Cultural Sensitivity: Understanding Other Worldviews Through Essay Interviews.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is for the student to diversify and expand their awareness and sensitivities of cultures other than their own. Giving students the opportunity to recognise and explore the limits of their own cultural worldview, whilst learning about other worldviews. This broadening of perspectives is seen as an important precursor to providing culturally sensitive services.

Process:

Undertake, respectfully, an interview with a person with a different identity to yourself in terms of culture, language, religion or spirituality, sexual orientation, or disability, in which their life experiences and social needs are explored. Consider the social support services available to them, and the cultural factors (e.g., cultural beliefs about wellness and illness) that should be recognised in establishing respectful, culturally safe worker-client relationships.

Purpose

It is of paramount importance to understand the cultural heritage, life experiences and historical background of diverse groups which are present in Australia. The development of cultural sensitivity is crucial to ensure services delivered to diverse cultural group are culturally safe. It is important to understand the perspectives of diverse culture for proper diversity management. The diverse cultural groups face issues like stereotyping based on culture and language and management of both surface and deep level diversity. The understanding of the cultural background of culturally diverse groups and developing cultural sensitivity towards them helps to manage cultural issues and fosters co-existence in harmony with culturally diverse groups (Ang, 2015)

I have conducted an interview with a person who belongs to different cultural background, speaks a different language, and has different religious background than that of mine. I have described the interview process, explored the social needs and social support services required by my interviewee followed by an analysis of the interview process.  My interviewee is a 20 years old University with ancestral origin from China. I have conducted an interviewee with her for approximately an hour which helped me to understand a cultural background. I asked open- ended questions during the interviewee and the answers given by my interviewee helped me to develop cultural sensitivity towards her.

Culture – My interviewee belongs to Chinese ethnicity and cultural background; she has migrated to Australia with her family more than a decade ago. The Chinese culture of my interviewee focuses on collectivism and they practice long- term orientation which enables the Chinese people to be extremely dedicated and diligent for accomplishment of their goals (Warner M. , 2014).My interviewee respects elders and hierarchical system at workplace because of her Chinese cultural background. The parents of my interviewee have raised her with traditional Chinese cultural beliefs. She has taken decisions within her family after a discussion with family members which clearly reflects the collectivistic cultural beliefs of the Chinese.

Language- My interviewee belongs to Han Chinese community and speaks the Han language or Chinese language at home. She can also speak English fluently because she studied in a school in China where English was her second language.

Religion and Spirituality- My interviewee practices Buddhism as her religion which is very different from Islam. During her childhood, she has visited monastery to offer prayers and her religious beliefs has made-her non-violent. She believes in actions and karma.

Process

Sexual orientation and disability- My interviewee is involved in a romantic relationship with another woman of her college but she was not able to articulate about her relationship to her parents because the Chinese culture is conservative and her parents would not accept her decision. (Chanlat, 2013)  However, in the interview she has told that she is sound physically and mentally and has not faced any concern related to disability in her life.

My interviewee has completed her primary education in China. She has studied Chinese as her first language and English as her second language. She has grown up in a traditional Chinese family and her family has practiced Buddhism which has shaped her spiritual and religious values. My interviewee was aware about her sexual orientation but could not articulate this feeling with anyone in China because she was intimidated to be stereotyped. She has grown up with siblings in China and her family believed in unity. The family of my interviewee emphasized the value of relationships, joint-decision making and trust was prevalent among family members.  The father of my interviewee is an engineer and he received a lucrative work opportunity in Australia. My interviewee got the opportunity to study in Australia after completing her primary education because her family migrated to Australia. She could experience the Australian culture which was very different from her own culture. My interviewee faced racial discrimination from her classmates initially but she befriended them soon. She entered into a relationship with an Australian girl and could talk about her relationship openly with friends of Australia. My interviewee is receptive of the Australian culture; however she has not forgotten her traditional Chinese cultural beliefs and customs.

My interviewee is pursuing business management studies and she has employment opportunity in Australia as well as home country China. She does not need housing assistance because she lives with her family. My interviewee is well aware about her sexual orientation but she is intimidated to discuss the same with her family because of the orthodox Chinese culture at home.  The society needs to be more sensible about the rights of homosexuals (Huang, 2012). Though most of the states in Australia recognize domestic partnership and civil union between same sex but the same is not encouraged in the family of my interviewee.  She requires counseling sessions to better understand the culture of Australian natives as well as she has the conviction that the counseling session will help her to gather courage to articulate about her sexual orientation.

Culture

My interviewee requires social support services in terms of better understanding of the homosexual community. The society needs to be more tolerant towards this community and should recognize their rights. Though the laws in the Australian states are more receptive about homosexual community, however the culture in the home country China of my interviewee needs to be more open and sensible towards the rights of homosexual community. The social support services in Australia like laws in favor of civil union and domestic partnership has boosted the self-confidence of my interviewee and she plans to live-in with her girlfriend soon. My interviewee belongs to a Chinese community and her family has the conviction that environment is connected and interrelated to the human body. This cultural belief dominates their attitude towards wellness and illness.  The Chinese culture emphasizes that illness is caused due to internal imbalance and disharmonies and thus adoption of a holistic wellness program is encouraged by the Chinese medical practitioners. (Huang, 2012). The family of my interviewee believes in herbal treatments and practices like acupuncture.  She receives support from society in Australia in terms access to health centers where acupuncture and herbal medication is popular. Though Australia has a diverse population, my interviewee has faced racial discrimination in initial days of her stay in Australia. Thus, she requires more support from the native Australian in terms of cultural sensitivity.  The education system in Australia fosters development of cultural sensitivity and this is a great support from the social system that is available for my interviewee (Gay, 2013)

I will analyze the cultural factors in this section. The Chinese culture is different from that of Australia and my own culture. The cultural factors like development of cultural sensitivity and avoidance of stereotypes and racial discrimination are of paramount importance to establish a respectful and culturally safe worker-client relationship. The education system should foster management of diversity at surface-level and deep-level.  The Australian culture is highly individualistic with less hierarchy in the social system and an open communication model is adopted in the society (Awadh, 2013). However, the Australians should develop an understanding of the collectivistic Asian culture which focuses on building trust and relationships, respect for elders and the system of joint decision making (Biddle, 2012) The Australian society has become more open at modern era and many practices from the Asian culture like herbal medication and treatment by acupuncture are gaining popularity in countries like Australia. The cultural understanding of a particular culture helps in understanding the behavior, attitude and belief system of a person who belongs to the culture (Hendry C. , 2012).From the analysis of the interview, it can be contemplated that cultural factors play an instrumental role in shaping the social behavior of the person.  The society should foster harmonious co-existence of diverse cultural group for a sustainable development of economy.  Culture also plays a significant role in attitude towards disability and sexual orientation. It is important to avoid biases against these sections of the society and the culture of a country should be sensitive towards the rights of this section of the society. From the analysis of the interview it was found out that the Australian culture recognizes the rights of homosexual community however in China the culture is still conservative towards acceptance of this section of the society (Chanlat, 2013) .The community members in Asian countries often fail to be vocal about their sexual orientation with their parents and thus there is a requirement for an open communication model between parents and siblings to handle a situation like this (Huang, 2012).

Conclusion:

It can be concluded from the interview analysis, that every country has a different culture. For instance the Arabic culture is different from that of China and the Chinese culture is also different from the cultural values of native Australians. The culture in the Asian and middle-east countries is conservative while that of countries like Australia is more open. After the interview with a student who at present resides in Australia but completed her primary education in China, I could contemplate on the cultural difference of the two countries and I could also understand the contrast between Chinese culture and the Arabic culture that is practiced in my home. The Chinese culture is collectivistic with hierarchical system in business while that of Australia is individualistic and flexible. From the life experience of my interviewee, it can be concluded that society should not ignore the rights of the section of the society who have special sexual orientation. The understanding of cultural background of different culture helps in sustainable and harmonious co-existence of people from culturally diverse groups.

Reference:

Ang, S. &. (2015). Handbook of cultural intelligence. . Routledge.

Awadh, A. M. (2013). Impact of organizational culture on employee performance. International Review of Management and Business Research , 2 (1), 168.

Biddle, N. &. (2012). The relationship between wellbeing and Indigenous land, language and culture in Australia. Australian Geographer , 43 (3), 215-232.

Chanlat, J. F. (2013). ross-cultural management: culture and management across the world. Routledge.

Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity.  Curriculum Inquiry , 43 (1), 48-70.

Hendry, C. (2012). Human resource management. Routledge.

Huang, G. H. (2012). Confucianism and Chinese families:. nternational Journal of Humanities and Social Science, , 2 (3), 10-14.

Warner, M. (2014).  Culture and management in Asia. Routledge.