Personal Cultural Reflection on Managing Across Cultures - BUSM3127

This report is a personal reflection on the impact of culture on the student's life, both professionally and personally. The student explores their cultural background, focusing on Eastern culture (India) and its influence on their worldview, values, and interactions. The report discusses cultural heritage, family dynamics, and the influence of sub-cultures. It analyzes the student's experiences with cultural differences, particularly in the UK, highlighting the differences in power distance and individualism. The report also addresses the challenges and opportunities of working with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, including language barriers and communication styles. The student concludes by emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, respect for cultural diversity, and the development of intercultural competence for success in a global business environment. The reflection also touches upon the student's suitability for global management and their preferred career path.

Running head: MANAGING ACROSS CULTURES
Managing Across Cultures
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................3
Other Cultures and Sub- Cultures:.............................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
The culture is considered as a characteristic and knowledge of a particular section of
the people which effectively consists of the factors such as the social habits, language,
religion, arts, music, cuisine and religion. Apart from this, culture is also considered as the
shared patterns of interactions and behaviours along with the cognitive constructs that are
learned by the socialization. Hence, it is understandable that the culture can be considered as
the growth of the group identity that is expected to be promoted by the unique social patterns.
Furthermore Inglehart (2018) claimed that the concept of the culture plays a crucial role in
defining the individuals or a group of individuals. There are primarily five different and
distinct cultures visible in the modern world which includes the Western culture, Eastern
culture, Latin culture, Middle Eastern culture and African culture (Sahlins 2013). The paper
provides an important analysis regarding my own culture which is Eastern culture as I belong
to India. Along with this, the paper provides some important information regarding my
cultural background, heritage, the presence of the sub culture in my behaviour and my
limitations in working with different cultures. On the basis of those information, the paper
analyses my suitability in working in the global business environment and the career path that
has the potential to appeal me.
Discussion:
Considering the concept of the inter cultural differences and necessity of the modern
individuals to adopt the differences, it is evident that the success of the professionals in the
modern world of business is largely dependent on their ability of adjusting to such cultural
differences. Having said that, the necessity of adopting to the cultural differences is
prominent for the general individuals as well, as it will certainly enable them to cope up with
the cultural differences in an efficient manner. Hence it is important for me to manage the

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cultural differences for operating in a successful manner in the professional and personal life.
Considering the heritage and the nation, India is renowned for the achievement of the unity in
the
Considering my cultural background, I belong to Indian culture and my family has a
bit conservative mind set which has notable amount of refection my life style. In our culture,
the head of the family is often the earning member of the family and in my case, he is my
father. My mother is housewife and successfully operates all the household operations.
Having said that, the efficient distribution of the power amongst them is one of the main
factors that contribute in the successful and happy life leading in our house. Other than this,
being an Indian, we have a rich history and culture which is dynamic in nature and is largely
dependent in the Indus River. The farmer communities in the southern part of India is
considered to be the main base of our culture. However, the history and culture of the nation
is largely affected by the continuous integration and migrating people surrounding at various
parts of the nation. The history and culture of the nation is seen to have the birth with the
Indus valley civilization or more accurately, it is known as Harappan Civilization. The
Harappnn civilization was followed by Vedic Civilization which is also considered as one of
the milestone of Indian cultue along with the Buddhist Era (Malik and Pereira 2016.). Apart
from this, the history and culture of the nation is seen to be largely influenced by the
Alexander's Invasion, Gupta Dynasty and the time of Harshavardhana. With time, the culture
of the nation has transformed in a significant manner and is currently placed at such situation,
where the people have a different point of view towards the birth of girl child than that of the
previous times. The transformation is more prominent with the lesser concern towards the
concept of live in relationship. The transformation is certainly enjoyable for me at many
instances, however, I do feel that the development of women in the society has greater
significance for the growth and acceptance of our culture. The diversity in the culture has

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played a crucial role in making sure that I feel proud of my culture and heritage and at the
same time, I respect the other cultures and the differences. This certainly increased my
adaptability in managing the differences of culture.
Other Cultures and Sub- Cultures:
I have travelled Europe and some parts of Australia where I faced prominent
difference in culture. When I travelled to UK, I faced considerable amount of mismatch in the
power distance aspect of the culture. India is a nation which appreciates the hierarchical
structure or the top down structure and that signifies the high score of the nation in the power
distance aspect. However, in United Kingdom, the society is observed to have a significantly
low score in the power distance aspect which portrays the apathy of the society in
recognizing or accepting the inequalities. I was astonished to observe such low scope of
establishment for the hierarchical structure and no only that, the distribution of power is seen
to be largely uniform as well.
Considering the aspect of Individualism, I belong to nation or society which is
renowned for the collectivist nature of it. Majority of the families in India are seen to be joint
families where a large number of members reside under one roof top. On the other hand, in
United Kingdom, it was largely different with short families. Majority of the people in United
Kingdom prefer to have a certain private space and that is pretty prominent with the
individualistic approach that they have with their life style (Hofstede-insights.com 2019). To
be honest, I was uncomfortable with the difference in the culture and not only was that, the
accents of the people of that nation a major concern for me as well. Apart from this, the
freedom that the elders of the families in UK provide to their young members of the family, is
comparatively much more than that we receive in India.

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Considering the aspect of the cultural differences, I feel that it is important for me to
have the ability to manage the impact of the cultural differences as it has the potential to
improve the effectiveness of my work. In addition to this, I feel that each and every
individual should be treated as equal and the differences between the individuals regarding
their culture needs to be celebrated only. As religion is one of the prime factor of the culture,
India is seen to face considerable amount of difficulties in promoting the diversity of the
nation. With a precise focus on the intentional political pressure, a series of mob lynching
activities are becoming a major concern for the government of the nation in improving the
cultural assimilation. I believe India is in need of gaining the much required normalcy back
and under such situation, it is certainly important for the people of the nation to respect the
differences in their culture and promote the diversity. The main objective of the government
is to maintain the unity of the nation and under such situation, being a responsible member of
the nation, we should respect other cultures as that will be crucial in maintaining the unity
and the bond between the people of different cultures and religions.
When it comes to working with the individuals of other culture, I like the amount of
learning that I have the possibility to gather. It provides immense pleasure to me in knowing
the different life styles of the people of the other culture along with the different social
beliefs, values and preferences that they have. However, there are many factors that have the
potential to bother me in working with a group that is different from my culture. One of the
major obstacle for me in that aspect is the language. In majority of the cases, I am unable to
understand the language of my colleagues belonging to other cultures and that creates
considerable amount of confusion in me. The communication gap between me and such
individuals has the potential to affect our performances not only in the parameter of quantity
but also in the aspect of the quality (Martin and Nakayama 2013). Other than this, I have a

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tendency of being an introvert person in such situations and that increases my difficulty in
getting the work done with the individuals from different cultures.
With a precise focus on my ability in managing the cultural differences, I consider
that I have the capability to become an efficient human resource manager in the modern
world of business. To be honest, I have the capability and skills to work in global context,
however, the language barrier is seen to be a major concern for me in the effective
management of my operations with the individuals belonging to different culture. For the
management of the mentioned weakness, I would like to improve my knowledge on some of
the commonly used languages such as the Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, I consider that India has a rich history and culture, however, the
political influences have been a major concern for the government of the nation in
maintaining the cultural sustainability of the nation. I feel that it is necessary for me to
promote my own culture as much as I can and at the same time, it is important for me to
make sure that I respect the diversity and the difference of the culture.

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References:
Hofstede-insights.com 2019. Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights. [online] Available at:
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/india,the-uk/
Inglehart, R., 2018. Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton University Press.
Malik, A. and Pereira, V. eds., 2016. Indian culture and work organisations in transition.
Routledge.
Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T.K., 2013. Intercultural communication in contexts. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
Sahlins, M., 2013. Culture and practical reason. University of Chicago Press.