Personal Cultural Reflection - Essay Example

PERSONAL CULTURAL REFLECTION By (Name) Name of Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) Name of Institution (University) City and State The Date Personal Cultural Reflection Culture is one of the most distinct factors that contribute to our personalities and the way we conduct our ways of lives. My beliefs, views and morals are shaped upon my upbringing, the norms adopted by our culture and the values within my society. As a Chinese, my culture can be said to be westernized since China was semi-colonized by the British and as such, our cultural ways were greatly influenced by theirs. There are also immigrants that have influenced our culture to some extent. The Chinese language is the most widely spoken language in China (Daalder & Fryar, 1982). Communication is one aspect of culture that is very crucial to the growth and development of a person, it has influenced my ability to communicate freely and fluently and as such, it turned out to be a vital aspect of my development from childhood to adulthood. It has contributed in my interactions both in school and at home since most people spoke Chinese. The Chinese culture has shaped many lives in my country and it remains an important aspect of a human being and understanding one’s own cultural foundation can help in determining what you can personally bring professionally to any given field including global management. My culture has not only been influenced by my upbringing, cultural norms and society, but can also be attributed to my own feelings and personal experiences and biases. Most people with my cultural background believe in socio-economic flexibility and demonstrate tolerance and have come to accept inequality which comes with differences in class (Adorno et al., 2005). Those of us found in the middle class sometimes find ourselves mimic and mask ourselves to be associated with the upper class through dressing and social activities that are mostly associated with them. Different sports, entertainment activities and arts were also used to determine where an individual lies but this is slowly fading away, since most people embrace any activity that interests them and not necessarily according to class. As much as I am mainly Chinese, I can also relate to Western, American norms mostly through travel and school. The collaboration between Chinese and American values, added to the influence of our early social systems have eventually transformed and shaped my life. The interactions I have had in all the learning institutions have helped prepare me for adulthood and secured my commitment to the family, community and the society in general (Mose, 1997). To some extent the media has also influenced my culture, as human beings, we tend to mimic things we see or hear on radios and televisions and find attractive, either consciously or subconsciously, I am no exception. My culture has greatly been influenced by radio and television shows but most of it comes subconsciously since I love my culture. It is very normal for cultures to change. With each receding tide and flow of socio-political realms traversing large portions of the world, traditions, languages and cultures are either assimilated, quickly changed or completely killed off and as a result new cultures are created (Glaser, 2013). Cultural divergence is the tendency of different cultures or groups to become different probably as a result of new ideas or new physical barriers while cultural convergence is the opposite; different cultures come together and are assimilated into each other, this is what mostly forms globalization (Shepard, 2014). People are very different underneath as much as they are brought up under one culture. Most individuals tend to find different ideals when they grow up and decide to leave their own background if they find it to be different from what they see as true. Exposure to different cultures significantly helps individuals discover who they actually are. I feel like both cultural divergence and convergence play vital parts in our lives. Cultural divergence may create rifts between societies but give a sense of belonging to the individuals while convergence brings about togetherness, different people are able to live peacefully as one society, cultural convergence is what results into a global village (Baldwin et al., 2011). I am a very open person and my upbringing taught me to understand and tolerate other people that are different from me. I believe in cultural diversity and people from different backgrounds coming together to live as one peaceful community. As much as I may not agree with some of the beliefs, it does not mean that I would not accept them. We all have biased world views because we are limited to a single perspective; this means that we only get to see what is set before us and we can only hear what is around us. There is no person in the world with a conclusive version of what is real and what is not (Dovidio, 2010). As an Chinese, I have been exposed to many different cultural backgrounds in school and travel, I try to understand them as much as I may not agree with some of the beliefs like crime or terrorism in order to get recognition. I like open people; individuals that are able to speak out their problems without fear but at the same time I would want my ideals to be respected. The ability to recognize our biases is very important since by knowing what we like and do not like, we are able to move beyond them and eventually have a more balanced ability to understand and evaluate people. I would have a problem with cultures that kill or terrorize to gain recognition, but I would not judge since it is how they are brought up. I do not support discrimination on any basis, be it gender, religion, age, race, orientation, ability or appearance among others. I would not mind working with various people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. It would even be more interesting for me since I will always have the opportunity to learn something new from their cultures. I believe love is easier than hate and peaceful co-relations are more productive than constant conflicts. Understanding people’s actions from their backgrounds would significantly help in the reduction of conflict (Littlechild, 2010). A person’s personality is also shaped by the organizations he or she is affiliated to. The roles played in these organizations also have an impact on a person’s identity. The work place is one of the most influential organization settings in our lives. Most working class citizens spend 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week on average in the work place (Cox, 1993). They are not alone in these workplaces and have to spend time with other people of different cultural backgrounds. We are multidimensional individuals that are shaped by the different contexts we find ourselves in. Like diamonds, we reflect different colors and aspects depending on how someone looks at us. Our identities are not static, the different facets of our personalities are brought to view depending on the situations we are in (Cox, 1993). With my attributes and ideals towards culture, I know I am suited to work in the field of global management, more so in the Human Resource sector. I fully understand that a business cannot continue with its work methods when it decides to take its operations at international level. Every country have their own different workplace culture and as such, stakeholders have to learn the organizational cultures of the target country before taking their operations there (Ali, 2015). I know that successful business negotiations not only need good communication techniques but also a clear understanding of the context within which the negotiations are being done. The fact that I understand different cultures and have an interest to learn more about them would make me a perfect Human Resource manager in an organization that intends to expand globally. I will be able to carry out interviews and get workers best suited for their various jobs through such interactions. Having such attributes and knowledge would be an advantage for any organization since there will be feedback from the employees on factors to improve on; I would help the organization to avoid mistakes like in communication with the employees and to some extent even the customers by avoiding topics that could offend them or have a better way to go around issues that cannot be avoided. Culture, racism, prejudice and bias are related but in complex ways. Different cultural beliefs are the main reason for conflicts among different groups and as such, every organization has to see it as a very important issue. We should be able to tolerate and understand each other’s cultures to avoid conflict. Companies that intend to expand to other countries should have a clear grasp of the region’s organization culture and the different communication methods used to avoid making mistakes that come with a cost. Understanding culture would also help with coming up with efficient marketing strategies for maximum profits. Marketing strategies that are not compatible with the culture of the host country can backfire and damage the reputation of the company resulting to definite losses. Therefore, we can safely conclude that culture is a very important aspect of human life and existence. Reference list Ali M., 2015. Impact of culture on international Business. [Online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-culture-international-business-ali-muhammad- mba-acca-uk- [Accessed 27 Mar 2017] Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., Sanford R. N., Aron, B., Levinson, M.H. & Morrow, W., 2005. The authoritarian personality. (7th Edn). New York: Harper Publishers. Baldwin, S. L. Faulkner, M. L. Hecht, & S. L. Lindsley, S. L., 2011. Redefining culture: Perspectives across the disciplines. (3rd Edn). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Cox, T.H., 1993. Cultural Diversity in Organizations: Theory, Research & Practice. (4th Edn). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Mose, M., 1997. A personal reflection on cultural identity. (1st Edn). S. Hamilton, MA: Center for Youth Studies. Daalder, J., & Fryar, M., 1982. Aspects of Chinese culture. Adelaide, A. Tasman Press. Dovidio, J. F., 2010. The SAGE handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. (12th Edn) London: SAGE Publishers. Glaser, E., 2013. Cultural Divergence or Convergence: What is Better for the Individual, the Group, and the Organization?. (1st Edn). Linz: Johannes Kepler University. Littlechild, B., 2010. Values and cultural issues in social work. ERIS web journal, 12(1), pp 63- 76. Shepard W., 2014. Convergent and Divergent Theories of Cultural Evolution. [Online]. Available at: http://www.vagabondjourney.com/convergent-and-divergent-theories-of- cultural-evolution/. [Accessed 27 Mar 2016] Read More