Reflecting on My Culture and Other Peoples Culture - Essay Example

Cultural Awareness Student’s name Professor’s name Course Date Reflecting on my Culture and other Peoples’ Culture There is no human being that is culture free, we as human beings are all a product of many different cultures that surround us. What we value, the worldview and experiences are all structured culture and the society that exert influences on our lives every day. Being a multicultural person is, therefore, important but by first having a positive cultural identity of yourself. Manning and Baruth (2009) looks at culture people’s values, ideas, language, religion, patterns of social and interpersonal relationships, artistic expressions, and behaving and thinking. However, in this essay, the cultural identity am identifying myself with also relate to race, gender, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation and all that defines the self. Becoming aware of my cultural dynamics was a difficult task since culture is not conscious to us. Since I was born, I have learned seeing things and doing things at an unconscious level. My experiences, my cultural values and my cultural background has led me to be seeing things and doing things in a certain way. Sometimes I have to step outside of my cultural boundaries to be able to realize the impact that my culture has on my Behaviour. It becomes very helpful when being able to gather feedback from other people on my behavior so that I can be able to get more clarity on my cultural traits. Having projected similarities may lead to misinterpreting culture. By assuming that people are similar to ourselves, we might be at risk of finding out they are not. For instance, if we project similarities where there are no similarities, we might end up acting inappropriately. I have learnt that it is always safer if I assume the differences until I can prove similarity. Hall (2003) argues that culture is all about the shared meanings. He says that culture does not only comprise of the best that has been said and thought in a society, but the culture is also a process, a set of practices. Culture is concerned with the act of giving and taking meaning between members of a community or a group, which comprise of their cultural characteristics that make them to look distinctive from other members who belong to other groups, which makes it their identification. By this, I have been able to learn and integrate other cultures from other members of the society. By being able first to understand my culture and being are of it is when I become able to learn from other people’s culture. Knowing how my culture affects me makes it easier in understanding how it affects other people and how they may be affected by their cultures. By being able to share my culture, I get to learn from other people about their cultures. Learning other cultures is interesting as you learn what is different from yours, it gives you another perspective of life you never had before (Wilson, Hoppe and Sayles, 1996). Other cultures that are not yours are diverse and learning about them gets you to know of how different people in different cultures are. Ours believes and values vary a lot and learning other cultures has enabled me in finding out just how many people can protect what they believe in. An example is a religion as a culture, learning from different religions shows of how despite the religions being different people in the particular religions hold on their religion completely. Cultural diversity is just wide, and it is overwhelming learning about other cultures. How Culture, Diversity, Principles of Consultation and Ethics can affect an IT Solution Creating an IT solution for any community will depend in various factors for it to be a success or a failure. The culture, diversity principles of consultation and ethics will all have an impact on the IT solution. Understanding how this aspect can affect an IT solution is important for the success of coming up with an IT solution to the community. All cultures do not welcome innovation and creativity the same way. Culture will how an influence on an IT solution depending on how the people in the culture will take the IT solution (Abramson and Littman, 2002). What people believe in will determine whether they will be supportive of the IT solution or whether they will oppose it. Some people may have strict cultures that do not like foreign things. Such culture and beliefs that are preservative will be of great negative impact in trying to come up with an IT solution. People with an open-minded culture a culture that is open to new ideas and reasoning will support the IT solution you will be trying to make. How the IT solution in question will affect or relate to the general culture of the people is also a determinant of how the community will take the solution. If the people will in any way feel the solution is going against their cultural beliefs, then opposing the solution to them will be easy. For instance working with the Aboriginal communities would greatly influence an IT solution since the people of this community are highly known for their innovative and creative culture. They have a culture where they are willing to learn and experience new things. They believe in ideas that come up with new things. This will make the creation of the IT solution easy as the people will be willing and ready to use the technology. The diversity of culture also has its influence on an IT solution. Diversity in cultures brings together people who have different views about things. Having people who are diverse in culture will be able to add more value to your solution. Diversity means a lot of different reasoning has been brought together and thus brilliant ideas will be able to be shared. Diversity combines several ideas from several aspects of reasoning which makes a good base as a perfect foundation for the IT solution. A community that is diverse, in culture does not have a specific value or belief that the whole community bases on. Such a community is always supportive of new ideas and would want to contribute. They are not one sided. This would impact positively in developing an IT solution in such a community. An IT solution in such a diverse community will not be a struggle both in making the idea and people accepting the solution. Applying principles of consultation is important in a situation where you are trying to come up with an IT solution. Engaging the people helps in understanding what is important to the people. You get to understand and get an idea that will mean good to the people if it is implemented. Consulting people makes them feel involved and when coming up with the IT solution they will be supportive (Dyson, Grant and Hendriks, n.d.). When you consult the people, you may end getting people who will even have more information about the IT solution you are trying to create, and they will help in the whole process. They feel ownership of the whole idea, and they will support it in all aspects. People who have been consulted will even support with resources and everything. They will all want the success of the IT solution, and all of them will be ready and willing to apply it. How you follow ethics has its effects on the IT solution. The ethics involve the regulations and the rules of the people. The law is also under the ethics. The IT solution should not be going against the law. The process of implementing the IT solution should be acceptable so that it does not be cancelled to be a success. People need not feel like they are doing something wrong when they are engaged in the IT solution you have given them. They need to feel they are doing the right thing, and they will be supportive of the IT solution. References Abramson, M. and Littman, I. (2002). Innovation. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. Dyson, L., Grant, S. and Hendriks, M. (n.d.). Information Technology and Indigenous People. Hall, C. (2003). Constructing clienthood in social work and human services. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Manning, M. and Baruth, L. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents. Boston: Pearson. Wilson, M., Hoppe, M. and Sayles, L. (1996). Managing across cultures. Greensboro, N.C.: Center for Creative Leadership. Read More