Cabin Crew Qualities and Suitability For the Job

Embarking on a journey to become a full fledge cabin crew is an exciting journey but not without it's challenges. Hence, it is important to be sure why, where and what the job entails in order to generate satisfaction from the career, financial and experience from the job as a cabin crew.

The objective of this chapter is to provide guidance and evaluation if this job is suitable for you. Very often, we leave this part of the job fit to the airline recruiter or interviewer. Of course, each of us would hope the interviewer accepts us regardless on whether we are a good candidate for the job. It is also possible that we try to mould ourselves to fit the job, as it is common for many to justify why the job is suitable for them.

Without proper evaluation, the journey of looking and working in this job can be frustrating and in many cases, disappointing due to the lack of understanding of the job requirements and it's implication on career growth, mindset, financial management/behavior and lifestyle. It also affects longer term career interest, transition to ground positions and personal quality of life.

Cabin Crew Qualities and Suitability For the Job

In the following paragraphs, we hope to provide into insights on what the cabin crew job entails as well as some of its advantages and disadvantages.

Knowledge and Suitability for the Job

Role of a Cabin Crew

1. What do you think the role of cabin crew involves / What do you think is the primary responsibility of a cabin crew?

Cabin crew are on board an aircraft for safety reasons. In case of a real life emergency, the cabin crew must ensure that passengers follow the captains instructions, use safety equipment correctly, and stay as calm as possible.

During the flight, the cabin crew spends a lot of time looking after the comfort of the passengers. This involves giving special attention to children traveling alone, disabled people or people who are ill. Crew must appear friendly and sympathetic to anyone needing help, advise, reassurance, sympathize or even, at times, firm persuasion.

Other duties during the flight includes preparing and serving meals and drinks and cleaning up afterwards, selling duty free goods, and helping passengers use in flight entertainment system. There is also paperwork to complete, this can include flight reports, customs and immigrations documents, accounts of duty free sales and meal and drink orders.

At the end of the flight, the crew makes sure the passengers leave the aircraft safely.

2. What kind of individuals would fit this role?

An individual who has the following ideal qualities:
a. Dedication to details
b. Assertiveness
c. Adaptability
d. Cross Cultural Understanding/Sensitivity
e. Organized
f. Rule oriented
g. Good listening skills
h. Stable Emotion
i. Discipline
j. Friendliness
k. Humble disposition
l. Honesty
m. Sincerity
n. Warm personality
o. Approachability
g. Sense of humor.

The successful candidate will also need to have the ability to remain calm and level headed in emergency situations and be totally flexible about working with new people, flying different routes and working on unsociable hours.

3. Is the role of a cabin crew job glamorous?

Well, it certainly is perceived as glamorous and it certainly has its benefits of travel. People see cabin crew in action, jetting around the world and form an immediate impression of what they think the job involves. In fact, the customer sees only a fraction of what goes on in order to make each flight a success. The truth is, cabin crew has to combine working as a flying waiter or waitress, mobile shop assistant, cleaner, plus all the emergency services rolled into one. It can be an exhausting and disorienting lifestyle that places tough demands on family and social commitments. It is also physically demanding and many crew who do not have the right physical build (appropriate Body Mass Index or BMI) typically suffer lower back injuries on the job due to the amount of bending, squatting and lifting required to support the baggage, kart, trolley and equipment used on the aircraft.

Combined with the irregular flight time, sleep and meal times, cabin crew typically has irregular sleep pattern and meals. Hence it is not a glamorous job except for the perks of travel, hotels and nice uniforms for some international airlines.

With the onset of budget carriers, many cabin crew do not even travel beyond the aircraft that lands in the other countries only for transition before heading back to their home country. These are called turnaround flights and typically affects short haul flights of not more than 3 or 4 hours from the country of origin. The flight allowance, per diem, meals or layover allowance are also lower due to such quick turnaround patterns that are short haul flights.

4. What are the disadvantages of this position?
a. Jetlag
b. Irregular weight gain/loss
c. Minor cuts and injuries inflight
d. Lower back ache
e. Lack of mental stimulation in the long term
f. Physical fatigue
g. Dehydration
h. Rash due to overseas travel and weather changes
i. Allergies to hotel and aircraft environment
j. Harassment from opposite gender
k. Relationship commitment
l. Motion sickness
m. Financial and lifestyle habits
n. Hierarchy reporting structure
o. Irregular or unsociable work hours

5. What are the advantages of this position?
Working as a cabin crew member is not just a job, but a way of life and provides an alternative and very stimulating lifestyle where no two working days a likely to be the same. The sheer dynamics of different crew, passengers' profiles, destinations and roster structure ensures that there will always be variety.
Furthermore, there are opportunities to visit places and experience cultures that are beyond most people reach. Cabin crew go to places they always dreamed of and find interests in destinations they would not necessarily have chosen to go to.

Additionally, it is a good feeling to deliver businessmen to their meetings on time, reunite family and friends; deliver newly weds to their honeymoon destinations, or vacation airs to their dream holiday place. There is genuine feeling of doing something worthwhile, in a unique way which not many jobs regularly produce at the end of a hard day.

Cabin Crew Qualities and Suitability For the Job
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p.s. From the desk of The Best Cabin Crew Recrutiment Site @ www.CabinCrewRecruitment.net - Latest Interview information, Answer to Myth and Rumours, ebooks, free recruitment date alert service.

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Benefits From Globalization

Facts

The things that come to many minds when globalization is mentioned are loss of United States' jobs, NAFTA, CAFTA, APEC, outsourcing, and low-wages. The perception to most people is that if outsourcing is bad, then globalization must be bad. The fact is that globalization is good for the United States of America and the market economy. It promotes prosperity for participating countries. What needs to be done is to educate people on the diversity and multiculturalism in the work place, and the sensitivity in the culture of the participating countries. Listed below are the benefits of Globalization and international trade:

(1) Opportunity cost

Benefits From Globalization

(2) Comparative advantage

(3) Cheaper to buy than to produce

(4) The terms of trade

(5) Balance trade

(6) Changes in production and consumption

Role of Trade

The United States represents a major exporter of raw materials and agricultural products, and imports a large volume of services. Market is efficient when trading is concentrated on specialization. By concentration, cost is minimized, profit is maximized, production is increased, and efficiency is maximized. Specialization is achieved when participating countries shift their scarce resources toward producing goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage over other countries, and in turn, increase the consumption of all goods.

To workers, this may not make sense if they are losing their jobs, but organizations are in business to make money, and they understand what it takes and how long it takes to break-even and to start making profits. Businesses do not intentionally try to hurt workers by laying them off. They rather keep the jobs in the United States, and by keeping it here, they will save themselves the hassle of moving and talking to people with different languages and accents all over the world. But organizations operate their businesses like puzzles, and for each puzzle, it requires a lot of the pieces to be put together in order to complete a puzzle. Going global is what it might take for most organizations to compete in order to control costs and produce at an efficient capacity.

Only winners are created in global trading, because selling a product creates an increase in the demand for that product because net demand by foreigners is added to domestic demand. Therefore, with the increase in demand, the price will rise. On the other hand, buying a product will create an increase in the supply of the product because net foreign supply is added to domestic supply. Hence, with the increase in supply, the price falls. No one loses; it is all a win-win situation for all the participating countries.

Market economy is dynamic due to continuous research and development, and the change in technology, and as such individuals will need to keep up with the movement and change by continuously attend seminars and undergo retraining. The old style of static market is over.
The argument has been made concerning exploitation of the poorer people in the developing countries. It also went further to compare their wages to slave wages. The fact is, whenever the people of these developing countries have opportunity to obtain jobs and earn more than they originally earn, it is improvement. Most parents in these countries are illiterate and do not know the importance of education, and because of that they send their children to work at these production plants. They need to be educated on the importance of education in order to begin sending their children to school rather than to the production plants.

For more information on globalization and international trade email to: consulting@iba-pec.com

Benefits From Globalization
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Dr. Sidney Okolo is a professor, consultant, strategist, and Africa expert. He is affiliated to several universities, the Managing Director of International Business Associates, a management consulting firm, and also the President of Virtual Classrooms Institute, an online education solution.

Among other things, he engages in all aspects of learning, knowledge, organization and human change. His focus is on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, profit engineering, human potential, excellence, achievement, business strategy, research and development. Product management, change management, conflict management, athlete management, marketing, business development and operations. He works with clients to adapt to change due to change in factors of production, technology, goods and services. He engages clients in training, retraining, development, skills enhancement, association, behavior modification, ways of thinking, and attitude adjustment. In addition to his work in the United States, his focus is also on developing countries in the continent of Africa, their leadership, culture, economic and market structure, community planning and development, and he coined the phrase; "AFRICAN PIES", which stands for: poverty, instability, ethnicity, and sectarianism in Africa.

http://www.iba-pec.com

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The Purpose of Christian Missions - Seven Essential Tasks of Effective Christian Missions

There are many important responsibilities applicable to Christian missions. Yet, of all that can be listed, there are seven essential tasks that are most central. This article outlines and briefly discusses the seven main points pertinent to Christian missions.

Christian Foreign Missions exists to:
1. Exalt the Name of the One True God
2. Exemplify the Body of Christ
3. Evangelize Unbelievers
4. Educate Disciples
5. Establish Local Church Bodies
6. Equip and Empower National Leaders
7. Encourage the National Church as Co-Laborers in Christ

Exalt the Name of the One True God

The Purpose of Christian Missions - Seven Essential Tasks of Effective Christian Missions

First, Christian missions exists to exalt the Name of the One True God. Christians believe there is only one Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all living things. He made every human being to be special, unique persons with eternal value in his sight. To exalt His Name means to glorify God or, in plain terms, to make God look good and attractive to others. Certainly, others have the right to reject God, but they should never reject him because of the unseemly character of a mission group or team member.

Exemplify the Body of Christ

Second, Christian missions is about exemplifying the Body of Christ. To exemplify Christ's Body means to model the kind of loving fellowship that comes from knowing Jesus and walking together in God's Holy Presence. Christian missionaries are far from perfect, but as a group they exist to demonstrate to others around the world a type of support and camaraderie that does not exist in the secular world. Christian mission teams are envoys or ambassadors that represent the Kingdom of God, a place of refuge, a safe harbor from the storms of life. To exemplify the Body of Christ means to value each member along with their special quirks and peculiarities and to help each other thrive to God's fullest potential. As such, team members seek God together and when conflict arises, as inevitably it will, they are quick to talk through differences, forgive one another and walk forward together, hand-in-hand.

Evangelize Unbelievers

The third essential task of Christian Missions is to evangelize unbelievers. Unfortunately, the term - evangelize- has a bad connotation, as it gives the picture of a Christian hammering a non-Christian over the head with a Bible until they cower into submission and - pray the sinner's prayer.- However, in this context, the term - evangelize- simply means - to tell the good news- of God's great love for them. To testify about Him, who He is and what He has done.

If there is only One True God, then it is an imperative that Christians, including Christian missionaries, tell others about Him and how they can have a relationship with Him. Telling others the good news also includes telling them about God's Son Jesus Christ, his loving sacrifice on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins, and how Jesus conquered death by resurrecting on the third day.

Perhaps, it should be written that telling the good news does not mean shoving Christ down another person's throat. Not even the most persuasive person can make another person a true believer by coercion. Christian's are called to be loving, kind and cordial. It is God's task to convince others to believe; it is the Christian missionary's task simply to present the good news in a loving manner.

Educate Disciples of Jesus Christ

The fifth purpose of Christian missions is to educate disciples. To educate disciples means to teach the new believers how to grow in their faith and knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. The main source of teaching should be the Christian Bible. New believers should be taught or trained in the basic fundamentals of Christian faith and practice, including how to:

- Worship God
- Read and study the Bible
- Pray for themselves and others
- Fellowship with other believers
- Deal with conflict
- Forgive themselves and others
- Tell others about God and Jesus

Establish Local Church Bodies

Another task germane to Christian missions is to establish local church bodies or to start new church groups. Christians were never meant to live their lives in isolation. Each person has been uniquely created to function within a wider organization of believers. The reason this is so is because each human being is finite in his or her abilities. No one is good at everything. Christians need one another to balance each other out and to help each other thrive to their optimum potential. The Christian Bible tells us that each member of the Christian family has been given unique spiritual gifts to aide in the administration of the church. The goal is to establish a place of loving fellowship where fellow believers can worship God and support one another in their relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

It should be noted that establishing a local church does not mean making the church in the likeness of American or Western cultural norms. Each culture has its own unique expression of what it means to do church. Missionaries should allow national believers to explore what doing church means in their own cultural context.

Finally, one part of the task of establishing a local church body is to teach and train them in administration of the church. This includes guiding them through the process of:

- Defining their own vision for the church,
- Writing out guidelines for church discipline
- Learning how to handle church finances.

Equip and Empower National Leaders

A sixth purpose of Christian Missions is to equip and empower national leaders. The ultimate goal of Christian mission teams is to work themselves out of a job. Many missionaries lack faith and trust in God to keep His church going when they leave. Christian leaders are often too slow to let go of the reigns of leadership to national believers. It seems a bit ironic that these missionaries, who trusted God enough to leave home and family to go to a strange land far off, are not able to muster enough faith in God to raise competent leadership in their stead. Even so, leadership development is a central task of the Christian mission team.

Encourage the National Church as Co-Laborers in Christ

It is not a proper objective for Christian mission organization to remain on soil forever. It is another imperative that mission teams define an exit strategy, clearly defining what a mature national church should look like and how to back out when the appropriate time comes. However, this does not mean that the relationship has to end. In fact, the seventh purpose of Christian missions is to encourage the national church as co-laborers in Christ. Such encouragement can come through letters or periodic visits. When a mission organization has exited from a foreign field, the national church and or one or more of the local bodies will have periods when they will experience hard times. It is not the job of the mission group to jump back over and re-take the reins, but rather to be there for moral support and encouragement.

There are many important responsibilities applicable to Christian missions. Yet, of all that can be listed, there are seven essential tasks that are most central. This article has outlined and briefly discussed the seven main points pertinent to Christian missions.

The Purpose of Christian Missions - Seven Essential Tasks of Effective Christian Missions
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Eric Coggins and his family served as missionaries in Cambodia for six years. Beyond that, he has had extensive interaction with members of many different ethnic backgrounds including African-American, Latin American, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Australian and European. His mission is to promote the best possible life for all everywhere in the world and to help them reach their God-given potential.

Are you living up to your God-given potential? If not, Eric has written an ebook called The Best You: Foundational Principles for an Effective Life. Certainly life is not all about you, but God does want you to do the most with what he has given you. If you want to develop your God-given capacity, you can find out more about the ebook at http://bestyouebook.thebestyou.org/ or visit his website The Best You .Org at http://www.thebestyou.org/.

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How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis

Cross-cultural analysis could be a very perplexing field to understand with many different viewpoints, aims and concepts. The origins of cross-cultural analysis in the 19th century world of colonialism was strongly grounded in the concept of cultural evolution, which claimed that all societies progress through an identical series of distinct evolutionary stages.

The origin of the word culture comes from the Latin verb colere = "tend, guard, cultivate, till". This concept is a human construct rather than a product of nature. The use of the English word in the sense of "cultivation through education" is first recorded in 1510. The use of the word to mean "the intellectual side of civilization" is from 1805; that of "collective customs and achievements of a people" is from 1867. The term Culture shock was first used in 1940.

How do we define culture?

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis

There are literally hundreds of different definitions as writers have attempted to provide the all-encompassing definition.

Culture consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, ceremonies and symbols. It has played a crucial role in human evolution, allowing human beings to adapt the environment to their own purposes rather than depend solely on natural selection to achieve adaptive success. Every human society has its own particular culture, or sociocultural system. (Adapted from source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Generally culture can be seen as consisting of three elements:

Values - Values are ideas that tell what in life is considered important. Norms - Norms consists of expectations of how people should behave in different situations. Artefacts - Things or material culture - reflects the culture's values and norms but are tangible and manufactured by man.

Origins and evolution of Cross-cultural analysis
The first cross-cultural analyzes done in the West, were by anthropologists like Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H Morgan in the 19th century. Anthropology and Social Anthropology have come a long way since the belief in a gradual climb from stages of lower savagery to civilization, epitomized by Victorian England. Nowadays the concept of "culture" is in part a reaction against such earlier Western concepts and anthropologists argue that culture is "human nature," and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences, encode classifications symbolically and communicate such abstractions to others.

Typically anthropologists and social scientists tend to study people and human behavior among exotic tribes and cultures living in far off places rather than do field work among white-collared literate adults in modern cities. Advances in communication and technology and socio-political changes started transforming the modern workplace yet there were no guidelines based on research to help people interact with other people from other cultures. To address this gap arose the discipline of cross-cultural analysis or cross-cultural communication. The main theories of cross-cultural communication draw from the fields of anthropology, sociology, communication and psychology and are based on value differences among cultures. Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Shalom Schwartz and Clifford Geertz are some of the major contributors in this field.

How the social sciences study and analyze culture

Cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic culture whereas archaeologists focus on material and tangible culture. Sociobiologists study instinctive behavior in trying to explain the similarities, rather than the differences between cultures. They believe that human behavior cannot be satisfactorily explained entirely by 'cultural', 'environmental' or 'ethnic' factors. Some sociobiologists try to understand the many aspects of culture in the light of the concept of the meme, first introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins suggests the existence of units of culture - memes - roughly analogous to genes in evolutionary biology. Although this view has gained some popular currency, other anthropologists generally reject it.

Different types of cross-cultural comparison methods

Nowadays there are many types of Cross-cultural comparisons. One method is comparison of case studies. Controlled comparison among variants of a common derivation is another form of comparison. Typically anthropologists and other social scientists favor the third type called Cross-cultural studies, which uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behaviour and to test hypotheses about human behavior and culture.

Controlled comparison examines similar characteristics of a few societies while cross-cultural studies uses a sufficiently large sample that statistical analysis can be made to show relationships or lack of relationships between certain traits in question. The anthropological method of holocultural analysis or worldwide cross-cultural analysis is designed to test or develop a proposition through the statistical analysis of data on a sample of ten or more non literate societies from three or more geographical regions of the world. In this approach, cultural traits are taken out of the context of the whole culture and are compared with cultural traits in widely diverse cultures to determine patterns of regularities and differences within the broad base of the study.

Aims of cross-cultural analysis

Cross-cultural communication or inter cultural communication looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds try to communicate. It also tries to produce some guidelines, which help people from different cultures to better communicate with each other.

Culture has an interpretative function for the members of a group, which share that particular culture. Although all members of a group or society might share their culture, expressions of culture-resultant behaviour are modified by the individuals' personality, upbringing and life-experience to a considerable degree. Cross-cultural analysis aims at harnessing this utilitarian function of culture as a tool for increasing human adaptation and improving communication.

Cross-cultural management is seen as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters, which aims to discover tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miscommunication.

How laypersons see culture

It is a daunting challenge to convey the findings of research and field work and discuss cross-cultural issues in diverse contexts such as corporate culture, workplace culture and inter cultural competency as laypeople tend to use the word 'culture' to refer to something refined, artistic and exclusive to a certain group of "artists" who function in a separate sphere than ordinary people in the workplace. Some typical allusions to culture:

Culture is the section in the newspaper where they review theatre, dance performances or write book reviews etc.

Culture is what parents teach their kids and grandparents teach their grandchildren.

"You don't have any culture," is what people say to you when you put your feet on the table at lunchtime or spit in front of guests.

"They just have a different culture," people say about those whose behaviour they don't understand but have to tolerate.

Different models of cross-cultural analysis

There are many models of cross-cultural analysis currently valid. The 'Iceberg' and the 'Onion' models are widely known. The popular 'Iceberg model' of culture developed by Selfridge and Sokolik, 1975 and W.L. French and C.H. Bell in 1979, identifies a visible area consisting of behaviour or clothing or symbols and artifacts of some form and a level of values or an invisible level.

Trying to define as complex a phenomenon as culture with just two layers proved quite a challenge and the 'Onion' model arose. Geert Hofstede (1991) proposed a set of four layers, each of which includes the lower level or is a result of the lower level. According to this view, 'culture' is like an onion that can be peeled, layer-by layer to reveal the content. Hofstede sees culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another."

Cross-cultural analysis often plots 'dimensions' such as orientation to time, space, communication, competitiveness, power etc., as complimentary pairs of attributes and different cultures are positioned in a continuum between these.

Hofstede dimensions to distinguish between cultures

The five dimensions Hofstede uses to distinguish between national cultures are:

Power distance, which measures the extent to which members of society accept how power is distributed unequally in that society. Individualism tells how people look after themselves and their immediate family only in contrast with Collectivism, where people belong to in-groups (families, clans or organizations) who look after them in exchange for loyalty. The dominant values of Masculinity, focussing on achievement and material success are contrasted with those of Femininity, which focus on caring for others and quality of life. Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations. Confucian dynamism. This Long-term versus Short-term Orientation measured the fostering of virtues related to the past, i.e., respect for tradition, importance of keeping face and thrift.

Trompenaars dimensions to distinguish between cultures
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) adopt a similar onion-like model of culture. However, their model expands the core level of the very basic two-layered model, rather than the outer level. In their view, culture is made up of basic assumptions at the core level. These 'basic assumptions' are somewhat similar to 'values' in the Hofstede model.

Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner use seven dimensions for their model of culture:

Universalism vs Particularism (what is more important - rules or relationships?) Individualism vs Communitarianism (do we function in a group or as an individual?) Neutral vs Emotional (do we display our emotions or keep them in check?) Specific vs Diffuse (how far do we get involved?) Achievement vs Ascription (do we have to prove ourselves to gain status or is it given to us just because we are a part of a structure?) Attitude to Time Past- / present- / future-orientatedness
Sequential time vs Synchronic time(do we do things one at a time or several things at once?)

Criticism of current models
One of the weaknesses of cross-cultural analysis has been the inability to transcend the tendency to equalize culture with the concept of the nation state. A nation state is a political unit consisting of an autonomous state inhabited predominantly by a people sharing a common culture, history, and language or languages. In real life, cultures do not have strict physical boundaries and borders like nation states. Its expression and even core beliefs can assume many permutations and combinations as we move across distances.

There is some criticism in the field that this approach is out of phase with global business today, with transnational companies facing the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using new communication technologies.

Some writers like Nigel Holden (2001) suggest an alternative approach, which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about organizations and multiple cultures in a globalizing business context.

In spite of all the shortcomings and criticisms faced by the Hofstede model, it is very much favoured by trainers and researchers. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it is a wonderful and easy to use tool to quantify cultural differences so that they can be discussed. Discussing and debating differences is after all the main method of training and learning. Secondly, Hofstede's research at IBM was conducted in the workplace, so Hofstede tools brings cross-cultural analysis closer to the business side of the workplace, away from anthropology, which is a matter for universities.

Bibliography and suggested reading:

Dawkins, Richard (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press French, W.L. and C.H. Bell (1979). Organization development. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Hofstede, Geert "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind", 1997 Holden, Nigel 2001, Cross-Cultural Management: A Knowledge Management Perspective, Financial Times Management

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Analysis
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Quotation adapted from The Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com

Rana Sinha is a cross-cultural trainer and author. He was born in India, studied and lived in many places and traveled in over 80 countries, acquiring cross-cultural knowledge and building an extensive network of professionals. He has spent many years developing and delivering Cross-cultural Training, Professional Communications skills, Personal Development and Management solutions to all types of organizations and businesses in many countries. He now lives in Helsinki, Finland and runs http://www.dot-connect.com, which specializes in human resource development as well as communication and management skills training with cross-cultural emphasis. Read his cross-cultural blog http://originalwavelength.blogspot.com

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Cultural Diversity In The Classroom Equals Language Success

Cultural differences in communicating are important for a teacher to understand because cross-cultural communication abounds in early childhood classrooms. Diversity represents the richness and uniqueness of human life. It is something that is valued and shared with children that teachers encounter on a day to day basis.

Multicultural education hopes to prepare children for a diverse society in which different languages and customs abound. Its goals include communicating despite differences, cooperating for multicultural unity, and respecting the values of others.

Culture is defined as all the activities and achievements of a society that individuals within the society pass from one generation to the next.

Cultural Diversity In The Classroom Equals Language Success

Ethnic origin is often a basic ingredient in subculture groupings. Subculture is defined as something other than a dominant culture. Class structure also exists in societies consisting of upper, middle, and lower income groups. Often patterns of child-rearing vary between cultures and classes.

Families may express attitudes and values peculiar to their class or culture. Attitudes and feelings of an impoverished group, for example, may express anger. violence, and loss of trust toward anyone or any situation.

Teachers must try to determine the background of their students' families to better instruct them. Noting the individual child's background and home life helps the teacher better understand the child and to provide superior language development experiences. Many of the children's cultural differences inhibit the child's speech in several shapes and forms. Adults must model lengths of sentences and modify their speech to child like levels.

Most importantly, we must examine the importance of the child's early years at home. Neutral or negative environments, family arrangements that require children to he alone for 1ong periods or in which children are expected to he quiet, and cannot gain adult attention until they are: these are all factors that affect speech growth.

What I have learned about cultural diversity that can help me as a teacher, is that I will work with children who may differ greatly in language development. Some students will he bringing a high vocabulary while others may just be mastering the language. An important rule for a teacher is to carefully work toward increasing the child's use of words while providing a model of standard English through activities and daily interactions.

I have learned to never give the impression that one students' speech is superior to another student. I also believe that gaining knowledge about my classroom "culture" is going to enable me to be more effective as a teacher because I will have the inside scoop on what makes them tick. By "tick" I mean what types of sayings arouse their attention. What types of environments at home do they really show success in?

In this day and age we deal with the Latch Key child, or the child who comes home with their keys to an empty house every single day. This study has really enabled me to think about the child who has no supervision at home. Who is assisting them with their language skills? The television? Radio? Internet?

Perhaps every teacher could benefit by making more home visits, or simply making themselves available for PTA Meetings, school functions, and school-site activities, and active participation in parent conferences. I have had the unique privilege of being a Spanish Interpreter during report card conferences with parents, and the experience has opened my eyes to the "way" that I should address parents.

I am always so good hearted but I also have the strength to tell someone how I feel without offending them. This will be a great asset to me as a teacher as well. When I am helping a child with their language development, I am changing the future because our culture will benefit when a child learns to appreciate his/her language.

Cultural Diversity In The Classroom Equals Language Success
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The Meaning of the OK Hand Gesture Around the World - Learn the Meaning of Hand Gestures

The OK hand gesture is one of the most common hand gestures. It is done by connecting the thumb and forefinger in to a circle and holding the other fingers straight or relaxed in the air. The most common interpretation of this sign is OK, but there are some countries where it may be an insult or where it will not be understood.

Let's have a look at different countries and what the OK sign means there:

Australia - Usually means ''zero'' rather than OK, not common.

The Meaning of the OK Hand Gesture Around the World - Learn the Meaning of Hand Gestures

Canada - OK, alright, good. You can use it to signify approval.

China - The OK sign is not used.

France - Zero, null.

Finland - military conscripts use the sign to signal that they have zero days left in the military service on their last day of the national service.

Germany - Job well done or grave insult, depends on region

Greece - OK (rarely used).

Ireland - OK.

Italy - OK.

Japan - The general meaning is money, for young people it means OK.

New Zealand - It's regarded as a cheesy way of saying OK. Not much used.

Russia - Many people would understand this as OK, but they don't use this sign.

Spain - OK.

Sweden - OK.

Turkey - Homosexual.

United Kingdom - OK.

Venezuela - Homosexual.

USA - OK, alright, good. You can use it to signify approval.

Please note that meaning of gestures varies among various parts of countries and also among cultural groups and between generations.

The Meaning of the OK Hand Gesture Around the World - Learn the Meaning of Hand Gestures
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You can find a list of different gestures and their meaning at Hello Backpacker [http://www.hellobackpacker.com/gestures/]

[http://www.hellobackpacker.com] - practical advice for new and experienced backpackers for all trip stages: get inspired, plan your trip, advice on the road, tips when back home.

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In 21st Century as Global Market is Shrinking... Cross Cultural Adaptation is a Must!

Introduction

In 21st Century and in the era of Knowledge Based Industry when global market in shrinking cross culture adaptation is not only a MUST but is only a mantra to succeed. In my previous two employments, we had 15 and 24 nationals respectively from different countries and many of our people from India go on Deputation to other countries and many of them face challenges to cope-up with the cultural change...behavioral change.

Understanding Intercultural Sensitivity

In 21st Century as Global Market is Shrinking... Cross Cultural Adaptation is a Must!

Why you need to go out, India is a country with "Diversity in Culture". This diversity is the result of the coexistence of a number of religions as well as local traditions.

The beautiful temples of south India, easily identifiable by their ornately sculptured surface, in the desert of Kutch, Gujarat, on the other hand, the local folk pit themselves against the awesome forces of nature, in the extreme north is the high altitude desert of Ladakh, Local culture is visibly shaped by the faith - Buddhism - as well as by the harsh terrain.

With over one billion citizens, India is the second most populous nation in the world. It is impossible to speak of any one Indian culture, although there are deep cultural continuities that tie its people together.

In its quest for modernization, India has preserved its ancient civilization and never lost sight of the ideals that gave her strength through countless centuries. Science and technology has been steadily raising the living standard and prosperity of its people, but the nation of more than one billion people - one sixth of humanity - continues to live with some of its traditional values that go back 4,000 years and more. See this synthesis of tradition and modernity on your India Travel itinerary.

Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

"Global diversity is the recognition and development of skills to deal with differences on both international and domestic fronts." -Dr. Milton Bennett

How can we help employees in our organizations succeed in an increasingly complex workplace? Our function is to clarify what cultural competence is and why it is needed, and to help employees enhance understanding of their own culture, and increase their intercultural sensitivity and competence.
In 1986, Bennett created the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, which shows a progression of stages people may go through in developing intercultural competency. Since then, he has partnered with Dr. Mitch Hammer of American University to develop the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). (The inventory is a set of statements that allows an individual to assess his/her developmental stage of intercultural sensitivity according to the DMIS. This tool is valuable because it measures people's ability to experience difference in relatively complex ways).

Why there is Resistance...Tool to understand resistance

Development of intercultural competence does not come without a struggle; some employees will protest these efforts. Bennett's model helps us understand that the basic form of resistance is a defense response. People who respond to diversity efforts in this way are often moving from the model's first stage of intercultural sensitivity, denial (a failure to recognize that cultural differences exist) into the second stage, defense (recognition of differences). Often, people at this stage may express concern about reverse discrimination. "Recognition of the fact that differences do exist carries a threat," he says. The reaction is to defend one's self. Bennett recommends listening carefully to the person's fears and to help them understand how the organization will continue to extend opportunities to this person's cultural group, even as efforts expand to include other cultural groups.

The model predicts that as time goes by, people can move from defense (stage two) into minimization (stage three). "With minimization, there's more recognition that we're dealing with people that are different, but there's still resistance to that idea," Bennett explains. "The belief is that somehow if we are more open in making sure that equal opportunity exists, everyone should be grateful and follow a set of rules." Someone in this stage may say, "Why can't we all just be Americans?" A person at this stage hopes that we will all converge into a single cultural position. Of course, this position assumes people are able and willing to shed their culture and take on American culture.

How to address backlash

Bennett recommends several approaches to addressing backlash:

· Cultural Self-Awareness: Help employees develop cultural awareness, including (if applicable) identification of European American ethnicity versus stopping at a more specific cultural self-awareness (such as Italian or Irish).

· Recognition of Cultural Capital: Prepare employees to deal with issues of privilege in a non-threatening way. Help them to identify their own cultural capital (what it means to belong to their own group and how that translates into institutional privilege).

· Establishing a Cultural Core: Facilitate an exploration of value commitment in the context of intercultural relativity.

In other words, we need to recognize that our values are culturally based. Then, we must develop the capability of working effectively with people with different values without feeling the need to give up our own values system. "I find that most diversity practitioners don't have the ability to deal with this," He says. "[The tendency is to think] if there aren't any basic values, which by the way are mine, how do we work and live ethically?"

Bennett envisions this model extending beyond domestic to international diversity efforts. "Global diversity is the recognition and development of skills to deal with differences on both international and domestic fronts," says Bennett.

Many organizations realize that diversity efforts involve on-going change strategies rather than one-time training events.

There is also a move toward coupling international and domestic diversity, and aligning intercultural competence with leadership development. "The danger [in these trends] of course is that international issues may be seen as diffusing other important [domestic diversity] issues," Bennett cautions. Our challenge, then, is to maintain the emphasis on domestic issues within the context of the larger global diversity effort.

Stages of Intercultural Sensitivity

In the '80's and 90's organizations have attempted to go beyond mere discrimination issues and even to "celebrate diversity." However, celebration of diversity falls far short of what is needed for effective collaboration between mainstream agencies and ethnic minority communities. For organizations or individuals to move beyond "celebration" to a real ability to work appropriately with cultural difference requires a planned sequence of development.

Bennett describes six stages of development in intercultural sensitivity. The stages provide a good framework for determining how to work with and improve the capacity for intercultural sensitivity and collaboration. Some of his stages of "cultural sensitivity" include behaviors or adaptations the authors include under the definition of "cultural competence."

1. Bennett refers to the first stage of the model as "denial." It means that people in this stage are very unaware of cultural difference. If mainstream agency staff are in this stage of intercultural sensitivity, a huge problem can be expected in the delivery of education, health, and social services for ethnic minorities, a gap that does currently exist when these groups are compared to Anglo Americans. The task for staff at this first stage of intercultural sensitivity is to recognize cultural differences that are escaping their notice.

2. Whereas in the first stage we do not "see" cultural differences, in the second stage of cultural competence we do perceive cultural differences; however, differences from ourselves or the norms of our group are labeled very negatively. They are experienced as a threat to the centrality and "rightness" of our own value system. Bennett calls this stage "defense."

3. In the third stage of intercultural sensitivity, minimization, we try to avoid stereotypes and even appreciate differences in language and culture. However, we still view many of our own values as universal, rather than viewing them simply as part of our own ethnicity. The task at the third level of intercultural sensitivity is to learn more about our own culture and to avoid projecting that culture onto other people's experience.

This stage is particularly difficult to pass through when one cultural group has vast and unrecognized privileges when compared to other groups. This problem is so invisible that persons in mainstream agencies are often mystified when representatives of ethnic minorities consistently withdraw from collaborative activities.

4. A reasonable goal for many mainstream agencies is to ensure that all staff achieve at least the fourth developmental level in intercultural sensitivity. The fourth stage in Bennett's model requires us to be able to shift perspective, while still maintaining our commitments to values. The task in this stage is to understand that the same behavior can have different meanings in different cultures. The comparisons that follow in the Toolkit can be particularly helpful for staff of mainstream agencies to improve their intercultural sensitivity in this stage of development. In order for collaboration to be successful long-term, this stage of intercultural sensitivity must be reached by the participants of the collaborative process. Bennett calls this stage "acceptance."

5. The fifth stage of intercultural sensitivity, adaptation, may allow the person to function in a bicultural capacity. In this stage, a person is able to take the perspective of another culture and operate successfully within that culture. This ability usually develops in a two-part sequence. It requires that the person know enough about his or her own culture and a second culture to allow a mental Shift into the value scheme of the other culture, and an evaluation of behavior based on its norms, not the norms of the first individual culture of origin. This is referred to as "cognitive adaptation." The more advanced form of adaptation is "behavioral adaptation," in which the person can produce behaviors appropriate to the norms of the second culture. Persons serving as liaisons between a mainstream agency and an ethnic minority group need to be at this level of intercultural sensitivity.

6. In the sixth stage, the person can shift perspectives and frames of reference from one culture to another in a natural way. They become adept at evaluating any situation from multiple frames of reference. Some representatives in cross-cultural collaboration may reach this level, but most probably will not.

Stage six requires in-depth knowledge of at least two cultures (one's own and another), and the ability to shift easily into the other cultural frame of reference. The task at this level of development is to handle the identity issues that emerge from this cultural flexibility. Bennett calls this final stage of intercultural sensitivity "integration."

Building Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a tool to build individual and team effectiveness

The ability to communicate effectively with people of different backgrounds, cultures, or perspectives is essential to creating an inclusive, productive, and innovative work environment. This is the basis for leveraging peoples' inputs to improve business results.

Each member of a team or an organization must build this competence to a degree consistent with their responsibilities and work. It is therefore important to be able to measure intercultural sensitivity and guide development for individuals, teams, and organizations.

The Intercultural Development Inventory, developed by Dr. Mitchell Hammer and Dr. Milton Bennett, is a 50-item, theory-based paper and pencil or web-based instrument that measures intercultural sensitivity as conceptualized in Dr. Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS).

The DMIS is a framework for explaining the reactions of people to cultural differences. The underlying assumption of the model is that as one's experience of cultural differences becomes more complex, one's potential competence in intercultural interactions increases. Dr. Bennett has identified a set of fundamental cognitive structures (or "worldviews") that act as orientations to cultural difference.

The worldviews vary from more ethnocentric to more ethnorelative. According to the DMIS theory, more ethnorelative worldviews have more potential to generate the attitudes, knowledge, and behavior that constitute intercultural competence.

The IDI measures an individual's and/or group's fundamental worldview orientation to cultural difference, and thus the individual or group capacity for intercultural competence. As a theory-based test, the IDI meets the standard scientific criteria for a valid and reliable psychometric instrument.

Key Characteristics of the IDI

The IDI is currently administered as a paper and pencil instrument composed of 50 questions that are designed to measure an individual's sensitivity to and awareness of cultural differences. The survey consists of statements reflecting attitudes toward cultural difference, and responses are scored on a five-point Likert-type scale. The instrument takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete. The results are compiled and a graphic profile of an individual or group's predominant stage of intercultural development is generated. In addition, IDI results provide a textual interpretation of an individual or group's stage of development and associated transition issues. Administration of the IDI is often accompanied by a pre-interview, in which respondents are asked about their backgrounds and prior experiences with different cultures. In addition, individuals and groups are provided with their IDI results in conjunction with a mandatory debriefing session that is facilitated by a trained and certified IDI administrator.

The IDI is a proprietary instrument that may only be administered by individuals who receive certification from the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI).

Conclusion

Today, the importance of intercultural competence in both global and domestic contexts is well recognized. Bennett (1986, 1993b) posited a framework for conceptualizing dimensions of intercultural competence in his developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS). The DMIS constitutes a progression of worldview "orientations toward cultural difference" that comprise the potential for increasingly more sophisticated intercultural experiences. Three ethnocentric orientations, where one's culture is experienced as central to reality (Denial, Defense, Minimization), and three ethnorelative orientations, where one's culture is experienced in the context of other cultures (Acceptance, Adaptation, Integration), are identified in the DMIS.

References

1. Bennett, M.J. (1986). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R.M. Paige (Ed.) Cross-cultural orientation: New conceptualizations and applications (pp. 27-70). New York: University Press of America.

2. Bennett, M.J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for the intercultural experience (pp. 21-71). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

3. Bennett, M.J. & Hammer, M. (1998).

4. Bikson, T.K., & Law, S.A. (1994). Global preparedness and human resources. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Institute.

5. Dougherty, D., Lynch, R.A., & Ohles, F. (2003). Review of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) for assessing outcomes of a liberal arts education. Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts: Wabash, IN.

6. Endicott, L., Bock, T., & Narvaez, D. (2002, April). Learning processes at the intersection of ethical and intercultural education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.

7. Paige, R., Jacobs-Cassuto, M., Yershova, Y.A., & DeJaeghere, J. (2003). Assessing intercultural sensitivity: An empirical analysis of Hammer and Bennett's Intercultural Development Inventory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27: 467-486.

In 21st Century as Global Market is Shrinking... Cross Cultural Adaptation is a Must!
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Sanjeev Himachali
E-mail: ss_himachali@yahoo.com, sanjeev.himachali@gmail.com
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic has a long roster of delectable food common with countries nearby such as Puerto Rico and Cuba as they share similar cultural traditions. As such, their cuisine has Arab, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and African ingredients.

For breakfast, the locals like to eat tropical fruits like bananas, passion fruit, papaya, mangoes, pineapples, jagua and zapote. Breakfast is also never complete without their traditional mangu. With its savory taste, it serves as a perfect appetizer to start the day. This is prepared by mixing mashed plantains, taro and cassava, sometimes varying it a bit by adding squash called auyama. They add fried shallots, cheese, eggs or salami to add to its rich taste.

During lunch, don't be surprised if they serve you the Dominican flag. Also known as La Bandera Dominicana, this dish is prepared with white rice, meat from beef, pork, chicken or goat, and bean stew made from white, red or black beans or even pigeon peas. It is served with salad or steamed vegetables, making it a complete meal.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in The Dominican Republic

Dinner is usually light on the stomach, which may be just a simple sandwich and a refreshing drink using natural fruit juices or a cup of hot chocolate or tea, depending on the season.

A festive treat for special events is a Dominican food called Sancocho, which is a stew prepared by mixing seven various kinds of meat, several tubers, and vegetables. Eat with them during Easter, and you will be delighted to taste their sweet beans called habichelas con dulce.

Discover the delightful cuisine that the Dominican Republic has to offer!

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in The Dominican Republic
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How to Tune a Tenor Ukulele

The tenor ukulele is becoming one of the most popular of the four sizes of ukulele (soprano, concert, tenor and baritone). Traditionally, it has been an instrument for skilled and experienced solo ukulele players (and is still the most popular ukulele amongst such people). However, with so many ukulele heroes playing the tenor ukulele, an increasing number of beginners starting with the tenor ukulele. This does create some confusion as there are a number of options for how to tune the tenor ukulele.

Re-Entrant C-Tuning

The re-entrant C (also called high-G sometimes) is the traditional way to tune the ukulele. The tuning is GCEA with the G string being higher than the C and E strings.

How to Tune a Tenor Ukulele

The C is the middle C of the piano.

The fourth fret of the C string will give you the note for the E string.

The third fret of the E string will give you the note for the G string.

The fifth fret of the E string will give you the note for the A string.

Low-G Tuning

This is slowly becoming the most popular tuning for the tenor ukulele. This tuning is also GCEA , but rather than being tuned high, the G string is tuned below the C string.

This gives the tenor ukulele more the feel of a guitar (the tuning of a low-G tenor ukulele is the same as the top four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret). It gives the ukulele more options for playing bass notes: which can be very helpful when you are playing solo and need to provide your own bass line accompaniment.

Re-Entrant D-Tuning

This is a relatively new tuning for the tenor ukulele. The Aquila company make strings for the tenor uke that can be tuned DGBE. This is the same as a guitar but with the D string tuned high (the same as the G string in the re-entrant C tuning).

Conclusion

When you decide which tuning is the best for you, you need to take into account your own style of playing. If you are mostly a strummer, re-entrant C will probably be the best choice for you. If you are more interested in solo playing, low-G might be the one for you.

Once you've decided how to tune it, make sure the tenor ukulele that you buy is set up for that tuning and double check that you have bought the right size strings for your choice of tenor ukulele tuning.

How to Tune a Tenor Ukulele
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Learn more about the Tenor ukulele.

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Intercultural Conflict in the Workplace: every Organization's Nightmare

Conflict is a clash of values that is a common occurrence in the workplace. Add ethnic, geographic and lingual diversities to the conflict, and it will become the stuff of every organization's nightmare. Not to mention, the International Assignee's too.

More and more executives are expected to work internationally, hence business and social contacts between people of various nationalities increased. As these people come from disparate cultural backgrounds, geographical barriers gave way to communication barriers that lead to tensions and conflicts.

Intercultural Clash comes about when the initial stages of conflict experienced by members of a multicultural team were not sufficiently or soonest addressed. There are many reasons to this, for instance: the reluctance to confront the issue with the other party; nipping the problem in the bud soonest possible; and by allowing a trivial matter to fester. Also, there are team members who refuse to accept their failings; instead blaming others - and the entire host society for that matter - for their problems.

Intercultural Conflict in the Workplace: every Organization's Nightmare

As expounded further below, International Assignees and their fellow team members can minimize Intercultural Clashes by recognizing the contributing factors. It is entirely not possible to eliminate conflicts as there are people who flourish, or thrive, under pressure.

One may argue that I am biased against the International Assignee as evidenced under Factors Leading to Conflict below. However, studies had suggested it was mostly unhappy Assignees who cause premature repatriation. That is surely unnecessary costs to the organization; including additional expenses to expatriate replacements.

A. FACTORS LEADING TO CONFLICT

Assignees' Attitude and Mindset

1. Assignees' lack of cultural sensitivity impedes adjustments to their environment

2. Assignees' unwillingness to adapt and accept both host and other team members' cultural value systems

3. Assignees' lack of preparation for differences in cultural practices prior to assignment

4. Perceived hostile and harsh host environment that conflicts with Assignees' home values

5. Assignees imposing their assumed superior cultural values and practices onto other team members

The Environment

1. English is not the first or native language of team members which lead to a breakdown in communication

2. Corporate culture that Assignees find bewildering and illogical; or perceive as inferior

3. Team members' cultural practices contradict Assignees' deeply-held personal values or convictions

4. Assigned roles do not encourage Assignees to modify presumptions and assumptions made prior to engagement

5. Failure of [host country] Human Resources - and to a lesser extent, Assignees' Immediate Superior - for not assisting Assignees in integrating and adjusting to the environment

B. WAYS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT

Support from Human Resources and Immediate Superior

1. Encourage Assignees to talk about the conflicts; and advise them they are of Personality rather than Cultural by nature

2. Advise Assignees to work on a solution

3. Organize Team-Building indoor / outdoor courses where team members get to mingle and learn about one another

4. Organize intra-departmental social events where team members get to mingle and learn more about one another

If all else fails

1. Register Assignees for e2m Cross-Cultural Coaching

Intercultural Conflict in the Workplace: every Organization's Nightmare
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Multi-ethnic and polyglot Ange Teo is the Founder-Managing Director of e2m expat etiquette mentoring, a Singapore-based Cross-Cultural Communications Solutions Provider.

Having worked with some of the world’s leading Multinational Companies and Singapore-based Small Medium Enterprises for over 20 years; Ange Teo specialises in the areas of Information Technology, Secretarial/Administration, and Human Resources specifically Executive Search / Headhunting.

For more information about e2m Cultural Intelligence [CQ]-focused Communications Solutions, please visit http://e2mentoring.tripod.com

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