Cultural Diversity - Final Reflection

Part 1

            Intro

I’ve chosen the following dimensions based on my results from the questionnaire; growth, relationship, outlook, destiny, & connecting. The aforementioned dimensions are the most eccentric results of my cultural dimensions report.

1.      Growth

The first dimension we’re going to write about is growth; development in either the personal aspect or the materialistic one. Growth represents one’s interest and preference to either the advancement of personnel or hardware.

2.      Relationship

An interesting dimension is the relationship dimension with the polarities universal, and situational in which it reflects one’s relationship bounds and limitations, where one could either be limiting relationships of a certain field strictly to that within said field or an unbounded relationship where one expands the relationship to fit a large part of one’s life.

3.      Outlook

The thought of whether to find new and innovative ways to accomplish something with great and outstanding success, or study the past traditional ways of doing so in a more stable environment, with less creativity and out of the box thinking than the alternative.

4.      Destiny

Destiny basically portrays whether one is in control of the way their life is going and the steps they take in order to reach out towards what they want and grab it or if one is guided and led by external forces where they would ride along and let the forces shape one’s fortune.

5.      Connecting

The dimension of exclusivity or inclusivity, connecting is an easy way to find out what a person finds socially acceptable, and whether they find it tolerable for others that were not specifically invited to the topic to join in and have an opinion on the matter or not.

Part 2

            Lessons from the Questionnaire Results

                The results show my own personal standing within the group of people who have also participated in the questionnaire and compares it to that. It shows both a personal result and the detailed result which also includes the whole group’s cultural dimension results.

               

1.      Growth

According to the results, I heavily lean towards personal growth over material growth along with almost all the participants with me, which I don’t disagree with at all. I find it extremely important and I strongly support personal over material growth as people are the basis of everything, not material.

2.      Relationship

The report shows that I am almost completely universal with my relationships, unlike many of the people in the group, although I find some relationships hard to make universal I do agree that given the opportunity, I would most likely aim to make any relationship worth having a universal one.

3.      Outlook

In the results, it’s apparent that I’m more innovative than traditional in that sense, which includes me with the majority of the group, and I’d have to agree, because I would much rather come up with an innovative way to reach my goals than follow the traditional path which would lead me to the same achievements as anyone else.

4.      Destiny

In agreement with the results, I find myself to prefer making my own decisions and having my fate in my hands, just like many of the participants, although there are some who are more directed being the minority. It’s extremely difficult for me not to be able to take my own steps at my own time, and do things my own way.

5.      Connecting

As shown in the results, and I do agree ,if I may say, that I am almost entirely inclusive in the way I act towards people, and although not many of the others in the group share the same ideology, I find it more pleasant to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

Part 3

            In 5 Years’ Time

I believe that there’s always space for improvement, and that no one can achieve a state of perfection. Although, I do still believe that a person may be satisfied with the way they are, and whether or not that is a good thing or not depends on the person’s intent in becoming a better person as a whole.

I will most definitely have some major differences in my results in 5 years’ time, not only that, but I strongly believe that some of my ideals and beliefs might shift slightly, and I only hope it’s to the better not worse.

That being said, I would definitely like to see myself grow and improve in all aspects of my life, not only that of a cultural context. I most definitely think that I do need to improve and I will put a lot of effort into that within the next 5 years, and hopefully the remainder of my life, as well.

15 Quotes from the Most Humble PresidentExercise #6

José Mujica - President of Uruguay

The 15 QuotesThe 12 Dimensions

Quote	Dimension	Polarity	Why you think so?
1	Accountability	Community	Putting the pressure on the group to make things better
2	Outlook	Traditional	Comparing the past to the future and criticizing the present
3	Growth + Destiny	Material + Directed	Feeling the need to satisfy ones urges for shallow material to follow others
4	Accountability + Connecting	Individual + Exclusive	Thinking as separated groups and excluding others
5	Can of worms	Seal and dispose of	Because, no.
6	Accountability + Connecting	Community + Inclusive	Sense of duty to the group, including oneself to the masses
7	Growth	Material	The need politicians have for the shallow, materialistic nonsense (sees them as awful)
8	Growth	Personal	One’s interest in human resource
9	Outlook	Innovation	Being open-minded and thinking that it’s necessary to be so
10	Outlook + Decision-Making	Traditional + Rule-Based	One is unaccepting to the new concepts, and enforces them by the rules
11	Status + Destiny	Achieved + Directive	Fighting for one’s own and making the decision to do so
12	Accountability	Individual	Believing it’s one’s duty to aid others financially
13	Outlook + Planning + Communication	Innovative + People + Direct	Progressive ideas for the future that aim for the good of people, while being frank.
14	Connecting	Inclusive	To include oneself to the majority of people
15	Communication	Direct	To speak one’s mind without being hesitant

Outsourced

Exercise #5

Cultural Dimension	Character Todd, Puro, Aisha or other	Outsourced Scene or Circumstance
Communication- direct/indirect	Todd & Dave	Dave was very direct when he told Todd about the outsourcing plan and his role in it
Decision-making: rules / relations	Todd & the staff	Todd let the staff have some freedom in the workplace (clothing, cubicle personal space, brining personal items, etc,.)
Context – Informal / formal	Todd & Puro	They started off being formal (In the cab and the first couple of days) with each other and grew to become more informal (when they got to know one another)
Relationship-Universal/situation	Todd & Puro	They bonded out of the workplace in the celebration of Holi (color)

Reflection

Create a reflection about the movie Outsourced using the PowerPoint I give you. Show that you really understand the above cultural concepts.

1. As soon as Todd arrives, he experiences the discomfort of being disoriented in a
strange new place. What happens at the airport?

2. When a friendly traveler helps him get on the train, what does he tell him to do?

3. When he gets on the train, he cannot find an empty seat. How is this problem
solved for him? How might this be a cultural solution?

            A young kid gave up his seat to him, and to his surprise, sat on his leg. Because kids are mentored to respect their elders and they have a very tightly inclusive society, additionally to how elders are compassionate to the children, it would be appropriate for that situation to take place, casually.

4. As any exchange student, he has a lot of experiences trying new food. His first
encounter is with an iced drink. What happens?

The iced drink disturbs his stomach, making him feel unwell after a little while.

5. First encounters with a culture can be shocking – Todd sees crowded streets with
cows, noise, and a man urinating in the street. But how does his host describe the
city?

6. Even though the host Puro speaks English, Todd uses American slang a lot
without thinking. So as not to insult Puro, what does he say the meaning of
Schmuck is?

7. Todd wants to check in to a hotel. But Puro insists he comes to a boarding house.
What is the reason he gives Todd?

That the hotel is lonely, and that they would treat him better than his own mother does in the boarding house.

8. As soon as they meet, Aunti Ji starts asking very intimate questions that
Americans who have just met would never ask. What kind of things does she ask?

What his father does for a living, how much he earns, whether he has a girlfriend and when he’s planning on getting married.

Cultures Around The World Make Decisions

Exercise #4

        When striking an example on precision when it comes to time, or even driving in most cases, whom better than the German to give praise to? My choice, which is to mention the dimensions that the German people stand out and excel in such as; planning, accountability and status, is purely based on the respect I hold for the German society. 

        When planning, they are known to side strictly with time over people, which supports the fact that they consider individual accountability more just than one that involves the community. Their respect of achieved status over an ascribed one makes them more worthy of the respect they demand. Nevertheless, they still hold respect for ascribed statuses, regardless.

A short story:

                A German/Russian childhood friend has gotten used to the way things work here in the UAE, and they like to always remind us that they were born and raised here, which gives them the right to be flexible about their German-like behavior. Although our dear friend likes to brag about how they are very flexible, in reality they only believe they are because of how they’re compared to their German-borne relatives.

        They came late to a movie once, or so they say, since the lights in the cinema were dimmed and the advertisements had just started playing. And, to this day, they still believe they are very flexible (-flexible in comparison to Germans in general that is).

         

         

Cultural Adaptability

Exercise #3


Able                                        Unable

Name:                                                                                     

1. Evelyn                      Used humor; thrived by keeping busy

                                    by occupying herself with a little job

                                    hunting. Was very friendly and open

                                    to the new situation she was in.

2. Mrs. Hardcastle        Adapted with an aggressive approach

to get what she wanted. (Taking Sonny’s

door equipped room)

3. Mr. Graham              Although it was a more rugged approach

                                    than Evelyn’s, he interacted quite nicely

                                    with some kids playing Cricket, and even

                                    let them win out of sheer kindness.

4. Mr. Ainslie                Felt curious and explored a little and

                                    became intrigued by the temples. He was

                                    more adventurous than his spouse.

5. Mrs. Ainslie                                                                                      Felt uncomfortable and

                                                                                                            disliked the idea of

                                                                                                            exploration and stayed in the

hotel instead of going out

with her husband.

6. Mrs. Donnelly                                                                                   Saw the whole experience as

                                                                                                            unfortunate but unavoidable

                                                                                                            because of her hip surgery.

                                                                                                            She was quite bitter about it

                                                                                                            and was not afraid to show it.

World Views

Exercise #2

          Different countries/continents believe that different things are illegal, and their rules support their beliefs. In a situation where a Qatari local student who happens to study abroad in the UK comes across an over-the-counter drug in the UK, which is labeled legal there and becomes rather attached to it.

            The problem starts when the Qatari man tries to bring the drug into Qatar, but is disallowed to and feels the need to simply smuggle the drug in, because of how attached he has become to it.

            The conflict is mainly between the Qatari man with his drug usage and the Qatari society, which finds this very unacceptable due to the many factors, such as the religious beliefs, the law supporting those beliefs and the society which does not accept such behavior.

            I’ve chosen this article because of how it involves all the aspects of every cultural view (I/G; H/S; P/F) in more than one sense.

I/G: The man knew he was bringing an illegal substance into the country, thus making it obvious that he was to blame for the incident. But, knowing that the substance was legal in the country he was in, makes this somewhat confusing.

H/S: It’s shameful that the man was simply using the substance both in a matter of the society and for the man himself as it it’s also a religious matter, not to mention that he tried to bring it into the country illegally.

P/F: The substance the man tried to smuggle into the country was legal in the country he brought it from, but not legal in Qatar. Thus, he is punishable by the law of Qatar, which he has willingly broken.

Bullfighting

Exercise #1

            Some traditions are built into the souls of the community, and are very hard to shake off. Although people know the consequences of these harsh traditions, they see it as a hard-built activity that would take away their cultural identity if discontinued.

            In my modest opinion, I believe some traditions need to be pushed to wear-off as time passes, especially the ones that are harmful to our community. Although it may seem that these traditions don’t harm people who don’t participate in them, it’s very much the opposite. As some of these traditions such as bullfighting harm animals, they in return ignite and instigate aggressiveness of the people who wish that no harm is done to these animals, which in return has a negative toll on the community as a whole.

            In short, I believe that some of the traditions that don’t wear-off on their own, need to be put down for the sake of the realm of man (Deep, I know). Not to mention that in the end, discontinuing these traditions wouldn’t harm the people who are holding onto them as much as it harms the rest of the population.

To begin this brainstorming session, here’s the definition of the word to kick things off:

What is a tradition?

tra•di•tion \trə-ˈdi-shən\ noun
[Middle English tradicioun, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French tradicion, from Latin tradition-, traditio action of handing over, tradition — more at TREASON] 14th century
1 a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)
b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable 〈the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet —J. L. Stewart〉
2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction
3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions
4 : characteristic manner, method, or style 〈in the best liberal tradition ¹〉

Ask yourself these questions before making up your mind about a tradition:

·               Is it harmful? (In any way possible, whether it be to one’s environment, lifestyle, mental state, world peace, equality, etc,.)

·               Would it be more harmful to discontinue it?

·               What good does it bring?

·               Does the good outweigh the bad?

·               Is it socially, globally, personally and religiously acceptable?

I believe traditions are a personal choice, and will always agree that one can always choose what they participate in.

But, I will always hold closer the fact that be the tradition harmful in any way, the other party has just about the same amount, if not more, right to object and nullify the existence of said tradition.