Every country has its own unique culture and values. Given the rising rate of global migration trend, more and more people of diverse cultures will be living together in the same society. Hence, it is essential for everyone to understand, appreciate and adapt to the various cultural behaviours in order for everyone to live in harmony. I consider myself fortunate as I have been to many countries and experience many different cultures before. The Youth Expedition Project trip to Laos last December was a fruitful one.
We were on a project to build a classroom for the children in one of the village. On the first day in the village, the village teacher was showing us around the village. We had a hard time understanding him as none of us knew Laotian language. We had to rely on one of the Singaporean facilitator, who is always not around, to help us translate.
When we started working on the building, due to our enthusiasm, we always worked fast and hard. Soon, we started to notice that the two Laotians that were initially working slowly also started to work faster to keep up with us. Then we remembered what our Singaporean facilitator told us, “Laos PDR, Please Don’t Rush”. We soon realised Laotians always take their time to work and get contented easily. Even though we were working to build a classroom in Laos, I felt so relax and carefree there.
Different cultures have different pace and ways of doing things. In future, it is very possible for us to be working with people from different cultures. Some of us might even be posted overseas to work. I believe it is vital for us to understand the working culture of the workplace and adapt quickly.
Hi Wei Li,
ReplyDeleteI think you have pointed out a good point - In this globalized world, we have a higher probability of interacting with individuals from different cultures. In particular, if we have to move to a different culture because of various reasons, having the ability to adapt to that culture is important.
I remember my Marketing professor once shared an example about the failure of most MNC when they tried to setup their business in Japan.
In Japan, the production of a product undergoes many different channels - From procurement of raw materials to designing of packages to packing of the product. (This is why most of Japanese products are nicely packed)
Anyway, many foreign businessman tried to cut off many intermediary chains from the production process to lower their cost. They were then boycotted by the remaining channels in the production process.
The foreigner businessman failed to understand the close support and partnership Japanese businessman have for one another.
The converse is also true. If one is able to understand and adapt to the way individuals behave in a said culture, he will have higher chance of working well and excel in that culture. =)
Hey Wei Li,
ReplyDeleteOvercoming the language barrier must have been quite difficult in this case. I was also involved in a service learning project to India and some of my group mates faced similar difficulties.
I agree with your point on understanding different work cultures. Nowadays, in this increasingly borderless world, most jobs require one to travel out of his country. Like you said, forming such understandings will definitely be an asset to one.
Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks Jimmy and Mufeedha for sharing your experiences.
ReplyDeleteTalking about Japan, I realize some words in Japan are written in Chinese. And I thought that they have the same meaning. However, I realize not all share the same meaning.
Here's an example:
汽車 in Chinese means car. However, in Japanese, it means train. Car is written as 自動車 instead. 自動車 direct translate in Chinese means automatic car.
There are so much to understand in each culture, hence we should never stop learning from each other and be a student of the world.