Quality of the Cross-Cultural Experience Case Study

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Post-Experience

Culture shapes people’s identities and influences their behavior. It is a people’s way of living, and refers to their shared beliefs, language, norms, values, materials objects passed down generations, and behaviors. The U.S is made up of people from different backgrounds such as the African Americans who make up 13% of the population, Whites 80%, Hispanic or Latinos 16%, Asians 5%, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders 0.2%, and American Indians or Alaskan Natives 1%. Although Native Hawaiians make up only 0.2% of the population, they make a huge contribution to the American society (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). With globalization, organizations and countries experience cultural diversity. Workplaces, countries, and schools increasingly consist of people with different backgrounds in terms of races, cultures and ethnic groups. Cultural differences impact teamwork in organizations, management decisions, and performance differences (Bass, 2008).

Culture also impacts the organizational structures of companies, legitimizing both its functions and existence. It also impacts and conditions organizational commitments. People from different cultures should work together to drive companies forward. However, lack of shared meanings and circumstances cause managers to face serious challenges in their organizations. Based on ethic, national and social scales, an individual’s experience interpretation and its meaning may differ from what’s anticipated, resulting in likely disagreements in the context of businesses. Companies must include cultural differences into their managerial practices. Therefore, cultural diversity management is important to businesses if they want to gain competitive advantage through its employees, an important business asset. In order to overcome the challenges that cultural diversity present in organizations, it is important to understand people from different backgrounds and cultures, to learn from each other and promote cooperation and collaboration (Cacioppe, 1997).

With cultural understanding, managers can better lead in a cross-cultural environment. Therefore, embarking on the cross-cultural experience was key to understanding the Samoan culture in Hawaii. With a proper understanding, knowledge or awareness of other cultures, including different perspectives worldwide, negative stereotypes and personal biases about the different cultures are dispelled. With awareness and proper understanding of other cultures, discrimination against people of other cultures is less likely to occur. The cross-cultural experience involved interactions with people of the Samoan culture in Hawaii. It is a way of promoting cultural diversity to recognize and respect other people’s ways of life. The experience was interactive and aimed at building bridges to respect, trust, and understanding across two different cultures. It is essential to existence of cultural diversity in organizations because people from different cultures contribute new ways of thinking and doing things, language skills, different experiences, and new knowledge (Bass, 2008).

Although the Samoan roast fish and pork in a different way (using hot stones and banana leaves) from other American cultures, they arrive at the same goal of eating delicious roasted fish just like those cooked using different ways or technologies. This means that different cultures can provide other ways of solving problems and still getting the same expected solution. The cross-cultural experience provided a way to interact with the Samoans to increase personal understanding about other cultures. With the understanding, it is also possible to develop meaningful relationships across cultures. It also helps to ensure that values are not imposed on others if they conflict or is not consistent with their culture (Cacioppe, 1997).

During such interactions, it is easy to recognize that the Samoan’s limited English proficiency is not a reflection of their intellectual functioning level.

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The cross-cultural experience also made it possible to recognize and understand that family and gender roles among the Samoan influence their behavior, and differ from other cultures. During the experience, both women and men took part in the fish and pork roasting, including the dances. The cross-cultural experience was also fun, interesting and motivating. Indulging in the new way of roasting fish and pork, and taking part in a completely new dance motivate individuals to learn even more about the culture. It is the fun and interesting side of the interaction that pushes people from other cultures to persevere throughout the cross-cultural experience (Bass, 2008).

A Rich Qualitative Description of the Cultural Experience

The cross-cultural experience was of the Samoan culture in Hawaii…

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…enjoyed the cross-cultural experience and surprisingly, loved this new culture. However, I experience difficulties in communication because some words I used were unfamiliar to the Samoans and thus I had to explain myself many times. The same applied to the Samoan when communicating with me. Despite being a slow learner, I was able to understand and appreciate this new culture. With knowledge gained from the experience, I can better associate with people from this culture and other different cultures without being judgmental. I am motivated to interact with even other different cultures (Cross-Cultural Experience, n.d.).

With proper understanding and awareness of various cultures, I can become a better leader. I can develop rules and give demands that are not offensive to the diverse workforce in my organization. I can create a workplace that is accommodating of all employees despite their backgrounds to ensure that everyone performs and works hard to improve their productivity and that of the organization. The cross-cultural experience has made me recognize and understand how culture can impact communication, organizational hierarchy, and etiquette in a company, hence general productivity and performance. I can work out ways of avoiding misunderstandings among employees, and even plan for employee trainings on cultural diversity and tis essence in the company. I will be able to advocate for the use of materials, rules, hierarchies, etc. that represent the different cultural groups in the company (Cross-Cultural Experience, n.d.).

When I observe or find out that some employees are engaging in behaviors that show bias, insensitivity, or prejudice to other cultural groups in the company, I will intervene in a proper way. I will also be a proactive listener, and be more accepting and welcoming of ideas from people from a cultural group that differs from mine. Clearly, cultural diversity allows different people to make distinct yet positive contributions to the entire organization despite their differing cultural backgrounds. I will work to ensure that my company is a place where diversity is recognized, understood, and respected; different cultural ideas are acknowledged and valued; and people’s contributions encouraged despite cultural background; and everyone….....

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