Common Cross-Cultural Dimensions - Essay Example

Culture Name Course Name and Code Institution’s Name Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Culture has numerous definitions presented by different authors based on their environments and contents. According to Hofstede’s an influential Dutch sociologist, there are five dimensions of culture (Bhagat et el, 2002). Large verse as small distance power: How well the less powerful people in the organization agree the distribution of power is equal. Collectiveness verse as individualism: collectiveness being the issue of people being defined and acting as members of an established group like a religion and family while individualism being the definition of an individual as per their own characters. Femininity and masculinity: this is with reference to the value that was traditionally places on females and males in terms of wealth, roles and quality of their life. Strong verse as weak uncertainty avoidance: The numbers of people in a given society that are very conscious about unknown which also affect the employees work because the ones very strong with uncertainty tend to change their employees. Short-term verse as long-term orientation: the long terms oriented people tend to really value their attitudes and actions that may affect their society while the short term oriented do not care much. Culture is therefore, defined differently in Middle Easter countries (e.g. embracing collectivism ) while in the Western countries individualism is championed; generally, culture consist of complex ways of thinking, reacting and feeling, that are acquired and transmitted by embodiment in artefacts, symbols, or ideas that are attached to values. Cross culture is a subject that in the literature appears to bring in divergent views such exchange of greetings, gender based activities, and perception towards business. Mao’s last dancer According to the review, this is a film that was directed in the year 2009 by a ma called Bruce Beresford. It is a drama that was based on the autobiography by the person called Cunxin Li. It was at the age of eleven that Li got plunked from his home poor village in china by the culture of the cultural delegates of the Mao’s and then he was taken in the country of Belgium to study Ballet. It was during the years of 1979 when there was the exchange to the Texas that he happened to have fallen in love with a woman who was American (Cunxin, 2005). It was after two year that he as able to defect and then moved o perform as one of the principal dancers for ballet Houston. He was also able to perform as one of the principal artist with Some Australian Ballet. The boy was first featured as one of the most primitive village boy who was destined to be one of the greatest young professional dancers. His road to that great achievement was very rough because he as expected to meet so many hindrances and challenges especially in terms of cultural barriers. He was born in a very poor family and he used to commune to a very small town called Qingdao where he used to work as a laborer (Official Site of Li Cunxin, 2009). His lack to venture in the field of dancing came when he was luck to have been chosen among the youngsters who were to be auditioned. He goes through an intensive training which gives him excellent tactics to be nominated to join up the Houston ballet. His falling in love with an aspiring young American woman dancer called Mackey Elizabeth marked the beginning of his problems in the form of cultural conflicts. One of the hurried they took to ensure that Cunxin remained in the United States of America indefinitely was to have a hurried marriage. The main reason for that decision was to a serious defection which was likely to bring a defection kind of consequence to his family. The party then attempts to return Him to China but he was not willing. The party then decided to allow him to live in America but then it had to revoke his citizenship. He continued with the dancing profession but due to some very serious stress his marriage with Elizabeth broke up (Li & Victoria, 2004). The main concern was culture shock. The two were born and brought up in very two distinct cultures. In understanding cross-cultural factors, numerous dimensions exist which try to explain why one culture operates differently from another culture. Some common cross-cultural dimensions that existed include language, cooperation, and individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, conflict resolution, and masculinity vs. femininity, motivation systems, and workgroup characteristics. Kalahari Bushmen The Kalahari Bushmen culture was reviewed by a number of people and according to the reviews it entailed the issue of gender roles. The children were only known be involved in playing in the san, the woman were very highly respected for their role of leading the families as well as their role of hunting and gathering. It was noted that the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert were undermined by the rest of the society because of what they referred to as poor standards of living as a result of their culture. This explains why they have remained very poor up to this moment in time. It should be noted that their neighbor have slowly grabbed their land leaving them with a very small portion for their settlement. This is due to the fact that their rich neighbors have taken advantage of their cultural practices which does not allow farming practices but only hunting and gathering. The indigenous dwellers of the southern part of Africa are called the Bushmen. They are found in the following countries; Namibia, Angola, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. These people are known well for their occupation of hunting and gathering. The bush men are divided into two groups namely the Khoikhoi and the Khoisan. The difference is that although both groups were initially involved in the hunting and gathering they later specialized. The Khoisan switched to farming leaving the Khoikhoi as the hunters and gatherers (Gordon, 1999). The main reason for their change was due to the process of agricultural revolution as well as modernization in the years 1950’s. Also for them, the risks of hunting and gathering were in the increase and so that also contributed to their switching from hunting and gathering to farming. It should be noted that there are a number of ethnic groups which were associated with hunting and gathering hence called the Bushmen. They are as follows Khwe, sho, san, Basarwa and Bushmen. All these groups had only one thing in common which was their occupation hunting and gathering. Otherwise they had very different cultural practices and also their languages are very different. All of the groups were divided into two the san and Khoikhoi. The sans are historically know as the rivals of the Khoikhoi although ethnically they are all related. In the year 1996, the government was forced to formulate a law or policy which was meant to move the Bushmen from their ancestral land in the Kalahari game reserve and relocate them to some newly created settlements. The reason for the government to have considered that action was due to the fact that some of the some of the other CKGR in the region were interested in farming and needed to grow some crops as well as rear some live stocks an issue that was greatly opposed by the bushmen. The issue of farming as well as rearing crops was not at all in favor with wildlife conservation and that explains why the government needed to relocate all of them from the place. They were claiming that the main aim for the government to relocate them was to come up with a way of improving the land for the tourism gain. That difference brought some conflicts. The saga becomes a court case whereby the government was against the Bushmen but the Bushmen won over the government. The basis of their victory was associated with their cultural practice. The strong point being that the Bushmen cultural activity was hunting and gathering and the government had denied them special hunting licenses (Lee & Irven, 1999). The court terms that as very unconditional as well as unlawful. The government allowed them to return to the Kalahari game reserve but in a very limited number an issue which drew attention of the human right activists. This is because none of them could understand why a few were allowed back and the rest denied. The Bushmen on the basis of their culture once more won the case in the court of appeal. Uyghur people The film was done with an intention of showing the struggle of the Uyghur’s people struggle for their rights in the nation of China through a story of the life a person by the name Rebiya Kadeer who happens to be a woman of the origin of Uyghur. She was working for the rights of her people which was a great cost at a personal level. According to a documentary that was written, the woman was explores as being an entrepreneur in the region of Uyghur Xinjiang which is located in the east of Turkestan as well as a member of a political committee of the national people’s political. She is a woman who is particularly working with the effort of informing the whole world on the issue of the employee treatment by the government of the Chinese. The irony is that while she was busy doing that her own family was suffering consequences due to her indulgent in the issues of human rights activities. Some of the things that befell her family includes imprisonment of her own kids by the Chinese government. Most of the inhuman activities that were presented in the film which she was concerned with includes the poverty, lack of human rights, unfair imprisonment. The story shows a ruthless treatment of so many people about 20 million as well as the pain of a family being torn apart through some violence means. Rwanda hotel Rwanda Hotel film has reviewed that there is increase in violence which led to the evacuation of all foreigners leaving the native Rwanda people in the land. The effort of Paul to be evacuated led to an ambush whereby they are returned back in the country. This is due to the fact that the bribes no longer worked for him. The film shows how the ethnic conflicts can cause a very serious problem as well as death. This is due to the fact that none of the two groups in Rwanda (Tutsi and Hutus) was willing to sit down and have a negotiation to settle their indifferences (Sterrit, 2005). Hotel Rwanda is a film that was done in the year 2004 and it is an American drama. It was directed by George terry which was based on real life situation due to the e vents that took place in Rwanda in the year 1994. The main staring star of the film is an hotelier who tries to save the life of his fellow Rwandans from some raving attempts of genocide of the Rwanda. The hotel has harbored a number of Rwanda citizens who have taken refuge from an attempted genocide. According to the storyline of the film, there is a very high rate of corruption and bribes which is actually the routine of the politicians in the region (Maltin, 2008). The owner of the hotel himself is in a personal conflict with his wife due to some cultural differences. The main cause of the conflict is the conflict that begins with the Hutu extremist who is a popular and a friendly supplier of goods to that hotel. The political activities in the country kept worsening and it is at that moment that Paul witnesses so many murders with his family as a result of ethnic conflicts. The only way for Paul being a foreigner to keep his family safe is through having the most influential politicians on his side (Rechtshaffen, 2004). This is whereby he keeps bribing them with money, alcohol and other prestigious favors. It was due to the main threat from a Rwandan army officer to have Paul’s family killed that he decided to take his whole family as well as his neighbors in the hotel for refuge. Reference Bhagat, R., Kedia, B., Harveston, P. & Triandis, H. 2002. Cultural Variations in the Cross-border Transfer of Organisational Knowledge. Academy of Management Review, 27(2). Cunxin, L. 2005. Mao’s last dancer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gordon, Robert J. 1999. The Bushman Myth: The Making of a Namibian Underclass. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lee, R., and Irven, D. 1999. Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the ǃKung San & Their Neighbors. London: iUniverse. Li. C. & Victoria, K. 2004. Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao's Last Dancer. Maltin, Leonard (August 5, 2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Signet. p. 632. ISBN 978-0452289789. Official Site of Li Cunxin, http://www.licunxin.com/film.htm, Accessed 25th September 2009 Rechtshaffen, Michael (22 December 2004). "Hotel Rwanda". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2010-06-06. Sterrit, David (14 January 2005). Hotel Rwanda (PG-13). The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2010-06-06. Read More