Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to examine how culture permeates all that we do and influences our communication in the healthcare setting and workplace. Becoming intercultural flexible and understanding that we all have biases is important to consider.
Working well with others is an important skill to develop and understanding how to be flexible and uncover those implicit biases is key to positive team experiences.
This assignment asks that you examine cultural values, diverse health belief systems, and the power of implicit biases and how to change them.
Tasks
This assignment requires you to analyze versus summarize. In order to succeed on this assignment, it is important that you review and understand the difference between analyzing and summarizing. Here is a good resource from the University of Arizona that illustrates the difference: Summarizing vs Analyzing
Think of a culture different than your own that you will likely have frequent interaction with within the career you choose during the next one to five years. Do not choose a culture that you would prefer to have interaction with. Rather, choose a culture that you will interact with.
In a 3-4-page double-spaced response with 1″ margins using size 12 font, address each of the following questions. Use first person: Since this paper requires you to explore aspects of yourself, it is appropriate to use first person throughout.
- Identify a culture with which you work that you would like to investigate. First, choose three of Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions of this culture that are different from your own culture. Think about values and communication behaviors.
- Explain the cultural value dimensions of the culture different from your own.
- Compare and contrast those values and behaviors to your own culture.
- Share specific examples of how there may be misunderstandings due to these cultural values and communication behavior differences in the healthcare setting.
- Identify ONE bias you hold about this culture. Be specific. Explain.
- What are the top three ways you’ll adapt your behavior to better foster cross-cultural understanding with someone from this culture? How will you go about monitoring your ethnocentrism with this culture? Explain. Be specific. Provide an example.
Here are a few sources to help you learn more about the culture:
Go to Hofstede Compare Countries
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/ to compare Hofstede’s value dimensions of different countries. Begin by selecting a country and then select a comparison country.
Culture Crossing http://guide.culturecrossing.net/
There’s an explanation of the six cultural (value) dimensions on the Hofstede site: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/ . After reading about them and identifying the culture you’d like to compare your own to, feel free to use the link provided on the assignment: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/ . These articles might also be helpful: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/season-11-episode-18/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKViQSnW-UA
If you choose to explore generational differences, here is a resource that may help: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/education-partnerships/generational-workforce-differences-infographic/
Criteria
This assignment will be graded using the following standards:
- Completeness – worth 60 Points and based on: a.) addressing every question asked in the Task section above, demonstrating analysis (as opposed to summarizing); demonstrating adequate depth and thoughtfulness in your self-reflection.
- Appropriate Application of Course Concepts and Terms – worth 25 Points: your use of course terminology and concepts should demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
- College Level Writing – worth 15 Points: organization, conventions, grammar, word choice, syntax, and spelling count.