What is Cultural Awareness, anyway? How do I build it?

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Where Growing Minds Go Global…

What is Cultural Awareness, anyway? How do I build it?


“A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it.
Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us. We live
and breathe through it.”

by Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore

Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication
and it involves the ability of standing
back from ourselves and becoming aware of our
cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Why do
we do things in that way? How do we see the
world? Why do we react in that particular way?
Cultural awareness becomes central when we
have to interact with people from other cultures.
People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different
ways. What is considered an appropriate
behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate
in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I
use my meanings to make sense of your reality.
As an Italian it is almost automatic to perceive US
Americans as people who always work, talk
about business over lunch and drink their coffee
running in the street instead of enjoying it in a
bar. What does it mean? Italians are lazy and
American hyperactive? No, it means that the
meaning that people give to certain activities, like
having lunch or dinner could be different according
to certain cultures. In Italy, where relationships
are highly valued, lunch, dinner or the
simple pauses for coffee have a social connotation:
people get together to talk and relax, and to
get to know each other better. In the USA, where
time is money, lunches can be part of closing a
deal where people discuss the outcomes and sign
a contract over coffee.
Misinterpretations occur primarily when we lack
awareness of our own behavioral rules and project
them on others. In absence of better knowledge
we tend to assume, instead of finding out
what a behavior means to the person involved,
e.g. a straight look into your face is regarded as
disrespectful in Japan.
Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult
task because culture is not conscious to us.
Since we are born we have learned to see and do
things at an unconscious level. Our experiences,
our values and our cultural background lead us to
see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we
have to step outside of our cultural boundaries in
order to realize the impact that our culture has on
our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback
from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get
more clarity on our cultural traits.
Projected similarities could lead to misinterpretation
as well. When we assume that people are
similar to us, we might incur the risk that they are
not. If we project similarities where there are not,
we might act inappropriately. It is safer to assume
differences until similarity is proven.1

Degrees of Cultural Awareness
There are several levels of cultural awareness that
reflect how people grow to perceive cultural differences.
1 Adler, Organizational Behavior, 1991

My way is the only way - At the first level,
people are aware of their way of doing things, and
their way is the only way. At this stage, they ignore
the impact of cultural differences. (Parochial stage)

I know their way, but my way is better - At
the second level, people are aware of other ways
of doing things, but still consider their way as the
best one. In this stage, cultural differences are
perceived as source of problems and people tend
to ignore them or reduce their significance. (Ethnocentric
stage)

My Way and Their Way - At this level people
are aware of their own way of doing things and
others’ ways of doing things, and they chose the
best way according to the situation. At this stage
people realize that cultural differences can lead
both to problems and benefits and are willing to
use cultural diversity to create new solutions and
alternatives. (Synergistic stage)

Our Way - This fourth and final stage brings
people from different cultural background together
for the creation of a culture of shared
meanings. People dialogue repeatedly with others,
create new meanings, new rules to meet the
needs of a particular situation. (Participatory
Third culture stage)
Increasing cultural awareness means to see both
the positive and negative aspects of cultural differences.
Cultural diversity could be a source of
problems, in particular when the organization
needs people to think or act in a similar way. Diversity
increases the level of complexity and confusion
and makes agreement difficult to reach.
On the other hand, cultural diversity becomes an
advantage when the organization expands its solutions
and its sense of identity, and begins to
take different approaches to problem solving. Diversity
in this case creates valuable new skills and
behaviors.
In becoming culturally aware, people realize that:
􀂃 We are not all the same
􀂃 Similarities and differences are both
important
􀂃 There are multiple ways to reach
the same goal and to live life
􀂃 The best way depends on the
cultural contingency. Each
situation is different and may require
a different solution.

How Do I Manage Cultural Diversity?
We are generally aware that the first step in
managing diversity is recognize it and learning
not to fear it.
Since everyone is the product of their own culture,
we need to increase both self-awareness
and cross-cultural awareness. There is no book of
instructions to deal with cultural diversity, no recipe
to follow. But certain attitudes help to bridge
cultures.

􀁮 Admit that you don’t know. Knowing that
we don’t know everything, that a situation does
not make sense, that our assumptions may be
wrong is part of the process of becoming culturally
aware. Assume differences, not similarities.

􀁯 Suspend judgments. Collect as much information
as possible so you can describe the situation
accurately before evaluating it.

􀁰 Empathy. In order to understand another
person, we need to try standing in his/her shoes.
Through empathy we learn of how other people
would like to be treated by us.

􀁱 Systematically check your assumptions.
Ask your colleagues for feedback and constantly
check your assumptions to make sure that you
clearly understand the situation.

􀁲 Become comfortable with ambiguity. The
more complicated and uncertain life is, the more
we tend to seek control. Assume that other people
are as resourceful as we are and that their
way will add to what we know. “If we always do,
what we’ve always done, we will always get, what
we always got.”

􀁳 Celebrate diversity. As a company find ways
of sharing the cultures of your diverse workforce,
i.e., in 2002 Deutsche Bank carried out multiple
initiatives around the theme of “tolerance: diversity,
identity, recognition” which they called “Initiative
Plus 2002.” They encouraged employee
projects and organized an annual colloquium of
global experts. 􀂗

Stephanie Quappe is the Cologne based founder of Intercultural
Change Management (www.iccm-online.de). She has a
background in business studies and project management experience
for large multinationals. She completed an MBA at
the University of Birmingham, UK and works as a trainer and
coach for team integration and self development in Europe
since January 2000. You can reach her at squappe@iccmonline.
de.

Giovanna is a Consultant and Product Manager with the Park
Li Group, Ltd. Giovanna's current assignment is working on
research, design and production in support of technology
driven cross-cultural educational programs. Giovanna is also
the Product Manager of "Bridging Culture", a CD ROM based
training program for Global Professionals who have to live and
work in other cultures. Fluent in French, Italian, and English,
Giovanna works and lives in New York


Source: www.culturosity.com