MS 29 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment - What is Cultural Sensitivity? Briefly discuss the strategies for dealing with cultural differences citing examples.

What is Cultural Sensitivity? Briefly discuss the strategies for dealing with cultural differences citing examples.

Ans :

Cultural sensitivity means that you are aware of cultures different than yours. You don't speak in a way that could offend. For instance you would not poke fun of a hispanics food preferences. The key to this is to be sensitive even when no one is listening. It's a great character trait and makes you an all around better person.

Importance

Cultural sensitivity skills are important for your employees to function cohesively as a team that is respectful and courteous to each other regardless of cultural differences. Also, cultural sensitivity skills may be important for certain employees who regularly interact with outside business clients, many of whom may have diverse backgrounds and heritages. According to Prime Time Computer Services, Inc. "even one isolated instance of cultural insensitivity can damage the organization."

Types of Skills

Cultural sensitivity skills can encompass a wide array of abilities, depending on the diversity of your employees and clientele and how culturally sensitive you want employees to be. Typically, though, these skills may include an ability to at least build a functioning professional relationship with others, communicate in a respectful and polite manner according to which culture you are conversing with, and possess an ability to overlook cultural boundaries and interact on a regular basis for the good of the company. For example, in some cultures it is considered customary to greet one another with a hug. If you are doing business in a culture such as this and you greet your business client with a handshake instead of a hug, your client may be offended.

Implementation

Providing training to your employees can improve their cultural sensitivity skills at work. Hire a workplace consultant who specializes in teaching cultural sensitivity skills and set aside a certain block of time either in the office or at another location where employees can attend training sessions or workshops and brush up on their skills. Require employees to take a cultural sensitivity test at the end of their training sessions to ensure that they retained the knowledge that was taught to them. Monitor interaction between employees during the work day and note whether your employees' cultural sensitivity skills have improved. If they haven't, note what you see and discuss these notes with your workplace consultant.

The idea of more effective cross-cultural capabilities is captured in many terms similar to cultural competence.  Cultural knowledge, cultural awareness, and cultural sensitivity all convey the idea of improving cross-cultural capacity, as illustrated in the following definitions: 

Cultural Knowledge: Familiarization with selected cultural characteristics, history, values, belief systems, and behaviors of the members of another ethnic group (Adams, 1995).

Cultural Awareness developing sensitivity and understanding of another ethnic group.  This usually involves internal changes in terms of attitudes and values.  Awareness and sensitivity also refer to the qualities of openness and flexibility that people develop in relation to others.  Cultural awareness must be supplemented with cultural knowledge(Adams, 1995).

Cultural Sensitivity Knowing that cultural differences as well as similarities exist, without assigning values, i.e., better or worse, right or wrong, to those cultural differences (National Maternal and Child Health Center on Cultural Competency, 1997).

    However, cultural competence, is defined as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations (Cross, Bazron, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989).   Operationally defined, cultural competence is the integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to increase the quality of health care; thereby producing better health outcomes (Davis, 1997).  Cultural competency emphasizes the idea of effectively operating in different cultural contexts.  Knowledge, sensitivity, and awareness do not include this concept.    "This is beyond awareness or sensitivity," says Marva Benjamin of the Georgetown Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health.