Self-reflection

Discuss about the Purpose of Cross Cultural Management.

The purpose of this following assignment is to accomplish a self-reflection and development plan in terms of cross-cultural competency. Following this particular aim, the current discourse will be segmented into two distinct parts – one is an in depth self-reflection and the other is about the development plan on individual cultural intelligence. Hence, the entire assignment is going to be prepared as a reflective piece. Most important to mention, that the self-reflection assessment is going to be prepared considering the socio-cultural aspects of Singapore.

Prior to make an in-depth self-reflective analysis, I would like to mention that my experience in Singapore is a result of my educational visit to Singapore for a couple of weeks. Being a student of anthropology, I have been in many places before though I should admit that my current visit is exceptional in comparison to them. I went to Singapore near about two weeks ago and I still cannot get over the overwhelming experience I have been through my visit. The very thing I want to note down is the diversified cultural aspects of Singapore. Singapore is considered as a melting pot of varied ethnicities (Chong 2014). What I came to know is, people has the misconception that Singapore’s cultural premise is fundamentally influenced by South and East Asian culture. The truth I have encountered is, the biggest reason to call Singapore’s culture a diverse one, is the potential influence of European culture. The most interesting thing is all my life I have heard that Singapore is called to be place where western culture meets the Asian or Eastern culture. The truth of this distinct characteristic accomplishment of the country came in front of my when I put my feet in the country.

However, at the initial stage it has been difficult for me to have a coherent understanding of the complex identities of the country instead of having one particular national identity. However, I am glad to see that the place has a cosmopolitan society that gives a room for the human behavior of the people for developing harmony and integrity. It has been surprising for me to see that how comfortably people are mingling with people belonging to other races and cultures. In this context, it is probably significant enough to contemplate that largely the immigrants influenced Singapore’s culture, which has been initially dominated by the British colonization (Yum et al. 2015). I came to know that a bulky amount of immigrants came from India and China. Most importantly, I have seen that people of the place are still following their individual cultural way of life with all rituals and manners instead of living in a place that is celebrated for modernity.

My opinion regarding my self-rating

Nevertheless, I am bound to appreciate the colorful festivals of different cultural groups those are mostly comprised with Indian, Malay Muslims and Chinese inhabitants. In the Serangoon Street, I get an authentic Indian ambience whereas in the old roads of Chinatown I got a typical Chinese atmosphere. The next week of my educational tour, I visited the Chinese temples, which have a versatile mix of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The beautiful architecture combined with a serene atmosphere caught my mind. I should admit that I would like to spend a good amount of time in the temples again in my future visit. In this respect, I need to admit that I have learnt the true meaning of peace of mind from my visit of the temples.

In the context of talking about the socio-cultural premise of Singapore, it is essential to talk about the food culture and food habit of the inhabitants of the place as like the culture, food culture of Singapore is diversified (Kong and Sinha 2015). Here, I am again bound to say that Singaporean people like to welcome and adopt foreign food culture along with their ethnic ones. The capital city is filled with restaurants and hawker centers specializing in selling fusion foods to authentic ones (Tseng and Wu 2013). I believe my biggest lesson after the trip is I have learnt the true meaning of cultural amalgamation. I learnt how to maintain harmony and integrity in a society and welcome people of different community or race with respect.

In this respect, one more thing I need to include that my cross-cultural potentialities have found a new light with my recent visit to Singapore as the diversified ethnicity has taught me to show equal respect to aspects of every culture. Alongside, I must say that Arts Festival of Singapore which is considered as the biggest annual festival has mesmerized me. I have seen hundreds of performing artists from multiple territories. However, I believe the censorship of Singapore should provide more chances to the local artists who I believe possess immense creative potentiality. Overall, I can say after the visit that I have discovered a new self of me who has a compassionate heart and a strong desire to thrive different cultural aspects.

Considering my self-ratings in the cross-cultural competency assessment form, I can say that I have potentialities for developing myself as a leader in managing people of different culture. Furthermore, I should appreciate myself for being a person having impressive amount interest to enjoy a culturally diversified environment, which is accompanied by my strong ability to make plan for interacting with people belonging to different culture. However, it is disappointing that I am lacking in socio-linguistic skills and should increase my capability of absorbing and learning the beneficial aspect of a culturally diversified environment. Most important to contribute in this context, is that my checking ability is worth admirable and that is why I believe I can turn out to be an efficient leader in future.  

My strength and weakness

I believe the most challenging thing is I need to learn more from culturally diversified atmosphere rather than enjoying them and confidently approaching in diverse situations. That is why I think my power of self-efficacy should be shaped more efficiently by the development of my capability of understanding the norms of social interaction and different communications. I have realized that I could not accumulate any exact facet to learn and use them in my practical life. May be lack of opportunity for mingling with multifaceted societies in frequent terms is the main obstacle.

Based on the ratings I can say that my cross-cultural competency is related with my ability to make strategy before interaction and managing cultural relationship as I have a very good hold on speech acts. Most importantly, I have the power of checking assumptions and control situations when the atmosphere does not match with the expectation. It is because being a student of anthropology I use to interact with people of different race, religion and culture though not in frequent rate. Nevertheless, I always have appreciation for making god relations with people based on which I believe I have the strength of being a leader. However, it is disappointing that I am lacking in non-verbal skills, which I fear can affect my effectiveness of giving leadership for controlling cross-cultural relationships. It is because a leader who has the responsibility to manage cross-cultural relationships, should have the ability to control a person through non verbal gestures like – eye contact, welcoming nature and understanding others non-verbal gestures (Caligiuri and Tarique 2012).

I think the support of my family for learning non- verbal skills and encouraging me to engage in a course to learn non-verbal skills is going to help in improving my weakness. Another thing I want to mention is that I have lack of knowledge about the legal systems and economical condition of different countries; even I do not have a clear knowledge about how these premises influence society and culture.

Studying human behavior and cultural norms have shaped my aim to become a philanthropic guide and want to travel several countries to acquire knowledge about different cultural heritage. That is why I believe, I need to make improvement upon two of the mentioned ground.

Prior to make an effective action plan for improvising my cross-cultural competencies, I need to mark that I want to sharpen my CQ (Cross-cultural Intelligence) action in terms of improving non-verbal skills and my CQ knowledge in terms of socio linguistic and business.

Actions	1 month	6 months	Additional steps
Development plan for CQ action	Exercise of facial expression and making eye contact	Enrollment in a non-verbal skills learning course	Research online to gain knowledge for learning gestures
Development plan for CQ knowledge	Online research about the legal construction and current economic premises of several countries	Engage in a special tutorial course	Enrollment in a public library for learning different legal norms and economic systems

References

Caligiuri, P. and Tarique, I., 2012. Dynamic cross-cultural competencies and global leadership effectiveness. Journal of World Business, 47(4), pp.612-622.

Chong, T., 2014. Bureaucratic imaginations in the global city: arts and culture in Singapore. In Cultural Policies in East Asia (pp. 17-34). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Kong, L. and Sinha, V. eds., 2015. Food, foodways and foodscapes: Culture, community and consumption in post-colonial Singapore. World Scientific.

Tseng, W.S. and Wu, D.Y. eds., 2013. Chinese culture and mental health. Academic Press.

Yum, Y.O., Canary, D.J. and Baptist, J., 2015. The roles of culture and fairness in maintaining relationships: A comparison of romantic partners from Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 44, pp.100-112.

Caligiuri, P. and Tarique, I., 2012. Dynamic cross-cultural competencies and global leadership effectiveness. Journal of World Business, 47(4), pp.612-622.

Chang, W.W., Yuan, Y.H. and Chuang, Y.T., 2013. The relationship between international experience and cross-cultural adaptability. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), pp.268-273.

Chen, J., 2013. Singapore’s Culture War over Section 377A: Through the Lens of Public Choice and Multilingual Research. Law & Social Inquiry, 38(1), pp.106-137.

Chong, T., 2014. Bureaucratic imaginations in the global city: arts and culture in Singapore. In Cultural Policies in East Asia (pp. 17-34). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Crane, D., Kawashima, N. and Kawasaki, K.I. eds., 2016. Global culture: Media, arts, policy, and globalization. Routledge.

Emmerling, R.J. and Boyatzis, R.E., 2012. Emotional and social intelligence competencies: cross cultural implications. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 19(1), pp.4-18.

Hoppner, J.J., Griffith, D.A. and White, R.C., 2015. Reciprocity in Relationship Marketing: A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Effects of Equivalence and Immediacy on Relationship Quality and Satisfaction with Performance. Journal of International Marketing, 23(4), pp.64-83.

Kong, L. and Sinha, V. eds., 2015. Food, foodways and foodscapes: Culture, community and consumption in post-colonial Singapore. World Scientific.

Minkov, M. and Hofstede, G., 2012. Cross-cultural analysis: the science and art of comparing the world’s modern societies and their cultures. Sage.

Oi, K.K.C., 2015. Art Education as Exhibition: Reconceptualizing Cultural History in Singapore through an Art Response to Ah Ku and Karayuki-san Prostitution. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education (Online), 32, p.207.

Tseng, W.S. and Wu, D.Y. eds., 2013. Chinese culture and mental health. Academic Press.

Yum, Y.O., Canary, D.J. and Baptist, J., 2015. The roles of culture and fairness in maintaining relationships: A comparison of romantic partners from Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 44, pp.100-112.