Cross Cultural Issues in the Newspapers

Dear Friends,

As I travel, I read newspapers wherever I am. In the last month I read The New York Times, International Section. I found an article, "Memo from Alexandria", November 26, 2009, "Harnessing Darwin to Push an Ancient Intellectual Center to Evolve" which was full of corss cultural concerns.

As I read newspapers I recall that every culture in our world is seen first of all through a culture's "Practices". Under the heading of "Practices" there are the culture's Symbols, which can be special "words, actions, pictures or objects" all of which carry a unique meaning fior thoses within a culture. (CULTURES AND ORGANIZATIONS, Software of the Mind, Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, Mcgraw-Hill, 2005 p. 6, ) Also under "Symbols" can be the way the members of the culture dress, wear their hair or have special sayings that only members of the culture understand. Symbols are the most easily changeable aspects of a culture and so are understood as perhaps the most superficial aspect of a culture.

Next under "Practices" are a culture's Heroes. These people whether they are alive or dead, real or created, have the characteristics that a culture highly values. As a result a culture's "heroes" function as models for all members of the culture.

Finally under "Practices" are a culture's Rituals. These are normally a group activity which is considered "socially essential". Examples of cultural Rituals are the way that people meet and greet each other, business and social meetings and how they are held, and for a culturally valuable purpose like encouraging group togetherness or the leadership of an individual. (Hofstede, p. 8)

The central driving force of all cultures is the culture's values. These values inform all of the "Practices". When I am reading a newspaper article, a culture's Practices, supported by its values inform me on a deeper level of what a particular article is discussing.

In applying this to the "Memo from Alexandria", here the British Counsel, an individual or a group of individuals from a culture that values the individual over a group's values is functioning in the middle of the Eqyptian culture where the group's values supercede those of an individual. There are a few ways that have been researched and used by Hofstede for over 29 years to better understand and work with a culture. I use the value of the group compared with the value of the individual within a culture as this is one of the ways that a culture is understood.

With this in mind, the British Counsel has suggested holding an international conference on Darwin in the middle of Alexandria, Eqypt, which is a conservative Muslim country. In cross cultural understanding, an individual or a group -the British Counsel- which is from a strongly individualist country has suggested to a collectivist country where the value of the group supercedes the value of the individual, that a conference be held whose topic may challenge the group held beliefs.

The goal of the conference was to move the once stronghold for education and critical thinking, Alexandria, Egypt, to return to being a center for critical thinking. The inference is that the memorization that is the foundation of education recently in Egypt, be replaced with a move to more cricital thinking. Critical thinking in a collectivist culture can be a challenging value to hold. Here though as the value of the conference was to honor the once stronghold of higher education, Alexandria, the conference was held. A way was found with the help of an individualist group, the British Counsel, to hold a critical thinking conference, an individualist value, in the middle of a strongly collectivist nation, where thinking is more normally carried out through having memorized large amounts of information.

Conratulations to all involved for the success of this cross cultural event.

Warm regards,

Jane E. Smith
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Buildilng Relationships for International Business Success
612-802-1240
www.lisimba.com

Cross Cultural Concerns in our Newspapers

Dear friends,

When I travel I frequently read a wide variety of newspapers. One that I read is THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL. In the November 26, 2009 issue, there was an article on "Harnessing Darwin to Push an Ancient Intellectual Center to Evolve". In this article cross cultural concerns were active. The British Council had decided to hold an international conference on Darwin. He was going to hold the conference in Egypt, a "conservative, Sunni Muslim nation.