Managing Individuals

¶ … photosynthesis chemosynthesis. Determine significant step regard harnessing energy process, explain? 1 page Choosing credible sources: As a business person politician, assume talking staff. How do different cultures and age differences affect workplace relations? Just like no workplaces project is alike, no project team is alike in terms of the background and values of the individuals that make up the team. All too often it is tempting to assume that our personal values are universal values.

Something as simple as personal space can feel very intuitive, even though what is considered the 'correct' distance is actually culturally determined. In many societies, such as Mediterranean cultures, a very close distance between two conversing parties is normal. In other cultures, a respectful distance is demanded, particularly between superiors and subordinates. A Japanese-American manager might find his Italian-American employee to be excessively familiar and confrontational, simply because the man stands too close to him and perhaps uses a louder tone than the manager is accustomed to in daily conversation.

We all use body language to communicate: the danger is our language may send out a message we do not wish to convey. Despite the new emphasis placed on 'teamwork,' in general, American culture tends to stress the value of individualism and competition, especially in the workplace. People from cultures that lack such an emphasis may appear weaker and less driven on the surface to Americans, simply because they fail to use 'business-speak' so common in the U.S. like 'making a slam dunk' (Wong 5).

But this can be a profound misreading rather than the truth -- moreover, many U.S. workplaces could benefit from the stress placed upon cooperation and harmony in other business sectors. However, to be fair, the focus in America on speaking one's mind and a sense of fearlessness about articulating one's personal opinion can be extremely valuable and instructive to people from cultures where this is not encouraged.

In relationship-driven cultures, the emphasis is on 'saving' the other person's face rather than confronting them and demonstrating them to be wrong in public. In America, debate and even friendly insults are accepted, even across the organizational hierarchy, and those who are hurt by these displays of aggression are criticized for being overly sensitive. This might be difficult for someone to comprehend from another culture, particularly if the challenge is made to a respected authority figure.

However, in those same context-oriented cultures, other practices which are common might be considered quite rude to an American. Americans value time as a commodity, yet other cultures have more fluid sense of time -- fostering social engagements take priority over holding to a specific 'o'clock, and Americans are often outraged when meetings in Southern Europe and elsewhere begin 15 minutes to a half hour later than schedule. An important lesson from cultural diversity is that there is no 'correct' culture.

What is required is that one is mindful enough about one's cultural worldview so as.