Visit to Marae: Difference between Indigenous and Traditional Business Approach

This report discusses the difference between indigenous and traditional business approaches, intercultural issues, and conflicts among cultural approaches based on a visit to the Marae in New Zealand. It also compares the situation of indigenous people in India and New Zealand.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Difference between an indigenous approach and traditional approach to business:.......................2
Intercultural issues:..........................................................................................................................3
Evidences of conflict between cultural approach, ideas, patterns...................................................4
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................5
References:......................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction:
An increasing number of business companies throughout the world are currently
recognizing the importance of the indigenous tradition and the cultural values together with their
approaches in the business. In New Zealand, the Maori culture is widely recognized as the
indigenous group of people. The Maori communities throughout the New Zealand use the Marae
as the focal point. The Marae is a complex, fenced all around consisting carved buildings and
grounds. The iwi tribe is the owner of the place. The place is used as the Maori’s place to stand
and belong (Hutchinson, 2014). In this report a discussion is made on a visit to the Marae and the
way it differs from India. The difference between the indigenous approach to the business and
traditional approach to the business together with the relevant intercultural issues and conflict
among the cultural approaches is discussed in the assignment as per the observations from the
visit to the Maori community.
Difference between an indigenous approach and traditional approach to
business:
The traditional approaches are the common methods that were usually popular in the
early stages of business. It limited the role of businessin several ways and it locks several
possibilities as well. Starting from planning process till the outcome, the business is based only
on profit making. A traditional business set their goals based on making profit and satisfying
company needs. It targets for quantitative outcomes in future ignoring the real life situations.
These kinds are suitable in the short term and in the conservative environment however it is
important to realize the ways globalization has compelled business adapt new methods for
growth and take up more responsibilities (von der Porten& de Loë, 2013).

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Today, business all around have been taking responsibilities for various social aspects
and one such approach of business is indigenous approach.
An indigenous business approach includes the outlining of the business policies, strategies,
goals, targets and planning considering the aboriginals, Torres Strait islander people and other
existing tribal people. The business along with their business operation takes steps to involve and
support indigenous population. It provides rightful place and position to the indigenous
entrepreneurs in the domestic and international economy. It makes them realize their ambitions
and their value in the business. The indigenous approach includes a nation building approach as
it has the potential for improving the nation as a whole without leaving social group lagging.
India is country consisting approximately 700 tribal groups.
On the other hand, the tradition approach in the scenario of the Indian context to business
encircles on the target over the perspective from the short term performance horizon, the explicit
co-ordination and the approach involving communication and development of clear rules. The
population owned by Indian indigenous people is second largest in world after Africa. It is
important that these people are taken care by government, society and the corporate sectors. Due
to large population in India, industries were often found taking lands from the indigenous people.
From the perspective of business approach, the indigenous approaches differs a lot since it is
based on the sustained interaction of the community people with the environment over the
generation apart from the practices on the specific places that constitutes the tradition approaches
to business in the Indian context. The business approach of the Indigenous group is connected to
the environment and the nature as compared to the Indian approach.

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Intercultural issues:
Maori culture is recognized as one of the indigenous culture in New Zealand. On visiting
Marae, there were several mannerism that were encountered as well as few of the obstacle in the
way of better cross-cultural understanding. Language has been one of the most prominent factor
that often arose while making communication (Warter&Warter,2014). The expression and
mannerism observed were often misread due to the cultural differences. Few of the traditional
activities were hard to interpret such as the mandatory rule of taking shoes off before entering a
Maori meeting house. While a Maori was performing a hakka on face, it was polite to keep an
expressionless face. In order to ensure polite behavior a constant look on the speaker’s face was
important. The things that was observed by the visit to the region was that Maori is one of the
rich cultures. It is important to respect for the main building of the TE WHARENUI which is in
shape of a human body displaying a specific ancestor of the tribe. The people of Maori also
arrange formal welcoming to the people arriving in their complex. The Maori life also includes
sleeping together on floor mattress in occasions. They Eat together, and learn together through
debates and arguments (Lohmann, 2013).
The intercultural issues observed from the visit to the Maori community illustrated the
two main factors of concern prevailing within the community. These are differing sets of the
values of the culture among the white people of the New Zealand and the Maori targeting the
issue of racism and the problems related to the legacy of the colonial imperialism in the
particular alienation the Maori land.

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Evidences of conflict between cultural approach, ideas, patterns.
As per the observations during the visit to the Maori community, some of the essential
factors that was highlighted in the community includes the richness of the culture together with
the cultural and traditional involvements of the community people towards the enrichment of
their livelihood. Whie there has been far more linguistic and cultural diversity among the maori
communities, it is evident that there lies certain of the cultural and the social conflicts among the
people of the community. The context of racism, health issues, and the lack of primary education
are some of the factors that were observed in the community. Furthermore it was evident how the
Maori people are more inclined to the nature and worship the nature as their god which is a wide
cultural difference among the other people and community of New Zealand(Smith, 2016).
Therefore the chances are the culture values will not be respected by the businesses penetrating
in the tribe. However, an indigenous approach of business may solve the issue. In India, more
and more industries are considering the schedule tribes in order to help them understand the
benefits the business will give them and their value in society (Bhagat, 2016). Business can have
negotiating conflicts as there is language barrier in having appropriate communication. It is not
only the language but also the different ways of negotiation that every culture follows while
negotiating (Ting‐Toomey, 2017). Hiring the people from different cultural backgrounds might
lead to cultural conflict issues. It is important that companies emphasis on communication and
leadership in order to avoid these conflicts. Business having multi-cultural aspects have several
benefits such as different ideas, different perspectives which can result as an overall benefit of
the business. One of the major factor for conflicts can be the advertising conflicts
(Kastanakis&Voyer, 2014). While marketing it is important that companies be careful of not
hurting any cultural sentiments. Advertising in foreign culture should be carefully reviewed

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specially from the perspective of the different cultures associated with it. The situation of Maori
in New Zealand and the schedule tribes are similar in few circumstances and dissimilar in few
situations. The issues faced by the tribes are similar to some extent such as invasion in territory,
isolation from land and many more. The dissimilar situations would be the ways companies are
cooperating and incorporating indigenous norms and values (Haar et al., 2014). It can thus be
concluded that despite the continuous effort of the government of New Zealand towards the
improvement of the level of discrimination and the relation among the community people with
the non community one, the tension still lies beneath the surface regarding the persistent problem
of the growing inequality in the Maori community. The high level of poverty, illness, abuse,
incarceration are some of the present day evidences regarding the conflicts on cultural and
ideological approaches that still suffers from the present day injustice.
Conclusion:
The Marae is the place owned by the iwi tribe. The place is used as the Maori’s place to
stand and belong. Due to growing globalization business have managed to reach in many places.
Indigenous population are important to consider as they are equally important like any other
culture. Appropriate approach is needed to be incorporated in order to have a socially inclusive
society. The similarities and differences between Marae and India give idea regarding the
situation of indigenous people. However with corporate social responsibilities business have
introduced various ways not only to support them but also to involve them in the business
models.

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References:
Bhagat, R. B. (2016). Internal migration in India: are the underclass more mobile?. In India
Migrations Reader (pp. 132-150). Routledge India.
Haar, J. M., Russo, M., Suñe, A., &Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2014). Outcomes of work–life balance
on job satisfaction, life satisfaction and mental health: A study across seven cultures.
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Hutchinson, N. (2014). Notional transect across the Volcanic Plateau from Tukorehe scenic
reserve to TeUrewa national park. Geography Bulletin, 46(2), 27.
Kastanakis, M. N., &Voyer, B. G. (2014). The effect of culture on perception and cognition: A
conceptual framework. Journal of Business Research, 67(4), 425-433.
Kroth, S. (2013). Sing of the Land: Māori Women in Performance. 2013 NCUR.
Lohmann, R. I. (2013). Sleeping among the Asabano: Surprises in Intimacy and Sociality at the
Margins of Consciousness. In Sleep Around the World (pp. 21-44). Palgrave Macmillan,
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Smith, W. (2016). As the Bard Turns. The American Scholar, 120.
Ting‐Toomey, S. (2017). Identity negotiation theory. The International Encyclopedia of
Intercultural Communication, 1-6.
von der Porten, S., & de Loë, R. C. (2013). Collaborative approaches to governance for water
and Indigenous peoples: A case study from British Columbia, Canada. Geoforum, 50,
149-160.

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Warter, L. I. V. I. U., &Warter, I. U. L. I. A. N. (2014). Intercultural issues in mergers and
acquisitions. Are cultural differences an asset or a liability. Bulletin of The Polytechnic
Institute of Iasi, 60, 9-24.