“Africa is a land of great promise and potential, a continent of immense natural beauty and resources, most of which is still undeveloped” (Moran, Moran, Abramson, p. 503) It is home to one third of the worlds sovereign states, and only nineteen of those have a democratic government. Four of those states, The Congo, Somalia, The Sudan, and Zimbabwe have been declared “failed”. The Continent of Africa entered the millennium in “intense transition” and faced several trials that fall into the categories of tribalism, chaos, and development.

There are approximately 47 million South Africans, with a life expectancy of only 48 short years. Of this quantity, about 70% or more are under the age of 50, and only 26% are under the age of 10. The population includes a majority of people with black skin (or namely called Black Africans) at 37 million, while there are 4.4 million white-skinned people, 1.2 Asians and 4.1 million colored. Within the majority (Black Africans) there are 9 tribal groups that have a language, heritage and identity that is specific to their culture (p. 523). “For many, tribalism is the bane of independent Africa with it’s many tribes and clans involving more than 2,000 living languages. Many leaders in Africa use tribes to exploit tribal and ethnic ties over national interests, as a way to stay in power.

Africa would experience a huge benefit if they were to establish effective and leadership within their continent. This leadership would begin with highly trained and educated leaders that as a result will be much more competent to lead a country and make decisions. These leaders must also be honest and want what is best for the nation,rather than themselves. “Such new leadership in governance and public service will promote democratic government, and respect for human and environmental rights. This will require massive cultural changes, including that the 53 heads within the states must learn to work together synergistically through the African Union” (p. 532).

Environmental protection and rural development would include preserving and enhancing the natural beauty and resources, and stopping any degradation of the surrounding land and forests. If this is able to be done, Africa would successfully be able to manage natural resources to promote sustainable development and more equitable sharing within the entire population.

As well as improvements with leadership and the environment, Africa should also attempt to improve their education and trainings. By promoting education and skill development throughout their continent, specifically in environmental education, civic responsibilities and competences, intertribal and interracial tolerance, and management and administrative skills, people would as a result become empowered, specifically women and the minorities.

With these developments and focuses put into place, Africa has the opportunity to not just survive, but thrive. Current leaders in Africa are more focused on themselves and staying in power, and are not interested in the wellbeing and possibilities that the continent of Africa has.

References:
Moran, R. Abramson, N. Moran, S. (2014) Managing Cultural Differences 9th edition. Routledge Publishing New York, NY.

Western Europe is the region of the world that includes the countries of Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Often Greece is included in Western Europe, as it is considered the origin of Western culture.

After World War II , more than 30 million workers have flowed into Western and Northern Europe. The European business people are known for their ability to successfully manage multilingual skills, which explains why cross-cultural training is increasing within Europe.

The culture and demographics of Europe continue to change. Affluence, poverty, fertility, and even immigrating is changing the composition and culture of Europe. As these immigrants enter the region they face severe discrimination and civil-disorder by many inhabitants that do not welcome them. The European Union estimated that they are receiving nearly 500,000 illegals yearly, while many of refugees seeking Common European Asylum System. It is clear to see why the region of Europe is facing threats to it’s harmony.

Europeans are known for having an inherent interest in the quality of life at all levels of society. They value socialization with family and friends over coffee, teas, beverages and meals. In America, we tend to think in time as decades, whereas Europeans think on a larger scale in centuries. The people of Europe have faced great pain, including atrocities, wars, border changes, government changes, plagues and more. Due to this, Europeans tend to have a sense of timidity or fear, making them less willing to pursue risks or take on new ideas or challenges.

Education in European countries remains very traditional, very organized and resistant to any type of change. Perhaps they resist the change due to the spirit of timidity as mentioned above. A fear of the unknown.

It can be assumed that as we continue to move into the twenty-first century Europe will continue to struggle with fertility issues and lower birth rates, illegal immigration, change within their agricultural and industrial cultures, and effectively operate within the global market.

Diversity in short, is differences. Differences between people, between cultural, between organizations. These differences can range from religious practices, to all kinds of physical differences. To narrow our scope a bit, Santa Fe College Office of Diversity describes diversity as, “the ways that people in organizations differ. That sounds simple, but defining it more specifically is a challenge because people in organizations differ in many ways—race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, and more. There is also the fact that diversity not only involves how people think of others and how this affects their interaction but how they conceive of themselves. “ (Santa Fe College of Diversity, 2013).

Throughout our lives, we’ve all been exposed to different levels of diversity. As a young child, we don’t realize differences very easily. We play in the sand with boys and girls, and grandparents and parents, and even strangers. We haven’t been trained to see differences and process what that actually means. We aren’t trained to notice the gray hair and wrinkly skin that is different than ours and our parents. We aren’t trained to see the different colors of skin and languages.
We learn the differences, but don’t necessarily process that what we are learning is actually different. Here, we are experiencing surface-level diversity, the most common type, which are the characteristics that we notice that distinguish us from one another (PSU, 2016).

Diversity is real however, not a figment of the imagination or something that can just be ignored.

“Culture is often considered the driving force behind human behavior everywhere” (Moran, Moran, & Abramson, p.11). Different values drive societies, cultures, and individuals. Organizations are fueled by their goals (values) and the means to achieve them. Schools and educational institutions are defined by their strict rules, and guidelines that all in attendance are challenged to abide by. Even deeper, the expectations they set in grading and measuring a person’s intellect. Here we experience deep-level diversity, the differences in beliefs, values, attitudes, and so on, that affect much more directly how a person behaves. These differences have been acquired through learning (PSU, 2016).

In the lens of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, we learn that there are six cultural dimensions. Particularly interesting is the consideration of masculinity and femininity, which focuses on gender roles within differing cultures. “Historically and currently, there remains a significant gap in women representation, compensation in the upper echelons of the global workforce, as well as having the same rights as men in all aspects” (Moran, Moran, & Abramson, p.142). Women have been stereotyped to be seen as more “human” and thus better suited for positions such as human resources, communications, public relations and so on. Management positions conversely are assumed to be filled by men. “This stereotype could be linked to the global expectation of a woman’s role as mother or primary caretaker in the family. The common stereotype is as follows: if a woman’s focus is on bearing children, she would subsequently be taking time off, and could not be considered an effective front-line executive” (Moran, Moran, & Abramson, p. 149).

Diversity does not need be to viewed in a negative light. Differences are beautiful, they are to be studied, admired, learned from. People should be passionate and proud of their values, their beliefs, their differences, yet remain hesitant and distant from ethnocentrism, which binds a person from the potential to grow, learn and understand other cultures.

References:

Pennsylvania State University. (2016). Defining Diversity. Psu.instructure.com. Retrieved 9 September 2016, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179061

Santa Fe College Office of Diversity. (2013). Defining diversity. Retrieved from http://www.sfcollege.edu/diversity/?section=defining_diversity
Moran, R. T., Moran, S. V., & Abramson, N. R. (2001). Managing Cultural Differences. New York, Ny: Butterworth-Heinemann.

For the purpose of this post I will be reflecting on this week’s course lesson regarding cultural differences and values while drawing from daily life situations. “Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from another” (PSU, 2016). In other words, culture is a shared social system of ideas within an organization, within a friend group, within a country, etc.  These shared ideas can range anywhere from communication and symbols to gestures and greetings.

In addition to cultures, values, whether personal or cultural, often differ as well. Personal values are values that are formed within a person. As humans, we go through three stages of value formation starting with imprinting very early on in life, where we learn what is right and wrong according to our parents or caregivers. For example, we often learn that lying is bad, saying please is good, and sharing is caring. These types of values are imprinted upon us all at a very young age. Second in the value stage is modeling, which happens more in teen years, where we model many things that are happening around us to try them out and see what we think about them. Think of a young girl, maybe age 8-13, and how she may be experimenting with make-up because that’s what all the pretty adult ladies do. Third and finally is the socialization period.  During this phase, typically age range of a young adult, we begin seeking advice and wisdom from our peers rather than parents, teachers, and those who typically are viewed as authority  figures. Additionally during the last two phases of developing values, media plays a huge role into developing the minds of young teens and young adults. Value’s are responsible for determining an individuals behavior. The behaviors that we choose often determine our cultural values.

Ethnocentrism is something that we all need to be aware of, and careful with. We may not realize it, but at some point in our lives we have all had an ethnocentric perspective. Let’s define ethnocentrism. It is essentially an “exaggerated tendency to think the characteristics of ones own group or race is superior to other groups” (PSU, 2016). In other words, this is the failure to see the world from a different perspective. Let’s get personal. About a year and a half ago I took a trip to France for a college class. On my very first day in the country, I began to judge pretty intensely. First of all, everyone kissed everyone! This just grossed me out! I couldn’t seem to understand why you would want to kiss so many people! A few days later I learned that this was their way of greeting, very much like how we as american’s shake hands or hug. I failed to recognize that their extension of greeting was just a different version of something that I did as well. The second experience that displayed how uncultured I really was, began in a cute little French restaurant. We ordered dinner, and I had ordered what I thought to be a steak (I prepared for this trip by learning 5-10 necessary French words to survive). To my surprise, squid was delivered. I shrieked. I was going to pay nearly twenty dollars for a meal that I wouldn’t eat a bite of. The poor waitress was not used to people shrieking when they received their food, and she jumped, clearly startled. There were a few more scenarios I experienced during my trip to France, but ultimately as a result I felt ashamed. I entered their country as this confident young American girl that expected everything to be just as it was back home. I was wrong, and humiliated at my own fault. Upon my return home, I promised myeslf that if I ever traveled to another country, I would adequately prepare as best I could to learn their culture, and make an effort to respect it.

To conclude, I want to stress the importance of having a global perspective of cultures within leadership. Often as leaders we neglect to understand that people are different. We have different thoughts, different beliefs, different skin color, different religions, different traditions, different cultures, different languages, and so many more. Sometimes it seems easier to just treat everyone the same. While that may be easier, it is failed leadership, and it is ineffective. In order to lead well we as leaders must rise to the occasion and learn the people we are leading. We must learn to communicate clearly and learn to understand they way that they think and feel. We need to meet them where they are, express our effort and desire to know their culture and their personal values, so that we can lead them as an individual to the best of our ability. It will be challenging, but it will be fruitful and ultimately worth it.

Penn State University World Campus. (2016). Lesson 2: Introduction to Culture. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179050.

Hey All! My name is actually Jade Fetterolf, although it displays as Welsh. Welsh is my maiden name, Fetterolf my married name. I just got married about a year ago, and need to contact PSU to officially change my name on here. Anyways, currently I am a Full Time Student, Full Time Wife, and Full Time Central Next Steps Programming Coordinator at LCBC Church in Lancaster, PA. The photo above was taken for a local business that I was interning for this summer, as well. My long term goals begin with completing my degree this semester, and achieving my bachelors in Organizational Leadership. Then, I will continue in my job at LCBC and likely will spend more time doing things that energize me, like learning guitar, leading worship, painting, thrifting, crocheting, and creating in some type of way. Soon, my husband and I will pursue the idea of having children, but I would like to get my degree out of the way first. Long-term, ultimately I want to love people to the greatest capacity possible and do the best with the talents, passions, and traits I’ve been given.

I have had several leadership opportunities and experiences throughout my 23 year journey of life. I’ll name a few. Class President, Yearbook Editor in Chief, Captain of BHS Women’s Soccer, Student Council Vice President, Worship Leader, Life-group Leader, etc.

I don’t have a favorite leadership quote. There are way too many good ones. However, a few weeks ago I attended the Global Leadership Summit through the organization I work for, and have a notebook full of leadership nuggets that successful leaders (like Bill Hybels, John Maxwell, etc.) shared. I left challenged.

Looking forward to sharing this course with all of you!

Jade