Working Across Cultures: Cultural Reflections Journal

This cultural reflections journal explores the challenges and differences of working across cultures. It discusses intercultural communication, cultural values, and the impact of cultural differences in the workplace.

Running head: MBA6150
Working across
cultures
Student Name:
Student ID:

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Introduction
My name is XYZ and I am from Bhutan, which is located in the Eastern Himalayas in South
Asia. Bhutan has 19 different languages and Dzongkha is recognized as the official language.
I have completed my undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts, Honours majoring in English
in 2005 at the Kalimpong College, North Bengal University in India. I started my career as a
graphic designer working for the government newspaper known as Kuensel Corporation
Limited in 2006. In my role I have been exposed to a multitude of responsibilities due to
changes in the market. My working experience includes Fresh Produce Team Member in
Coles Super Market at Scarborough Beach, Perth WA from 20th October 2014 – till date and
Senior Graphic Designer in Kuensel Corporation Ltd. My working experiences has helped
me to study in abroad in a country like Australia, which is a multicultural country and my real
challenges started with cultural differences. There is a considerable difference between the
working cultures of both the countries. Moreover, English is considered as the official
language in Australia.
Description
I am a Bhutanese and worked in Bhutan for 7 years. I had completed my Diploma in
Australia and have also worked in Australia. While working in both the countries I had
observed that there is a vast difference between the working cultures of both the countries.
Bhutanese people might see Australians as laid-back people, but they are also hard working
people like the Bhutanese. They have different etiquette in the workplace in comparison to
workplace etiquettes of Bhutan (Abendroth & Reimann, 2018). Moreover, it needs to be
understood that working across different cultures has provided immense knowledge regarding
the execution of the work processes in a diverse workplace.
Now coming to the culture of Australians, they are found to be direct and straightforward.
Australian executives have the tendency to swear in the meetings. This tendency might shock
people from conservative nations but swearing is a significant part of their vocabulary. They
also utilize it to express their anger with formal rules (Bauer, Matzler & Wolf, 2016). The
workplace culture of Australia enables people to socialize during the work hours. They have
flexible work hours, and so it is easier for them to talk with their co-workers. It is also the
reason that most of the Australians do not socialize after working hours. On comparing with
Bhutan, I found that in Bhutan people socialize only on Fridays or at weekends. Also, my
work experiences have helped me to understand about the differences between different

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cultures, intercultural communication, different cultural values and cultural differences in
workplaces as well as some words which could not be translated in English, funny
translations of English words and use of silence.
From above it can be analyzed that the cultural differences effectively helps in the
development of cultural intelligence of the staffs, and it is the first step for developing a
strategy of an international business which influences the risks posed by the cultural
differences to international business. Cultural values and perceptions taught initially
demonstrate all the aspects of a person’s behavior. In the environment of international
business, which brings competition among the people from diverse cultures, being culturally
conscious and having the capability to work efficiently across cultures is important (Bryon,
2017). It is evident to know that working across cultures increases intercultural awareness
towards the cultural differences, which influences the workplace and allows to communicate
more efficiently across diverse cultures.
The above description of culture differences reveals that intercultural communication is
related to issues connected with speech and culture of those who belong to different
environment or land. It is evident that an individual who had grown up in Bhutan is going to
have a diverse culture than the person who had grown up in Australia. Even people from the
USA find it difficult to adjust in Australia and vice versa even though they are almost the
same nations and interact in the same language. In the workplace, the values and the behavior
of the staffs are affected by diverse cultures (Gopalkrishnan & Pulla, 2016). Their response to
the senior managers and co-workers are all determined by their own culture. Their
communication pattern and their formality and informality concepts might be different. As
for example, many employees in international organizations in West address their seniors and
bosses by their first name. But in some nations like Bhutan, it is supposed to be informal.
Reflection
From the learnings it is understood that the significance of intercultural communication in the
workplace could not be underestimated. It plays a vital role in the workplace and impacts the
final outputs of the employees. Although intercultural communication is not a new concept
and has existed for many years, the arrival of globalization has brought the world together
(Hapsari, Stoffers & Gunawan, 2017). It is not surprising then that individuals have to travel
to various parts of the world for their job and have to adjust to the new environment. But, the

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adjustment is not easy, and so a little support from co-workers could ease the procedure of
‘fitting in’ for the foreign employees.
The learnings also reflects that the vital element of culture is language as language is one of
the most essential aspects in order to appreciate a culture. There are almost 3,000 languages
and 10,000 dialects all over the world. For that reason, English has been selected as the
language of business and as an official language to interact with people from diverse cultures.
As for example, English is spoken in both the USA and Britain, but the phrases have a
different meaning. French fries of America are British chips; cookies of America are British
biscuits and many more. I distinguished that there are certain words, which could not be
translated into English. They are such as Pisan Zapra, a Malaysian word, Schadenfreude, a
German word, Gigil, a Filipian word, Bakku-shan, a Japanese word and many more
(Herrmann & Holland, 2017). There are some words in English, which turn into funny
meaning in other languages. The word “kiss” in English means, “pee” in Swedish. The word
“gift” in English means, “poison” in German. The English word “meme” means “breast” in
Turkish.
From above, it has been evaluated that there exists different cultural values in international
business. The Cultural values and perceptions taught initially demonstrate all the aspects of a
person’s behavior. Moreover, intercultural communication helps to avoid miscommunication,
which may arise due to cultural barriers in the path of adjustment for the foreign employees. I
came to know about cultural differences in international business. I got information from a
speech, which was given by Valérie Hoeks at a TEDx event, organized by TED Conferences
independently. She had discussed in the speech that one of the components of the cultural
differences between Europe and China is the significance of relationships. In the West, the
significance is the same, but there is a major difference. In China, relation with the right
people will help any individual to get things done, to live and to be successful. In the West,
satisfaction is predominant while in China; interaction with one another strongly impacts the
working atmosphere (Ihtiyar, 2018). Moreover, it is seen that Valérie Hoeks had been active
in China for more than 10 years as a student and as a traveler and later as a businessperson. In
the year 2010 China Inroads was co-founded by her with her Chinese and Dutch business
partners.
I recognized and felt the actual differences among the different business from all over the
world has distinct cultural differences. To cite an example, the formality to address

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coworkers and business partners from various countries is a huge consideration and it varies
as per the organizations, Asian nations like China, Singapore, and South Korea formally
address as “Mr. or Ms. Surname” whereas Australians and Americans utilize first names. If in
doubt, one can bend towards the side of formality, which is considered to be the safest. The
concept of punctuality also differs between cultures in international business.
My experiences also helped in understanding that various concepts of being on time often
lead to confusions or negative opinions about the culture (Littrell et al., 2018). For instance,
an American might reach the meeting a few minutes early, a Mexican or Italian coworker
might reach more than a few minutes or more after the scheduled time, but it would not be
considered late from their side. I had also learned about different aspects of cultural shock.
Cultural shock is like a trauma a person might feel when he moves into a different culture
from his own culture. As for example, a person from the USA may experience a cultural
shock in Asian nations. He might feel frustrated with the Asian culture like their language,
food, and local customs.
From the above analysis, I have marked some crucial viewpoints about the working across
cultures which effectively helps in the development of cultural intelligence of the staffs
through intercultural communication, and it is the first step for developing a strategy for an
international business which influences the risks posed by cultural differences to international
business. My learnings also includes the different cultural values in international business. It
reflects that cultural values and perceptions teaches initially to demonstrate all the aspects of
a person’s behavior. Intercultural communication helps to avoid miscommunication, which
may arise due to cultural barriers in the path of adjustment for the foreign employees.
Intercultural communication could be used to ease the employees if the company efforts to
make them feel comfortable (Lukes & Stephan, 2017).
The evaluation of my learnings reveals that it is essential that staffs of the dominant culture to
have knowledge about other cultures so that they could accept and know the perception of
diversity in the workplace. Moreover, the learnings also reflects that without owning
citizenship of a specific country one could not become Australian or American. Any
individual carries his principles, culture, and ethics wherever he travels (Martin & Nakayama,
2015). If he is giving his effort to identify the differences and accept cultural diversities in
the workplace, so it is the responsibility of his workplace or firm to help him to adjust with
the new culture. Besides educating the staffs, personal communication with the foreign staffs

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to understand various aspects of his culture and discussion of aspects one’s own culture also
makes a difference. A general research is never satisfactory or as effective as face-to-face
communication. Moreover, an individual who is new to a culture might fear to interact with
other staffs. It is the responsibility of the company to take them out of their fear and include
as well as accept them as part of the new workplace.
The above reflection also reflects that being silence is also a vital factor in the aspect of
working across different cultures. In some nations, a few seconds of silence could make the
discussion uncomfortable. It takes place in nations where there is low comfort of silence like
in USA, Italy, and France. In some countries of Asia such as Japan, Indonesia, and Korea,
there is high comfort of silence (Nguyen, Tran & Pham, 2016). It signifies that Asians does
not speak during the business meetings with people those who belong to Western nations.
Asians do not feel uncomfortable if the discussion or meetings stop for more than 30 seconds.
The given example of Frank and Juan had shown that Frank, manager of an Australian firm
came to meet Juan, manager of a Mexican firm. The Australian firm wanted to set up a
partnership with the Mexican firm. The meeting was fixed at 2 pm at a restaurant in Mexico.
Frank arrived on time, but Juan came after 2.30 pm and did not apologize for being late (Pu,
Tang & Jamaluddin, 2017). It shows that Mexican people have less sense of time than the
Australian people. Arriving late is not considered a sign of disrespect in Mexico, so Juan had
not apologized for being late. Frank must have prepared himself regarding the Mexican
business culture before meeting Juan ((Robinson-Pant & Singal, 2018). A Mexican co-
worker might reach more than a few minutes or more after the scheduled time, but it would
not be considered late from their side.
Analysis
My overall learnings could be applied in my future work situation. Intercultural
communication will help me in my workplace to interact with people from different
backgrounds. I am no longer tied down to one line and perspective of thinking rather has
diversified my thoughts. It will help me to create a better relation with my colleagues outside
my family and age groups. It will make me interact with those people who are not like-
minded. Working across cultures is likely to increase levels of ambiguity and uncertainty. If
one is struggling against the discomfort, he will block-out from telling his discomfort and
thus lose vital perceptions about himself and others. The cultural values of an organization
set the tone of that organization's culture (Rohlfer & Zhang, 2016).

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The reflection shows that accepting cultural differences provides a wide range of options to
the business managers in order to overcome business-related issues (Tran, 2016). It offers
effective ways to cope up with potential barriers regarding culture and international business.
Also, it is necessary for the foreign firms to know that there is a difference in the cultural
definition and culture in the context of global business. Culture is described as a set of values
accepted by a particular society. When it is put in the context of international business, it is
considered as professional by that society which might be different from other society. The
managers need to recognize the cultural differences, which impact the international business
in areas such as etiquettes and communication (Schartner, 2016). They need to understand
them and know their effects on the business, as it would prevent them from creating
confusions with foreign customers and coworkers.
Furthermore, it is interesting and surprising that in Malaysia, if the business counterpart is
about to come in five minutes, it is expected to wait up for 1 hour. They do not feel about
giving an explanation. In China, 10 minutes late is acceptable whereas, in Mexico, 30
minutes late for a business meeting is normal. In Ghana or Nigeria, the appointed meeting
hour might be 1 hour late or a day (Shah & Barker, 2017). In Morocco, business meetings can
be 1 hour late or a day. Scheduling meetings in India on time is not one of their habits. The
executives of international business have to learn the significance of cultural sensitivity while
involving with intercultural business. They must not look at cultural differences as
weaknesses, but as a way to gain success (Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2018).
The above explanations and analysis critically evaluates the fact that cultural values and
perceptions taught initially demonstrates all the aspects of a person’s behavior. It also needs
to be understood that for enhancing the effectiveness in real life of future work processes, the
understanding of diverse culture is vital. Moreover, working across cultures increases the
intercultural awareness towards the cultural differences which influences the workplace and
allows to communicate more efficiently across diverse cultures (Shaw, 2015). Even people
from the USA find it difficult to adjust in Australia and vice versa even though they are
almost the same nations and interact in the same language. In the workplace, the values and
the behavior of the staffs are affected by these cultures. Their response to the senior managers
and co-workers are all determined by their own culture (Stahl & Tung, 2015).
Action Plan
Goals Action Time Resources

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Goal 1: To overcome
my issues of
intercultural
communication.
Attend training to
improve my
communication skills.
Learn the dominant
language of the
working country.
Within 3 months Books, training
classes and language
professionals
Goal 2: To establish a
good relationships
with my colleagues
from different
cultures.
Set a special day
separately and ask
some of the
colleagues to share
some aspects of their
culture.
Within 2 weeks Interactions with
colleagues and some
learning presentations
Conclusion
The paper reflected about the experiences and challenges of working in a diverse culture. In
order to overcome the issues of working across various cultures, it is important to accept and
admit the presence of differences between various cultures. Working across cultures has
several benefits such as it increases productivity and creativity of the employees and
improves cultural insights of the employees towards his colleagues. Although it is not
possible to claim that my culture is more perfect than other cultures, instead it is more
knowledgeable to respect the other cultures and accept the cultural differences without
judging any cultures. It is concluded that to overcome the barriers in intercultural
communication while working in international business, it helps to reduce the cultural and
communication barriers while interacting with people of various cultures.
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ASSIGNMENT 1: CULTURAL REFLECTIONS JOURNAL 9
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