Managing Cross-cultural Diversity: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations - Assignment Example

Question: The history of the treatment of Indigenous Australians over the last century. How do you think this history should impact upon the ethical practice of engineering? How would this influence you in communicating with Aboriginal communities and representatives as an engineer? Name Institution Introduction By virtue of professionalism and in the wake of increasing globalisation and extreme interaction with people from different cultures, I believe that engineers are still obligated to work ethically and productively with their counterparts, clients, and stakeholders from completely different cultures. Indeed, while engineers share the same scientific principles internationally, they come from different cultures and work in cultures that are distinctly dissimilar from theirs (Downey et al., 2006). In my experience as an engineering student, I have learnt that engineers have to contend with a range of issues that inhibit their effective interaction and communication with people from different cultures, which may influence their attitudes, cause unethical practices, and ultimately hinder their productivity. I, therefore, explore the history of the treatment of Indigenous Australians during the last century in this paper. I also evaluate the impact of the history on the ethical practice of engineering as well as how I would communicate with Aboriginal communities and their representatives as an engineer. Brief history The Aboriginal Australians have had to contend with the effects of invasion and dispossession of land, as well as racism during the last century. After Europeans invasion of Australia in 1788, the vast Australian lands were declared terra nullius, which means unoccupied lands, in spite of the existence of Indigenous Australian communities of around 750,000 people that had been occupying the vast lands for some 60,000 years (Dudgeon et al, 2010). The gradual spreading of the European settlement towards the north and further into the remotest regions of the Australian continent mean that the Aboriginal communities were gradually dispossessed of their lands, particularly during the early years of the 20th century. The Aboriginal communities gravitated towards the European occupied lands, as their own food supplies had become significant disrupted. Excessively low birth rates and high death rates contributed to a decline in their population to about 75,000 people in the early 20th century. Until the mid-20th century, the lives of the Aboriginal communities were subject to discriminatory legislations that pervaded all aspects of their lives, as a result determining what they should eat, how they should live, marry, drink, work, and seek education. The government policy targeted at the Aboriginal people oscillated between attempting to provide them protection from European violence and the effects of settlement, as well as to assimilating them into the European population. This led to the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families into concentration camps (Dudgeon et al., 2010). While the amount of people who were affected by such racist policies are greatly litigious, the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families concluded in its earlier study that between 1 in 3and 1one in 10 children of the Indigenous communities were compulsorily taken away between the year 1910 and 1970. Such a history of separation has been associated with having contributed to poor mental health, as well as substance misuse problems among the Indigenous Australians (Dudgeon et al., 2010). Indeed, between1970 and mid-1990s, bipartisan support for policies of Aboriginal self-determination prevailed nationally. Examples of antagonistic legislations included the Northern Territory Aboriginal Ordinance of 1911 and the Native Administration Act 1936, which provided the state with the power over the Aboriginal communities. The 1967 Commonwealth Referendum, however, attempted to initiate some changes by giving the Australian Aboriginal people full citizenship. Later, the Howard Liberal-National Party coalition regime shifted focus towards making Aboriginal service provision mainstream. This led to the creation of the Australian Government’s Northern Territory ‘Intervention’ (Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007) in 2007, as measures intended to act as a response abuses caused by antagonist government policies towards the Aboriginal people since the European settlement (Dudgeon et al., 2010). Influence of on the ethical practice of engineering In my view, I think this history should demonstrate to engineers that, rather than consider their personal or business interests while working on projects, they should also consider stakeholder’s interest, or interests of the people they work with. For instance, while working with the Aboriginal people, there is a need for engineers to recognise the Aboriginal cultural perspectives, the Aboriginal rights for self-determination, and right to express freely their distinctive worldviews. I also argue that engineers should consider the stakeholder’s (such as Aboriginal people’s perspectives) worldviews while working on projects that touch on their [Aboriginal communities] interests. Indeed, as Morris (2013) explains, stakeholder interests are vital for successful project management. This is based on the Institution Theory, which requires the interests of the actors and the structures to be balanced. The theory assists in identifying the cross-cultural issues that engineering projects face, establish the origin of cross-cultural conflicts, and assist in addressing conflicts (Morris, 2013). These, in my view, further imply that while working on project requiring the needs of Aboriginal people, who are to be the beneficiaries of a project, there is a need to consider engaging them in the project development and implementation using a people-centred approach. Indeed, according to Aaltonen and Kujala (2010), the idea of people-centred approach consists of working collaboratively to complete projects with focus on human interests, by providing individual in the immediate community with fair opportunities to play a crucial role in making decision on projects that affect their lives. In essence, engineering projects become ethical when they take the interest of the people it affects into consideration, rather than just the interests of the investors. I believe that by taking stakeholder’s interest into perspective, engineers are likely to execute practices that are more ethical. In fact, on reflection, ethics is largely concerned with the qualities of being moral, and touches on the moral choice that people should make in the process of their interaction. I have also learnt that an overriding rationale for engaging ethics in engineering is to ensure that the immediate and the ultimate impact of the engineering designs, products, and practices are taken into perspective to ensure the public and natural environment are protected. I, therefore, reason that codes of ethics in engineering practice serve the role of intentionally putting public interest above the engineers’ interests. Influence you in communicating with Aboriginal communities and representatives By virtue of their professionalism and in the face of intercultural association with the Aboriginal people, I would still need to work productively and ethically with Aboriginal communities. Taking stakeholder’s interests into perspective would influence my communication with aboriginal communities in three ways. I would be influenced to acquire interpretive knowledge of Aboriginal cultures, by interacting with people from the community, attempting to speak the language, and understanding the histories and values. Singh (2009) suggests that engineers should acquire interpretive knowledge as regards a target culture, by attempting to speak the language and understanding the histories and values. Downey et al. (2006) also argue that engineers need to learn about the political and economic context of the target culture, including the current national affairs, national history, as well as their perceptions. In this way, I believe I would develop genuine interest in the Aboriginal culture, and understand their interests. These lay foundation for ethical practice, which demands taking stakeholders’ interest into perspective. Next, I would strive to steer clear of bias or prejudice against Aboriginal cultures. From the history of Aboriginal community, I believe that bias and prejudices are the foremost causal factors for culture-related issues and unethical practice when working with people from different cultures. Singh (2009) was of the view that the culture-related unethical problems would come up when engineers assume that their cultures are better than the cultures where they work. Under such circumstances, it is possible to view the behaviours of the Aboriginal people as being rather odd and inappropriate. Lastly, it would influence me to broaden my interpersonal skills and cross-cultural skills. Singh (2009) acknowledges that for engineers to work efficiently with individuals from different cultures, they have to acknowledge that different cultures maintain dissimilar ways of conducting business transactions, negotiating contracts or conflict resolution. Hence, as an engineer, I would need to have tolerance for ambiguity when I cannot understand certain norms in the Aboriginal cultures, behaviours, or conversations. Still, I believe it would still be appropriate to understand my culture to use it as a framework for predicting how I should respond to their norms and behaviours. Conclusion Overall, the history of the Aboriginal people during the last century shows how racist beliefs were enacted into legislation, and how this led to widespread neglecting of Aboriginal perspectives and interests. The history demonstrates to engineers that rather than consider their personal or business interests while working on projects, they also need to consider stakeholder’s interest, or interests of the people they work with. It calls for a need for engineers to acquire interpretive knowledge of Aboriginal cultures, by interacting with people from the community, attempting to speak the language, and understanding the histories and values. It also calls for a need for engineers to steer clear of bias or prejudice against Aboriginal cultures. Lastly, it influences engineers to broaden their interpersonal skills and cross-cultural skills. References Aaltonen, K. & Kujala, J. (2010). A project lifecycle perspective on stakeholder influence strategies in global projects. Scandinavian Journal of Management 26(1), 381—397 Dudgeon, P. , Wright, M., Paradies, Y., Garvey, D. & Walker, I. (2010). The social, cultural and historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Retrieved from: Downey, G., Lucena, J., Moskal, J., Moskal, B., Lehr, J., Nichols-Belo, A. (2006). The globally competent engineer: Working effectively with people who define problems differently. Journal of Engineering Education, 1(1), 1-16 Morris, P. (2013). Re-thinking project management. Chichester: John Wiley Singh, D. (2009). Managing Cross-cultural Diversity: Issues and Challenges in Global Organizations. Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 43-50 Read More