Culture, by popular definition, is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.
My first intercultural interaction was with a Malay family that I used to live next to when I was in kindergarten. They had a girl about my age, and we would frequently play with each other after school. Once, her family invited me over for lunch, and I remember staring at them when I saw they ate with their hands, instead of chopsticks like I did at home. As I was still young I couldn't understand why or how they could possibly hold the hot food with their fingers. Fortunately, they caught my shocked expression and offered me a fork and spoon so I didn’t have to awkwardly attempt to eat with one hand.
It was years after the incident that I learnt it was a part of their culture. This is a prime example of a wide array of cultural differences present in the diverse society of Singapore. Due to the variety of cultures here, it is easy to step over boundaries and cause insult without meaning to. However, it boils down to how you communicate with your friends to understand and prevent such clashes.
As stated in my previous post, teamwork is essential in the progress of any organization. And given the diffusion of the population in the world, there is a great chance that team mates will be of different cultures. Within the teams, diversity can be an asset, as it will help to reach out to a larger group of customers by understanding their needs, and accommodating any restrictions which they may follow. Intercultural communication therefore plays an integral role in building up a better future for the global community.
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Hi Anni,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that diversity in team member can be beneficial. I would like add in some of my points. Diversity is about empowering people. It makes a team effective by take advantage on all of the strengths of each team member. But if the team member doesn’t accept the diversity of others,it will prevent the group members from going after team goals. Embracing diversity is the first item for building teams. Every team building theory states that to build a good team, there must be a diverse group of people on the team, that is, you must not choose people who are same as you.
In conclusion,Diversity is the main key in building teams. A diversity team will have a collection of individual experiences, backgrounds, and cultures that can view problems and challenges from a wide-variety of lenses.
Hi Annie,
ReplyDeleteI would like to add in a few points of mine.I think your post is a bit short.In your last paragraph,you talked about diversity.What is diversity?How can it help the team?Perhaps you can elaborate more on these points to strengthen your point and convince people the importance of diversity.Just like what Jeisern said, diversity is the main key in building teams but how?Maybe you can elaborate on these facts.But overall you had given some examples and it was quite interesting.
Regards,
Joon Wai.
Hi Anni,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you used a real life situation when you were young to bring across the importance of intercultural communication. I agree that this is especially important in a multi-cultural society such as Singapore.
One thing i feel that can be improved is by elaborating on how communicating with your friends can prevent cultural miscommunication. Maybe by giving examples on how we should communicate or how we should react when others make a cultural blunder, the statement would not seem so vague.
Another enjoyable read and I appreciate how you try to connect with your readers by using examples people can relate with.
Regards
Cornelius
Hi Anni,
ReplyDeleteI believe that you were not the only one who was confused by actions of another culture. I am sure many of us have at least had a few experiences with such situations.
You mentioned that only a few years later did you learn that it was part of their culture to eat with bare hands. Perhaps it might have been that you were still young, but wouldn't it be better if you asked them the reason on that day itself? At least you would have been able to clear up any doubts you had.
This often occurs in our society. When we are unsure of another person's culture,or confused by actions of a person of a different culture, we tend to just keep it to ourselves. But what i think we should do is instead, express any queries that we might have. And on the receiving end, be gracious enough to answer such queries.
In the second part of your post, i definitely agree with what you mentioned about the benefits of diversity within a team. Not only does it allow is to reach out to a larger group of customers, it also gives us the chance to learn more about a culture different from our own, enriching our knowledge.
To end off, i honestly enjoyed reading your post Anni. Looking forward to see your next post!