Canada And The Philippines: Cultural Differences

Cultural diversity can be defined as the cultural differences that exist between people such as, language, traditions, and the religious beliefs along with the way society carries itself. It is inevitable in the United States to notice the wide variety of cultures that with the years have come to share this land with Americans.

Canada and the USA, two countries with a very close relationship. These two countries are so close that some tend to forget that some of Canada's citizens are even Canadian. Sometimes Americans who live in Canada are mistaken for Canadians even though they are not. There are many similarities between these two countries. Canada and The USA, but they are still some differences in their cultures, healthcare systems, and certain stereotypes.

This in turn can increase the creativity and innovation within organizations. As well, individuals from diverse backgrounds are able to provide companies with insight into foreign business practices, translation assistance, and offer detailed information to assist in market penetration. A diverse working team can also improve decision making by providing different perspectives on problems. Individuals embrace working alongside other cultures, as it is a personal learning process that will prove useful in the future.

Power distance describes the distance between power and the members of a particular culture. France has a higher power distance than the United States. Gudykunst describes countries with a high power distance as, “Individuals who accept power as part of society. As such superiors consider their subordinates to be different from themselves and vice

Refers to how society accept or does not accept the differences between people, as per hierarchies at workplace, also in politics and so on. Culture with high power distance accept that a boss is “higher” so deserve more authority and respect. Countries like Mexico, Philippines, and Japan are high power distance countries.

In the three articles, Schlosser et al (2015), Sereni-Massinger (2015) and Thurber (2015), they explain these types of diversity. In the article by Sereni- Massinger, she talks about cultural diversity, which can be defined as a variety of cultural, ethnical groups in a society. In the article by Schlosser, it covers ethnic diversity, which is defined as groups of people and people based on ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, and sexual orientation.

Some cultures may seem similar but actually not. For example, Americans often will view the Canadians as “American” by most standards. This is because, Canadians speak English, eat what Americans eat, listen to the similar music, live in similar place and dress like how Americans do. The cultural of these two countries look similar but they still have the dissimilarities. Compare to the United States where differences in culture tolerated much less, Canada has been described as a mixture of cultures where individual differences are celebrated. All official Canadian government populations and signs throughout Canada are in both English and French. English is their principal language but French is their main language. Canadians are using British

First, power distance is the first dimension in Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions. Power distance is the “extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.” (Hofstede, 2017). When comparing China and the United States, China had twice as high power distance score than the United States. The high-power distance score in China shows that it is acceptable to have inequalities in their society, and that the people accept and expect power is distributed unequally.

Ryan you make a really good point. Yes, the United States and Canada are really good friends. Our cultures are similar and as a group of people we can mix and mingle. In professor Long’s lecture he talked about how it would be easier to blend in with the Canadians then with a group of Chinese people. But, at the end of the day, if the United States and Canada were to go to war then a clear line between the two will be drawn. It all boils down to patriotism and nationalism. I believe that a love for one’s country will have a stronger pull than similar cultural ties.

Secondly, cultural diversity refers to the co-presence of different cultural systems within the same geopolitical boundaries. This applies to Canada, which has witnessed an increasing immigration population. Having various cultural groups within a country will eventually provide the people with different perspectives.

Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may

Power Distance is the dimension that deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. At 80 China sits in the higher rankings of power distance a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable, therefore subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defence against power abuse by superiors. Individuals are influenced by formal authority and sanctions and are in general optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative. People

Power/Distance (PD), “refers to the degree of inequality that exists- and is accepted- among people with and without power. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand “their place” in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed.” (www.mindtools.com) As an example from the article, Myers goes on to say, “there were basically four levels: VP, director, manager, and worker bee. You only talked to people at your level.” SK Telecom boasted that

What may appear inconsequential on the surface may be revealed to have greater importance when looked at in the context of the host culture.

Many opportunities are associated with a culturally diverse workplace and global expansion may have potential to provide just such a diverse work group. Cross-culturalism in business can provide leaders and employees with a wonderful opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and cultures. In addition, “the more opportunities for business leaders to interact with people from different cultures, the more likely they will be to have positive attitudes from different cultures and identify, learn and apply diverse culturally-appropriate business behaviors” (Caligiuri & Tarique, 2012, p. 614). Culturally diverse environments offer a multitude of benefits including “the variety of perspectives, skills and personal attributes” (Matveeve & Nelson, 2004, p. 254). Moreover, multicultural teams have potential to “generate more ideas of higher quality in brainstorming tasks” (Matveeve &