Cultural Differences

Today's Management Practice lecture was on Cultural differences and it's one of the most interesting lectures I've been to. I guess that's mainly cos I can really identify with what the lecturer was talking about, especially here in Cambridge I'm surrounded by so many people from very different countries and cultures. It was a very interactive lecture cos everyone had so much to share about what they found different in other cultures and people from those cultures simply saying how they assumed that it was just the same with everyone.

One point that really hit home was that there are two types of communication High Context (not very direct, and a lot of what is being said can only be gathered by observing the subtle signs of the communicator) and Low Context (very direct and straightforward) and that usually Asians are High Context while Americans and British and most other Europeans are Low Context.

I was just thinking how true this was. One of the major differences I saw in most of the Americans and British students was how direct they were. For example, if I was in a team meeting and thought what someone said was wrong, I'd say it in a round about way, for example "Maybe you can look at it like this..." Where as I've often noticed that here they'd just say "you're wrong" Even most of the other Chinese, and Indian students felt the same way.

Then we went on to analyze how if we didn't know about the cultural differences we might interpret the other's reactions in a negative light. For example High Context people might feel that Low Context people are Cold and Aggressive while the Low Context people would think that the Low Context people are weak or are "beating about the bush".

It was amazing to find out the differences in the leadership styles too. I'd love to do my final thesis about the differences in cultures.

It's 5am I must be lonely...

It's 5.10am and I just can't go to sleep and remembered the song. (It's 3am I must be lonely... by Matchbox twenty) So thought of writing this post.

Maybe I should give some background as to why I'm up at this ungodly hour.

My parents came to visit me here in Cambridge on their way to Canada (My dad will be working there for a year which is one of the reasons I thought of looking at MBAs in Canada but Cambridge won in the end) and just came back after dropping them at the Coach Station which will take them to Heathrow Airport. Though I barely got any sleep last night cos of the last minute packing, I'm just not sleepy.

It's weird, what I'm feeling... I believe that I'm starting to miss them more now than when I left Sri Lanka. Maybe cos then I was so excited that I didn't feel anything else but now as I'm starting to settle in the excitement is getting lesser. It's so true that you never really appreciate things or people till their gone... I'm actually starting to miss even what I used to consider annoying like them being too concerned about by safety and what I do.


Maybe I should also mention that this is the first time I'm away from home for more than a week. While some of you may wonder what the hell I was doing at home at 26, in Sri Lanka the culture is such that you don't leave your parents until you get married, unless ofcourse if you're working or studying faraway from home.

While they were here I managed to get them a guest room in my College here at Cambridge and they were in and out of this house very regularly. I had some real home cooked meals after some time too.

Thought of posting a photo taken with them in front of the Ely Cathedral which is just outside Cambridge.

Hope they have a safe flight to Canada.

I'm just going to try to get some sleep...

Finding my self... and my voice...

I've got a confession to make, I dread speaking in front of a class and giving my opinion. Funny thing is that I don't mind compering at events or even acting in plays where there is a large audience, and I'm a really chatty person with friends. What really makes me nervous is just to express my opinion. I guess it maybe cos I'm worried about what the rest of the class and the lecturer would think of my point of view. When acting and compering you have a set script and you don't have to worry about others ridiculing your ideas.

Thesedays I've been feeling this even more strongly, cos here the students are always speaking their thoughts out loud, and sometimes even challenge the lecture if they don't agree. I guess the fact that most of the students have over 7 to 8 yrs work experience and I only have 2 yrs, also play a part. So in general I try to sit in the front row so that I pay more attention and cos it's always easier to tell my point of view to the lecture when I'm closer and don't have to yell across the room. (though many do this)

Finally after about 3 weeks today I managed to speak up and contribute to the class so I'm feeling really pleased with myself. Ok it was just a tiny step but an improvement. I'm hoping to be more confident by the time I finish this.

The class that we had today was 'Management Practice' right now this is my favourite course. Here we're mainly learning the soft skills necessary in management like communication and to illustrate certain points the lectures organize little games and though we think we'll see through these the learning is unbelievable. Today the discussion was about assumptions and we project our assumptions to others when we communicate. we were divided into many teams of 8 and each of these groups were further divided into 2 and the 2 parts of each team were physically separated and given certain information and were to obtain the maximum points we could only communicate in messages and a short meeting where we didn't get to show each other the info we got. We realized soon enough that the 2 parts of the team did not have the same info but not a single team realized that the objective of each team was different. It was unbelievable.

One of the main things we learnt today was how when we speak our communication has certain holes and each person who listens to us fills these holes with their own perceptions and assumptions, and often this is how many misunderstandings happen. It is very apparent in this class atmosphere where part of the perceptions are cultural.

Another reason that I enjoy this class is that it's all about reflecting inward and trying to understand my self. I find being on my own and having long walks (now cycle rides) to uni and back to be very useful for this kind of thinking. That's going to be one of my main objectives for the year... To find my self...

Back in the bolg-o-sphere...

I'm back again after a couple of weeks. So much has happened in the last few days I don't know where to begin...

I'm really enjoying this MBA cos most of the students are so international, and have such different backgrounds I've learnt so much just by chatting with them. There is one guy who is a stem cell researcher, and one doc and other's who have their own companies and two Phds and so many other areas.

Only problem is that I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed with all the assignments and we've also started to look into our first real consultancy project which we will be doing for a company based in Cambridgein groups of five. Since my background is in engineering most of subjects like Economics and Accounts are pretty Alien to me, so I sometimes feel that the class is going too fast. Ofcourse there are many others who feel that way too. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon though.

I think this living on my own is also a great exprience cos then you learn to do so many things you take for granted like marketing and cooking and washing clothes. All in all though I'm enjoying it.

Ofcourse though there's so much to do I still find enough time to explore Cambridge too. As our first team building experice my study group (my consultancy project team assigned by Judge) and I went punting. I believe that punting is unique to Oxford and Cambridge. After going in circles and blocking the others and lot of other mishaps we finally got the hang of it. You can see some pics of that and others taken here. It's a lot more difficult than it looks cos the pole is very long and heavy. This is my study group before we went punting.



You can see more pics at www.flickr.com/photos/roshanthi I was going to add a pic of me punting but unfortunately this blog spot is giving trouble with the photos
again.
Two of my team members

Kings College from across the river

I've also just bought a bike and started cycling to Uni. Can you beleive that? Just a few months ago didn't even know how to ride! You might remember my previous adventures of learning to cycle here

There's a Salsa night every Wedensday at Cambridge and I went for that yesterday. That was really fun :0) I'm trying to get a proper work, fun balance :0)