Core Competency in Social and Cross culture
Social and Cross culture skills are essential to the ability to communicate verbally as well as nonverbal with people from different cultures than our own. Educating ourselves on differences in cultures allows us to build and network with people that are different then us, words, symbols, and gestures mean different things in various cultures
Artifact- I chose this assignment from OGL 350 Diversity in Organizations. After watching an interaction (course video) I discuss the importance of understanding cultures different than mine as well as a personal situation.
Diversity conflict in organizations happens because there is not enough cultural education for management and employees. For example, the extra credit video about the woman from another country and her interaction with her boss about being ten minutes late. The culture that she was from has a more relaxed attitude and “things happen when they happen” about punctuality. When the manager was attempting to explain the importance of punctuality even if its “just ten minutes” the woman felt as though he was calling her lazy. The manager knew she was a hard worker, but, wanted her to be punctual. Because of the cultural conflict she quit and both manager and employee were unhappy. It’s important for organizations to provide diversity training and for leaders of organizations to be well informed about different way that other cultures communicate. According to the article “Conflict, Perceptions of Justice, Privilege and Diversity” the author states that “organizations engage in increasingly interdependent and often team or group based work.” Because of this the diversity in organizations has grown which means that the need for cultural diversity education and training within organizations is critical for the success of the organizations. Furthermore, diversity conflict can occur individually, between two people, and groups within the organization or from organization to organization. Individual diversity conflict is called intraindividual conflict and happens when a person has a minority status social identity doesn’t match their professional identity. An example of this is, “female leaders who may elect to use a more democratic and participative methods of influence may find that these inclinations do not fit with their professional identity and expectations.” (pg113) This approach by the female leader can lead to inner conflict and affects their sense of wellbeing causing unhappiness. Conflict between two people can be addressed through individual discussions, education, training and mediation by Human resources and the leader of the organization with the two people involved in the diversity conflict. Group diversity conflict is called” intragroup conflict” can have a negative and/or positive affect on group work. The perception varies among individuals about the severity of the conflict depend on cultural beliefs about conflict. The individuals job performance maybe affected depending on the perception of the level of conflict. (pg. 180) The different types of intragroup conflict discussed in this article are task conflict, relationship conflict and morale-related conflict. Task conflicts can have a positive effect on performance when the group participates in problem solving and are open to different opinions on how best to complete the task. However, relationship and morale conflict can have a negative effect on performance if the issues between group members are not addressed and resolved.
I have observed intraindividual conflict in a loved ones work situation and the impact it had on them was hard to watch. The person I’m speaking of is biracial and has light skin, this one characteristic seems to trigger questions such as “What is your ethnicity? “You look exotic” “Is that your real hair?” ,” I like your kind of black people, because you look Asian and black”. These are the types of questions she has to listen to at work and figure out how to respond tactfully. These kinds of questions and statements makes her sad, angry and depressed. She has learned a great deal of how to respond to her coworkers who seem oblivious to the effects of these comments on their coworker. The process of having to figure out how to address these comments or to make a decision to call human resources has taken a toll on her emotionally.
The Giraffe and the Elephant story’s key dynamics relate to diversity management because it illustrates how some organizations and even our country treat people of different cultures. For example, just like the giraffe tried to solve the problem of the elephant not fitting in the giraffe’s home by having the elephant do all of the changing, our organizations and country do the same thing. An example of this is, “If you’re going to be in the United States you need to learn “our” language, you need to adjust to our culture”, or the extra credit video when the woman was late and the manager only wanted her to change but didn’t put effort into understanding her culture before addressing the issue. The giraffe and the elephant story, the concepts and the diversity index assessment has made me aware of the work I need to do within my organization to learn cultural diversity. My score on the diversity maturity index was 78 which says that I have thought about diversity and am open to learning new ideas and behaviors for addressing it and have demonstrated a desire to address diversity more effectively but am unclear as to how to go about doing it. This is a great place for me to be and I am glad to be aware of it so that I can figure out how to be more effective. This course has supported that learning and I will continue to educate myself. I feel a “little” more confident in what I have learned in this course about interdependent conflict and intraindividual conflict and as a leader I will continue to develop my knowledge.
Reflection: As a mother of 2 bi-racial children I Have experienced the pain of a loved one who has had to listen to ignorant, racist, stereotype comments which has made me sensitive to racial bias, cultural bias. This is why I make it a point to educate myself so that I will not unknowingly inflict pain or offend anyone. In my professional life it's important to understand any bias I may have such as, political beliefs different than mine, I must respectfully agree to disagree.
I have observed intraindividual conflict in a loved ones work situation and the impact it had on them was hard to watch. The person I’m speaking of is biracial and has light skin, this one characteristic seems to trigger questions such as “What is your ethnicity? “You look exotic” “Is that your real hair?” ,” I like your kind of black people, because you look Asian and black”. These are the types of questions she has to listen to at work and figure out how to respond tactfully. These kinds of questions and statements makes her sad, angry and depressed. She has learned a great deal of how to respond to her coworkers who seem oblivious to the effects of these comments on their coworker. The process of having to figure out how to address these comments or to make a decision to call human resources has taken a toll on her emotionally.
The Giraffe and the Elephant story’s key dynamics relate to diversity management because it illustrates how some organizations and even our country treat people of different cultures. For example, just like the giraffe tried to solve the problem of the elephant not fitting in the giraffe’s home by having the elephant do all of the changing, our organizations and country do the same thing. An example of this is, “If you’re going to be in the United States you need to learn “our” language, you need to adjust to our culture”, or the extra credit video when the woman was late and the manager only wanted her to change but didn’t put effort into understanding her culture before addressing the issue. The giraffe and the elephant story, the concepts and the diversity index assessment has made me aware of the work I need to do within my organization to learn cultural diversity. My score on the diversity maturity index was 78 which says that I have thought about diversity and am open to learning new ideas and behaviors for addressing it and have demonstrated a desire to address diversity more effectively but am unclear as to how to go about doing it. This is a great place for me to be and I am glad to be aware of it so that I can figure out how to be more effective. This course has supported that learning and I will continue to educate myself. I feel a “little” more confident in what I have learned in this course about interdependent conflict and intraindividual conflict and as a leader I will continue to develop my knowledge.
Reflection: As a mother of 2 bi-racial children I Have experienced the pain of a loved one who has had to listen to ignorant, racist, stereotype comments which has made me sensitive to racial bias, cultural bias. This is why I make it a point to educate myself so that I will not unknowingly inflict pain or offend anyone. In my professional life it's important to understand any bias I may have such as, political beliefs different than mine, I must respectfully agree to disagree.
Photo used under Creative Commons from The National Guard
