Simulation Stakeholder Perspectives

What I learned from doing the simulation this day is that different groups of people or companies are willing to share ideas and opinions of how they want to solve the problems with trying to come up with an agreement. Being from a another background and having values that are in contrast to another group makes it important to listen first, then speak out what we think. Although the Indigenous and landless people believed that Aracruz wasn’t being fair regarding the distribution of land, the Internetional NGOS, FUNAI, and Community were willing to help and brainstorm ways to try to come up with a solution.
What I think went well for my group re stakeholder dialogue was that Aracruz agreed to give some more land back so that it can help the Indigenous and landless people. In addition, the government is willing to reimburse the money to Aracruz of the money they spent when the land was purchased before. Aracruz agrees to do this so that it can improve their image and prevent having a bad reputation so that other stakeholder groups will not look at Aracruz negatively.
The group I think was already effective because we had already shared our ideas of the problem, and came up with a solution for it. In addition, if the having the agreements with each other was a bad idea, someone could have stepped in and give explainations on why the agreed actions should not take place. Moreover, since no one spoken up about this, every one thought it was already good enough and signed the contract which I believe was effective. Furthermore, every one acted in a professional manner without having a bad argument which I think was great because not every one is able to control their emotions when it comes to trying to compromise a solution.

Aracruz

1, what did you learn from this simulation?

The most important lesson from this simulation is that if parties are not going to come to a common ground or if both sides are not willing to compromise there is not going to be an agreement that is going to last. Aracruz has the legal entity of the land and the indigenous people also have the right to ask for their land. In order to have a concession there should be a mediator who is not bias that way both sides move on and work on prospering the community.

2, What went well in your group and stakeholder dialogue?

The thing that every body understood was that this situation is not going to fix it self or with small sacrifices. We understood that both parties have to make huge scarifies in order to solve the situation. On our dialogue there was a need for a common ground. Everybody tried to compromise and felt like we had to focus more on the effective solution.

3) How would your group have been more effective?

The group would be more effective if aracruze is willing to put more in the table. Every member of the society and the agencies understood that aracruze has the legal right for the property however the indigenous people felt like they need more. Giving the fact that Aracruz has 250,000 hectors of land they should have provided more to the society.

Aracruz Simulation

What did you lean from the simulation?

I was a member of the "community", and that meant I was basically the middleman between Aracruz and the indigenous. The simulation taught me to look at and respect both sides of the argument. I felt that what the community was trying to achieve was peace, for everyone to be content with what they got, and we weren't the only ones that wanted to achieve this, Aracruz and the indigenous wanted this as well. Although the indigenous tactics for getting what they wanted was a tad extreme, they saw no other way, feeling frustrated and abandoned would escalate to chaos like it occurred in Aracruz.

What went well in your group and stakeholder dialogue?

I think my group did an awesome job on the PPT. During the stakeholder dialogue I had a really good experience, everyone spoke and got to say what they wanted to say in a respectful manner, and everyone waited their turn, we actually felt like we needed more time to discuss solutions and the issue at hand. We took a while trying to explain where we came from because we had so many questions for each other. When we were brainstorming for solutions we came to consensus rather quickly because we knew the issue at hand needed to be solved so that we could all benefit from the compromised decision Aracruz and the indigenous made.

How could your group have been more effective?
I think my group did a good job on this project, we were well prepared. Also, I can only speak for myself, but during the dialogue I felt that all of us in the stakeholder group felt like we were actually getting something done, our discussion actually led to a good solution.

Culture Clash - Lessons Learned

During our exercise today, we learned a valuable lesson about high context communications and how to reach a feasible compromise. In my group, our culture clash seemed to be the main event and our common goal seemed very much distant and undoubtedly unattainable. Our focus it seemed, was seeking the satisfaction of expressing our cultural values and thoughts while completely ignoring the incoming communication. The practical take-away here is the practice of establishing a two way street of communication by noticing the nuances and to openly acknowledge the differences before diving into a debate. If executed properly, every team member will be able focus and the road to reach a compromise will be much easier.

GCI Results

When I sold timeshares for Wyndham Resorts, it was probably one of the most hardcore sales job I have ever encountered. Prospective buyers came from all over the country with extremely different backgrounds and interesting cultures. The turnover rate for the salespeople there was what some described to be absurd. However, I was one of the few who did exceptionally well. People have asked me many times what formula or method I used for my sales presentations. I was never able to give them an answer because I myself didn't even know. I never did follow the sales guidelines and if I my sales numbers weren't as effective as they have been, I would have been fired long ago for not following directions.
After spending a few more months with the company, I realized that my effectiveness stemmed from my extreme interest in meeting people who are different than me and having a genuine curiosity about their culture and lifestyle. Taking any initial judgments and putting it aside, I wanted to build solid relationships by respecting their beliefs and being open minded while focusing on their values. My GCI scores seem to reflect that as I scored well on almost all dimensions with an overall GCI score of 6.
The only category that I didn't do well on was category inclusiveness and self identity. I may have extreme interest in learning about someone, but if we are too different I struggle to sustain a solid relationship with that person. It has happened many times before when I find myself in a situation where I don't know what else to say or what topic to bring up to continue a good conversation with someone. I believe it is because I need more real life experiences. I firmly believe people who can sustain a long conversation are also people who have interesting stories to tell. It is easy for me if I am in a sales position because my ultimate objective is to get a sale. But in networking and just making friends, only having a genuine curiosity may not be enough. Being able to relate to that person by sharing personal experiences can really help the other party feel at ease and more open to conversation.

CPQ Results

I remember when I first looked at the chart I was a little shocked at how different I was compared to everyone else in class. The results compared to the rest of the class that were most different were, past, collective, hierarchical, individual and being. Some of the scores are valid but others are not. For example, I do believe that the team as a whole should be responsible for attaining the overall goal and achieving towards the overall picture. This seems in line with my CPQ score for collective. However, I do also believe that our main responsibility are for ourselves and our immediate family but the scores reflect a 2.62. Another example is the scores of 'future' where I firmly believe that the day to day decisions should be based on long term needs and factors but my score showed 3.5, reflecting that I disagree.
The GCI and Globesmart score seem very accurate overall but this questionniare is the only test that I disagree so much with in many aspects. This leads me to believe whether there was either a misunderstanding of the questions asked or the questions itself are not effective in identifying correct results.

The Intercultural Classroom / CARLOS and GEORGE

Oct 8, 2010

On this day of class, I watched two videos. The first video that I watched is called “The intercultural classroom” which is about students in a classroom of different ethnic backgrounds. Each student had different communication styles which I found interesting because some are aggressive when they participant in discussions and others are quiet. For example, I found that Esteban is emotionally expressive and direct as he shares his feelings to the other students. However, Charlie doesn’t care about how Esteban feels as it seems he is interested in developing relationships with his classmates. Moreover, Mariko was the participant I had to focus on with Nema and Carol during discussion and we came to the conclusion that she seems scared, quiet, and indirect. In addition, we feel that she was emotionally restrained because she is always claim and didn’t care what the other people in class were talking about. In fact, she didn’t even want to be in the classroom with the other students as she is wishing that she could be somewhere else. Furthermore, all the other students in class had some similarity and differences in their communication style, but they were all arguing with each other and were not getting along.
The other video that I had watched in class was about a Boss name George and an employee named Carlos. They both have different communication styles as well as different opinions regarding the workplace. Carlos is focused on relationship with employees because he understands them and wants them to be comfortable at work. However, George doesn’t care about how his employees feel as he is just focused on tasks and numbers being done. Moreover, when Carlos tried to talk to George regarding a promotion, he was indirect because he wasn’t confident in what he was going to say to him. In addition, he didn’t want to have to sell himself for the assistant manager’s job because he has been working at the company for a long time. Unfortunately for Carlos, he did not get the promotion and may look for another job.
I enjoyed watching these two videos in class because I learned that every one can have different communication styles in how they approach and talk to others. In addition, being from a different ethic background could also be the reason because being raised in another country is the knowledge we are brought with.

Week of 10/8 The Video and Communication Styles

It never occurred to me that teaching a class with such diversity can be so difficult. Although the video is a bit of an exaggeration and takes the communication styles to an extreme, it does highlight the importance of a high context and scanning approach to communications.
I don't think that we should learn how to combat the different communication styles, rather we should learn how to absorb it, take a step back and analyze by transforming descriptions to interpretations, then customize our response to others in order to achieve effective communication. This may sound easy, but is extremely difficult to do. The best way is to study communication styles, learn the most appropriate responses, and most importantly practice. I also like the globesmart videos, as they have many clips that show how two people can be frustrated because of communication differences and show effective alternative ways to handle it.

Globesmart Score

For the independent vs interdependent dimensions, I believe to be accurate as I know am floating somewhere in between the two. Based on my past work experiences, I recognize my ability to work independently in commission sales as well as team based non-commission environments. I score fairly high in egalitarianism because I believe in achievements, past experiences and current effectiveness of an individual. From my past experiences I have noticed that many people reach a certain position or gain a certain title but are not at all effective at their job.
I score even higher in risk because I am a firm believe in innovation, change and efficiency. Many times, in the industry that i work with, the environment is fast paced and dynamic requiring quick decisions and establishing processes as we go.
My scores for the direct versus indirect dimension is also very accurate as it is floating somewhere in the middle. I know that I am flexible in being able to effectively adapt to most environments. I like to first observe for a few moments to get a feel of the group and then mirror their approach . I firmly object being static and inflexible and taking a narrow minded approach.
I guess my past eight years in commission sales has influenced me to tilt over to the far spectrum of the task vs relationship dimension. I am on the extreme task dimension because I like to immediately look for ways to achieve results and believe that formal introductions and relationship building can be accomplished along the way. Although this may be good thing in certain aspects of business it would result in a complete disaster in others.
Taking a look at my scores for the prior dimensions it would easily lead one to predict my short term vs long term dimension to be extreme short term. However, not surprisingly I am not the case. Although I like to get work done immediately and leave formal introductions for later, I value long lasting relationships. I may push for efficiency and change but I am also a visionary taking some time to plan for the big picture.
I firmly disbelieve that my grandparents share the same profile as me because I am the first generation to be born in the US and many of my dimensions have been shaped by American Culture. The only dimension that I feel may be close to my profile is the long term vs short term dimension. I feel that the long term dimension really reflects my parents' and grandparents' thinking process and mentality.
My assumptions are further solidified as I made a comparison between my dimensions vs my home country's dimension (which is China), The only dimension that I come closest to is the long term vs short term dimension.

Globesmart

I aired mostly on the side of interdependent versus independent. Which at first made me feel dependent on others, but then when I read more about interdependence I understood it as in a team setting. I've grown up playing sports, soccer predominately, and I learned from that to rely on others. Even as team captain, you have to make sure the rest of your team is in order to successfully move forward with a goal. I was approximately in the middle for the next three, status versues egalitarianism, restraint versus risk, and indirect versus direct. I think they are pretty accurate in this assessment as I am pretty well balanced between those areas. I think it's important to have a good sense of balance in order to see things from both sides. If you have a business with too much risk or indirectness or status variance than most likely the business will not succeed. So if there are people prone to one side or the other in this area instead of more balanced, I would assume it will have an effect on the business venture. With the task versus relationship orientation, I was pleasently surprised to see that I was highly task oriented. As I would like to be relationship oriented as well, being task oriented is more likely to achieve the task at hand and therefore what you set out to do. My parents both have their own businesses and I've learned from my mother that being task oriented is a way to "get it done". A mentality with discipline that has provided a living for us. The last orientation was between short term and long term relationships. Again, it was nice and encouraging to see that I am most highly toward long term relationships. That may make me a little awkward when first meeting or getting to know some people who are more short term oriented or short sighted, but I like to ensure relationships and treat them as a friend for life. I don't want to burn any bridges and want others to treat me as they would like to be treated. Therefore, treating others in a view of long term is accurate and a trait or orientation I will keep.

ALPHA and BETA

The two different cultures were fascinating and a great day in class. I learned so much from this simulation of two differing cultures meeting each other. One culture, the Alphas, which I belonged to was so expressive and family oriented. Our culture reminded me of Lation or Spanish cultures. The Betas were so formal and task oriented it seemed, they reminded me of a Japanese culture. This is a rough comparison but it's what I know and have to relate to. The simulation made me realize that differing cultures can have such misconceptions and stereotypes about one another that most likely aren't even true. It's a matter of understanding and being accustomed to that specific cultures way of life. A culture is mainly learned and adapted and we need to understand and experience that culture before we can have accurate interpretations or evaluations. We may be able to describe to some degree, but if we want to get beneath the surface, we must live as an "Alphan or Betan".

ALPHAN Versus BETAN

For 01/01/10

I’ve learned several new things this day from the lectures and activities that took place in class. First, the lecture was about Global leaders regarding how their attitudes and leadership styles were. In addition, a global mindset is a set of Global Leadership skills and behaviors that has the ability to build effective teams. That is quite important because to having those traits are what makes a company successful. Moreover, I remembered that Global Leaders are change agents which have four different types which are personal, social, business, and cultural. Also, Charismatic role is about envisioning and to motivate followers which differs from Architectural role.
The activity I found very interesting from learning this day was learning the culture of the Alphans and Betans. The Alphans culture was the culture I was learning which I found to be fun to learn. Their culture was about being friendly and nice to people while being very close to each other. In addition, hugging each other is much better than an original handshake as it shows a sign of respect for the other person. Moreover, politeness and having a good interaction was a key characteristics of this culture. On the flip side, I did not knew a lot about the Betan culture, however; many of the Alphans thought that they were weird, distant, boring, goofy, and nonverbal. It was confusing to learn about their culture because the Betans were speaking a different language and I think that comes into a language barrier of not understanding what the other person is trying to say.
Overall, I found that this day was a great learning experience because it was very interactive while having fun at the same time. Furthermore , I think we learn a new culture by trying to do the action of that culture.

Alpha vs. Beta

The simulation activity performed last class was a very good start to exploring people's true perception of diversity. Being part of the Alpha group and getting instructions on how my culture was supposed to act was very unique. Main points I had to consider was being family oriented and male dominant in my actions. To me this was not strange because I have been around many different cultures and have realized that many of them perceive these traits as natural. After coming into contact with the Beta culture, it was easy to notice that our differences were great in depth. The main complication was the fact that they spoke another language that was no where close to being understood. This factor can be seen everyday as people of different backgrounds try to communicate and get tasks accomplished. This small simulation helps to expose you to uncertainty and differences that we should be able to adapt to if we desire to be above average leaders. In the end when both sides were given the opportunity to state what they thought about the other culture, and it was a comical debate to say the least. In retrospect, this culture game should open up the mind to accepting new ways of doing things. Without the various ideas people have in this world, the future would not hold as many opportunitites for individuals as it stands right now.

GCI

To me the GCI is a relevant tool that can be used to see how your outlook of the world really is. Although I don't believe my scores reflect who I am or what I truly think, it does give a good start to applying my skills into a world that is continuously getting smaller due to globalization and the various clash of cultures. My perception management is very positive when it comes to exploring new ideas as well as people. The world is filled with such diversity that I feel I must try my best to understand why people are the way they are, which in turn can help me figure out why I am the way I am. When it comes to relationship management, I probably need to work on maintaining specific relations. This is due to the fact that while growing up I moved 5 times and always had to adapt to new settings. Even though it was easy for me to make friends and adjust, it was just as easy for me to leave those friends and move on with my life. i have still yet to determine if this is a negative or a positive asset when it comes to the business world. Lastly, the self managment category to me, defines what you think of yourself. Personally, I have high levels of confidence in my abilities to speak and work hard. One flaw might be that I do tend too stress out a lot, but I am constantly working to find new ways to reduce the nerves and focus on positive aspects in my life.

CPQ

After analyzing my CPQ results, I was not too surprised at the numbers that were generated. Starting off with the relationship to envirnment orientation, I got a pretty good insight on what was too come. My harmony score was very high while my subjugation score was very low which tells me that I do believe we should work with the environment in order to sustain our ways of life. The second orientation, relationships among people had a very even distribution among the categories of collective, hierarchial, and individual. This tells me that I clearly understand the views of each and am not particularly biased towards any one group. The activity orientation gave me my highest score on doing. This definitely is me because I believe the best way to learn and understand anything is to physically put yourself in the position to perform the task. In nature of humans my score was a 2.20 which indicates that I believe people are bad by nature. Although I don't think everyone in the world is evil, I tend to assume people have selfish intentions before I truly get to know them. The last orientation, time, is also a key factor in my though process. My high score was in the present category because to me the past is over and done with, and there's no need to dwell on it, simply learn from it. Without focusing on your present, there is no way a person can plan and accomplish things in the future.

GCI Result...

My GCI result was quite similar from what I was expecting. GCI tells about your perception, Relationship and Self Management. According to GCI report my scores were high in perception management except Tolerance of Ambiguity. It means I am not perfect to tackle the uncertainty. Actually sometimes I easily get stress out if I am not getting my results, so I agree with it and try to work on this area. The other fact I agreed on, is my cosmopolitanism high Score. I love to learn about the new culture and spending time with different culture people, so I can learn more about their culture.

In Relationship management, my scores were high in all except self awareness and Joyce suggested me to work on the “value clarification” and I am working on it. But when we talk about the Emotional sensitivity, I disagree with my low score. I am not that emotional sensitive as when I came to United States and I am changing a lot but still…I grew up in emotionally attached family and involved in socially attached society for about 21 years and it’s hard for me to not care about others emotions.

Finally GCI reports talks about the Self management qualities, my high scores indicates that I am good in self management….really…lol. Anyways the only thing I have to worry about is my low score in self identity. I think I am going to work regularly on my week areas by engaging myself in reading and self involvement activities. Last Saturday I went to Arab cultural event at Union square, SF. It was an awesome experience; I was surprised to see their different cultural clothing, music and food. Food was the best part. I took lot of pictures and I am going to post it after getting permission from Joyce.

Week of 10/01 DIE Description Interpretation Evaluation

DIE. That is the most memorable aspect of the game. Although it was clear that we all struggled to find a connection with the other group I couldn't help but think to myself that it was just another game to highlight the importance of just being observant. It wasn't until our white board was filled with Evaluations rather than Descriptions I then realized the importance and underlying point of this game.
It has been almost a week and I have used the DIE concept several times already. One example is when this driver cut in front of me and sped down the highway like a maniac while I was driving. Usually I would curse under my breath and condemn the driver with a scowl but this time for some odd reason I remembered the word DIE. I decided to describe the situation instead rather than evaluate. This driver is driving really fast and cut me off and is speeding down the highway. Relieving myself of all the evaluation thoughts I started to interpret the situation instead. I came to a conclusion that maybe it was an emergency and maybe his loved one was in the hospital.
So every time I catch myself negatively evaluating a person or situation, I just think in my head DIE!

Globesmart (reposted)

1. Think the score I received was valid. Although in some instance I feel I’m more moderate then what was represented on the graph. One example is the first Dimension. I scored a very far to the interdependent side. I am very much a team player and believe in order to be successful in most projects you need to be able to work with others and take others views into consideration. That said every group needs one leader (Boss) who makes the final call/ executive decisions. In order to be productive group members need to take initiative and use their personal decision making styles to present the leader with the accurate data and advice to make the correct call. Another example of misrepresentation was the Direct vs. indirect dimensions. I scored far to the indirect side which I don’t feel is accurate. If any thing I think I’m more direct in identifying an issue and calling it out, but I’m very aware of the importance of presenting that info in a manner that doesn’t unfairly make someone loose face. This is very important to maintain harmony with in the group/partnership for not only the current task, but for projects later down the road. You get more accomplished by making friends then you do by burning bridges.
2. I think my Grandparents would score very similar to me. I grew up working w/ my grandparents in the family business and feel that I adopted many of their work ethics. The two dimensions that stick out the most to me regarding my grandparents are task and long term. My grandfather has always been a hard worker and took pride in his work. He’s established a successful electrical business that grew solely on word of mouth. He didn’t advertise his business or really rely too much on networking. He would focus on doing good quality work and threw out the years, strong business relationships developed. He developed a good reputation by taking on the philosophy of the Task dimension. The Long term dimension also stands out very much as my grandparents have always voiced the importance of planning for the future. I believe this is deeply rooted in the fact that they grew up during the time of the great depression and really understood what it was like to loose and to go without. Having a back up plan or something to fall back on is always a good practice.

3. According to the graph I’m not a typical member of my culture. In most instances I’m the opposite. The only dimension I scored the same on was task. I think do to misrepresentation on the graph it appears that I’m completely opposite from my culture, but I don’t think this is accurate. For the most part I’m more moderate and in some cases I slightly lean to the opposite of my culture. One instance of this is Egalitarianism vs Status. I scored more to the status side. My current job is very egalitarian in nature and I realize the importance of flexibility. Being Egalitarian is very important in fast moving industries as it allows companies and groups to adapt quickly to change. I lean to the Status side a little however b/c I believe individuals are put in certain positions of power to make core strategic decisions. Most of the time there is no clear answer or solution so it is up the Leader to make the final decision.

CPQ

 I think the CPQ scores are valid and in most cases more accurate then the globesmart results. I scored pretty close to the group average on almost all the dimensions, but show in some dimensions a large difference from my country average. I believe this is due to the fact that my class mates and I are similar in age. The country average is most likely based on older individuals who are already established in their carriers and are taking the questionnaire to further themselves in their career.

 I think my results show that age may be a bigger factor to take into consideration then just culture when communicating. If you combine both age and culture differences to the mix then it will require even more sensitivity when communicating and interacting with others.

. One of my highest scores was for harmony. I believe this is very accurate in describing my personality. I try to maintain harmony as much as possible and only really like to create waves if I see a major issue or flaw in a situation. Further more if I don’t have a solution to the flaw I typically won’t disrupt the harmony of a process until I have a plan to remedy the situation. I think harmony is very important in the workplace. Disruptive actions should only be used if a clear plan and goal is in place. Frequent reorgs in a company for example can be very disruptive to business and they also create a lot of uncertainty for the employees which in turn poorly effects moral.

GCI Assessment

I feel like I either do not know myself very well or the questions were posed in a way to get certain answers.

Or at least, that is how I felt when we were first going over these in class. When we were told about the social desirability index, my scores made me feel a tad better.


The most significant lesson I learned from this instrument is that "knowing thyself" is a constant process. We are constantly changing and learning, so that we adapt ourselves to a certain mindset or way of doing things. If we can learn from past mistakes and through new experiences and encounters, then this instrument is just a tool to help us enact the change we may recognize we need.

According to GCI (not to make it a black-or-white matter, but to put it in those terms), I seem to be very self-centered, selfish, and exclusive--although I know this to be untrue about myself.

Other aspects, however, seem closer to my true nature than I may like to admit--I realize far from being distant or cautious, I tend to be very trusting and self-disclose a lot (the good vs evil assessment). And although this may seem stubborn, but for me, sometimes it takes 3 or even 4 times for a bad behavior to start dissolving--in short, I may be "narrow-minded" in the sense of changing certain possible damaging behaviors (self-destructive, or detrimental to relationships). This isn't to say that I am negative or crazy in any way--just--for example--I tend to jump to conclusions--A LOT. I still do it, to some capacity, but for the most part, I really do and TRY (I know a lot of times, people say DO don't TRY) to suppress this, or stop and think before engaging in this type of behavior.

For the most part, I think I'm generally fairly good at reading people, but sometimes I can be way off. So the GCI seems to catch this part of my personality.

It relieved me to hear that the Category Inclusiveness component was thrown out in newer tests because the ability to honestly test its subjects was either inaccurate or (perhaps) slightly compromised by human nature.

The GCI (I think) accurately tested my Self-Management. At first I was shocked to read through the scores, but the more I reflect and think rationally through it, I see the validity.

I already try and not be judgmental and (maybe not as strongly, but I DO TRY to) reach out to others who may or may not be different. People who go through life thinking others judge them should look in the mirror--most likely they are doing the same right back.

I LOVE TRAVEL and entering other cultures. I understand the need to adapt and to really immerse oneself in another culture to truly embrace and understand it. If we go with the "American mindset", we are already close-minded, and will not and cannot get the most out of our experience. Sadly, many people go overseas with this mentality and come home with horrible encounters (not always, but often). Really, this is a reflection of the person who went rather than on the people they encountered while away from home. We have to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and put ourselves out there, otherwise, we'll be met with the same resistance.

SIMULATION ACTIVITY !!

Simulation activity was real fun learning experience. Activity was perfectly designed to see the cross cultural effects. I was in team Beta, and visited team alpha as a visitor. I was totally surprised to see it is really hard to understand their culture, even though they were speaking in English. That made me think how hard it would be for alpha team visitors to understand us (with weird signs and code word language). I think I have to work on my observer and learning skills because I am so fast in making evaluation instead of thinking in descriptive way. Today I learned that, everybody have their own culture, values and beliefs and It’s always better to learn their culture, and try to understand their values instead of comparing with own culture and try to prove somebody wrong. I think I changed a lot in last 4 years living in United States (in this beautiful Diverse world), but I still have my culture and values in me. I think we are lucky that we are learning everything as well as having fun!!

Class Simulation of Different Cultures

Today's class was entertaining as always, these simulations just keep getting funner and interesting (quiet eye opening). During the first part of the simulation my team, BETA, were learning the language of the culture ,and the trading rules. Simple enough, not quiet it took me awhile to say the numbers right(Cabe=2...?). The second part took some getting used because there was still some confusion on what and how things had to be said, for example Yair whom I traded with first said the number wrong(Yaba Yaba=2?..Nope lol) and trying to correct each other was quite funny because we weren't sure of what to do or say. Any who that part was entertaining, following that came the part where each team had to send expatriates of their teams. When I left team BETA to meet team ALPHA, I was handed 3 cards and chips, and I guess there was a piece of paper but I disregarded it. Compared to some of my other team members I was never hugged =( and that made me EVALUATE them as BIPOLAR because they were sometimes nice but sometimes not. And it wasn't until the rules of the game were explained that I felt judgmental. Professor Osland went over DIE (Description, Interpretation, Evaluation), one should only be descriptive, not interpretative because when entering a new situation or culture we can't comprehend what we are seeing, and never be evaluative because I am not someone who should be judging. I need to learn to be less evaluative because it would help in adapting to new situations.

GCI

After analyzing the feedback report of the Global Competencies Inventory, the scores seem valid to me because it shows true insight about my personality. I scored pretty high on most of all factors of the global competency and I believe is because I have traveled to different countries and gained experience from others. When traveling seeing sites and meeting people from other backgrounds, experiencing new cultures, different food, cloths, languages, traditions, beliefs, and other ways of living life makes our knowledge to expand to be wider to see life in a different perspective. Something I have learned from traveling is that it taught me to value what I have and to always respect others. The most significant lesson I have learned from this instrument is that as individuals we can somehow describe and evaluate ourselves, and we can work on certain dimensions of our human behavior to improve our lives. Some of my major strengthens are perception management, relationship management; however, in the dimensions of emotional sensitivity and tolerance of ambiguity I scored low. I can say that that these two dimensions are my weaknesses because many times I am not aware of how others are feeling or consider the situations or challenges that others may face. Also, in regards to tolerance of ambiguity I rather know exactly what to do because I do really dislike when things are unclear or I do not know what is happening. However, I know is always to stay calm in any situations because it allows more time and capability to think and manage problems is a better way. I will definitely will try to develop and improve these two dimensions more effectively at work, school, and at my daily life occasions.

Global Competencies Inventory

Global Competencies Inventory
The results regarding the GCI were quite surprising to me actually, at the time I was taking this assessment I thought to myself "Gee, these questions again...", but as the time and questions kept passing I realized that the questions were in fact different than the ones asked in previous assessments. For example in the GCI we had to say how many images/shapes were alike, and this was categorized under Perception Management; the shapes to me were not all exactly the same but they had similar attributes (all of them did actually, expect the ones that were missing something), and the ones with the similar attributes (same number of side and somewhat similarity in shape) I numbered off. Overall my score for Perception Management was Moderate, and what I lack in this category is Cosmopolitanism (low score) and Category Inclusiveness(low score), however I scored high on both Inquisitiveness and tolerance of Ambiguity which made me kind of proud of myself. Category Inclusiveness is something I really need to focus on in order to change how I act or maybe view certain situations or people, I need to research that further.
When it came to Relationship Management my score is high, what probably aided this was the fact that I scored pretty high on Relationship Interest and Interpersonal Engagement. I do certainly agree with these scores because I do consider myself very curious of others and if there is a chance I would engage with them...(my friends say I would talk to a wall if I could =P). In any case I'm pretty satisfied with this section's scores, well except for the fact that I scored really low on self awareness. Coming out of class I called my boyfriend and mentioned the fact that this assessment categorized me as not self aware at all! He simply just said "those who know you know that", he said this because to him self aware means "little concern in how their behavioral tendencies affect other people", he doesn't regard the other things that self awareness also means like knowing your value and strengths and limitations, and in that aspect he is right sometimes I'm way into my own little world that I disregard others, or sometimes I don't filter my thoughts and it's never done in a mean way it's just saying it too bluntly. But what I must disagree with is the statement that because i score low "i am not aware of my values, strengths, and limitations", because i am aware of the values i was raised with and with the ones i developed over my 21 years of life. I am true to myself and to what I believe in, and just because I am surrounded by people who don't think the same does not mean I am wrong or I am not willing to adapt, because I can adapt to different situations but I just can't see myself changing values, THIS IS AFTER ALL A HETEROGENEOUS WORLD.
For Self-Management my score was very high, in all the categories I scored high, with the exception of Non-stress tendency. Scoring low on non-stress tendency was no surprise because when I am in a fast paced situation I tend to react very quickly in a stressful manner, in my head I literally start asking questions on how to better the situation and if one doesn't come to mind I freak out, though at the time I don't even notice that freaking out like that is that bad. For example, I work at a restaurant and the environment is pretty fast paced and when I'm involved in a situation where it requires me to run back and forth a lot, while still being polite and I'm literally worrying about every little thing.I read last year that because I basically have a type A personality, the path that I am leading is going to end up giving me ulcers (That's literally what the booklet said, its the LSI assessment). In any case, i need to learn to relax, I need to learn to find new ways of letting out stress and ways of coping with stress while being in a fast paced environment. But then again, I get kind of a rush when things get intense, even though I stress about it that itself gives me an incentive to do something about it
My overall Global Competency Index score was HIGH!!! Ehh Yay! I'm very happy to have that score because this assessment was very insightful in many ways, and it really narrows down on what I should work on. Also this test was not impacted by social desirability which makes them even more truthful.