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Happy Holidays? Or Minimizing Christmas?

Dec 19
Posted by smccuistion in American culture, Cross-cultural, Diversity, General, Inclusion, Intercultural Competence

I love this time of year. Sometimes, I think I’d be perfectly happy if the year ran from October 30 to January 2 then started all over again. All of the celebrations and fun and joy that seem to happen at this time of year are simply unmatched the rest of the year, in my opinion.
However, this time of year can cause people a lot of angst when greeting others. In the United States, where we worry so much about being politically correct, we’ve moved to a greeting of “Happy Holidays,” hoping that we won’t offend anyone and that our blanket statement will cover any holiday that a person might celebrate. Now I personally like this greeting, because I think it’s more inclusive. I celebrate Christmas, so saying “Happy Holidays” instead of just randomly wishing someone “Merry Christmas” actually makes me think and realize that not everyone celebrates the same holidays I do. It allows me to avoid possible gaffes and embarrassing situations where I might wish someone the best for a holiday they don’t celebrate, which could unintentionally make them feel diminished or excluded.
Having said that, I also think we’ve gone overboard with it in some contexts in the US; that is, not calling things what they are in order not to offend. For instance, Christmas trees have turned into “holiday trees”. Other holidays celebrated at this time do not celebrate with decorated trees, so to call a Christmas tree a holiday tree is unnecessary, and maybe a little disingenuous. Although people from many backgrounds light candles this time of year, a menorah is a menorah and a kinara is a kinara, and neither are ”holiday candles”. We attend holiday parties at our places of work, but I’ve found those are often exclusively decorated with Christmas decorations, even though it’s called a holiday party. Minimizing all holidays to one big “Happy Holidays” can devalue the meaning of any one holiday. It can also seem like an attempt to disguise Christmas, which can leave both Christians and non-Christians feeling frustrated.

 

So, while I will wish people “Happy Holidays” if I’m addressing a group, or if I don’t know what holiday a person celebrates, I will also wish them a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Solstice or a Joyous Kwanzaa, if I know what they celebrate. And if someone wishes me a happy something-other-than-Christmas, I will not be offended. After all, I believe the intent with wishes this time of year is always good.

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3 Huge Misconceptions About Culture

Oct 11
Posted by Rebecca Parrilla in Diversity, General, Intercultural Competence, Training, Working with...

Here are 3 things we’re sure you’ve heard people say with conviction – whether in the break room at work or at dinner parties with your friends. We’re pleased to provide you with some thought-provoking responses…

1. CULTURE IS BASED ON NATIONALITY.

Culture is a set of values and behaviors that are learned and shared by a group of people who have common experiences and influences.  National culture fits this definition.  However, although national culture influences each of us greatly, it’s only ONE of the many cultures that impact us.  We’re also members of numerous other cultures!  When you think about the people that you share values and behaviors with, and with whom you also have common experiences and influences, you start seeing cultures based on education (what and where you studied), work experience (where you’ve worked, for how long), particular life experiences (e.g., growing up with a single parent, traveling around the world, managing a chronic illness, being married or single, being a parent or not), socio-economic experience (middle class vs. low income upbringing vs. never having to worry about money), or geographic location (what area of the country you grew up, city vs. suburban vs. rural).  Our culture or worldview is also influenced by our gender identity (and all the experiences that come from belonging to a particular gender), our age (i.e., the era when we grew up), our religious faith (or lack thereof), our ethnic background, and our sexual orientation.  Your organization has culture.  New employees in your organization have a culture (compare to the culture of those who have worked at your organization for 20 years).  The Greek Orthodox have a culture.  People who grew up navigating life from a wheelchair have a culture.  If we share similar values and beliefs with a group of people, that is culture.

2. SOME CULTURES ARE JUST MORE EVOLVED THAN OTHERS.

Cultures exist because a group has found a way to make their lives better.  No culture is inherently worse or better than any other.  Rather, some cultures may have values and behaviors that don’t support success when their environment changes.  Consider, for example, the difficulties faced by the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians in the early 90’s when they became the first republics to declare independence from the Soviet Union.  How do people whose culture was defined by 50 years of experience with closed borders and a centrally planned economy suddenly operate under a system where they are members of a democracy, with open borders, and a market-based economy?  Or, for example, American culture and its faith in independence and taking responsibility for your own choices.  This is very useful when the economic situation allows for ongoing individual success.  What happens, however, when things change, and suddenly the historical belief that “moving back in with your family” is a sign of failure is at odds with the reality of people losing their homes and their jobs, and having no one to turn to?  In addition, most cultures are benevolent and have positive intentions behind any values they instill. (The vast majority of people don’t want to intentionally create conflict or fail!).  It’s our inability to see things wholeheartedly from their perspective that may cause us to judge another culture as cruel, stupid, antiquated, or naïve.

3. GLOBALIZATION IS CAUSING AN INEVITABLE HOMOGENIZATION OF CULTURES.

The environment we all live in may be changing (slowly or quickly) impacted by such things as the internet, or YouTube, or Hollywood, or Bollywood, or 15 hour flights that connect Asia to Europe, or pandemics like the flu, or outsourcing, or migration – but the bottom line is that we all still interact with these commonalities based on our cultures.  In the long run, we may begin to share certain values and behaviors, but the French will always have French history and French pride, and the Bolivians will always have Bolivian history and Bolivian pride.  Until such time as we all speak the same language, go to the same schools, share the same history, and have uniform laws, policies, and holidays, we will continue to be unique.

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The Intersection of Diversity, Inclusion, and Culture

Jun 10
Posted by Rebecca Parrilla in Cross-cultural, Diversity, Inclusion, Intercultural Competence

We’ve all heard the term “diversity and inclusion” over and over again. Cultural diversity – or “diversity” for short – is the variety of behavioral and mindset patterns and norms that characterize different cultural groups, due to the common experiences, influences, values, and beliefs (the “culture”) of each of those groups. Diversity is a reality – it’s a fact of life in the U.S. and most everywhere else on the planet. Inclusion, however, is a choice. Inclusion is not an attitude or a perspective – it’s behavior. Being inclusive means acting, after gaining awareness and insight about diversity. We have a name for gaining awareness and insight about diversity and then acting on it by engaging in inclusive behavior – we call it intercultural competence. A critical step in developing intercultural competence (therefore creating an inclusive environment) is to understand these different behavioral/mindset patterns and norms (or cultural differences, for short), and discern how you can adapt to these different norms without losing yourself in the process. Just as culture is learned and shaped through a collection of experiences and influences, so also can intercultural competence be learned.

Before you can really learn about others, though, you first have to appreciate the cultural “filters” or “lenses” through which you yourself are experiencing the world around you. Only then can you distinguish with any precision or consistency how you can best approach navigating cultural differences. This process is also known as moving from monocultural mindsets—where one’s own culture is the primary lens, to intercultural mindsets—where one’s own culture is recognized to be one among many, with each culture providing different alternatives for seeing and behaving in a situation.

So what does this have to do with business? Competence around culture in a business context means that people can understand the similarities and also the differences present – understand their own lenses, and also take on other lenses to broaden the range of alternatives before them. They can see where there is likely to be tension, and where there is opportunity for cultural synergy. Organizations, employees, and leaders with intercultural competence are better able to anticipate tensions (or at least the potential for tensions) as well as the potential synergies, and can distinguish among the range of cognitive and/or behavioral adaptations they might try in a particular cross-cultural situation in order to yield the greatest dividends.

Building intercultural competence is a journey that truly never ends. One can make substantial progress and notably increase skills and improve outcomes, yet one is never “done” since there will always be new and changing cultures to explore and work with. The frameworks for working with cultures with intercultural competence, though, are the same and thus the process is manageable and predictable.

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Canada vs. the USA: Immigration, and Integration

Apr 29
Posted by Sean Oliver in American culture, Cross-cultural, Diversity

The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) is a Europe-based ranking system that assigns favorable or unfavorable ratings for countries, based on their integration policies for immigrants across a broad range of differing environments.  The most recent ranking has Canada at #3 and the United States at #9.  It’s interesting to see how different countries are ranked on the index, the likely effects of cultural difference, and the “bigger picture” that’s not captured in indices such as this. 

Immigration and the labor force are a hot-button issue in Canada right now, as 2011 is the year that the Canadian Baby Boom generation hits 65 years old, and begins to retire en masse.  2011 is supposed to be the peak of the number of Canadians actually engaged in the workforce, and any further gains in the active labor force are expected to be from immigration alone.  There was actually a bigger baby boom in Canada (higher birth rate) than the US.  And as 75% of Canada’s population resides within 100 miles of the US border due to weather and geography, there is not the same kind of space for demographic expansion that exists in the US.  For these reasons, workforce reduction and immigration are generally seen as even more important issues in Canada than they are in the US.

So why does Canada do better on the MIPEX?  Canada does better on the Access to Nationality, Long-Term Residence, Education, Family-Reunion for 3rd Country Nationals, and Labour Market Mobility scales.  The US and Canada are in a dead heat on the Anti-Discrimination scale, and the US wins on the Political Participation Scale (as non-citizens can vote in the USA).   Low cost, easy access to education and health care are also a huge pluses for immigrants moving to Canada.

On the other hand, in the US, university-educated immigrants do better for themselves and their families than in Canada, financially speaking.  This is likely due to the fact that in the US many immigrants with degrees have pre-arranged jobs and/or have studied in the US, whereas most immigrants to Canada do not have pre-arranged employment.  The US also has a more diverse job market, and a more favorable business climate for entrepreneurship, especially in technology. 

I think cultural values probably play a role as well.  While still individualistic when compared to some other countries, Canadians tend to be more collectivistic than Americans, as evidenced by their universal health care and education systems, the tax money they spend on new immigrants to try to help them achieve language proficiency and in general their support of civil and political institutions and collective decision making (more than Americans).  In other words, regarding these issues the approach in Canada can be seen as -  if we all help the group then we all benefit as individuals.  In the U.S., the approach regarding these issues tends to be more – if everyone helps themselves, then the group as a whole will benefit.  For example,  language programs in the US with  similar goals do exist, and may even be funded by the federal government (at least partially), but they’re likely to be delivered by individual NGOs, and there is likely a cost for the immigrant to pay.  These NGOs generally also have to take personal responsibility for creating, managing and promoting these programs (individualism).  Coincidentally there’s an organization in our building that provides such services.

Of course it’s not possible to reduce all immigration and integration issues to a few causes, but I think shared cultural values definitely play a role, which we can see reflected in the policies above.  No country has really found a holistic solution to deal with the recent waves of immigration all over the world, and it will be interesting to see how these demographic shifts play out in the future.

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Diversity, Inclusion…and Integration

Oct 26
Posted by Randall Stieghorst in Cross-cultural, Diversity, Intercultural Competence

IntegrationGermany’s Chancellor recently commented that multiculturalism had failed [in Germany]. However inappropriate or appropriate we might see this comment, it’s important to realize a very important underpinning of that statement: that societies are made up of people who, theoretically, share something in common and have a desire to live together, work together, and be together. Were it not for these shared desires, societies would fraction off into other small groups (as has happened throughout history with any political or cultural separation). We don’t necessarily allow strangers into our family just because they like our home better than their home, just like we don’t allow every interested candidate to become part of our organization just because they want to do what we do. There must be something that binds us, despite any differences, and that makes us a stronger organization.

Diversity and inclusion are invaluable to making any organization successful…but there’s another piece that’s also necessary – integration. When an organization is made up of different groups, the potential for conflict is magnified, as those groups will not always share similar ideas or principles. Organizations (and any group, really) are held together by the bonds of a common approach, common desires, and a common set of values. While every individual in that group may have his or her own set of values above and beyond those of the group they belong to, if they never integrate into the group, the group can never function as a unified whole.

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