Summary - Understanding Cultural Diversity in Today's Complex World - Essay Example

Summary «Understanding Cultural Diversity in Todays Complex World» Chapter 4 Human environment has a responsive character. This means that every action in our world is followed by specific reaction, which in the conditions of diversity, may represent hard feelings, tension, misunderstanding, offence and humiliation. These unpleasant consequences form the notion of "reactive syndrome" that occurs within a group of people with different backgrounds and cultural values. This syndrome is created under the influence of such unfavorable social aspects as stereotypes, prejudices, bigotry, bias, denigration and hate crimes, which take place due to the lack of knowledge and peoples ignorance.

The bright examples of these reactions can be segregation and discrimination of black people, which caused numerous deaths in XXth century, or protests against homosexual individuals that may be observed even today in some countries. The main factors that affect and may encourage hate crimes are family, upbringing, education, friends, personal experiences, media, events and psychological condition of a person (Parvis, 2013). In this respect, from the very childhood, each individual should be properly educated in order to prevent any form of discrimination in our modern world of diversity.

Chapter 5Discrimination is the major factor that encourages great challenges for the humanity. It is a decision formed under the influence of prejudice against specific race, class, nation, gender, sexual orientation or religion, which results in racism, sexism, homophobia and other negative sequences. According to different scientists, all social events that have "ism" configuration cause significant damage to our society that suffered a lot from various forms of discrimination in the past (Parvis, 2013).

Diversity in the workplace presupposes a total liquidation of any discrimination and provision of equal opportunities for every employee despite their gender, age, nationality, sexual preferences or color of skin. There should be no place for harassment in the diversified working environment. For being able to properly comprehend all the challenges of diversity, it is imperative to realize the existence and influence of dominant privilege that forces some non-dominant groups to take lower position in the society.

A powerful element of diversity that raises peoples awareness and enlightenment about other cultures, nations and ethnicities is verbal and non-verbal communication.Chapter 6The nature of international business presupposes interactions and combinations of various cultures and traditions. However, frequently, the lack of peoples awareness about other nations, their lifestyles and customs causes misunderstanding and confusion that may be eliminated with a proper and effective communication. Traditions of each culture vary and alter such social systems as government, religion, economy, education and family institution.

Each culture is influenced and consists of peoples perception of territory, time, space, privacy and use of language (Parvis, 2013). Human history contains a lot of examples and incidents when during negotiations, individuals non-deliberately use words that may offend interlocutors and even result in a huge conflict. Hence, cultural clashes often lead to misunderstanding among people and cause conflicts not only in a simple everyday communication process, but also in political and economic spheres.

The policies of avoidance, accommodation, negotiation, collaboration and domination are implemented in order to eradicate possible conflicts. The key element of knowledge is communication that includes high and low contexts. It is fair to stress that knowledge about each style of communication simplifies and makes business running in global market more effective.ReferenceParvis, L. (2013). Understanding cultural diversity in todays complex world (5th ed.). United States of America: Embrace Publications & Consulting, LLC.