Free Essay

Cultural Understanding

In:

Submitted By nitinzachrias
Words 297
Pages 2
PLANNING AND PREPARATION SHEET- I

Question 1: Describe who you plan to ask? Where are they from? What is your relationship with this person? (no need to identify the person by name)

Answer 1:
I plan to ask my housemate. He is from China. I have known him for over 4 months and he comes across as an individual who would be in need of paper clips because I always see stacks of paper lying around his room.

Question 2: What are their cultural values? Based on your knowledge of this group or individual are they likely to “fit” with their culture?

Answer 2:
My interactions with Chinese individuals have given me the impression that they are of a gentle disposition and prefer their space. Similarly, they tend to find it difficult to say “no” and this is one of the reasons I felt that my roommate would be the right person to negotiate with. My roommate fit the Chinese prototype nicely and could be seen as a perfect fit with their culture.

Question 3: Given your knowledge of the person’s culture, what is your step-by-step plan for the meeting and what do you hope to get out of it?

Answer 3:
My step by step plan for the meeting is:
a.) Have a conversation to get him comfortable
b.) Make a point about his need for a paper clip
c.) Suggest that as I had solved a big issue for him, he owes me one. Although this sentence would be spoken in jest, Chinese tend to take things seriously and he is likely to give me something in return.

I hope to get a better understanding of how negotiations work across different cultures and whether such simplistic techniques can be enough to succeed.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Cross Cultural Understanding

...A couple of years ago, I happened to make a couple of single-serving German friends for an evening whilst quaffing mulled wine at the Christmas market. Clearly glad to have found a little home away from home the two guys were already fairly well toasted on a selection of their favourite beers etc… somehow or other literature eeked its way into the conversation at some point or other at which point Hans suddenly got extremely excited at the prospect of doing a bit of Bard-bashing. Slamming his beer mug on the long-table in a booming (and only slightly slurred) voice he commenced the debate of Shakespeare Vs Goethe by vehemently stating that “COMPARED TO THE GREAT GOETHE, SHAKESPEARE IS LIKE A LITTLE SCHOOLBOY SAT IN THE CORNER OF THE CLASSROOM, PISSING IN HIS PANTS!” This subtle piece of comparative literary criticism was delivered with such force, that despite a few stifled giggles the point was not debated much further, as an Englishman in the presence of pissed Germans, my spine gave out in the name of retaining cordiality in a rather British, Fawlty Towers, John Cleese “RIGHT, NOBODY MENTION THE WAR!!!” kinda way. (reported by British man) I am astonished that people from Denmark can talk about being homosexual so openly. A couple of months ago several students from Copenhagen came to my university, and one of them didn’t mind telling other students that she lived with her girlfriend and that they’re planning to get married. She claimed it’s a regular topic in Denmark....

Words: 713 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Understanding Cross-Cultural Management

...Understanding Cross-Cultural Management Second Edition Marie-Joëlle Browaeys & Roger Price Part One CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT Concept 1.1 Facets of culture Introduction to Part One Setting the scene This introductory chapter will give an outline of the research in the field of culture and management, which in turn serves as a framework for Part One. The concept of culture Many experts in their fields have wracked their brains to come up with what they consider to be their concept of ‘culture’. Those working in the field of cultural anthropology, alone, for example, have come up with a long list of definitions of the concept, based on their analysis of ethnological, social, psychological and linguistic data. The attempt made by Bodley (1994) to summarize these (Table I.1) gives an idea of all the facets of culture that need to be taken into account from an anthropological perspective. Although acknowledging the multiplicity of cultures, the authors of this book consider that the fundamental aspect of culture is that it is something all humans learn in one way or another. It is not something people inherit, but rather a code of attitudes, norms and values, a way of thinking that is learnt within a social environment. Family, the social environment, school, friends, work – all these help to form this code and determine how people see themselves and the world. The national culture and the particular region which people live in also help to shape a...

Words: 97340 - Pages: 390

Free Essay

Cultural Competence

...Cultural competence and understanding cultural beliefs and values allow health providers the ability to properly assess individuals and provide appropriate education which is understandable to the particular culture. Culture is behaviors, beliefs, values, and ways of life for an individual which influence health, healing, wellness, illness, and delivery of health services (Dolan Hunt, 2014). Cultural awareness, imposition and sensitivity are areas that need to be understood. Cultural awareness is the understanding of our own thoughts and abilities to reflect on them to better understand the differences of others. Cultural imposition is fully understanding the cultures beliefs before providing a plan. An example of this is educating a patient on a specific diet and the need to educate the health provider regarding the cultural beliefs as there may be certain foods that patient will not eat. Cultural sensitivity also needs to be considered, understanding communication in respecting ones culture. Verbal and non verbal communication both need to be considered. An example of this is that some cultures find it disrespectful to stare to long and have direct eye contact, therefore it is important to have knowledge of this so that when providing care this is respected (Dolan Hunt, 2014). It is important to be knowledgeable, unbiased and understanding in order to perform in our full capacity. Overall, providing culturally congruent care is essential to reduce health disparities...

Words: 295 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Vygotsky's Theory of Sociocultural Development

...Theory, which had three themes: the social sources of individual thinking, the roles of cultural tools in learning and development, and the zone of proximal development (Driscoll, 2005; Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992 as cited in Woolfolk 2013). In other words, Vygotsky believed that the happenings of people occur in cultural settings and cannot be understood outside of these situations. This theory emphasizes the relationship between children and those who are more knowledgeable because children learn through the culture of their environment and through their interactions. According to Vygotsky, a child’s development appears two times: first, on the shared level and later on the individual level. Co-construction is the social process in which an individual (in this case, child) interacts with another to create an understanding which is then internalized and becomes part of the child’s cognitive development. He argues that social interaction is more than just influence but rather it is the foundation of sophisticated thinking processes. The zone of proximal development is crucial to this theory where the “zone” is the area of study for which the student is cognitively prepared. Yet, he requires help and social interaction to fully develop. For instance, this is seen when a teacher or a more skilled peer is able to provide the learner with scaffolding to support the student’s growing understanding of the material. Anna Iddings, Victoria Risko, and Maria Paula Rampulla do their research...

Words: 310 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Evaluating Communication Strategies

...from different cultures, it can be of great help if you first understand the social and psychological forces that drive their verbal and non-verbal behavior. It is important to encompass skills like warmth, authenticity, empathy, permissiveness, and acceptance. Effective Strategies and Techniques Empathy refers to the ability to understand someone else’s point of view and ideas. When a client feels understood, and they think you are more understanding to their point of view, they are more likely to accept and listen to new ideas. Being genuine is the expression of true feelings. Being genuine can be of big usefulness to people in the human services industry. It is important to also be objective. Seeing things from an outside point of view can help the human services worker to be subjective. Self-awareness is the quality of knowing oneself. This can help to convey one’s values, feeling’s, attitudes, and beliefs. Acceptance is an important tool because it shows the clients you believe their beliefs are worthy of consideration. Multi-Cultural Awareness When working in the human services industry it is important to have awareness of other cultures and their practices. Clients will be more accepting of good or bad news...

Words: 370 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Bbbb

...societies are different. not all the people live with the same life style! Not all people have big apartments with backyards and its not so hard to understand.if you are willing to take the risk and move to another country,you are taking the risk of giving up on something that you may prefer aswell. Its very easy to understand the fact that if you are moving from another country with another culture, to a country with a totally different culture ,you will have problems getting used to the situation and being adapted; atleast at the beginning of the journey ! in this case ,you should be understanding and patient. the first stage of the cultural shocks are always the hardest part to deal with, therefore being patient is the first “unwritten law” in passing by this level of culture shock . to be short ,if you are willing to experience something new and different, being open and understanding in the differences are as necessary as having a preview or an idea about the whole new situation. the more you are educated about the other countries culture, the faster you will be adapted to the host...

Words: 298 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Thematic Ceremoy

...10/26/15 English 11 PD 6 Thematic Understanding of Ceremony In the book Ceremony, the thematic understanding that resonates with me the most is the one about not knowing where you fit in. In the story, the theme of Tayo being lost due to not knowing where he belonged devolved. Many of the Native Americans he knew, such as Emu, discriminated against him due to the fact that he was a “half breed.” The general population treated him differently because of the stigma and racism that was associated with Native Americans in the time period of the 1940-1950s. I as well can feel like I don’t belong sometimes. High school is a big place with many small groups and you can sometimes feel unwanted by many. I also have the cultural identity problem in that I am a first generation from Israel and it’s hard to really put me into either America or Israel because I’m a mix of the two cultures. The reaction from ourselves is understandable. As a people, we strive to fit in somewhere, it is only natural. But the fact that there will always be a part of me that is different from others helps me understand that it is ok for me to b different and to accept myself. But the truth is that there is so much hate to people that don’t fit to a particular group and this shows that in the world we live in today there is still a fear and a hate for anything that is different. As a society...

Words: 282 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Yea I Like It

...crucial for a knower to fully understand knowledge, because each way of knowing have significant weaknesses to them. However, if the ways of knowing are working with one another in a network, the weaknesses of one way of knowing can be supported by the strengths of others. This strong network of the ways of knowing allows the knower to obtain a strong understanding of a particular area of knowledge, depending on the ways of knowing that are being connected in this network. By using multiple ways of knowing in the network, the knower is able to develop multiple perspectives about the knowledge, creating more complete and comprehensible knowledge for the knower. Mathematics and religion are two areas of knowledge that are observable nearly every day in our lives and society. Ways of knowing enable the an individual to receive and retain knowledge. However, in order to fully understand this knowledge, a strong network of the ways of knowing are crucial for the knower. In mathematics, a equation or answer can be compromised with the smallest mistake in the mathematical process. This requires the knower to have a complete understanding of the process and concept they are being presented with. A strong network of ways of knowing is imperative for a knower to fully understand a question they are presented with, and ultimately come away with the correct answer. In order for the knowledge to be transferred from teacher to student, the teacher must clearly communicate the knowledge. Language...

Words: 629 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Foundations of Human Development

...Foundations of Human Development in the Social Environment Meagan Corbett BSHS/325 February 29, 2016 Thomas Kareck Foundations of Human Development in the Social Environment Working in human services is why we are all here, in school, learning about all the dimensions of human behavior, why humans do the things we do, and what makes us tick. Understanding human development and how it affects an individual is an essential theme in human services. Having the knowledge and understanding of the bio-psycho-social dimensions that make up human development, cultural competency and diversity, and how the general systems theory and social order relate to one another will give us the tools necessary to be able to effectively help our future clients. The bio-psycho-social dimensions of human development consist of three parts that try to give explanation to human behavior: biological, psychological, and social. The biological approach states that behavior can be explained through genetics. The psychological approach states that human behavior can be explained through cognitive development. Finally, the social approach states that we can understand human behavior by looking at the influences of culture and family on an individual. All three dimensions relate to one another and if just one dimension is off or not right there will be a domino effect, causing the other dimensions to follow suit and be off as well. For example, take a child that is living in a home with...

Words: 1575 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Student

...What global attitude do you think would most support, promote, and encourage cultural awareness? Explain. 50 P A R T 1 I D E F I N I N G T H E M A N A G E R ' S T E R R A I N 2. Would legal, political, and economic differences play a role as companies design appropriate cultural awareness training for employees? Explain. 3. Pick one of the countries mentioned in the case and do some cultural research on it. What did you find out about the culture of that country? How might this information affect the way a manager in that country plans, organizes, leads, and controls? 4. UK-based company Kwintessential has several cultural awareness "quizzes" on its website (www.kwintessential. co.uk/resources/culture-tests.htrnl). Go to the company's website and try two or three of these quizzes. Were you surprised at your score? What does your score tell you about your cultural awareness? 5. What advice might you give to a manager who has little experience working with people in other countries? DEVE LO PING YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKI LLS: BECOMING MORE CU LTURALLY AWARE ABOUT THE SKILL "Understanding and managing people who are similar to us are challenges-but understanding and managing those who are dissimilar from us and from each other can be even tougher." Workplaces around the world are becoming increasingly diverse. Thus, managers need to recognize that not all employees want the same thing, act in the same manner, and can be managed in the same way. What is a...

Words: 449 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Self-Reflection

...upon them and to use both of them to complement each other. By carefully evaluating the goals, I want to reach I began to focus directly on my weaknesses to build on my strengths. In understanding the market trends and market analysis, I took your recommendation to reading The Economist. I never thought to read a newspaper like a product such as this prior to attending the Business Foundations course, but I am certainly glad I have had the opportunity in doing so. I was able to learn more about world events, business, and everyday politics and learn more about recent Technology trends that I was very curious about but never had a suggestive thought where to look. I also began to expand my knowledge by visiting company websites to do more thorough research on their decisions being made for example Gilead Sciences recently acquired Epi Therapeutics. I wanted to know more, so I reviewed the company website to gain insight as to why they decided to purchase this business. I later learned that they wanted to expand in the epigenetics area as it is a promising area of research and, for this reason, it follows their mission statement to meet unmet medical needs. The way that these various factors impact my career outlook is because I am more aware of why things are happening around me such as cultural, social responsibility, environment, and the economy. With these factors, I can understand the financial...

Words: 358 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Duhai Kurva

...in Silicon Valley would think that. A lot of the most successful founders here speak with accents. The case I was talking about is when founders have accents so strong that people can't understand what they're saying. I.e. the problem is not the cultural signal accents send, but the practical difficulty of getting a startup off the ground when people can't understand you. I'd already explained that when I talked about this issue with a New York Times reporter: But after ranking every Y.C. company by its valuation, Graham discovered a more significant correlation. "You have to go far down the list to find a C.E.O. with a strong foreign accent," Graham told me. "Alarmingly far down—like 100th place." I asked him to clarify. "You can sound like you're from Russia," he said, in the voice of an evil Soviet henchman. "It's just fine, as long as everyone can understand you." Everyone got that? We all agree accents are fine? The problem is when people can't understand you. We have a lot of empirical evidence that there's a threshold beyond which the difficulty of understanding the CEO harms a company's prospects. And while we don't know exactly how, I'm pretty sure the problem is not merely that investors have trouble understanding the company's Demo Day presentation. Demo Day presentations are only 2 minutes and 30 seconds. With a presentation that short, you can just memorize it at the level of individual phonemes. Most batches we have groups that do this. Conversations...

Words: 759 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Assessment3

...Example assessment & marking criteria |Assessment type: |Learning portfolio | |Subject: |EML110 English Curriculum: Understanding Language and Literacy | | |This subject introduces foundational concepts about language and literacy as sociocultural practices, and theories and models of language acquisition and early literacy | | |development. Students will explore contextual factors that impact language and literacy development such as cultural and linguistic diversity, and the influence of | | |globalisation and new technologies on literacy teaching and learning. Students will critically engage with English Curriculum documents to understand the intent and | | |organisation of English through the strands of language, literacy and literature. Students will develop core practices related to collecting, analysing and interpreting | | |data in order to understand children's early language and literacy experiences in a range of contexts. They will connect these experiences to pedagogical...

Words: 1715 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Porsche

...page paper as a group displaying your understanding of the questions posed in the Porsche case-brand awareness, changing customer attitudes, and other information from the case- including marketing strategy. Summarize your understanding of the concepts. Reminders: Did you write a summary that displays your understanding of the marketing environment? Did you provide an explanation of the concept and brand-awareness? Did you provide an explanation of the customer decision model regarding Porsche? Did you meet the page number requirement? Assignment 3 Pg 129 Video Case: Domino's Analyze the key principles from Domino's case study that you discussed in unit two, and divide into small groups to answer these additional questions: (Obviously you can't divide into a group). *1. What cultural factors have led to the explosion in social networking? *2. How has Domino's changed the way companies understand opinion leaders in marketing? *3. How is Domino's helping companies gain insight into the buyer decision process? Brainstorm a new social networking site that will provide brand awareness and greater customer relationship building for the company of your choice. Write a one page outline describing your company, how you will design their social network and include a justification for why this marketing strategy will be a benefit in terms of customer relationships to your company. Assignment 4 Read Appendix 1 to better your understanding. Use this as a guide to develop the...

Words: 300 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Reading for Understanding

...person can sit in class all day long listening to a lecture and still not have a clue as to what is going on. If one wants to retain knowledge and apply it, it is up to that person to learn and comprehend the material that is presented to them by the teacher. Understandably, there are times when one does not get the information right away. When this happens though, it is up to the student to find out why they are not comprehending and get the additional information that is needed to learn the material. Smarthinking Assignment #1 In “The Activity and Art of Reading,” the authors explain to us the difference between reading information and reading for understanding. In the book it says, “we must know how to make books teach us well.” When reading just for information there is no comprehension. When reading for understanding one comprehends the material and is able to apply the material. What do You Think of This Idea? “The student must do the learning” in my opinion is a true statement. A person can sit in class all day long listening to a lecture and still not have a clue as to what is going on. Sometimes our minds can drift off and the teacher starts to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher. If one wants to retain knowledge and apply it, it is up to that person to learn and comprehend the material that is presented to them by the teacher. Understandably, there are times when one does not get the information right away. When this happens though, it is up to the student...

Words: 574 - Pages: 3