Understanding Cultural Differences and Their Impact on Business

This critical reflection portfolio explores the concept of culture and its impact on business. It discusses the importance of understanding cultural differences in international business and how it can lead to success or failure. The portfolio also delves into the topics of cultural intelligence, intercultural communication, and the influence of cultural dimensions on organizational practices. The author shares personal experiences and examples to illustrate the significance of cultural awareness in maintaining efficient workflow and harmony in the workplace.

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
CRITICAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The first learning material gave a description about the word culture. The first thing that is
stated is Culture is the cultivation of the mind that is prepared for anything that comes in the
way (Wagner 2015). Here I have learnt about the different definitions of cultures from
different authors. Many have a different take on the word culture. According to Schneider
and Barsoux culture is an important factor in international business. It can pave way for
success and also for loss if not considered an important factor. I completely agree to this
definition. To expand a business it is important for a company to understand the value and the
cultures of the company. Once I was having a conversation with my friend who was from
South Korea about the company Walmart and how it is a success. I later got to know from
him that Walmart was not a success in South Korea. Walmart could not understand the local
culture of South Korea and the importance of shopping small packages at a local store.
Walmart suffered for this reason and hence had to shut down their stores in South Korea. I
realized the importance of the cultural differences and how it can affect a giant business. In
this chapter I read about seven things about culture that were not known to me before. The
first thing was that people were not born with culture but rather acquired from the society.
Culture cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is intangible and mainly in our brain. Culture is
symbolic and measured by the language, the gestures, images and places. Cultures are not
constant by change with time and even adaptable. Cultures become organized and structured
by the society some times. Cultures often influence the way we think and interpret things.
Culture also controls the behavior of the people. I have also learnt that cultures are directly
proportionate to shared values. In order to understand the culture of a person I need to
understand the belief’s of the people like how they perceive the world and how they would
want the world to be. Values usually do not change because of a person’s mood or situations.
In this chapter I have learnt how culture influences us in many different ways like behaviors,
following rituals and also cuisines. I agree to this completely as there are certain behaviors

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that are influenced according to their culture. Cuisines also influence the culture as once I
traveled to Jamaica for a vacation I found that Jamaicans have spicy food. It is their culture
that influences food to be spicy. Edward Hall who is a famous anthropologist describes
culture as invisible jet streams in the sky that determine the course of storms. In this chapter I
have learnt about the model that shows the relationship between behavior and values. The
first thing is that values are basically our beliefs and assumptions and this influences our
attitude. Our attitude towards life later influences our behavior. This is an interconnected
relationship that is intangible but exists within ourselves. I have experienced this in my work
place. There was a work that was assigned to me and when I got the briefing I assumed that I
am not the right person for the job and I would not be able to do justice to the work. I wanted
to dismiss but my senior had faith in me and asked me to complete the job. Later I was
appreciated for my performance on that particular assignment which made me realize that
how my assumptions made me reject work that I excelled in. This has helped me in
understanding that the assumptions I make is not always going to be like that and the attitude
and culture reflects on a person’s behavior`
In the next chapter I learnt about the cultural brain. This chapter describes how our cultural
brains influence intercultural communication or interaction. It states that our brains are lazy
and very little effort is put in to simplify the world and the experience. It says that people
more than thinking rationally make assumptions and one of the common things is
stereotyping. We categorize on the basis of culture in two ways one is that we categorize
things or people on the basis of past or present experiences and the other one is by making
interpretations and judgment of our own experiences. Culture influences how we interpret
and perceive the world where we live thus make it elemental to culture. Here I have learnt the
different aspects or factors that determine usually while categorizing. People tend to
categorize people in two ways. One is in group where they find similarities with each other

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and the other is the out group where people do not find similar features like the other person’s
beliefs, accent, skin color and many more (Hinton 2015). I completely agree with this point
as I have categorized people on similarities. Here I have learnt another vital thing that I have
learnt is the biasness that has been linked to culture. People tend to judge and categorize in
the first meeting by analyzing their behavior, their attitude and make assumptions whether
they are trust worthy or whether later they can be friends. We mostly think that our beliefs
and values are right when we meet people with the same thought process or some different
similarities we tend to gel well with them more. I completely agree to this as I have been like
that during college. I hung around with people and made friends in college who had the same
thought process like I have. All my friends had same taste in music; they liked basketball like
I did. These factors made me hang around with them more than other students. Ethnocentrism
influences biasness amongst people. Many people think that they are superior and the others
are lagging behind or try to be like them. Superiority complex paves way for discrimination
and biasness among people. We categorize our in group people with all the positive traits and
categorize people who are not a part of our group with the negative traits. We as people
acknowledge the diversities and complexities in our group but do not when it comes to out
groups that paves way for a bias decision (Hudlicka 2018). In this chapter I have also learnt
that we often assume the reason for someone’s behavior and act as we are sure about it
whereas it can be an entire different reason. I agree to the materials provided. In my work
place my subordinate was angry and behaved in a certain way. I assumed that he was
obnoxious and rude. Later I got to know that he was suffering from anxiety and he
apologized for the behavior and did regret it. I did not bother to ask him but I assumed the
reason and judged on the basis of my thinking. This is known as attribution errors. I have
learnt about how stereotype can be abusive (Bodenhausen, Macrae and Sherman 2016).

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In the other chapter I have learnt about cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is assessed
by a person’s capability of working and relating across cultures. The CQ does not promote
cultural bond rather focuses on the interactions and understanding of someone’s behavior,
attitude and culture reflects on a person’s behavior, ambiguous gestures and an ability to see
our own culture in the eyes of someone else’s perspective (Ang and Van Dyne 2015). I agree
to this point and think that it is necessary to possess capabilities of intercultural
communication. It is highly necessary in a company or in a business for a person in the
managerial position. When I worked for a company before where I was asked to lead a team I
saw there were people from different cultural backgrounds and all of them had different
inputs. I had to get the work done efficiently thus had to make sure there was no
miscommunication between the employees under me and give equal attention to everyone to
maintain the efficient workflow. I had to converse with employees from different cultures and
understand their point of view to make sure there is productivity. In this chapter I have
learned the concept of contact theory. The contact theory states that people need to interact
with people from out groups to know them and get the inaccurate assumptions out from the
minds. I completely agree to this. Once I came across a person at a friend’s party who did not
talk much and seemed disinterested. I made an assumption about the person that the person is
rude and does not have the decency to reciprocate properly to any conversation. The
expression on the person’s face was as if the person was disinterested and does not think that
anybody is up her league. Later when I tried to make a conversation with a girl I realized that
she was an introvert and was shy. She was scared of people judging her that is why she did
not talk unless she was comfortable in her own zone. Her I understood that we should not
judge or make assumptions about anyone by their behavior as we do not know the mindset of
a person and the insecurities. We should not make any kind of assumptions and judgment
about anyone whom we do not know rather it is important to get to know the person so that

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we can understand them and the reason for their behavior. This leads to a positive
relationship among people and mixing people without assumptions paves way for a society
where there is harmony and peace.
In the other chapter I have learnt about understanding the cultural differences and use cultural
dimensions. Cultural differences are assessed by studying the different responses of people to
same challenges that are faced by all cultures. The problems are common but it is handled
differently by people. I agree to this point as the problem of all culture is survival and own
way. I have friends who have the same aim that is pursuing our individual interest. I went on
to work in an organization but my friend she went on to work as a dancer and a performer.
We both have different ways of handling the same problems. Here I have also learnt how
cultural difference influences organizational practice. It states that how different orientation
paves way for different aspects in an organization. Like power orientation in an organization
structure differs from the egalitarian and hierarchical. I agree to this completely. It states that
the structure of the organization in an egalitarian structure is flat, the status symbol is not
very important, the importance of face saving is not very important, the management may be
participatory and the role of the manager is that of a facilitator. However, in the hierarchical
structure of organization it is different. The structure of the organization is of a hierarchical
pyramid. The status symbol of the organization is very important. Face saving is important
here. The management is not participatory and the role of the manager is like an expert. I
agree with this as I have worked for a company that comprises of the hierarchical structure.
When I was working in an organization I saw how the cultural difference affects the
workplace. In my workplace I had seen how important was face saving and status symbol for
my company. My company was very popular and had a very good reputation in the market
because of the positive reviews by consumers that helped the company to generate reviews
and make profits. The leader of the company was an expert at the job as he had an experience

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of over 20 years in the field. In my workplace I have seen that employees did not get to
participate in the management and make decisions. Most of the decisions were taken by
people who were at the managerial post or head of some division. In the chapters I have
learned things that is relevant and important that will impact the capability of the workplace.
Culture plays an important role in business and in our lives. It is important for us and the
companies to go beyond boundaries to understand the difference in culture and respect people
in order to maintain efficient workflow and also maintain harmony in an organization and in
our lives.

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Reference
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Conceptualization of cultural intelligence: Definition,
distinctiveness, and nomological network. In Handbook of cultural intelligence (pp. 21-33).
Routledge.
Bodenhausen, G.V., Macrae, C.N. and Sherman, J.W., 2016. On the dialectics of
discrimination: Dual processes in social stereotyping.
Hinton, P.R., 2015. The perception of people: Integrating cognition and culture. Routledge.
Hudlicka, E., 2018. Modeling cultural and personality biases in decision-making. In
Advances in Culturally-Aware Intelligent Systems and in Cross-Cultural Psychological
Studies (pp. 189-209). Springer, Cham.
Wagner, R., 2016. The invention of culture. University of Chicago Press.