I have recently read an article
dated June 12, 2012, titled Understanding
Cultural Difference at Workplaces. It
was written by Jung Bong-soo.
With a global connection in the
workplace becoming more and more prevalent, it is vital that we at least
consider some of the differences between cultures and how they impact us. Then, we must each consider how the differences
need to be addressed for ourselves and the roles we maintain. Not all roles require the same consideration
be given. With our worlds becoming more
diverse and more interconnected, we need make ourselves more aware of the
differences. As a medical assistant,
global touches may be more limited. The
writer of this blog currently works for an international non-profit
organization. Understanding differences
in cultures is quite important to have.
Three points which were brought to
light as important were:
·
In Western cultures roles more than age within organizations
are more respected. In other cultures,
it is more about age or other more personal factors.
·
Language differences have a greater effect on
relationships both personally and in the workplace.
·
How an individual receives communication is as
important as how it is sent.
This writer works in a position
where his manager is 14 years his junior.
In other cultures, this could be difficult to handle when considering
respect issues. Problems could arise in
the older person giving the appropriate respect to their boss. Difficulties may also be seen in the younger
not being able to give direction to the older employee. In the Western culture this is not as big of
an issue any longer. We consider younger
people to give new perspective and ideas and older people to give experience
and historical value to the situation.
In our Western culture we give much
credence to being honest with others and we do not necessarily consider
politeness or respect. It seems, in many
work places, day to day is more about getting the job done at all cost. Accomplishing work tasks are completing
direct orders as opposed to requests. Our
military environment is a prime example.
We have, however, masked the orders in the civilian workplace by
improving our ability to say “please” and “thank you” when making a request of
an employee.
We also need to consider slang and
fad statements which might be fun to use and work well within our culture can
be very offensive in others. They could
make the receiver of the message feel threatened or insulted. We must always consider others in our
communication.
This writer has found these three
points to be important considerations not only because of the global connection
but because of the diverse connection between our cultures within our local physical
environments. Whether we communicate
well in another language verbally, or not, it is important to understand that
many of the foreign cultures show a different respect than in the Western
culture. Western culture tends to say be
honest and forthright, regardless of how blunt we have to be or what the
relationship is.
It is important to be aware of the
cultures we touch, however, each job should give understanding regarding
whether cultural research is necessary.
In my current role, it is minimal but necessary.
