Cultural Differences and People Management Essay - 4

Cultural Differences and People Management - Essay Example It  has been one of my favourite subjects by far. It  was one of my favourite lessons in class. It was very informative, and I got to test some of the theories that I learned. I totally agree with the notion that collectivist and individualist cultures exist, and the society is mainly made up from these cultures. In a class, I got to learn that people belonging to the collectivist cultures place high value to society as a whole. They live a more selfless life working hard for themselves and even harder for the welfare of their community. However, an individualist society is a little different from this. In such societies, people tend to place more importance on individual goals rather to the objectives of the society. There is only ‘I’ and no ‘We’ in this type of a culture. I wanted to see if this was true and I researched on the Internet. Triandis (1995) has written an entire book on these types of cultures, and he writes that people from collectivist cultures are nurtured and raised to think about the society rather than about them. People in this kind of a culture live with unity often seeking help from one another. Triandis (1995) describes the individualists as entirely different. People living in these kinds of cultures promote individual goals. They are independent and feel ashamed of seeking help from others. These readings proved very beneficial for me. I never knew that these cultures existed until I took a closer look at different communities that exist in my country. One of my father’s close friends is an Indian, and I have grown up seeing him. When I went through the notes, he was the first person that came to my mind. Mr Mukesh was so much like what I had studied in class. He lives in an Indian neighbourhood where everyone interacts on a daily basis. I happen to know this because I have witnessed it with my own eyes. There are always relatives and other neighbours in their house when I go there. Mr