What difficulties in communication do cross-cultural workers face? How can these best be addressed in various settings?
by Sunny Hong
This is a French translation of the original article in English, “Cross-Cultural Mentoring: A Brief Comparison of Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures” that was originally published in the WCIU Journal Volume 1, Issue 3.
Read Moreby Sunny Hong
Where those involved in mentoring relationships are from the same or a similar culture, there are fewer misunderstandings and differing expectations due to different communication styles, corresponding perspectives, assumptions, concepts, and worldviews. In a mentoring relationship, similarity and shared experiences provide an easier interpersonal relationship between a mentor and a protégé, and it is therefore usually easier to have a mentoring relationship with someone from the same or similar culture. But to have a successful cross-cultural mentoring relationship, cultural differences behind mentoring issues, such as communication styles, need to be understood. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe how individualistic and collectivistic cultures understand key mentoring concepts and to ponder how to use the strengths from different cultures so that cross-cultural mentoring can be even more fruitful than mono-cultural mentoring.
Read Moreby Donald Moon
Members of intercultural teams bring with them their cultural preferences or biases about many things, including leadership styles and how decisions are made. Misunderstandings and conflict were nearly inevitable when team members operate, often unknowingly, from their cultural preferences. Their different ideas about what they consider the correct way to make decisions is a key indicator of their cultural type.
Read Moreby Sam Yim
The concept of human development is different for East and West. For example, I heard of a Hong Kong pastor who worked with American missionaries to do church planting in Hong Kong. They started from zero and gave him five years to be independent. It meant this Chinese worker would not receive any financial assistance from the Western mission group after five years. When the time was up, the Chinese worker requested that the new church needed to have more time to be independent, but the negotiation failed as plans were fixed. The Chinese church viewed the Western group as selfish and that they were being forsaken too early. Therefore, any partnership needs both parties to dialogue and both parties need to be willing to adjust.
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