). Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior: Indispensable Knowledge for Evidence-Based Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 300- 510. Print. Read More