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Building Your Cultural Awareness BY CATHERINE RASMUSSEN, EXTENSION PROFESSOR, LEADERSHIP & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

What is Culture?

What is Cultural Awareness?

Understanding that culture is deep, pervasive, complex, patterned, and morally neutral

Understanding the role of culture in the formation of one’s own beliefs, values and patterns of behavior

Overcoming one’s own cultural prejudices about the right and wrong way to do things

A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of

external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered

valid and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and

feel in relation to those problems.

- Edgar Schein Schein, E. H.(2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

©2004 University of

Minnesota Tourism

FoodDress, Language

Manners / Behavior

First impressions&

Stereotypes10% above water

90% below water

Culture Iceberg

Attitudes & EmotionsTime, Work patterns,

Concept of responsibility, TrustSocial roles, Individual or group

BELIEFS VALUES MORALS ETHICS

“The world in which you

were born is just one model

of reality. Other cultures are

not failed attempts at being

you; they are unique

manifestations of the human

spirit.”

- Wade Davis,

Anthropologist

2010 Minnesota Age Pyramids

Nearly 90 percent of

leading executives from

sixty-eight countries

named cross-cultural

leadership as the top

management challenge

for the next century.

- Economist Intelligence Unit, “CEO

Briefing: Corporate Priorities for 2006 and Beyond” In The

Economist: Economic Intelligence

Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)

Self Others

Denial Defense Minimization Acceptance Adaptation Integration

ETHNOCENTRIC STAGES ETHNORELATIVE STAGES

Experience of Difference

Possible Activities to Move Learners to the Next Stage

●Address learner anxieties in existing categories, but limit time. ●Demonstrate the experience of difference through films, food, slides, photographs, art, music, dance, etc.

●Develop a strong support group. ●Educate learners to recognize existing differences within their culture group. ●Create experiences unrelated to culture- learning to accomplish teamwork. ●Create opportunities for affective bonding.

●Use trained selected cultural informants in structure methods that indicate that they are different. ●Explore values and beliefs of their cultural systems. ●Contrast their culture with other cultures through demonstrated interaction.

●Develop complex in-depth values analysis for contrast cultures. ●Prepare learners for cultural adaptation through home stays, immersions, simulations, and role-plays requiring cross-cultural empathy.

●Prepare learners to understand their own development and to learn how to learn autonomously. ●Use cultural informants in unstructured formats.

●Use individuals at this stage as resources. ●Provide theoretical frameworks for constructing the multicultural identity. ●Develop a peer group of multicultural persons.

References: Bennett, Milton J., (1986). “A Developmental Approach to Training Intercultural Sensitivity," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Volume 10, Number 2, 1986, 179-196: Also refer to Bennett in Paige; R.M., ed. Cross Cultural Orientation: New Conceptualizations and Applications. Lanham, Maryland; University Press of America.

A Developmental Model of International Sensitivity

(DMIS)

LEVELS OF ETHNOCENTRICISM

I. Denial - No recognition of cultural difference because of own group’s isolation and lack of any experience with differences. Culturally deviant behavior attributed to deficiency in intelligence or personality.

II. Defense - Cultural difference .is recognized but regarded negatively. The greater the difference, the more

negative the evaluation. One’s own culture is viewed as the highest expression of culture. Members feel

superior to other cultures; other cultures and groups are viewed as inferior. Defense against other cultures and

groups takes several forms: destruction of other groups/genocide (warfare); forced isolation (e.g. segregation,

ghettoization, reservations); denigration; lack of recognition of other group’s accomplishment, history, etc.

Reversal - The tendency to see another culture as superior while denigrating one's own.

III. Minimization - Recognition and acceptance of visible cultural differences, (e.g. food, dress, music, eating

customs, dance forms), while holding that all human beings are essentially the same. Emphasis on the similarity

to people and the commonality of values. Tendency to define commonality in ethnocentric terms (i.e. everyone

is essentially like us) and to ignore profound cultural differences in values, attitudes, beliefs, behavior (i.e. people

are people where ever you go).

Physical Universalism - Emphasis the commonality of human beings in terms of physiological similarity. (i.e. We're all human beings. We have to sleep, eat, drink, communicate, laugh, cry...)

Transcendent Universalism - Emphasis on commonality of human beings as subordinate to a particular supernatural being, religion, or social-political philosophy.

LEVELS OF ETHNORELATIVISM

IV. Acceptance (attitudinal) - Recognition and appreciation of superficial and profound cultural differences.

Acceptance cultural differences as viable alternative ways to organize human existence. Difference is not viewed

negatively.

V. Adaptation (behavioral) - The development of multicultural skills that enable individuals to communicate and

interact effectively with culturally different others. Effective use of empathy. Ability to shift frames of reference.

Ability to both learn about and make oneself understood in another culture. Target language ability—

communicative competence.

VI. Integration - Defining one’s identity in bicultural or multicultural terms. Integrating more than one cultural

frame of reference into one's value and behavioral system. Multiculturalism. Being able to function as

“culture broker.” Accepting “marginal” cultural status.

References: Bennett, Milton J., (1986). “A Developmental Approach to Training Intercultural Sensitivity," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Volume 10, Number 2, 1986, 179-196: Also refer to Bennett in Paige; R.M., ed. Cross Cultural Orientation: New Conceptualizations and Applications. Lanham, Maryland; University Press of America.

The D.I.E. Model - A Tool to Build Your Cultural Awareness

When observing or interacting with members of other cultures, it is important to ask questions in a way that shows genuine interest in understanding the culture rather than conferring a feeling of evaluation or accusation based on your own cultural values and behaviors. The following process can be helpful to build your cultural understanding..

Describe

What do I see? What is happening?

What are the facts?

Be objective; stay neutral

Interpret

What are the possibilities to explain why the event happened?

(Note: the more possibilities, the better chance of finding the most accurate

interpretation)

Solicit interpretations with members of that culture

Avoid evaluation

Evaluate

What do I think and feel about what happened, based on the possible

interpretations?

Does my evaluation change with differing interpretations?

How does your my cultural background inform my evaluation?

Sources: Dr.Mai Moua, founder and president of Leadership Paradigms, Inc . and the Intercultural Training Center, International Student and Scholar Services, University of Minnesota. Adapted by Rasmussen, C. (2013), University of Minnesota Extension

POINTS TO REMEMBER...

Be aware of your own culture and its effect on your behavior and assumptions

Build your awareness, knowledge and interpretations with diverse people and cultures

Observe situations from a neutral point of view (or as neutral as one can be)

Understand your orientation towards difference and work towards greater acceptance

Using the D.I.E. process

can give you confidence

that your thinking

(positive as well as

negative) is well thought

out and based on

multiple perspectives.

Tips for Leading

CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAMS

When the team is being formed, ask members to share in detail about their best team experiences,

and what made them special. Pay attention to what works for them in their particular cultures.

Be more explicit than usual in getting everyone to say how they can work together across the stages

of team performance.

Use visual tools to engage members as a complement to speaking a common language, like English.

The graphics will serve some of the same purpose translators do, illustrating another way to

understand the material being discussed.

Use low-risk get-acquainted processes that build relationships and mutual trust early in the life of the

team, especially with people who come from high-context cultures and expect to know a lot of

personal things about colleagues.

Conduct frequent check-ins, perhaps using a brief period at the beginning of each team exchange as

an opportunity for team members to catch up with each other. Keep it light and engaging.

Encourage all members to actively ask for clarification of anything that isn't clear to them-especially in

remote conferences. This is essential when there are language challenges.

Model open feedback by inviting other team members to give you specific feedback on your own

leadership approach and style.

Invest in a special face-to-face team building experience that will let people learn more about each

other as individuals. This will greatly improve any remote communications.

Instead of creating a "my way or your way" tension between persons of different cultures, encourage

everyone to co-invent a "third way" that works for the team.

Source: © 2003 The Grove Consultants International. Adapted by Rasmussen, C. (2013), University of Minnesota Extension