Dealing with a diverse cultural setting

‘Culture’ has been a key issue that the historic course of social evolution has brought. It is the reflection of our lifestyle and values; it’s a manifestation of our choices and ethics. Certainly, it’s a variable over time and region, a changing ‘quality’ over plenty of social parameters—ethnicity, nationality, race, class and gender.

‘Cultural Sensitivity, a recently made popular term has been a point of discussion since the post-millennium, when big businesses all over the globe are becoming extremely transnational and thus ‘diversity in culture’ has been becoming a significant topic that they have to deal with in reality—at the workplace, in the market and amongst the clients and the customers.

What does it mean?

Cultural sensitivity refers to such an approach of interaction where two or more people belonging from different cultural backgrounds behave with each other keeping sole respect to each other’s culture and consciously keeping themselves alert to do no such thing or utter no such word that hurts others’ cultural background and aspects.

To make it simpler, we may go for an explanation. As much as globalization is being strong, people from a diverse range of cultures are being found in a single community. It might be a locality, a club, or an office, where people from different cultural backgrounds are cohabitating. This cohabitation would be positive in terms of social, organizational and individual development, if and only if, all the members of the community become compassionate, empathetic and loving towards other cultures.

What if it fails?

Failing to establish a culturally sensitive atmosphere in a community would not only lead to its degradation in material terms, such as in financial terms for a business organization but also would lead to a decline in moral and ethical aspects which results in a burning halt that cleans even the path of heinous crimes. Crimes committed due to ethnic, racial, religious and sexual orientation diversities, increasing day after day in both the first and the third world, is a perfect example of that.

How to make it happen?

However, it is easy for a progressive and educated person to proclaim him or her as ‘culturally sensitive’ it, in reality, is tough to practice. Because of different nourishment and morals, because of different language and practices, even progressive persons also become judgmental of someone from a different culture. Thus, the most important thing is to become conscious and cautious about one’s behavior! You need to make yourself comfortable with the fact the person on the opposite might become awkward and judgmental too while interacting with you. So, the thing is to mitigate that awkwardness by taking this difference as a natural and obvious phenomenon. Feel happy that you’ve got the chance to know and learn completely different cultures and customs. That’s enough for being culturally positive!