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Cultural Issues of Human Resource Management

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International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 45

Carrying Cultural Baggage: the contribution of socio-cultural anthropology to cross-cultural coaching
Barbara St Claire-Ostwald, CINCRA International Coaching & Training Consultancy, UK Email Contact: barbara@cincra.com Abstract This study examines the cultural awareness of professionals working in organisations. Given the multicultural nature of today’s workforce, it is becoming increasingly important for companies and coaches alike to take into account how cross-cultural differences may affect daily working practices. The study draws on a review of current research into cultural dimensions and looks at the complex relationship between …show more content…

Thus, one could argue that the socioanthropological perspective on culture takes a holistic view, describing culture as a pattern of learned and shared behaviours of people and/or groups consisting of belief systems and languages; and of social relationships be they personal, organisational, or institutional. (Hall, 1963; Hall and Hall, 1987; Hofstede, 1980; Kondo, 1990; Levi-Strauss, 1966; Schwartz, 1994). Therefore, at a fundamental level, it could be argued that culture is a representation of a complete way of life of a people who share the same attitudes, values and practices. Csikszentmihalyi (1997, p.7) makes the distinction of ‘identity’ by using snowflakes as a metaphor: “They look identical as they fall, but taking a closer look, we soon discover that they are not identical”. Hence, he argues, rather than seeing identity as a single unitary self, perhaps cultural identity should be viewed as being multi-faceted, i.e. acknowledging that people have a number of selves or identities depending on context and setting. For example, the biggest barrier individuals and/or employees encounter is not necessarily that they come from different parts of the world, or that they speak a different language or even occupy a different physical space, it is the baggage they carry in their own cultural suitcases which needs to be explored. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner maintain that what people

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