Managing In A Diverse Global Environment

By Author: Anthony W Bills
Total Articles: 158
Comment this article

Managing in a Diverse Global Environment

I am a Chinese from Chengdu capital in the Southwestern parts of Sichuan province. Moving to America to pursue my education has created cultural and social differences starting from the cuisines to language. Even with the early civilization in my region, our mode of communication is still the Yi language. It really was a big challenge having to adapt to the fast English speaking peers and tutors that I was surrounded by. By engrossing in books, constant interactions with peers, watching different movies and hiring an interpreter that helped me interpret most English terms that are used by those around me, I have fully adapted to the language as it’s the general mode of communication (Makore 2007).
Used to my ethnic Chinese cuisines which are always fresh, hot and spicy and prepared at home, it’s been great to get other diverse cuisines like Italian, Mexican and Indian cuisines which have different tastes (Yueng 2007). It’s of great interest to just walk into a restaurant and order Italian take out, a myth in my province. This has ...
... greatly helped me to know more about the varied foods in other countries across the world. The only thing that puts us all on the same levels in terms of food is the MacDonald’s take out, a restaurant that makes almost the same types of food here and back home (Roseke 2010). I had never seen a Mexican restaurant nor eaten Chile rellenos before. The change has opened me to the world, to experience the varied lifestyles that come with it and I am taking in as much as I can.
In my cultural setting, greeting is done formally starting with the oldest person, where we look towards the ground when greeting others (Yuan 2009). The adjusting to hugging and close intervention of personal space has always been a challenge to me. I am getting used to being close to people, accepting a hug and not bowing for the tutor when he walks to the lecture hall as is the case in my home country. Whistling and the constant snapping of fingers are some of the habits that I have picked from my peers. It is considered rude and abusive back home but here I am allowed to be rebellious a bit in terms of culture. Recently, when back home, I noted the looks I was being given without realizing the unconscious whistling I was doing to a song; it shows the diversified cultural influences that I have acquired with time. Our tutors at times compliment a person for work well done, it’s always been weird to me since I have never been complimented or heard a compliment when I am back home. I like the complimenting culture here; it shows open appreciation for effort and is a motivator for even more effort.
In our group discussions, conversations have always been held in a round table setting where peers stare at each other directly in the eye while talking. Initially, I found the gestures rude, like folding of legs and putting hands in the pocket when someone was talking to me. Since peers are used to doing that, I have come to acknowledge the easy lay back cultural doctrines. In my first lecture day, I got to learn with horror that there’s no standing to offer greeting to older people here, ‘‘culture shock.’’ Back home, we bend to show respect to the older people, while here it’s a casual ‘’hi’’ and ‘’bye.’’ This one incident led to a fear of the loss of my accumulated cultural and social doctrines but change is good so I have accepted St Ambrose’s wise saying ‘’ when in Rome, do as the Romans do” (Different Culture Between China and West 2009).
I have always been called a punctuality freak by peers; I will always arrive earlier than expected to meetings and group discussions. It’s a trait that has earned me a lot of respect here as I am considered reliable to complete set targets in time. The disregard for time is a vice I have not been able to change here because punctuality has always been instilled in me throughout my upbringing back home. We clap as a sign of praise compared to back home where it’s done to acknowledge the presence of someone. Culturally I have learnt so many things, and each day there is something new that I come across due to the diversity of people. It’s been of great help to note the varied cultural and social differences that have been propagated into the society where I live and am proud to be associated with the experience (EDU 2006).
The on-line group in the assignment 2 highlighted the varied fundamental differences culturally and socially. The use of language in expression when interacting was a considerable challenge especially due to the shortening of words like FYI to mean for your information especially when passing information (Mariga 2008). I remember a peer typing short forms of sentences during our online conversations, and in that case I had to request for meanings hence creating a mild barrier in communication. Due to the constant usage of short forms by various peers in our conversation, I have fully grasped them and in fact now I find it easier and quick to pass information that way (Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace 2010).
The online work helped me to reach a pluralistic society of racial, cultural, religious and ethnic perspectives. The experience was awesome has I was able to communicate with people from various backgrounds e.g. cultures, ethnics and learn perspectives. It also helped entirely on my typing skills as I had to type quickly in order to keep the conversations flowing. During the assignment process, I also enjoyed myself due to the high level of flexibility that was availed as I could would carry out the assignment at any time and place from my laptop hence saving on time and other costs that I could have incurred. (Edmundson 2007).
Through the experiences that I am learning, it’s acting as a stepping stone towards the acceptance and appreciation of all the cultural and social differences that arise today and in future. For me to be a goal brand which is my aim, it’s of great importance that I become flexible culturally and get to learn and respect all the cultures that I encounter. I intend to travel more and experience the primary cultures that are not represented in my current setting. Going to Australia for a one month vocation is the start of my cultural exploration. This will be followed by Africa later in the year 2011 especially in Nigeria and Kenya due to their diverse cultural orientations. I have already saved for the trips and since am going with a couple of friends, we have developed a travel schedule as part of our preparation.
I have also tried to gauge the cultural and social differences back home and here. It has come to my realization that the values of the society are more instilled back at home. There’s a sense of individualism here where people only relate to individual rights hence embodying the spirit of openness and democracy, a virtue I admire (Different Culture Between China and West 2009).
My goal is to rise to a managerial position in the organization by applying into more managerial oriented courses and the pursuit for challenging ventures that may arise in the organization.

List of References

Different Culture Between China and West. (2009, 7 12). Retrieved 12 10, 2010, from BaIDU.com: http://hi.baidu.com
Edmundson, A. (2007). Globalized-learning cultural challenges. Tuson,Arizona: Information science publishg.
EDU, T. (2006, 6 12). Chinese culture. Retrieved 12 10, 2010, from TYCC EDU simplified language learning: http://www.tyccedu.com.
Iris, V., & Linda, B. (2010). Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace. Berkshire: McGraw Hill.
Makore, N. (2007). Diversification In Schools. London, United Kingdom: McGraw Hill.
Mariga, J. (2008). Word Shortening amongTteenagers (Revised ed.). London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Roseke, J. (2010). McDonalds. New Jersey: Routledge.
Yuan, J. (2009). Greetings in Chinese. London, United Kingdom: McGraw Hill.
Yueng, M. (2007). Culture in food. New York: Routledge.

Auther's bio:
The author is associated with www.uktopessays.com and he can help you with essays,research papers,term papers,disserations,thesis,course work