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- Consult the Staff
Asking staff members from a different culture to teach you about their customs might sometimes be the greatest way to learn about them. If you frame your request as a genuine information search rather than an allegation, you will receive a better answer. - Consult with Coworkers from Different Cultures
Ask other managers who are from the cultures you are trying to understand more about if you are not getting enough information from your staff. These coworkers can be extremely helpful cultural informants, educating you on the subtle yet frequently potent cultural norms that might be leading to miscommunications. From the standpoint of their management, they are likely to have a bicultural perspective, which will allow them to provide you some intriguing insights on the areas of conflict you may be attempting to address. - Select Community Resources
Community groups that have long dealt with cultural distinctions, like the Anti-Defamation League, are another excellent source of information about cultures. Social service organizations, refugee resettlement organizations, and ethnic associations (like the Korean Business Association) are excellent places to learn about the cultures they represent or assist. They might offer speakers and publications with specific answers to your queries. Additionally, school districts have long taught about multiculturalism through their staff development units and English as a Second Language (ESL) departments. You might be able to find some of the information you need by calling the offices of your local school system. Lastly, community relations organizations focus on fostering mutual understanding amongst different facets of society. - Read up on various cultures
One technique to obtain information directly is to read nonfiction works like Considering Filipinos or Communicating with the Mexicans. Another is to read works of fiction that teach about foreign cultures, like The Namesake or The Kite Runner, or nonfiction works, like Three Cups of Tea. - Pay No Attention to Criticism
Observe people’s actions without passing judgment on them; for example, refrain from thinking “Oh, that’s poor taste,” “It’s low class,” or “How ignorant.” Our PhD program’s assignment to watch parent-child relations in two cultures—Mexican and U.S. American—was one of the most eye-opening learning experiences. It was enlightening to observe culture in action by observing parents and their kids conversing in Tecate, Mexico, and Los Angeles, California. One distinction among the numerous was that American parents were far more talkative, telling their kids what they wanted them to do. Conversely, Mexican parents were more physical and less talkative, approaching the youngster, grabbing their hand, and guiding them. You might have a better understanding of your workgroup by making this type of objective observation. - Discuss Your Learnings at Staff Meetings
Discuss cultural differences in management and staff meetings. Discuss cultural norms and strategies for navigating them. According to Dr. Jorge Cherbosque, you can even create a multicultural peer support group. After that, you can help each other out by consulting and advising one another. - Hold Focus Groups
If you are still interested in learning more, you may want to set up some focus groups that are tailored to a certain culture in order to gather information through group conversations. You might utilize questions like the ones listed in tip 1 above. - Utilize data from employee or customer surveys
Determine the hints by listening to what individuals say or complain about. They can be discussing disparities in time consciousness if they remark that people always appear hurried or that they feel rushed. They can be bringing up concerns about face loss if they voice complaints about the performance evaluation procedure. They can be responding to a focus on tasks at the expense of relationships if they believe their supervisor doesn’t care about them. - Try Out Novel Approaches
“Trial and error” is the answer we always get when we question managers who are successfully managing their varied workforces how they learnt what to do. Try a new behavior or a different method if you are having a culture-related block, and then observe how it works. - Take Part in Different Cultures
A less conventional but highly successful method of learning about various conventions is cultural immersion. This does not imply that you must take a leave of absence and live in Mexico, Israel, or Korea, though anyone would surely learn a lot from such experience. You can immerse yourself by, for example, spending time in ethnic neighborhoods like Little India, Chinatown, or Koreatown, reading literature from and about another culture, seeing foreign films, and watching Spanish-language TV stations.