GROUP ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
STUDENT DETAILS
Student name:
Nguyễn Ngọc Trúc Linh
Student ID number:
31181023008
Student name:
Quách Trầ n Phương Linh
Student ID number:
31181023147
Student name:
Nguyễn Thi ̣ Thiện Minh
Student ID number:
31181025126
Student name:
Đỗ Hoàng Cao Ngân
Student ID number:
31181023752
Student name:
Nguyễn Quố c Hạnh Nguyên
Student ID number:
31181020062
Student name:
Đặng Phú
Student ID number:
31181021859
UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS
Unit name:
ACADEMIC SKILLS
Lecturer or Tutor name:
Unit number:
FOU101
Mr. Alan J Hartnett, Ms.Gabriel Adderley
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Title:
HOMEWORK - SESSION 2
Length:
Due date:
26 October 2018
Date submitted:
25 October 2018
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appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.
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Multicultural Diversity
Cultural Diversity: External factors have more significant effects on one’s personality than
internal factors in a multicultural enterprise
Team One
DH44ISB04
20/11/2018
Alan Joseph Hanrtnett
Gabriel Adderley
Multicultural Diversity
1
Cultural Diversity: External factors have more significant effects on one’s personality than
internal factors in a multicultural enterprise
“Multicultural enterprises” is no longer a strange phrase when a topic about working
environment of companies is being discussed. This is a result of globalization which has been a
trend for over a century and this popular idea of people working different cultures and countries
working with each other affect people personality traits all over the world because of two factors:
external and internal ones. External factors are things outside of a person’s traditional thoughts.
On the contrary, internal factors are what the old habits, thoughts resulted from a long history of
studying in a monocultural environment. This essay strongly agrees that the effects outside are
stronger than ones inside in a development of an individual’s traits. The writers will argue how
communication with people from other cultures, competitive workplaces and the need for
adaptation might change one’s personality, even though keeping things in the old ways may also
has an effect.
People’s personality is changed by communicating with many other people from various
cultures. The traits are said to be changed by absorbing knowledge from another culture through
a technique in communication called “ framing”. Framing is an ability to understand or share the
feelings of the communicator (Gudykunst & Kim,1984). By performing this method, a member
of Team Europe Connect stated that he did his work entirely different than before after learning
how designers and researchers need and expect (Gibson & Maneul, 2003). Moreover,the
knowledge that people gain from learning another language and culture more or less affects the
way they think and judge everything around them (Lauring, 2009). Therefore, the more diverse
an enterprise, the more its employees might change the way they work and think. To be able to
communicate in a multicultural company means that a person might have to learn a foreign
Multicultural Diversity
2
language. A study found that one might have different personality when speaking a language
other than his/her mother tongue (Esparza et al, 2004). Nicola Prentis – an award-winning writer
of English Language Teaching materials wrote an article about this subject and asked a Russian
– American immigrant how she felt speaking the 2 languages. The immigrant said she felt
“guarded, reserved, uncomfortable” when speaking Russian, but “free and outgoing” when
speaking English.
Competitive environment also plays a part in affecting people’s personality in a diverse
workplace. On the one hand, employees can put in more effort in their work, be more willing to
change themselves and achieve positive results if they are motivated by competition among
themselves (Staw et al, 2017). Such rivalry improves physiology and psychology of a person,
which can stimulate one’s mind and body to work better and carry out better performance (Scott
& Cherrington, 1974). Therefore, a multicultural environment enables people to overcome and
change themselves by competing with each other. As a result, people might change more
dramatically when striving in a diverse workplace because their opponents come from various
cultures. On the other hand, competition can cause fear which will induce people to backstab
their own teammates in order to survive in the company (Rosen, 2007). Thus,there may be
scenerio when a kind, trustworthy individual might want to knock the top employee down to take
that position in an ugly, dishonorable way. External factors like a competitive workplace can
transform one’s traits in either good or bad way, but in a multicultural company, efficient leaders
will have stratergies to change their employees positively in order to make their business more
successful.
On the other hand, internal factors like childhood experiences and habits can also
influence personality traits. Firstly, according to Costa and McCrae (1994), one’s personality is
Multicultural Diversity
3
formed mainly during childhood and remains almost stable later in life. One of the main reasons
is that experiences in this life period define one’s belief and perception, therefore shape his
actions. (Fuster & Bressler, 2015). A prominent example is the case of children suffered corporal
punishment in childhood. They later become aggressive and are likely to fall for violence to
manipulate people (Grogan-Kaylor, 2004). Difference between students from countries also
represent an example of how education in early years can whittle our process of information.
Researchers found that East Asians tend to pay attention to the environment, the contexts and
relationships whereas Americans choose to focus on the objects and details (Goode, 2000).
These traits once set in stone can rarely be modified, regardless to the environment. Secondly,
habits play an important role in determining people’s personalities and even shape who they are,
as Will Durant (1926) wrote, “these virtues are formed in man by doing his actions; we are we
repeatedly do”. A numerous of small habits together form a day from what time people sleep to
what they eat, from how they work in a team to how they express their ideas. Because the brain
stops focusing on the tasks after the patterns are created, these chains of actions are hard to
change and actually never fade out, as researchers of MIT reveals, “ they’re encoded into the
structures of our brain” (Duhigg, 2012). A significant part of daily routine is the habits formed
by one’s culture. As a social norm in most cultures in Asia, people usually hand over cards and
documents with both hands to show their respect whilst Europeans do not pay much attention to
this gesture. The latter tend to say exactly what they mean meanwhile the former’s
communication style is relatively indirect, which means they care more about protecting
another’s honor and self esteem (CT Business Travel, 2015). As long as these customs don’t
hinder their work, people want to maintain them, because “ people have pride in who they are
and where they came from” (Sonnenschein, 1999).
Multicultural Diversity
4
Finally, despite keeping cultural habits might change one’s personality, interaction with
multiple people from many cultures in an intensively competitive environment forces them to
adapt in order to thrive. A study illustrated, “the increasing internationalization of business
emphasizes the ability of employees to work effectively in different cultural environments, adapt
to new cultural and social circumstances” (Procedia Economics and Finance 34, 2015,p.664). In
a monocultural environment where cross-ethnic and cross-cultural communications are limited,
an individual’s abilities are restricted compared with other one who works in a multicultural
enterprise. On the other hand, in a multicultural environment, the type and range of cognitive
elements that guide social interactions are likely to increase. According to Berry (2002), the
process of adapting to a new culture, known as acculturation, requires cultural and psychological
change resulting from contact with non native cultures. As a result, employees working in a
diverse office has more likelihood to learn new languages, cultures and working styles than those
who do not. Consequently, each person’s self-awareness is motivated to change due to the
interaction with multiple people from various cultures in a mixed-race company which is
improved by trying to absorb new knowledge and techniques in order to adapt to the
environment.
In conclusion, external factors like interaction among multiple people from different
countries, dog-eat-dog workplaces and a motivation to survive in a multicultural company
outweigh the idea that keeping traditional thoughts and habits can have an impact on people’s
personality traits. Globalization has been a trend for a long time and probably will not stop in the
near future. Therefore, the outward effects might have an even bigger and stronger influence on
people’s minds in years to come.
Multicultural Diversity
5
References
Lauring, J. (2009). “Managing cultural diversity and the process of knowledge sharing: A
case from Denmark” Scandinavian Journal of Management. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227422191_Managing_cultural_diversity_an
d_the_process_of_knowledge_sharing_A_case_from_Denmark
Esparza, N.R., Gosling, S.D., Martinez, V.B., Potter, J.P., Pennebaker, J.W. (2004). Do
bilinguals have two personalities? A special case of cultural frame switching.
Retrieved from: https://qz.com/925630/feel-more-fun-in-french-your-personality-canchange-depending-on-the-language-you-speak/
Gudykunst, W.B., Kim, Y.Y. (1984). Methods for intercultural communication research,
international and intercultural communication annual, vol 7. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Gibson, C. B., & Manuel, J. A. (2003). Building trust: Effective multicultural communication
processes in virtual teams. Virtual teams that work: Creating conditions for virtual
team effectiveness, 59-86.
Staw, B.W., Kilduff, G.J., Elfenbein, H.A. (2017). Academy of Management Journal, Vol.53,
No.5. Retrieved from: https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2010.54533171
Scott, W. E., & Cherrington, D. J. (1974). Effects of competitive, cooperative, and
individualistic reinforcement contingencies. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology.
Rosen, E.(2007). The culture of collaboration. Red Ape Publishing.
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Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2004) “The effect of corporal punishment on antisocial behavior in
children” Social Work Research, 153–164.
Sonnenschein, W. (1999). The diversity toolkit: How you can build and benefit from a diverse
workforce. Lincolnwood, Chicago. McGraw Hill Professional.
CT Business Travel. (2015). Business Etiquette Around The World. Retrieved from :
https://www.ctbusinesstravel.co.uk/news/blog/business-etiquette-around-the-world/
Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Random
House.
Durant, W. (1926). The story of philosophy.New York. Garden City.
Fuster, J. M., & Bressler, S. L. (2015). Past makes future: role of pFC in prediction. Journal of
cognitive neuroscience, 639-654.
Costa Jr, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1994). Stability and change in personality from adolescence
through adulthood.
Goode E. (2000). How Culture Molds Habits Of Thought. The New York Times. Retrieved
from: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/08/science/how-culture-molds-habits-ofthought.html
Procedia Economics and Finance 34 (2015). Business Economics and Management 2015
Conference, BEM2015: Impact of multiculturalism on the industrial enterprises
management. Retrieved from: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S2212567115016834/1-s2.0S2212567115016834-main.pdf?_tid=b0ad8fee-2827-4e33-a451ab16f6b380bd&acdnat=1541932945_ab94d84c49a700c0c00b3824f8dc6981
Multicultural Diversity
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (2002). Cross-cultural
psychology: Research and applications (2nded.).
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