...MG4208 Cross-Cultural Negotiation Week 10 Negotiating decisions in multicultural teams Agenda 1. Multicultural team performance 2. Obstacles multicultural teams have to face 3. Resolutions 4. Team decision exercise Earley & Mosakowski (2000) • Team diversity: – Homogenous, split, heterogeneous • Team outcomes – Team identity, communication, performance • Curvilinear relationship between diversity and team outcomes – Homogenous and heterogeneous teams better than subgroup Quadratic Relationship Homogenous Split Heterogeneous Types of conflict in multi-cultural teams 1. Task • Interests in the task 2. Procedures • Approach to accomplish the team goal 3. Interpersonal • Social identity of team members Resolving task conflict 1. Generating information across parties and issues 2. Making integrative decisions Case on Shanghai Tang Shanghai Tang: Interests Create artistic and elegant Chinese based fashion Expand business to global market Generating information 1. Language barriers • Cliché and misunderstanding 2. Cultural barriers • Value dimensions 3. Structural barriers • Time and space 4. Psychological barriers • Groupthink, lack of team transactive memory Making integrative decision Treat decision like negotiation • Explore issues (preferences and priorities) • Making multi-issue proposals (no agenda) • Decision rules (voting vs. consensus) ...
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...exquisitely diverse. As human beings, we tend to adapt to our own culture quite fast and we become used to perceiving our group of people as the only thing that is "good." We fear wanting to assimilate or broaden our knowledge to other cultures, for it is our natural instinct to shut out anything unfamiliar to us. In her essay, "Arts of the Contact Zone," Mary Louise Pratt argues for importance of understanding the point where two cultures clash, the contact zone, and that it can be powerful to engage in one's culture by expanding our grasp of knowledge and wisdom in the diversity we live in today. Pratt introduces three major concepts in her argument that exemplify the objective of her essay: the contact zone, autoethnographic texts, and transculturation. Upon viewing two other pieces by Richard Rodriguez, “The Achievement of Desire” and Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Rodriguez and Anzaldua demonstrate Pratt's argument by supporting her concepts about the influence of contact zones between two juxtaposing cultures. In her argument, "Arts of the Contact Zone," Pratt introduces the theme of her argument, the contact zones: the point where cultures clash and come together in unison. Where one culture has a lot more power than the other. A contact zone is the root of how every race and ethnicity should come under a consensus as to understanding the underlying meaning of each other's differences and looking at perspectives in order to break down unnecessary...
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...Macionis and Plummer (2012, p. 144) defines Culture as a “the values, beliefs, behavior, practices and material objects that constitute a peoples’ way of life”, and Sociology as “the systematic study of human society” (Macionis and Plummer 2012, p.964). In light of this, Cultural sociology demands that culture and social structural forces, especially economic forces to be dissociated in order to allow a form of cultural self-governance, rather than these cultural structures to be seen as external to individuals. The following essay will discuss the frame work of cultural sociology developed by Jeffery Alexander. In order to discuss how important cultural sociology for the development of South Africa is, I will assess to what extent contemporary South Africa embodies the characteristics of a cultural society in comparison to surviving practices and traditional beliefs. Theoretical framework of cultural sociology is best described as the importance of culture being seen an independent variable. Alexander (2003), emphasizes the importance of culture shaping society instead of culture being a product of society. He puts culture first and highlights that, “To believe in the possibility of a cultural sociology is to subscribe to the idea that every action, no matter how instrumental, reflexive or coerced vis-a-vis its external environments” (Alexander 2003:12). Comparatively, “Sociology of culture” implies that institutions, irrespective of how impersonal and technocratic have an...
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...Tears” Pratt’s essay makes it possible to deeply examine the clashing culture and gain insight into how it impacted the world today. Mary Louise Pratt’s essay is called “Arts of the Contact Zone”. She defines a contact zone as a space where two cultures wrestle with each other’s ideas and beliefs. She goes on to discuss how these contact zones have come to help shape society, and how the aftermath is world changing. Her essay provides an excellent analysis of what happens when two distinct cultures come into contact, and most importantly, how that affects others. She also examines the two phenomena that occur as a result of the Contact Zone. One sensation, authoethnography, gives the reader first hand insight into cultures. The other, transculturation, shows what happens after the contact zone. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao takes on an entirely new meaning with the help of Pratt’s tools of analysis. There are two distinct cultures, that of the Dominican Republic, and a less conventional science fiction culture. These two largely different cultures clash throughout the novel as Diaz does his best to...
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...undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them.” Guaman Poma’s New Chronicle is an autoethnographic text because it is mixed Andean with the Spanish culture. Pratt said, “autoethnographic works are often addressed to both metropolitan audiences and the speaker’s own community.” They are merged together so that both groups can understand. You can change something around so that it is said in a way that other people can understand it. You can describe yourself in a way that other people would describe you. You might have to think about and change what you are trying to say so that it can also be understood by someone else. You can learn by putting together what you both know. The word transculturation is used to “describe processes whereby members of subordinated or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted by a dominant or metropolitan culture. Guaman Poma’s letter used...
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...or amulets and keeping religious relics in the home. The visiting of shrines, offering prayers and the lighting of candles is a frequently observed practice. Many homes have shrines setup with statues and pictures of saints and candles are lit here and prayers are recited. Other notable minority religions of the Hispanic world also include: 1) Protestant 2) Judaism 3) Islam. Catholicism When the Spanish conquered the new world they were determined to spread the Catholic faith with no regard to the indigenous religions already present at the time they arrived. This introduction of the Catholic religion to the indigenous peoples brought about what is called religious transculturation when the Catholic religious practices mixed with the indigenous religious practices. Transculturation created an incredible variety of celebrations, rituals and physical representations of the elements of the Catholic religion such as Jesus, the cross, the saints, the novenas and the rituals in general. Celebrations Many of the celebrations of the Catholic Hispanic world are mainly based around the life of Jesus Christ. Hispanic culture also celebrates the lives of different saints that vary among Hispanic countries; one notable saint is Saint Rose of Lima from Peru, a patron of Latin America and the Phillipines. She is represented as wearing a crown of roses. Her feast is celebrated on August 23rd. The main celebrations of Hispanic religion are: *...
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...understand all the different types of cultures or their history that make up the total population in the world. Being a young lady who is half Filipino and Italian, it has always interested me how different the Filipino and Italian cultures are when comparing the two. These differences range from the food to mannerisms and traditions. However, there is one thing in common with these two very different cultures, they have a history of how they came to be. In order to truly understand all types of people, we must take the time to look at their history and learn about it. In this paper, I’ve chosen to take a deeper, more in-depth look at Guatemala and the ways people lived prior to the 1800s in terms of transculturation, hegemony, and the Columbian Exchange. “Transculturation” is the merging and converging of cultures. According to Maureen Shea, author of Culture and Customs of Guatemala, when Christopher Columbus arrived, it was “an encounter between European and Mesoamerican worlds” (2). The Europeans had arrived to establish “dominance while the Mesoamericans fiercely resisted the invaders, especially initially”. However, they found it “advantageous to acculturate themselves to the ways of the native population”. After Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec empire in 1521, “Cortes sent one of this most able and ruthless generals, Pedro de Alvarado, into Central America in 1523” which then he eventually “entered what came to be Guatemalan territory” (3). Alvarado, after defeating...
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...Cultural Appropriation in Hip-Hop Hip-Hop is more than a musical genre. It is a transcending culture with its own rules and context. It’s a lifestyle that has reached beyond the inner-cities of the United States, and today, its power influences the entire world. Its message is unfiltered, at times angry, controversial, misunderstood, inspiring, and thought-provoking, and in many ways, hip-hop is the deafening voice of the minority. To many people who follow hip-hop almost religiously, the Mecca of hip-hop is the Bronx, New York City. The phenomenon started In 1975 when a local Jamaican immigrant and DJ named Kool Herc burst on to the scene with a new style of music in which he employed break-beats over samples of James Brown records. According to the writers of Old School Hip Hop.com “Kool Herc is the father of [the] underground sound from New York that found its way to becoming a worldwide phenomenon” (n.p). However, many other hip-hop historians credit James Brown much more than Herc, and even Kool Herc himself is quoted in a New Black Magazine. Com article crediting Brown with the words, “if it weren’t for James Brown, there would be no such thing as hip-hop” (n.p.) In short, if the Bronx is the Mecca of hip-hop, then James Brown is Allah, and DJ Kool Herc is the Prophet Mohammed. In the early years, hip-hop’s first emcees were DJ’s. It was their job to entertain the crowd, keep the party alive, and introduce the records that they were playing. Kool Herc was the first...
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...MOHAMMED ALAIFAN MS.PIWARSH ENGLISH 110 February 10, 2014 Communities and contact zone The art of the contact zone is a book written by Mary Pratt. Mary Pratt is a Spanish and Portuguese languages professor. It actually contains a deep literal and psychological meaning in it and is intended to be used especially in a classroom set up to teach about our diverse nature; cultural behavior, colonialism, slavery and power plays. Its effects are wide and large as it has been able to affect various communities by its writing, art work and literacy. The contact zones, according to the book are quite important areas as they are areas where a community is able to see the world in a foreign community perceptive. Contact zones as defined in the book, are areas where various communities meet and have an uneven exchange in culture and beliefs. Mary Pratt tries to explain how our cultural knowledge is misguided due to the fact that we missed a crucial part of our heritage and the heritage of other communities too. This is mainly due to the fact that most of it is hidden from us by those who are supposed to preserve and pass it to us. Accepting us involves appreciating our past that is our history and upholding it by making sure that the future generations receive the information as it is. Those charged with the preservation of our culture choose the parts of history to pass down and deliberately omit others as a means of defending the community from the subsequent humiliation and shame that...
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...Mariana Offik English 101; 065 Bellomy December 6th, 2011 Twentieth-Century Counterpart John Edgar Wideman’s “Our Time” can be seen as a twentieth-century counterpart to Guaman Poma’s “New Chronicle.” This connection is made if Wideman’s essay is reread with the qualities that Mary Louis Pratt portrays in “Arts of the Contact Zone.” It can be presented as an example of what she defines as an autoehtnographic text. She defines autoethnography as an inferior culture defining itself through the terms of a dominant culture when writing back to them. Transculturation produces autoethnography. Transculturation is the process by which a culture takes certain aspects of another. The interactions between different cultures, the point of view, and the suppression of the inferior culture portrays “Our Time” as a twentieth-century counterpart to the New Chronicle. Multiple cultures interact constantly in “Our Time”. Robby and John represent different cultures. Robby grew up surrounded by crime and violence. He also comes from a lower educational group. John, even though he is Robby’s brother, grew up to be a different culture than Robby. He went to college and people that were vastly different from Robby surrounded him. John describes his struggle with projecting Robby’s voice in the story because of their different cultural backgrounds. They grew to become two separate cultures that interacted with each other throughout the story. 3 1/2 - 4 pgs remove...
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...Journals Ch. 1-4 Chapter 1 Pg. 8 Would you describe yourself as a multiracial, or do you see yourself as belonging to a single race? Why? I consider myself multiracial. I come from a Hispanic culture but after living in Miami for so many years, and being surrounded by such a cultural landscape I have also adopted into the American culture. I am also white. Pg. 12 Have you or any member of your family ever encountered a glass ceiling? Explain. Luckily no one in my family has encountered a glass ceiling; they all work for diverse and accepting companies. Pg. 14 As you read the following scenarios that represent a range of reaction (Cultural Cruise Control, Beginning Adjustments, and Fine tuning), with whom do you most identify? Why? I identify the most with fine-tuning. Miami is an extremely diverse city and after living here for so many years, I have learned to respect and appreciate all the diversity that surrounds me, to the point that I am very comfortable with it. Pg. 16 Describe a life experience in which you were in cultural cruise control. Then describe another experience in which you were engaged in beginning adjustments or fine-tuning. Compare these two experiences. One time I was on the way to Orlando with my family, my dad was driving and we got pulled over by a cop. The cop approached our car casually, the moment he started talking to my dad and realized I was translating for him, his approached changed completely! He started being rude and...
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...normalcy of theories and beliefs and prove its credibility. I found the topics of culture with respects to poverty, the power of naming, representation, and economic inequality of great interest to me because I enjoyed seeing examples of how the cultural norms we experience every day is false and misleading. We learned that culture, in an anthropological view, is a people’s way of life. These shared beliefs; food, language, work, labor, tradition, religion, art, and etiquette become bounded together into a common culture that is constantly changing. Culture veils society and when this takes place, class lines, race, gender, and segmentation occur creating a dominant culture because not everyone participates in a culture. Through transculturation, dominant culture can change existing cultures resulting in resistance causing a mix into a new culture. I previously thought poverty was not a culture but through our lesson and readings on Inner city poverty, I learned that “street culture” is indeed a culture that was created by resistance to economic exploitation, cultural denigration, and gender power relations (Philippe Bourgois). Living in Harlem, I see examples of inner city poverty everyday mixed with people who are being gentrified into the area. At first I thought these people were poor due to lack of opportunity....
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...integrating these primary sources, Corbould enables the reader to analyze details that might have been overlooked had they not been placed in the same context. She crafts a holistic picture that conveys the authentic atmosphere and significance of the event. This combination of sensory experiences enhances our understanding while also underscoring the important implications of potential sexism the event holds. In his chapter "Harlem's Difference," Winston James highlights the rich cultural melting pot within Harlem's Black community. Using primary sources, he portrays a multisensory experience, particularly emphasizing taste and sight. As a result, he provides insights into the cultural exchange among diverse groups. When speaking on “transculturation”, he examines a narrative of fashion blending within Harlem, showcasing how African Americans embraced Caribbean immigrants’ “cool, light-colored garments” during the summer months. He explains that Caribbeans were no longer “the butt of many a jest from his American brothers.” James emphasizes the transformation of Caribbean wear in Harlem from a joke to a normalized fashion that African Americans embraced. While African Americans adopted Caribbean immigrants’ fashion, James provides a primary source on taste to illustrate that this relationship extended in the other direction as well. He draws on the firsthand account of Caribbean immigrant and writer Claude Mckay, who enjoyed “Spareribs and corn pone, fried chicken and corn fritters...
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...History of Abortion Abortion has been a hot topic since I can remember. I became more interested in the subject lately with the passing of a bill saying, once a fetal heartbeat is detected, abortion cannot be performed. The other night my friend and I were discussing abortion and whether it was right or wrong. We both said it was not right however, he said it wasn’t right under any circumstances while I on the other hand believe that abortion is not a black and white decision; like every other important decision in life, there is always room for a grey area. Abortion as a form or birth control is unacceptable and immoral. Nevertheless, situations where the mother’s life is in danger should continuation of pregnancy exist or victims of rape should be allowed the option to terminate pregnancy. The conversation brought about a very heated debate which made me ask, “When did abortion first begin, what did it consist of, and what was the public’s opinion?’ Before answering these questions I feel it is important to understand what abortion is and how it is performed in modern day society. Abortion is an elected procedure that ends pregnancy before birth of a fetus occurs. Pregnancy is divided into three trimesters and with each trimester, different abortion options are available. During the first trimester procedures such as MTX, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, manual vacuum aspiration, and aspiration are available. Both MTX and Mifepristone and Misoprostol are both procedures that...
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...CHAPTER 1 Encounter I. Patterns of Indigenous Life 1. Geography and environment prompted Indigenous Americans to adopt different forms of social organization 1. Nonsedentary peoples 1. Mobile communities 2. Hunters and gatherers 3. Relatively simple social organization 4. Examples include 1. Chichimecas of northern Mexico 2. Pampas of Argentine grasslands 1. Semisedentary peoples 1. Often lived in forests 2. Relied on some agriculture as well as hunting 3. Built villages, but moved frequently 4. Employed “shifting cultivation” agriculture to take advantage of thin forest soil 5. Examples include Tupí people of Brazil 1. Fully sedentary 1. Permanent settlements 2. Often on high plateaus, rather than forests or grasslands 3. Stability allowed for complex societies 4. Employed irrigation to sustain agricultural base 5. Sometimes developed into city-states or empires 6. Highly stratified societies 7. Examples 1. Aztec empire 2. Maya empire 3. Inca empire 1. Empires of the Americas 1. Aztec empire 1. Aztec refers to the empire, not the people 2. In modern-day Mexico 3. Ruled by the Mexica people ...
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