Cultural Sensitivity

Many countries, and definitely many businesses, are becoming more diverse. If you research 21st century skills, you’ll find that two skills are usually included no matter what the source: collaboration and communication. Workplaces want workers who can interact successfully with others in diverse environments in productive ways. Underlying these skills is the competency of cultural sensitivity.

According to the World Economic Forum (a non-profit, independent organization), the following 16 skills are needed by 21st century workers, including cultural and civic literacy and social and cultural awareness.

Image: World Economic Forum, New Vision for Education: Unlocking the Potential of Technology

How culturally aware are you? Complete this brief cultural competence self-awareness checklist.

No matter what the outcome of your self-assessment, know that cultural sensitivity is something that can both evolve through everyday experiences with diverse situations, groups, and cultures, and be fostered through planned experiences.

Milton Bennett’s model of Intercultural Sensitivity, explained with examples in the video below, shows the evolution (or developmental stages) on a spectrum from lesser to greater cultural sensitivity. As you view the video, connect its contents with the outcome of your self-assessment of cultural awareness.

initial learning activity

Read this short post about cultural diversity, to spark ideas for the following activity.

Now, imagine that you work in a large U.S. corporation that recently merged with a large corporation from another country. Because smooth operations during and after the merger are so critical to the merged companies’ success, top management has mandated that employees in both countries learn more about their counterparts, to foster communication and collaboration and to cut down on inadvertent misinterpretations of actions and information. Each of the corporations has tasked a team to help foster learning about the culture of the new business, and you have been placed on this team. You know that team members will be looking to you for ideas, and even to lead the team, because you’ve traveled a lot with your spouse, who was in the military. Assume that your team has already met and brainstormed ideas.

As the first step in the process of integrating the companies, write an informal proposal to management, outlining a number of various activities, interchanges, and methods of fostering learning about one another’s cultures. Explain the reasoning behind each suggestion.

Submit: the proposal

in-depth learning activity

Culture can be defined by various factors, such as ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, age, etc. as well as nation or location. It is any given group that is popularly identified as such.

Select a culture in which you do not “claim membership” but whose “members” you have had contact with, expect to contact in your work, and/or would just like to learn more about.

Read the brief essay by Menoukha Case, “Cultural Schemata and Reflexivity.”

Complete the following written assignment, a 4-page essay:

On one page (about 300 words, minus citation information), briefly explore popular portrayals of that culture in the media. (You can use TV, films, advertisements or the internet). Can you identify any intersecting cultural schemata? Do these schemata fit any pre-conceptions you may have had about that culture?
For page two, locate and read 2 or more articles written by members of that culture, one from a popular source and one from an academic source. A popular source may be a reflection and/or video included in a blog (if you google X culture blogs, you’ll most likely find a blog for just about any group that you have chosen, e.g., hearing loss culture blogs). For example, someone interested in Black women’s issues could browse For Harriet by Harvard’s Kimberly Foster; someone interested in race could check out Franchesca Ramsey whose MTV Decodes series includes topical videos. An academic source is a journal that includes articles written by members of the particular group (e.g., Africana Studies, Latina Studies, Disability Studies). Search for academic journals in the ESC library. On the second page, summarize the sources.
On a third page, use the principles in the Cultural Schemata and Reflexivity essay to compare their descriptions of their experiences with your own schemata and the popular cultural schemata you discovered. Infer some of what each culture values and explain your insights and inferences.
For the fourth and final page, explain what opportunities and constraints in current U.S. culture might affect the expression of these values. How might differences in values affect your ability to be effective in your work?

Be sure to cite properly in the text, and provide a Works Cited page.

Submit: essay

interested in learning more about cultures/diversity?

Note that there are fuller courses offered in:

foreign languages (Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish). Language courses also focus on the culture of the target language groups.
workplace diversity
LGBT
women’s studies
specific cultures, such as African-American, Latin America, Women’s History, etc.

Related college Learning Goals

Social Responsibility: Engage in ethical reasoning, and reflect on issues such as democratic citizenship, diversity, social justice and environmental sustainability, both locally and globally.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Evaluate, analyze, synthesize and critique key concepts and experiences, and apply diverse perspectives to find creative solutions to problems concerning human behavior, society and the natural world.

For more information, see the College Learning Goals Policy.

Communication

initial learning activity

in-depth learning activity

interested in learning more about cultures/diversity?

Related college Learning Goals

Candela Citations