HRM Cultural Reflections Journal: Strategic, Functional & Operational

This document presents a student's cultural reflections journal, detailing their learning journey within a Human Resource Management (HRM) unit. The journal entries cover various aspects of intercultural communication, self-awareness, and personal development. The student reflects on experiences interacting with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly Japanese students, and how these interactions challenged pre-existing beliefs about individualism and decision-making processes. The journal also addresses the challenges of group-based activities with multicultural teams, including language barriers and conflicting cultural values. Furthermore, the student discusses instances of culture shock and contrasts in cultural values, such as differing perceptions of punctuality and eating habits. Strategies for managing diverse teams and promoting inclusivity are also explored, emphasizing the importance of addressing gender biases and fostering open communication. Overall, the journal illustrates a journey of increased self-awareness, adaptation, and a deeper understanding of intercultural dynamics in a professional context.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
Self-reflection is one of the major aspects that are needed in this modern day scenario.
This is because it is through this self-reflection that one will be able to find out the areas of
strengths and weaknesses that are present within the individuals. I have also thought that it would
be wise to keep a journal entry during all the lessons that are being undertaken. This is very
helpful as it helps to have a list of all the class notes and the lectures right at their disposal. This
is helpful while making self-reflection (Kreuz & Roberts, 2017). As a result of this, I have made
it a point that I keep a note of each and every situation or experience that I have gone through. I
have gone through many different kinds of experience during the classroom activities that were
undertaken. There were people coming from many different cultural backgrounds. I had this
belief that I am not good at developing a close connection with the people coming from other
religious or social backgrounds. However, I have been able to make many changes in myself and
b my beliefs. This is because I have got the chance of mixing with many different people
belonging from different cultural backgrounds. Some of them are from very liberal cultural
backgrounds while some of them are from a very orthodox background.
Intercultural communication
I started the classes and I could realize that mixing with the people from other cultural
backgrounds have been very useful as I could learn about the differences in the mindset and the
thinking patterns of so many different people. This also helped me to get many new insights
about the different kinds of religious and cultural beliefs. I learned about the cultural difference
that is present among the people of Australia and overseas. In other words, I have been able to
learn about the changes or the differences that are present in the cultural beliefs of the localities

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and also the overseas people. The Hofstede model is one of the most useful and important
lessons that we have learned in the classes This is because of the fact that cross-cultural
communication is one of the major aspects that affect the business I this modern 21st century. It
has to be noticed that the business mannerisms will largely differ from one person to the other
based on the culture or the society from which they belong. I had this view that decision making
is a process that must involve taking the opinions and the views of all the people belonging from
different groups or positions. However this perception totally changed when I had to interact
with some Japanese students during the class lectures. This is because of the fact that the
Japanese culture has a high power index.
They do not really believe that the involvement if the employees in the decision making
procedure are not very important and they enjoy that some particular people of the hierarchy
must be able to take all the decisions (Kreuz & Roberts, 2017). This is very normal for them.
However, in the beginning, I was having a problem in adjusting with this particular scenario but
later I realized that there are many differences among the culture and the thinking patterns of the
people of Australia and the people belonging from the overseas.
In Japan, disciplines are one of the major aspect and people always maintain the same in
the official meetings or another such place. Hugging or patting on the back is not accepted in a
good or a positive way. However, I was not very aware of this difference. As a result of this, I
thought that welcoming anyone with a warm and cozy hug or patting on the back and gestures
like showing thumbs up. During a group presentation, I found that the team had performed well
and so I hugged them and showed thumbs up as a matter or sign of appreciations. This was not
liked by many of the students. They started looking at me and appeared uncomfortable. Later I
realized that this is gesture is comfortable and popular in the Australian context but not in Japan.

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Thus, I realized that in order to greet them or appreciate them I need to maintain a good distance
and just bow before them. This is one of the most important lessons that I have got so far.
Earlier I had this perception that people of each and every place follow the principles of
individualism. However, this is not the case. I have seen that the Australian people have a high
index of about 90 in the field of individualism. This means that they always believe in standing
up for themselves. On the other hand, I have seen that the students from the Japanese culture are
believers in the long and drawn scenarios of the decision-making process. They believe that
waiting, in the long run, will be a wise decision rather than standing up and speaking for them.
They do not believe in quick actions. Thus my perceptions have changed while interacting with
them.
The puzzling fact for me was to carry on the group based activities with the students
coming from many different cultural and religious backgrounds (Shiraev & Levy, 2016). In was
unable to match up with the thoughts and the ideas of people coming from different religious and
socio-cultural backgrounds. This was puzzling in the initial levels as I faced many of the hurdles.
I was acting as the team leader and I saw there were many disputes between the people coming
from different countries and the different backgrounds. As a result of this, the project could not
be carried on properly. This was because while some people gave their votes for any particular
decisions and the others did not. The language barrier is one of the great hurdles that I faced.
However, I knew that I have to somehow overcome this issue. Thus, I arranged for many
seminars and workshops that would help the team members in getting rid of the issues that they
were facing.

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I believe that this is mainly happening because of the differences in the culture of the
students. This was because of the fact that people coming from different cultural backgrounds
have several differences in their thought process. They have different opinions regarding
different matters. Thus there is always a lack of proper approval from all the people over any
particular matter. This was a major challenge in the initial levels (Purnell, 2018). However, I saw
that this challenge was over as and when I started working with all the members of the team.
I have gained a proper knowledge about the way I need to handle each and every
situation. Earlier I did not know how to manage a particular situation. I had problems with
communication. I was not able to communicate with each and every team member in a sound
manner. I was not able to convey my message properly among people. However now I know that
in order to convey my message across the people, I have to use the different forms of
communication like the social media communication the instant messaging options, discussion
forums and many other such options (Berry & Dasen, 2019). If I see that my team members are
facing issues in carrying out any particular group project, I will be using many strategies that will
help in solving the problem. Firstly I would be implementing strict rules so that there are no
gender biases going on around in the company. This will ensure that none of the employees are
being affected because of the difference in their culture or religion. I will also ensure that there
are regular group meetings and discussions that are being conducted so that all the team
members can freely talk with one another. This will be a very good strategy for making the team
interact with one another.

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Contrasting cultural values
There is a sharp contrast in the cultural values of individuals belonging from different
cultural and religious backgrounds (Whalen, 2016). It is for this reason that staying in a dynamic
and multicultural classroom has been very helpful for me. I have been able to mix with people of
so many dynamic and unique cultures. However, it must be noted in this context that it is due to
these differences that often there have been war and fights. It was during one of our seminars that
I got a lesson about the sharp contrasts. This happened while I was late in arriving. I was late due
to a traffic jam (Carbaugh, 2016). So, I arrived there at 2.30 pm and the seminar started at 2 pm.
I saw that all the other team members who belonged to the different backgrounds were very
unhappy. They said that it was really very bad on my part to be so irresponsible. I did not like
this and I explained that thirty minutes was the grace time given and I thought that I will make it
within 2.15. However, it was due to the traffic jam that I could not reach on time. I come from a
different culture where arriving 10 to 15 minutes ahead or before the scheduled timing for any
meetings is justified. I also explained that my culture too respects punctuality and does not
entertain anyone delaying intentionally (Keith, 2019).However, I saw that after I explained this,
they were able to understand and were trying to accommodate me.
The other cultural difference was the eating pattern. Once we met for breakfast
before a meeting. I ordered the regular Australian breakfast that comprised of the cereals and the
bread. However, the other teammates who were from Japan did not like this menu. They thought
that this breakfast was not at all sufficient. They were astonished. They started looking at my
plate and laughed. I found it wrong. I explained to them that there is a difference in each and
every culture (Blayone et al., 2017). Firstly I am born and brought up in couture where this is the
common staple diet. I eat this as we usually start our day with carbs and high energy food. The

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second was we do not like eating fish or meat from any outlets as we do not know about the
quality (Hong & Yu, 2018). I realized that after I explained this, all the other team members
realized that there are many common differences between cultures and they are to be respected
by each and every one.
Culture Shock
Cultural shock is also one of the most essential aspects that one needs to adapt to. The
term cultural shock refers to the feeling of disgust or stress due to the difference in the culture.
One of the major cultural shocks that I faced was the way people visit each other houses. Being
from a very different cultural background I have always seen people talking and mixing with
each other in a very informal way. However, this was very different in other cultures. I have seen
that people do not really have the desire or the time of visiting each other’s houses as and when
they feel like. In other words, in many parts of Australia and also in many other cultures, people
do not appreciate the idea of visiting each other’s houses without proper notification. There is an
instance that I faced during my stay at the hostel. I saw that there was no contact between me
and my roommates for days and often it would be weeks and months. This was also very natural
for the people over there because the work schedules are very tight and people have to work at
different types of tome schedules just in order to strike a proper balance between their work and
their families.
Language and Written Communication Pattern
I had this thinking in my mind that English is the most widely spoken and accepted
language all over the world. However, after coming into my academic life, I realized that the

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scenario is widening day by day. People all over the world are now trying to adapt to many
different kinds of languages. They are trying their best to learn and respect the language that is
spoken in many different parts of the world. I saw that the dialect varies greatly from one part of
the country to the other. I had this misconception that people belonging from one country will
perhaps have the same accents or the pronunciations. However, this is wrong. After joining my
workplace I saw that people in one part of Australia had a different accent than the other pole
living in some other parts of the country. Apart from this the slangs and the acronyms vary
greatly. It is for this reason that I used to feel surprises. All my colleagues were from different
other parts of the country and were from multilingual and multicultural backgrounds, It is for this
reason that I was feeling nervous. I find that many colleagues from the posh and city areas of
Australia had a very good accent and spike very fluently. Though other languages were also
spoken in the office premises English was perhaps the most widely used language, I thought that
people might insult me if I spoke English in a very poor accent. This was wrong. I, later on,
realized that this was causing me greater harm.
I have to improve myself. I need to work on my speaking skills so that I can get a good
job position. In order to do well in my professional life, I have to develop a very good
communication skill (Arvizu & Saravia-Shore, 2017). Thus I gave my shyness and started
interacting with all my colleagues. I realized that it is actually interesting to speak and learn from
my peers. This proves really helped me a lot. I was able to get a good hold of many different
kinds of languages, There was a good exchange of language and different other cultural facts
among me and my colleagues. I also learned about the accents and the meanings of many
different terms that will be helping me in the future as well.

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Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that people from different cultural backgrounds must be coming
together in order to exchange their ideas. The moot must be to form a cultural confluence that
will be helping in the generation of many new and dynamic ideas. Diversity is needed in each
and every organizational setup. It is for this reason that all the education organizations are trying
their best to instill the multicultural feelings and emotions among their students. They are trying
to teach their students how to underrated and respect each other. Though there will be an
instance where one has to pass through many cultural shocks but in the end, this will be of great
advantage. I have been able to enrich myself a lot. I think that being in a team of dynamic people
coming from many different cultural and lingual backgrounds has really been very helpful.

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