Abstract
Culture
is not an easy terminology to explain but
nonetheless it can be visualized to imply the tangible and intangible things
which define the values and beliefs system of a group of people and how such a
belief system impacts on their interaction with others.
Culture may exist in certain levels and as
such may be classified into: national,
regional, organizational, team, and
individual cultures in that
hierarchical order of descent (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
It is also pertinent to denote that
culture is learned, symbolic, shared, systemic, and dynamic (Cultural Intelligence for
Leaders, 2012).
Despite the varying forms or layers of
culture, it has a certain triad of basic constituents collectively ascribed as
the roots of culture. These roots of
culture are values, assumptions and symbols.
Values
are the principles guiding a pattern of group behaviour while assumptions stem
from repetition as seen in cases of habitual thinking. Lastly, symbols which
are often times arbitrarily developed at the unconscious level tend to give
rise to culture shock if met with a conflicting symbolic cultural system.
Cultural
value dimensions, which are usually intangible, is
the incipient stage of cultural awareness which tries to unravel the
intricacies inherent in different cultures such that an individual becomes more
tolerant due to a deepened level of comprehension.
There are 5 cultural value dimensions
namely: Identity, Time, Uncertainty, Power, and Gender (Cultural Intelligence for
Leaders, 2012).
.......................................................................................................................................................
Joanne is of the opinion that the career process
is a slow learning curve that requires understudying an experienced mentor in
the workplace and this is the main belief and value which roots her individual
perception of self. Joanne is rather inflexible and conservative in terms of
accepting changes in the hierarchical and formal reporting lines. She beliefs
that superiors should lord over their subordinates even if such subordinates
consistently display high levels of dependability as seen in the case of Julia.
Joanne values on-the-job training over an impressive academic qualification, as
issues that arise in the workplace cannot always be solved using a set of laid
down rules and principles but rather through an archive of past working
experiences on similar cases.
On the other hand, Julia is of the opinion
that her academic qualification and curriculum vitae is sufficient to equip her
with all the tools she would require to resolve all the whims inherent in
social work. She is rather impatient to undergo a protracted learning curve
posited by her boss Joanne. She is quite ambitious and eager to grasp as much
as possible under very little time. She repeatedly exhibits independence in
carrying out her assigned tasks/ duties and is not very receptive to close
supervision. In essence, she feels she has what it takes to be her own boss in
the local non-profit organization she recently took up employment, after having
obtained her master’s degree. She is quite upset by the formal and mandatory
report briefings demanded by her boss, Joanne and because of this she is losing
patience and is open to looking for a new job elsewhere.
These days, most businesses or
organizations have different generations of employees working for them. For
instance, baby boomers are born between late 1940s and early 1960s and they
comprise the bulk of the contemporary workforce. Conversely, Generation Y was
born between 1980s and 1990s while Generation X was born between the mid 1960s
and early 1980s (Duggan, n.d.).
For this case study, Joanne most likely belongs to the employee generation of baby boomers while Julia belongs to the employee generation of Generation Y.
Baby boomers usually prefer face-to-face
type of communication, are well experienced on the job and abhor supervision.
Also, baby boomers despise reporting to younger colleagues and are quite
conservative in their leadership style (Mayhew, 2018).
On the flip side of the coin, Generation Y
employees as may be seen in the case of Julia are tech savvy and often times
prefer using social media for communication with fellow colleagues at the
workplace. They are also flexible, liken good leadership and prefer a prompt
feedback on work duties performed. They are rather inexperienced on the job but
are eager to learn and often times display a high level of commitment, drive
and ambition as regards their career development (Mayhew, 2018).
As regards the Power value dimensions of culture, Joanne would be a proponent of
the authoritative leadership style while Julia would be rather inclined towards
a more liberal laissez-faire leadership style (Cultural Intelligence for
Leaders, 2012). Similarly, in this index case study, Joanne is perceived to be
rather conservative and more certain by clinging unto past traditions while
Julia who is more contemporary, and thus more receptive to ambiguities and
uncertainties to be envisaged in striving for present and future Time orientations.
This case study clearly illustrates the
conflict inherent in employing personnel of different generational culture. In
order to overcome the challenges of generational culture, it is imperative that
workers of these groups are sensitized to become more culturally intelligent
and adaptable to these disparities. This can be mediated via cultural awareness
training programs and potentiating on a company culture which promotes cultural
diversity at the workplace.
In essence, Joanne and Julia should be
aware of generational culture differences, understand and imbibe them and thus
become more tolerant; in order to foster a cordial interpersonal working
relationship that is irrevocably aligned to the organizational goals.
Cultural
intelligence is the ability of individuals of
groups of people to adapt to entirely new cultures. The cultural intelligence
model consists mainly of 3 areas namely: Metacognition
& Cognition, Motivation, and Behaviours
(Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
The Cultural
Intelligence (CI) model consists
of a series of sequential phases namely: Acquire knowledge: Build your
strategic thinking: Contemplate your motivation and ability to work with
others: and lastly, Adapt and perform. This interestingly gives rise to a
mnemonic of ABCDs of the CI model:
meaning Acquire, Build, Contemplate, & Do
(Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Stereotypes
are negative statements made regarding a group of people while Generalizations on the other hand,
which could be either faulty or valid, are broad statements based on past
experiences, logic and facts regarding a group of people (Cultural Intelligence
for Leaders, 2012).
The first step of the CI model entails Acquiring
knowledge regarding the 2 different employee generation cultures as highlighted
above. Online journals and relevant texts should be assessed by both Joanne and
Julia in order to gain more insight or perspective regarding the cultural
diversity inherent in employees of different generations.
Secondly, the next phase of Building would
involve Joanne seeking the services of a mentor who has worked with employees
of similar generational culture as Julia’s. This phase that is also referred to
as the stage of cognition buttresses on the metacognition involved in the
initial phase of acquiring new knowledge on culturally diversity.
Thirdly, the stage of Contemplation
entails application of the aforementioned 2 steps in order to expedite
motivation and self-efficacy. Here, Joanne may apply weekly evaluations of
Julia’s works and provide constructive feedbacks on them via a good
understanding of the existence of differences in generational culture and also
a good grasp of this new situation with the assistance of an adept mentor. It
must be emphasized that at this stage, Joanne is to be fully prepared during
each meeting such that her feedbacks are backed up by factual information.
Lastly or fourthly, Joanne should entertain
a self-reflection such that the interactive sessions of the weekly evaluations
will help to delineate not only the blind spots of her mentee (Julia) but also
express the inadequacies of the mentor herself (Joanne).
Thus, at this final stage, Joanne becomes
fully aware of not only Julia but also of herself in relation to the external
environment. Joanne essentially becomes in sync with Julia and her surroundings
and can fully comprehend how to consistently deal with this rather novel
situation of having a Generation Y employee under her tutelage!
REFERENCES
Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0. Retrieved from: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_leading-with-cultural-intelligence/index.html
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