Culture Clash in Group Environments - Research Paper Example

Culture Clash in Group Environments BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Culture Clash in Group Environment Introduction One particular culture clash occurred when working in a group where the outcome was to formulate solutions to a given problem using at least one key element of feedback from the team. This was a first-time experience working with diverse individuals in a group consisting of ten people, especially when having to digest information and also create a social atmosphere to exchange the information. The goal of the business was to use three feedback methods for a proposed psychological problem to a fabricated patient with personality adjustment problems. Each of the group members were to offer an intervention strategy and give their feelings about the recipient of this intervention strategy. After hashing the scenario, all group members were to offer emotional advice to the group member with the new intervention innovation as though to console or criticize how the person chose to handle the given problem. This culture clash was produced by very different personalities and emotional responses and inherent cultural differences were noted. The group activity The scenario involved a hypothetical patient having a difficult time dealing with a parental figure who was both an alcoholic and a perfectionist. The patient was 19 years old, a white American male, still living home and currently unemployed after being let go from a modest-paying production salary. Part of the job perks had been the ability to use deductions from salary to pay for ongoing education, which was unaffordable due to the mother’s excessive costs of drinking and therefore the individual was currently not attending school. To make matters more difficult, the father consistently pressured the now-adult son to find a better path for himself and generally made the environment unsuitable and unsatisfactory living. Coupled with this, the loss of a trusted girlfriend due to an unexpected car accident just four months prior, the hypothetical psychological patient was withdrawing from others, but still remained motivated to become independent of his parents’ unsatisfactory environment. To identify the culture clash involved, it was necessary to outline the entire case study and all of the situations that came along with it. This youth was typically well-adjusted and the group was to come up with social and psychological strategies, or a blend of them both. The person in the group was to take on the role of a trusted friend who happens to be visiting the house during a period where the father is harassing the son in front of the polite company and obviously belittling his talents and attitudes. To add further fuel to the fire, the mother begins the same tirade and the arguments turn into a heated explosion where the entire group is at each other’s throats. In the group, there were primarily white Americans. However, there was one female Chinese group member, one obviously Middle Eastern individual, and an African-American male. The solution offered by the author involved taking a passive stand and just allowing the argument to continue unless the arguing family members asked for opinion or directed comments in the guest’s direction. This was to ensure neutrality in the case. When the group members gave their opinions and emotional responses to how I had chosen to handle this issue, most of the responses from virtually all cultures were criticizing. They seemed to believe that in order to end the chaotic environment that was leading to what looked like physical hostility, it was my responsibility to intervene and try to calm the situation. Conflict negotiation in this case was deemed best to be disruptive and preventative using appropriate soft language. I wholeheartedly disagreed with the group. Most of the responses from the white Americans involved a more passive stand in the situation. This could be due to the sociological norms that exist in the United States in relationship to image protectionism or the lure of curiosity to remain during this period of heated argument so as to gain information or simply to act as a trusted resource that can remain focused in the event of any genuine threats as a result of the activity. There seemed, especially in the white women from the U.S., to be an attitude of celebrity and uncertainty about the proper or practical methods of dealing with this situation. When it was my turn to chastise the group members for their responses, I was typically harsh toward these respondents and showed sharp disagreement about the culturally-based values that were driving these passive and observation-based decisions. “If issues such as misunderstandings, adversity and even hostility appear in combination with regularity, cultural differences may be the root cause” (O’Grady, 2008, p.1). I recognized that the patient’s parents and the youth himself came from radically different cultures even though they lived in the U.S. and cohabitated for most of their lives. Much like a textbook case, the Middle Eastern respondent had a very complicated and over-involved method of dealing with the situation that ran the gamut from throwing a cookie off the plate to gain attention to a mad banging of the cup and saucer to silence the argument. For one intervention, at least five or six strategies were developed, however each involving making a loud noise or elevating the vocal tone. People who come from this cultural background, Middle Eastern, have a high uncertainty avoidance. This was a concept developed by Geert Hofstede, a respected social researcher, that describes the level of ambiguity, risk and uncertainty that will be tolerated in a particular culture (Donnison, 17). This person developed so many contingencies that they were unrealistic and would not have provided any real meaningful value to the discussions or the proposed intervention since they could not all be applied at once successfully. However, what was interesting about this approach was that this Mid-Eastern group member considered a harsh, rapid authoritarian posturing to be most effective that is a product of this cultural group membership. The culture clash occurred in this situation with the high level of argument that was offered to the author about their criticisms to this approach. I asked the individual to carefully rationalize the feasibility of these many contingencies and consider whether they would work without considering the potential, immediate responses from the angry family members. I reinforced that a cookie thrown from the tea plate would certainly make noise and interrupt the discussion, however I reinforced that the Mid-Eastern group member should recognize that the shock of a food product tossed against the wall might cause more hostility and confusion rather than actually help the patient. Strong defiance and disagreement for my criticism of these activities was evident in both verbal and body language with a reinforcement that only such an activity could have defused the problem at hand. It is important to discuss this Mid-Eastern group member since their attitudes and values are based on their long-standing fellowship with a more contingent-based culture. This group with high uncertainty avoidance would rather have laws and rules that give structure and, in the workplace, expect colleagues to create detailed plans and diagrams (Donnison). What this person was attempting to do was draw on his structured and ambiguity-deconstructionist background to provide a rapid methodology to end the problem and return it to order. This is where the culture clash was most evident: the differences between someone from the U.S. and this Mid-Eastern country that would have produced completely different outcomes for the family members or the patient as an individual. Cultural symbols are often created that include heroes, rituals, and values (Askary, Pounder & Yazdifar, p.145). Most interesting were the responses from the African-American female in the group that was very strong-minded about the problem that was occurring before her eyes in this hypothetical argument. This person continued to manifest descriptions of people important in her particular world view, a form of name-dropping, to remind others in the group of their failings. This individual acted as though the thought of influential persons in current pop culture or noblists from yesteryear would have diffused the problem and made it more stable for the patient. Nowhere were any mentions made about practical ongoing discussion, just an effort to, it seemed, return to the cup of coffee and act as though nothing had happened at all. Much image protectionism and self-efficacy were noticed in this situation. When approached about her solutions, the African-American group member accepted the advice, though her body language and posturing clearly indicated that she was internally defiant against the criticism posture taken by the researcher. In this case, the culture clash occurred when there was obvious frustration on behalf of the author recognizing that the group member was only satisfying what she believed was the social norm in the group and did not express much emotional retaliation for advice that she clearly did not appreciate. Frustration occurred as it is part of my value system borne of culture to ensure that honesty and conflicting opinions are stressed and verbalized regardless of the situation. This person was manifesting clear signs of challenge and conflict without having to say a word, thus making it much more difficult to isolate and also open a line of communication to discuss this resistance. The Asian group member wanted to gain control over the situation immediately by appealing to the mother and negating the presence of the other two family members. She believed that the woman was the most influential person in that household, despite her alcoholic background and her recent behavioral episodes. She felt that a stern face directed at the mother that reminds her of passive-aggressive resource control was the best answer. She met with nothing but criticism from the group for inspiring this tone within the argument. Consider the following: “If power lies in the strategic coordination of resources rather than mere possession of them, then a strategic conception of power offers the opportunity for subordinate groups to develop coalitions capable of challenging dominant groups and affecting change” (Alvesson & Willmott, 6). What this Asian group member was trying to accomplish was for the mother to maintain her resources, a back turned and authoritarian posturing, rather than trying to change behavior to gain further resources. Through passive-aggressiveness, the mother was to remove any notion that the father and son had any resources in the argument and therefore prevent them from gaining any ground on making changes based on their needs or objectives. It was a deliberate and focused strategy offered by this Asian woman that ensured no new resources were gleaned by others and thus maintain her position, at least in expectation, as the authoritarian and power center within the household. Challenging her views on this situation posed to create a conflict, though a passive-aggressive one that made it difficult to manager. She continually attempted to change the subject by using transparent and somewhat ridiculous attempts to steer criticism away from herself. Each time they were confronted, a stern look was offered as if to attempt to hush the criticizer without having to offer a sound. This was image protectionism at its finest and it radically reduced the effectiveness of any future conversations with this group member. In fact, after the session had ended, this was the only group member that just walked away from the environment without a word of goodbye or any social recognition from any group member. The rest of the group had found some sort of commonality that, at least, led to polite departing and more discussion not related to the project. Her contribution to the group model and outcome was virtually nothing at all. “Social identity theory has revealed that outgroups do not get the benefit of the doubt, and that ingroup members seek to maintain collective self-esteem” (Gries & Peng, 2002, p.176). In this case, the Asian group member was part of the outgroup and followed this researcher’s view to the letter, attempting to build her own self-esteem while the group looked toward harmonious working that developed collective self-concept. None of her strategies were, for a moment, given the benefit of the doubt or assessed for anything more than transparency and image protectionism. This was founded on a poor and untreasured personality to begin with who had given the author many negative feelings prior to the actual timer beginning to start the group project. I believe many of these cross looks were to avoid problems with accepting self-esteem-based failures that completely eroded from any type of value whatsoever from the group. Culturally, it was disrespectful and completely ambiguous in the face of a culture that preferred group loyalty and finding a sense of common identity. The social behavior between everyone in the group was generally different in terms of personality-based responses and discussions, though culture clashes occurred each time an individual could not see compromise in relation to their selves and their backgrounds in family lifestyle. It would seem that Asian people, though this was only a marginal percentage of all Asians, have a more under-handed method of dealing with problems that are strategized internally and projected with passive undertones that completely deplete value from positive family interventions. The group was not together long enough to discuss other symbols, but it was very interesting how the African-American group member believed in the significance of these names and approaches. There was a form of assumption taking place with this group member that seemed to believe that such name-dropping would be taken seriously by everyone and appeared to confuse her as to why it was completely and utterly irrelevant to creating any kind of positive change to the hypothetical scenario. It was a “wait till your father gets home” type of strategy that is rarely effective. At the same time, using a name of a once-inspirational figure who has been superseded in importance by many that have come before him (or her) accomplishes nothing whatsoever unless in a culture where inspiration and motivation are achieved by these things. Conclusion This group identified that culture clashes can occur anywhere and are not, always, a product of ethnicity. Culture can be created within a group unit, such as an alcoholic mother with a free-wheeling attitude and social network and a more motivated son with a lifestyle that includes work focus and independence. Codependent and self-actualized people can live under the same root and still experience culture conflicts. The approaches used by many people in the group to handle the problem or affect its cure indicated the vast differences of culture values that drive decision-making. The though duration of the group’s time together made it impossible to identify the key sources of culture clash production, it was clear that cultural background stirs up many conflicts and vary in intensity and relevancy based on chosen style of delivery. So much of psychology is based on culture clashes and preventing their future occurrence that only a life-long observationalist or a personality not afraid to experience these differences would have full knowledge of how to maneuver within one. Bibliography Alvesson, M. & H. Willmott. Studying Management Critically, Sage, 2003. Askary, S., J. Pounder & H. Yazdifar. “Influence of Culture on Accounting Uniformity Among Arabic Nations”, Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues. Vol. 1, Iss. 2, 2008. Donnison, Phil. “Executive Coaching Across Cultural Boundaries: An Interesting Challenge Facing Coaches Today”, Development and Learning in Organizations. Vol. 22, Iss. 4, 2008. Gries, H. & Peng, K. “Culture Clash? Apologies East and West”, Journal of Contemporary China. Vol. 11, Iss. 30, 2002. O’Grady, Louise. “Developing International Talent” (2008). Accessed April 10, 2011 at http://www.globalhrnews.com/story.asp?sid=513. Read More