Reflecting On The Quality of Learning Journal Entries

Activity and experience in class

Today, 18^th January, 2021, was our first class of “Managing Across Cultures”. The mode of lecture delivery may have changed, but the excitement of seeing new people and starting a new course has not faded. I eager as always to start a new course. The lecturer came on the screen and introduced herself, and briefed us a bit about what to expect in the coming time in this class. The lecturer then encouraged us to introduce ourselves to the other participants of the class by telling our names and the country we belong to or our “home” country. This activity was done with the purpose of not only to introduce ourselves to others, but to let us experience the diversity of people in our class. It was interesting activity which let me know about the different countries, the different cultures my fellow classmates come from. It was an incredible experience, getting to know that so many people from across different countries all came together to study. Being from different countries, all of us have different accent to our English. We sound different when we talk. Also, being in different places around the world means that we are in different time zones. One of my fellow classmates woke up at dawn to attend the class. The whole experience was very exciting for me, as I am a person who loves to interact with new people and make new friends. I am very excited for what is to come in the future and for the future interactions with my classmates.  

Exercise: Reflecting On The Quality Of Learning Journal Entry II

Today, we were asked to prepare presentations for the class in our groups. We were told to join the breakout groups in order to interact with our respective groups during the class time and discuss how we are going to proceed with the creation of the presentation. The major issue faced during the discussion was the absence of many of my group members. As we all are from different regions, different time zones, my class mates often do not join the class on time or not join the class at all. Only a few of us were present, and it was difficult to have a group discussion over what is to be done for the whole group in absence of many group members. It is often difficult to communicate effectively with all the members as they are not used to discussing or talking with others. As we all are just starting to get to know each other, everyone is vary and careful, to not say anything which might hurt the other person’s feelings. Some of us were hesitating in opening up to others. This hesitation and carefulness may seem good to avoid any kind of conflict in the group, but because of it, we are unable to proceed with the presentation in a timely manner. Therefore, we need to talk to each other and navigate the path by respecting the other person’s culture, but also making progress and have more open communication. Hopefully we will do that soon, as we need to prepare the presentation together.

Challenges faced in collaboration

Exercise: Reflecting On The Quality Of Learning Journal Entry III

Today, on 22^nd February, 2021, we were analysing a case study of a woman working in a completely new country, in new surroundings. Her name was Shipa Patel, and she was Indian-born, and she was educated in Spain, she was working on her MBA. She was offered and MBA internship in Ecuador, in a non-profit organization. It was found that she felt like a complete stranger in a new country, while she was describing her experience. She had several ideas and plans which she wanted to implement in the organization, and she presented the same in the general meeting in front of all of her colleagues, but she was met with what she called “wall of silence”. After that, she interacted with her colleagues on individually and in small groups. She found that she received much better reception from all the people. We were then asked by Miss Hudson to join breakout rooms and discuss the case study and answer four questions that she asked. The groups this time around were different from our presentation groups, and thus, there were several new faces in the breakout room. When we started to discuss the case study, I found out that everyone one of us had different take on what the answer to those questions should be. Especially the last question, where we had to put ourselves in Shipa’s position and answer what we would have done differently on our arrival, everyone of us had different ideas and ways in which we would have dealt with the situation. It was very insightful, the case study itself and the discussion, giving me a glimpse into the mind of all the other members.

Exercise: Reflecting On The Quality Of Learning Journal Entry IV

Today, Miss Hudson was teaching us gender role in leadership, and how it is affected by the cultures in the countries and the respective organization. It is found that the cultures play a significant part in the inequality prevalent in the organization, and it is the reason women are not at many senior corporate positions, which was disheartening for me to know. I was aware about the inequality present in the corporate world and organizations, but relating it to culture and the role culture plays in it, it affected the way I thought about culture. We were shown the figures, where the percentage was showing the percent of women in the leadership roles, in different countries. We were then given a discussion question, where we had to discuss the statement given by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg which states that there will be no female leader in future, but only leaders. I personally think that her statement was visionary, and she wants it to come to fruition. We had to discuss the statement, and then decide whether we agreed with the statement or not, with reason. When we got into breakout rooms, there was a general disagreement amongst us, as the statement’s reality was discussed. Many of us agreed that Sheryl’s statement is correct, while many of us disagreed with the same. We all had our reasons, but ultimately, when we all shared our point of view, we all came to the conclusion that the Sheryl’s statement is correct, and that, there is no place for gender inequality in corporate or anywhere in a position of leadership, as it is right of every person, irrespective of their gender, to be able to lead. It is unfair that the culture plays a role in the inequality prevalent in the leadership position.