Professional Ethics and Governance: Global Citizenship - Assignment Example

Global Citizenship Name Professor Institution Course Date Professional Ethics and Governance: Global Citizenship Introduction The growing interrelationship between nations is resulting to the understanding of both shared challenges and resolutions for which the obligations, responsibilities and rights of citizens rise above the conventional nation-state. According to Davis (2007), the global citizenship concept obviously considers the “common good” factor of individual goal-oriented behavior and thought. Even though the concept has been here for a long time, people had never realized its importance hence it was overlooked. However, with intensification of globalization, many institutions of higher learning now try to prepare students to drop some cultural factors and become global citizens so as to be able to perform well in foreign countries (Furia 2005, p.27). Therefore, this essay will reflect how what I have learnt about Global Citizenship affected my behavior, thought processes and knowledge of your profession and industry. To put this reflection into context, this essay will on moral sensitivity, consider factors such as moral sensitivity, cultural values, awareness, intercultural issues, decision making, judgment and consequence of conduct on the stakeholders. How in this unit impacted my moral behavior at a individual capacity and my identity as a professional or future business manager Global Citizenship has turned out to be a critical topic in the business sector. Competition is highly increasing in 21st century, forcing companies to expand their business to seek for more customers who can buy their products and increase profit (Parekh 2005, p.17). Global markets are unique as customer needs change from one country to another. Customer needs changes based on their culture, social status and others related factors. To woe these customers, the organizations are persuaded to drop local thinking and embrace a global mindset. Ralston et al., (2008, p.12) argued that in a wider perspective, managers and employees are required to be global citizens so as to be able to understand the needs of the target market to produce products which satisfy their demands. Spring (2007, p.44) posited that the merits of supporting students to take up responsibilities of the surrounding communities and create ethical institutions and society, revolves around the need to embrace global citizenship. Ethics and sustainability are some of the important tenets of global citizenship, which students learn in the international university and equip them to become professional employees and better managers (Davies & Reid 2005, p.67). Professionalism, ethics and sustainability calls for managers to act in a way which will not put them in loggerheads with the society. Furia (2005, p.26) claimed that if the company is charged with responsibility of manufacturing products which satisfy societal needs, they ought to do while conforming to the quality required. In addition, companies must use world resources efficiently in a manner which cannot affect human in future. In this perspective, global citizenship concept has influenced me to be considerate of not just human beings, but also resources which support their lives. How Global Citizenship lesson has impacted my thought processes, knowledge and behavior of my profession and industry According to Deakin (2013), Global Citizenship is defined as the practice engaging productively and ethically in a professional perspective and with the diverse cultures and communities in the global context. In the past, the literature and documentations on the global citizenship was accorded less while focusing much on nationalism and national cultures (Christa, Evans & Shoenberg 2007). In the current years, the global citizenship concept has become widespread in use and include included more issues which were not included in the past such as sustainability, ethics, moral awareness, decision making, and implications of behavior on the stakeholders. More trends in global citizenship in every aspect of the society have been of great lesson to me as I aspire to become a professional and global manager. ‘Based on what I have learnt concerning the Global Citizenship in MAA350 Professional Ethics and Governance, I would like to be a Global Citizen by way of thinking, tolerating divergent issues, culture, making decisions which are globally accepted and maintaining moral sensitivity. According to Furia (2005), global citizenship dictates that one conduct him or herself in a manner which is acceptable to all in this cultural diverse world. The situation starts with how someone thinks about other cultures. Therefore, intend to become a global citizen by choice and a manner of thinking. As the globalization takes shape and people across borders seek education or work, the national citizenship is now regarded as an accident brought about by birth. However, global citizenship concept has emerged and is different from national citizenship. Hans (2007, 9) described it in some perspective as a voluntary relationship with an idea which stands for "modes of judgment and residing within several cross-cutting cities, communities, regions, nations, states and global collective. Individuals consider regarding themselves as the global citizens by means of different decisive life aspects and experiences, and hold dissimilar explanations of its meaning. Parekh (2005) held that the process of global citizenship can be exercised fundamentally at home by engaging in international issues or debates or with diverse cultures just within the domestic settings. In some perspectives, other people think that global citizenship implies to direct experience with other nations, culture and people. Embracing global thinking does not mean one detach themselves from own culture, but seeking for balance (Ronen & Shenkar 2013, p.871). The argument is sustained by the fact that there is a correlation between local thinking and global thinking. The world is a collection of countries with several nations which have different cultures, and if the cultures which resemble are harmonized we get global culture. As stated earlier countries have different cultures, including language, hence to communicate student who meet at the international universities needs to have a common language to interact with each other. Many universities have adopted English as the official language to teach and enable interaction and communication between students and professors. English is one of the most spoken languages globally coming third after Spanish and Mandarin. Olds (2012) opined that learning at the world recognized university using world recognized language impacts global thinking among the students who inspire to be professionals and managers in the future. Davis (2007) claimed that major global universities adopt international curriculum which describes, analyzes and provide solution for global issues. Such curriculum digs into the history of some nations or companies from how they started and how they have moved to become what they are today. When I learn in such institutions I acquire global thinking because I learn strategies and approaches used by celebrated world leaders to move their countries or companies to prosperity. I intend to become a global citizen by becoming self-aware of others. Global educators normally consider that it is complex to train students on intellectual understanding who could be unaware they live within a culture which blind their perceptions (Hans 2007). Therefore, being aware of the international cultures or issues around every student starts with the self-awareness. As a student, self-awareness would enable to identify myself with the internationality of the individual experience, hence help them to identify more with other people across the globe and hold degree of responsibility and concerns towards them. Awareness in this context means knowing that world has several people with different way of life. Hans (2007) affirmed that awareness therefore enables us to respect such difference and interact in a way that does not demean others. Embracing such diversity brings new ideas which can be used to professionalize and change a company. Global citizenship is achieved by practicing cultural empathy and respecting other people cultural values. Guidham (2011, p.23) contended that since culture is always unique to one community, a person from another community must understand the uniqueness so as not upset his counterparts during communication and other activities. Culture is normally communicated major by communication and behaviors. Therefore, when working with others my behaviors should be moderated to match the expectation of others. Ralston et al., (2008, p.19) argued that in multi-cultural communication, negotiation as a term has widely been used especially among multinational business managers. A research conducted by Hall divides the world into two cultural contexts; high and low contexts (Ronen & Shenkar 2013, p.874). This dimension adopted by Hall helps explain the differences of cultures according to countries. Communications currently play an important role in business and good manager must poses it and understand how to use it not to offend other people from diverse cultures. There are two classes of communication including verbal and non-verbal which are highly used to express societal values (Samovar, Porter & McDaniel, 2010, p.256). However, business communication shares certain perspectives which must remain formal and professional. Generally, worldly cultures are not totally diverse, but have some features that are mostly common; these features are referred to as cultural universals. We must acquire such similarities to become global citizens. Intercultural competence or cultural empathy is often expressed as an objective of universal education (Olds 2012). Hans (2007) claimed that cultural empathy or cultural tolerance assist people analyze questions from numerous points of view and move cleverly amongst the cultures so as not judge harshly based on stereotypes. In the course of higher learning, I learned to make value principled and sound decision making so as to become global citizen. Global citizenship means responsiveness of the relationship between people and systems, and being aware of responsibility which follows it (Davis 2007, p.51). Sound decision making in the global market is dependent on various factors which also interdependence. Decision to set up a business in a place is determined by the ethics which the society subscribes to. Therefore, the business owners must first conduct a research about the society and how they build structure. O’Donohue and Wickham (2010, p.13) contended that setting up a company in an appropriate location helps the managers prevent conflict with the nearby community. For instance, one cannot set up a company in a water catchment area where the whole society depends for this precious commodity. Furthermore, decision making differs from one country to another due to cultural differences. Decisions made in China might not be effective in Australia. For instance, Guidham (2011) stated that Chinese culture promotes collectivism hence making a decision to create teams within an organization would be viable. The same decision may not work effectively because Australian culture promotes individualism. Conclusion Within this essay, I have described and reflected on how learning global citizenship has influenced my behavior to become a professional or a future business manager. Several factors have been highlighted such enabling to offer products which satisfy diverse customer needs. The essay has also indicated that becoming a global citizen is also good for business as it helps in tolerating diverse cultural values and lives or work in harmony. As the world becomes more globalized, higher institutions of learning are encouraged to adopt curriculum which reduces or eradicates, racism, stereotypes and help build relationships which empowers employees to accept our differences and use it as a platform of getting new ideas of building a global village. References Christa, O, Evans, R & Shoenberg, R 2007, At Home in the World: Bridging the Gap Between Internationalization and Multi-Cultural Education, American Council on Education, Washington DC. Davies, I & Reid, A 2005, Globalizing citizenship education? A critique of “global” education and “citizenship” education, British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol.53, No.1, pp. 66-89. Davis, E 2007, Global citizenship: Theoretical and pedagogical perspectives, In B. Rubin & J. Giarelli (Eds.), Civic education for diverse citizen in global times, Erlbaum, New York. Deakin 2013, Introduction to the notion of global citizenship, Viewed on 15th September 2015 from https:/www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/32348/global-citizenship.pdf Furia, P. A 2005, Global Citizenship, Anyone? Cosmopolitanism, Privilege and Public Opinion, Global Society, Vol. 19, No.4, pp.23-41. Guidham, M 2011, Communication across cultures at work, Chapter 3, Palgrave McMillan, London. Hans, S 2007, The Practices of Global Citizenship, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Lanham. Olds, K 2012, Global Citizenship – What Are We Talking About and Why Does It Matter? Viewed on 15th September 2015 from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/globalhighered/global-citizenship-%E2%80%93-what-are-we-talking-about-and-why-does-it-matter O’Donohue, W & Wickham, M 2010, The role of ethical intelligence and organizational infrastructure in organizational decision-making, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, pp. 1-17. Parekh, B. 2005, Principles of a Global Ethic., In J. Eade & D. J. O’Byrne (Ed.), Global ethics and civil society (pp. 15-33), Ashgate Publishing, England. Spring, J 2007, A new paradigm for global school systems. Education for a long and happy life, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NY. Ralston, D.A, Holt, D.H, Terpstra, R.H & Cheng, Y.K 2008, The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: a study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol.28, No,1, pp.8–26. Ronen, S & Shenkar, O 2013, Mapping world cultures: Cluster formation, sources and Implications, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol.44, pp.867-897. Samovar, L.A, Porter, R.E & McDaniel, E.R 2010, Nonverbal communication: the messages of action, space, time, and silence, In Samovar, L.A., Porter, R.E. and McDaniel, E.R. (Eds) Communication between cultures, Stamford, Cengage Learning 243–284. Read More