Culture is the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that form a person’s way of life. It shapes how we act, think and feel. It also shapes how we interact with other people and it defines what is right or wrong in the society. Culture defines what “common-sense” to us is and will guide us on how to act appropriately. Therefore, culture is an important part of our life and we should learn more about it so as to prevent conflicts.An intercultural scenario that I observe quite frequently is the sharing of food, when we order both muslim and non-muslim dishes. As the group I usually hang out with are non-muslims, we do not really care about the utensils we use when sharing the food. Sometimes, we would get angry stares from muslim passer-bys, when we use utensils from non-muslim stores to eat from the muslim dishes. Muslims consider non-halal food and the utensils from non-muslim stores to be unclean, which is the reason behind the angry stares we get. It is not that we do not know about the muslim culture, it is just that we are too insensitive to it. If we continue doing so without trying to be more sensitive, we will provoke our muslim friends, if we were to have a meal together. Therefore, we should not only learn more about other cultures, we should also strive to be more sensitive to them. This will then help us to prevent intercultural conflicts from happening. 
With the world getting more globalised, it is inevitable that we will have to work with people of other cultures. Therefore, we should learn more about other cultures, especially culture of our team members. This will aid in reducing intercultural conflicts from occurring, due to our ignorance. It will also allow us to understand our team members better, which will result in better communication.
Leonard Lim (C06)
Hi Leonard,
ReplyDeleteI like your conclusion as it clearly wraps up your discussion and explained the importance of knowing other culture so as to prevent intercultural conflicts which may arise from the team.
I like the way you define the keywords, like culture, in your introduction. However, I do not really understand what you meant by “culture defines what is ‘common-sense’ to us”. It will be better if you can define common sense and provide an example to briefly explain what you mean.
In addition, I find that the intercultural scenario that you raised is more relevant in explaining the different types of religious issues and the need to be sensitive to other religions. As the blog topic required us to “present an interpretation… of culture and the fundamentals of effective communication”, you may need to draw an obvious link between the fact that Muslims can only consume halal food and their culture. You can do that by briefly explain the Muslim culture and why they find non-halal food unclean, which you may want to refer to http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_Muslims_and_followers_of_some_other_religions_can%27t_eat_pork.
Li Hua
Hi Leonard
ReplyDeleteI have similar ideas on how we define 'culture', especially since it is a word used too loosely nowadays, thanks to the mass media. In my opinion the word 'culture' has more similarities to 'branding' rather than 'moral values', which I would hav preferred to associate it with. Our every actions, every words we used are as the result of constant influence from people we interact with everyday. Instead, 'culture' is more likely used as an 'in' thing to follow, much akin to fashion.
However I believe you may have stray off from the topic, which is observation of team behavior with consideration to intercultural and interpersonal communication. The example you raised, while significant, is more of cultural insensitivity among us rather than scenes of people of different cultural backgrounds working together. True as it may, when we get together as a team we ought to be sensitive and careful in our actions so as not to offend our teammates unknowingly. I feel that you could have elaborate less on the sensitivity issue and more on existing groups of people from different cultural and racial backgrounds are working together now.
Last but not least, you have undoubtedly raised an important fact about the world being more globalised as we speak now. Hence even more we should be efficient in our communication between people of different backgrounds.
Brandon
Hi Leonard,
ReplyDeleteCulture does define a person’s way of life and it shapes the way people interpret messages in the context of communication. Communication plays a big part in our life, so in this globalised world, intercultural communications is very important.
I share the same sentiments that sometimes we are insensitive to other cultures. This is due to the reasons that sometimes, a small group of people is comfortable to the way we behaved, and thus we assumed that the other people of the same culture will act the same way. Sensitivity is one of the elements we have to pay attention to prevent intercultural conflicts from happening.
In my opinion, as mentioned in my post, assumptions are very dangerous and can be detrimental to intercultural communications. I believe that we should learn to tolerate uncertainties and temper our own communication style, seek clarifications and start listening by paying more attention to team members of different culture groups and not always jumping to conclusions.
Overall, it is very refreshing to see your own personal experiences to explain why we should be sensitive to other cultures. However, I feel that you should have expanded on intercultural communications and spend less time on cultures since the topic is actually on communications.
Jason
Hi Leonard,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you have defined culture, showing me that culture is all around us, affecting our every behavior, similar to "common sense". It is very different from how most of us will define cultural, as most of us just see it as a tradition and the definition is not as encompassing as the one you provided.
I agree with you that we need to be understanding towards other cultures and not be
insensitive to their cultures and way of life. Your example is important to many of us in Singapore as we are living in a multi racial country. And being acceptive of each other's cultures and habits are skills that are crucial in our interaction with different people that come from different cultural backgrounds.
However, I feel that your post could be better if you addressed cultural issues in the form of communication. The link between how cultural disparities affects communication between inter cultural teams are not emphasized enough in your post.
But nevertheless, it is an insightful post, and I really look forward to your next post. Keep up the good work!
Cherlia
Hi Leonard,
ReplyDeleteBy defining culture at the start of the post, you allowed me a glimpse on how I should see interracial interactions. I particularly like how you defined culture in your own terms and that you mentioned that culture defines what is “common-sense “to us. This made me realized how we are sometimes unaware that what we are doing is not amongst the majority, but that merely that we assume it to be so as it is culturally correct to us. This means that there are other ways of executing situations that we might find ourselves unfamiliar with but is the “common-sense” defined by another culture.
I also like how the example is one I can easily relate to and that it portrays how interracial awareness is important in all aspects of our lives. I agree that we must respect the wishes of others especially is it is a very important aspect in their culture and we must not force our own culture on anyone else. However, the lack of actual interaction between the two cultures (apart from some glares) does not really show how the two cultures can exist side by side in Singapore in a state of harmony. To the uninformed reader it might slightly confusing. Perhaps a background on the story would serve to explain it better.
That said, I like the down-to-earth style of this post, and it has been a pleasure to read. Keep it up, looking forward to the next one.
Regards
Kimberly