Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

A few days ago, my friend James, a Chinese, and I decided to eat supper out. We met at this popular Indian-Muslim restaurant called Al-ameen along upper Bukit Timah road. Upon arriving, we were greeted by a young Indian waiter. The conversation below highlights the intercultural conflict that ensued.

Waiter: Hi, what drinks would you like?

James: Coke please? (The waiter shakes his head)

James: Tea then? (The waiter shakes his head again)

James: Coffee? (The waiter shakes his head)

At this point, James begins to get a bit flustered. The restaurant does not seem to have any drinks he asked for.

James: Green tea then? (The waiter shakes his head again).

James (in an angry tone): Then what drinks do you have? You don’t seem to have anything!

At this point, I cut in. I told James that the waiter shaking his head meant that he did have the drink. He was surprised for a moment then apologized for his angry tone. He quietly ordered a coke thereafter.

Shaking one’s head to most Singaporeans would mean “no”. But to some Indians in Singapore, shaking one’s head would be an acknowledgement of something or to mean “yes”. Frankly speaking, I myself was stunned when the abovementioned conversation began. It was only midway when it dawned on me that the waiter actually meant “yes we have it”. Although Singapore is a multi-cultural country, we still have a long way to go in terms of being able to understand each other’s culture.  

To me, culture refers to all knowledge and values shared by a group. More specifically, it is the shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations and norms for behaviour. Subcultures are distinct groups that exist under a major culture. Singapore is itself such a complex and diverse society. Most Singaporeans are the children or grandchildren of immigrants from many parts of Asia. Many of us retain most if not some of our original cultural traditions. As Singapore is such a multi-cultural society, we could say that we have many subcultures. With more subcultures however, the harder the communication becomes. We have more differences to consider when trying to communicate effectively with each other.

By understanding the fundamentals of intercultural communication, the conflict illustrated above may have been avoided. Firstly, being able to empathise with the person is vital. By showing empathy, we are able to imagine the other person's perspective and act in a supportive manner. Another important component of intercultural communication is the ability to respect the other person. Finally, recognising one’s own cultural bias and increasing one’s cultural sensitivity are important as well.

Application letter critique

Arvind Kumar Rajandran

University of Sydney

Business Faculty

+65 97979568

 

September 15, 2012

 

Dear Sir/Madam:

Re: Winter Internship position at DBS, Job Reference: COO/PXN/1206/0002

I would appreciate the opportunity to be considered for the Winter Internship position as stated on the Development Bank of Singapore’s website.

An internship position at DBS is of particular interest to me as I would like to gain valuable work experience in a financial institution that has a strong Asian focus. DBS has set its sights on regional expansion into South East Asia and China. I would like to contribute to DBS as it goes through this challenging time where it is at the heart of the Asian boom.   

Currently, I am a Masters student studying Banking and Finance at the University of Sydney. I have undertaken modules on Capital Markets and Corporate Finance. Above all, I am willing to learn new things and to keep an open mind in order to immerse myself fully in the culture at DBS. As a testament to my willingness to learn new things, I interned at Ernst & Young during my undergraduate years. Despite the fact that my undergraduate degree specialized in Life Sciences, I was able to familiarize myself quickly with the various auditing terminology and tools. During my internship at Ernst & Young, I was assigned to Neptune Orient Lines (NOL). NOL is one of the priority clients of the auditing firm. Being assigned to a priority client of the firm was challenging but I found the experience to be personally fulfilling. With such an experience, I feel that I will fit well into the dynamic and challenging business environment in DBS.   

I would find the opportunity to intern at DBS both worthwhile and enriching. I do hope that you will look favourably at my application. I look forward to hearing from you and can be reached in confidence at the abovementioned telephone number.

 

Yours Faithfully,

Arvind Kumar Rajandran

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

We are all bound to come across interpersonal conflicts at one point or another in our lives. One particular area in which this is bound to happen is when we get together in project groups to handle an assignment. Project groups are the best way to tackle an assignment to complete them as efficiently as possible. Yet at the same time, they can also be the worst way if interpersonal conflicts arise along the way and are not handled well. Let me give you a real life example of what happened in one of my Biology project groups last semester.

Two girls named Cheryl and Jennifer were in one of my Biology project groups. As it was nearing the end of the deadline for our project, we decided to meet up to assign each group member a particular subtopic to be handled. On the day however, Cheryl wasn’t able to make it for the meeting. Me and Jennifer still continued with the meeting as per normal. We decided what subtopic we would each handle and decided to assign one to Cheryl. Jennifer volunteered to inform Cheryl on the subtopic she had been assigned. We decided to meet up a day before the deadline to consolidate all our information together.

The day before the deadline, we met up at the Science canteen. To my horror, while consolidating the information, I realized that Cheryl and Jennifer had both done research on the same subtopic! When I questioned them, I realized that Jennifer had misinformed Cheryl on the part she would be doing. Jennifer began defending herself saying that it was Cheryl’s own fault for not turning up for the earlier meeting. At the same time, Cheryl began to defend herself by saying that Jennifer was the one at fault for misinforming her. Both girls began arguing and saying it was the other person’s fault. None of them refused to back down and get the final subtopic done. In the end, I had to attempt to complete it myself. But given the fact that the deadline was the next day, we didn’t do well for that project.

On hindsight, I realized that I as a third party should have stepped in while they were arguing to try to get them to work together. Perhaps, I could have advised them to put their emotions aside to get the work done. Also I could have explained to each of them that they should try to see things from each other’s perspective. As the middle man (quite literally!), I should have tried to empathize with both parties and listened to them more. Instead, I was busy being too frustrated and stressed out that the deadline was the very next day!

We have learned in our ES2007 class that Emotional Intelligence (EI) encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and good social skills. How would you guys have applied these in managing the above-mentioned interpersonal conflict?