Research Paper Describing Cultural Difference

Abstract

            This research paper describes cultural differences, foundation and background of students in allied health, and how their education system deals to curb the existing differences. People of different cultures are different in various ways. Interpret things differently, think differently, and dress differently. These differences make it hard for a person from a different culture to interpret the same. People do encounter cultural differences in day today life, for example, the nature of business environment is multicultural. Misunderstanding of one’s culture in such environment may interfere with the entire operation of a business. Allied health and radiography was formerly known to be a feminist field for radiographers. The institution serves as many patients from different backgrounds, thus always important to meet the need of every patient. Diversity is one of the ways to ensure every culture is represented and being catered for. Allied health is focusing on training its stakeholders on cultural competence by giving policies, behaviors and attitudes that can help people to perform their duties effective in a cross cultural setting.

Introduction

            The definition of culture varies according to the focus of interest. It can be defined as the sum of beliefs, rules, behaviors that govern a given population. It is necessary to understand cultural differences in the current world where societies comprise of multi-cultures and people collaborate across cultural boundaries. However, it is typical that people view themselves with uniqueness hence exhibiting a sense of parochialism. Adler (1997, 10) defined parochialism as a state of analyzing the world using one’s own point of view. A person with such an outlook cannot recognize the differences that exist among other people. In the world we live in today, characterized with new communication technology, it has become easier for people to communicate beyond their cultural boundaries. However, in the same state, people have not been able to explore the cultural differences that exist amongst themselves. Thus, this paper will describe cultural differences in detail, backgrounds and foundations of students that are found in radiography and allied health, and discuss how these differences are being dealt with. Allied health is focusing on training its stakeholders on cultural competence.

The description of cultural differences

            There are different ways of analyzing cultural differences as many authors have done different timeframes.  According to Adler, Cultural differences exist in different dimensions. For instance, the nature of people can cause a difference between one group of people and the other. Some people may be known to be good or bad, some may be known of living a certain way of life different from other, thus creating a difference. Differences in cultures may also exist basing on how people relate to nature. There are cultures where people live in accordance to nature. They have no control over the environmental forces (Adler, 1997). There are others, where people have complete control over their environment. While in others, people are under the control of the environment and they have always to concur with the inevitable forces of nature. There are also differences in culture basing on how people relate with others. There are cultures where people are worth of themselves. Such people are known to be individualistic hence praise their personal achievements. Whereas, other cultures have people with a strong sense of oneness and they belong to particular groups say clans or tribes. In such cultures, people strive to achieve common goals and always define themselves as group members. There is also cultural difference based on the mode of activity. In some cultures, people strive achieving in life, while in others; people live expecting events to occur spontaneously (Adler, 1997). In such a dimension, you find one group active, while the other passive. Cultural differences do exist basing on people’s ways of life. There are people who look up to their past, others look up to their present, while others look up to their future way of living. Cultures that believe in their past, always have pride in their traditions and customs and they make all justifications by looking at their previous experiences. Future oriented cultures put all their focus on the future. They pay less attention on the past since their expectation is on a long-term basis (Adler, 1997). Cultures that are present oriented, put their focus on the near future benefits hence having a short-term time expectation.

            People encounter cultural differences in various circumstances in life. In today’s multicultural business environment, cultural differences exist and at times interfere with the success of the business operation.  These differences may result into misunderstanding within the unit. These misunderstandings may be caused by cultural factors like time differences, language barriers, religious and political diversity. Various cultural differences may cause conflict or even interfere with productivity (Hall, 1990). Ignorance about various mannerism and traditions may lead disruption of team work among the workers. For instance, different cultures have different perception on physical contact. Many Europeans freely kiss a business associate on both cheeks as a sign of greeting. Americans normally keep a distance from a business associate. While in other cultures, people always keep a short distance while speaking to another person. Political influence may affect the way a company operates (Anbari et al, 2004).  There are cultures with a strong sense of nationalism and such cultures may find it hard to conduct business with a company of differing culture. Thus, failure to understand all these may cause disagreement within a business organization

            Cultural difference may also act as a barrier to effective communication. People from a specific culture may have a specific way of hearing, seeing, thinking and understanding the world. This may not be the same for every other culture, even if they talk the same language. This implies that cultural differences affect communication in a business setting, or any other setting (Gudykunst, 1986). Say, in a business setting, it is always important to understand the mannerisms, customs, and gestures of those people you deal with. For instance, if a salesperson has knowledge of a given customer’s cultural background, he will apply his actions knowledgably to suit those of the customer. Thus, the two may come into a proper agreement.

            Cultural differences also exist at work places and these differences are attributed to education, work styles or disability. As far as education is concerned, there are employees who compare the academic credentials with success while others rely on on-the-job training for their career progression. Such differences may result in conflict because of the disagreement between theory and practice to achieve organizational set goals. For instance, an employee with a college degree may think of himself being capable of running well the duties, though he may not as capable compared to that with years of practical experience (Cole, 1990). Personal background can also attribute to cultural differences in the workplace. An employee from a small town may not approach her duty with the similar haste like someone in a large town. A job in a big city is handled with a lot of urgency compared to any other small city.

Foundations and backgrounds of students in allied health and radiography

            Allied health and radiography as any other institution of learning is a diverse institution with many students from varying backgrounds. Allied originally has been a feminized institution holding a large population of females than males. The field of radiography for many decades has not attracted male applicants and from 1920s, this field was only comprised of women and was known to be a feminized field. The field had many programs countrywide but typically consisting of female classrooms (Jacobs, 1999). Until in 1990s, the number of male applicants started increasing and with this, the gender make-up of radiography cannot be described as usual. Cultural difference based on gender describes the existence of sex segregation of the occupations based on, well paying occupation, technical occupations for women (Jacobs, 1999). Women are attached to low paying and less technical occupation. However, it is a challenging fact that women dominated this highly technical occupation for many decades. Radiography for many years consisted of gender based occupational consideration where women carried out radiographs and attended to patients, whereas men dictated the radiographs and ordered the exams.

            The work of nurses was highly undervalued and that is the reason why it was regarded as a feminized profession. This profession was well-known for patient care and the duty of nurses was to take care of patients as in bathing, feeding, bed making and feeding. Due to the increase in technological implementation, nursing profession has changed radically. Radiography has undergone extreme transformation due to changes in technology and now it is technologically sophisticated (Gurley and Callaway, 2002). As a dealer in various stakeholders such as patients, health professionals, and educators, allied health faces a challenge of cultural difference hence members need to be sensitized on cultural competence.

How the allied health education system deals with existing differences

            Allied health and radiography, as any other health care institution has taken a great deal of attention to train the health care workforce about cultural competence. In such institution, cultural competence may have different meanings to different parties involved such as the health care delivery system, health care professionals, patients, and educators (Carwile, 2003). Cultural competence is to provide policies, attitudes, and a set of congruent behaviors that can help agencies, systems and professionals to perform their work effectively in a cross cultural setting. Efforts are made to diversify the health care work force. It is believed that a diverse workforce will likely provide a competent care that will help to curb health disparities in the population.

            Training on cultural competence aims at increasing knowledge about populations, enhancing self-awareness of attitudes and improving communication skills. Health care professionals are being involved in learning of different cultures and understanding so that they can be able to handle patients from various cultures (Carwile, 2003). The allied health accrediting bodies are working hard to include cultural competence in the curriculum. I think it is also of sense to increase on the number of male applicants. This is because it helps to curb cultural differences

Conclusion

             It has evident that the world we are living in today is diverse, thus, it is so demanding for people to learn and have understanding of the diverse cultural practices so as to be in position work together in harmony without collision. Culture entails of many things concerning one’s life. For example, behaviors, values, attitudes, age, gender, language, and many others as experienced in our day today life. Therefore, to collaborate with one another, we need to have knowledge of one other’s beliefs work within them. Cultural differences exist wherever people come together as a team, either at the workplace, business environment, or in a learning institution. Disagreements normally occur because of not paying attention to each other’s culture. For example, people have a way of communicating with one another in a given place of work. It is always a duty for any member to go by that particular culture. Therefore, one way to cope with cultural differences is through encouraging diversity. In a diverse setting, people are able to learn and understand from various cultures. Thus, in every multicultural setting, respect of one’s culture is so essential.

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