My response to class on 2/8/2013 _ Michael

I really enjoyed learning about Macau. I really didn't know much about the culture or how the other students from there lived so it helped me realize that they weren't so different from myself. Their way of life is similar to how we live in urban areas. The cuisine is very interesting and I like that it the culture influence of Portugal is present on the Chinese food. Now the America video was a little less to my liking. I liked the scenery but to me the video didn't really demonstrate my America. It was just like flipping through National Geographic but I still assumed that the director just wanted to stay away from the mercantilism side of this country.

Week Two Reaction Post_Michael

I liked the activity because it was interactive and also because both sides were so different. I really liked the alphas because it was male centric and dominant and I got to touch others as well as only talk about males. So the women were basically second class citizens.  While the beta group was very hard to interact with because it was more project or object oriented. I was an outsider so I didn't understand what to do but it was very interesting and there wasn't really much of a hierarchy such as like in the alpha group.I believe that communication is key in any society so it was much more difficult to assimilate in the beta group because they were less personal.

Chapter 12 Response_Michael

           In chapter 12 was mainly a concise conclusion or summary of the entire thoughts of the previous chapter about individualism and low power distance and collectivism. Talking about the evolution of different cultures; the author is mainly talking about the evolution method. Basically talking about how we were hunter and gatherer people/society. Also talking about how trade and capitalism evolved because as societies were ever expanding the use of trading and bartering is greatly less practical and becomes very impractical. In essence, the chapter just talked about the evolution of human cultures and social structure. Also talking about how now our cultures accelerate so quickly and change that it creates different cultures and is constantly changing.

Chapter 12 _ Response_ yoyo

In chapter 12, the author discussed about the evolution of culture. He divided the evolution into 5 stages, from five million years ago till now. I think the concept of culture evolution is interesting. The culture evolution is associated with humans and societies changes. It is unavoidable and indefinite. It is apparent that the invention of computer or internet causes a major culture evolution in the recent few decades. The development of technology contributes to humans and societies changes. In the recent few decades, people increasingly use internet to do works, communicate with others, search information, and so on. It changes the behavior and habit of humans. Moreover, it helps to increase the inter-connectedness between different cultures all over the world. It accelerates the mixture of cultures and even creates new cultures. 

Response to Chapter 12_Ben

Chapter 12 made a brief conclusion of the whole idea which mentioned by author in the previous chapter, such as collectivism, individualism, high or low power distance, etc. Most of us knew that evolution played a significant role in the human being history, it provided a method for human development, that was the reason why we can exist and establish a great civilization today, it was the same as the chapter mentioned that evolution was unavoidable in the human history. Indeed, human being lived in the different area, but they can live by their way. It reflected the importance of evolution and it also created the diversity and characteristics of different countries and tribes. 

For instance, I believed that there is neither the best nor the worst culture in the world, we have to know more about the others. It can help us to find the advantages of each other and discover the great aspect of the world. 

Chapter12 reponse

This chapter is talking about the evolution of cultures. In the beginning of this chapter, the writer stated the evolution method by a time machine journey through history. It is from five million years our ancestors lived in groups of a few dozen as hunters ago until now there are a large scale civilizations. 

Nowadays,Capitalism is the most popular in the word. It comes for our ancestor exchange of goods for one another as the main mechanism of trade becomes impractical in a large state. The use of seashells as currency probably predates city-state, and money was used in all of them. Money can travel easily and is not perishable. It provides a mechanism to assess the utility of very different foods and services. It is a large turning point in human culture and it develop different kind of cooperation in the society.

Reaction to Chapter 12

     Chapter 12 was about the evolution of humans and culture. It firstly explained the history of culture. According to the author, it is possible to divide the history of culture into 5 periods, such as lonely planet period and ice and fire period. The author claims that cultural and human evolution is essential, and anybody can stop it from happening. It finally mentions the culture in the future.

     I think it was one of the most interesting chapters among all. It helped me think of culture in the larger context. I re-convinced that culture that we have now is formulated quite recently, considering the long history of the earth.

     I totally agree with the idea of the author in page 476 to 477. “We have more or less global marketplaces, --- (abbreviation), we do not live in a global village. Among groups there is connection of inventions but separation of loyalties.” I totally agree with the idea (pp 476).” It makes people think “we are good, but they are bad (pp 477),” which is the cause of conflicts between people. I believe one of the solutions for this is the interaction among people from different backgrounds. It enables people to notice the fact that we are all same human beings.

Chapter 12 Response

I actually enjoyed this chapter the most of all of the chapters that we read this semester! I really enjoyed learning about the evolution of cultures and about the evolution of mankind in general. It was interesting to learn how biological, philosophical and historical processes shape our culture and how people have evolved from simply trying to survive to expecting ever greater things out of life. I also liked learning about how tribes evolved and the ways in which they helped people to survive in times of uncertainty and war. Seeing the changes over time from hunter-gatherers to townspeople was really interesting and made me wonder about the changes that we have yet to undergo in developing humans and cultural processes.

Chapter 11 Response

Chapter 11 dealt with Intercultural Encounters and the conflicts that arise during these encounters, as well as the best ways to resolve them. I was interested in the different types of culture shock and acculturation that were noted, especially in the different stages that people go through after moving to a foreign country. I also thought it was interesting to learn that a notable amount of expats commit suicide because they are unable to understand and integrate themselves into the country to which they have been assigned. It was also interesting to learn about ethnocentrism and xenophobia, because I think a lot of people exhibit signs of these thought processes without realizing that they are doing so. I also usually combined the two terms into one, so it was interesting to see the differences. The other part of this chapter that I really enjoyed was the part about humor and language and how humor is so important to culture. It was really eyeopening to see how much humor can be lost when languages are translated.

KATHERINE~chapter 12 response ~

Chapter 12 is basically the history and possible future for cultural in general, and in the author’s words, it deals with the central question for human beings “who are we, where are we from, and where are we going” (p.432).

The chapter firstly demonstrated the brief history of culture, following the approach of “consilience” (p.435), indicating that biological and cultural evolutions are linked together. The history are divided into 5 periods, and they are five million to one million years ago: lonely planet; one million to forty thousand years ago: ice and fire, fluctuation of the climate; forty thousand to ten thousand years old: creative spark, extermination, richer art and technology; twelve thousand to seven thousand five hundred years ago: villages and agriculture; seven thousand five hundred years ago until now: large-scale civilizations. Then the author demonstrates sources of cultural diversity and change, they are the exposure of different peoples to different means of subsistence varies widely and selective pressures differ in different places. The 4 characteristics of the evolution of culture are suggested at last. This kind of evolution is unavoidable, doesn’t look ahead, uses many replications and evolves.

It is very meaningful to get to know about the gradual process of coevolution, since it has changed both our nature and our culture. It is certain that culture has become a vehicle that helps people build civilizations. Therefore we should know more about it and take good advantage of it in the future.

Gloria_Chapter 12_Response

Chapter 12 talks about the evolution of cultures, Cultural evolution. Cultural evolution presumes that over time, cultural change such as the rise of social inequalities or emergence of agriculture occurs as a result of humans adapting to some non-cultural stimulus, such as climate change or population growth. Cultural evolution was considered directional, that is, as human populations transform themselves, their culture becomes progressively complex. Today, the theory of cultural evolution is an more complex explanations for cultural change, and for the most part archaeologists believe that social changes are not only driven by biology or a strict adaptation to change, but by a complex web of social, environmental, and biological factors.

Cultures evolve. In one sense, this is a truism; in other senses, it asserts one or another controversial, speculative, unconfirmed theory of culture. Consider a cultural inventory of some culture at some time--say 1900AD. It should include all the languages, practices, ceremonies, edifices, methods, tools, myths, music, art, and so forth, that compose that culture. Over time, that inventory changes. Today, a hundred years later, some items will have disappeared, some multiplied, some merged, some changed, and many new elements will appear for the first time. A verbatim record of this changing inventory through history would not be science; it would be a data base. That is the truism: cultures evolve over time. 

Final class, Ryo Tanitsu

we did the presentation about organizational culture last Friday. We first showed classmates funny video which features the guy who is confused to bump into strangers from different culture. He seems very surprised since people around him follow the movement of the guy and he manage to follow them. This video represents the difficulty to communicate with people from totally different background. After that, we talked about five dimensions which determine the organizational culture or atmosphere. The contents of the presentation is based on the assigned reading, so I hope everyone could review and deepen their knowledge of the readings.

Actually, this was the last class this semester. I felt time flies and very grateful to meet with my friends from all over the world. I learned various value and kindness from you guys. I learned that we could overcome cultural difference and barriers of language through the interaction with you guys. Everything  that I learned here will be the future nourishment for me.

Thank you so much!

Response to Chapter 12 (Esther)

    This chapter is mainly about the evolution of culture from the historical perspective. Five million to one million years ago, our ancestors lived in group of a few dozen as hunters, gatherers or both. They started walking on two legs. They showed marked variability and adaptability to circumstances.
    One million to forty thousand years ago, it was ice and fire stage. humans an all mammals that lived through the ice ages developed larger brains. They lived in small primary groups of dozens of individuals but they started migrating to other places and fight other cultural groups.
     Forty thousand to ten thousand years ago, our ancestors start to show signs of much richer art and technology. During this period, genetic evolution sped up and this enabled the social and intellectual development. The dynamics of this ages would have pushed humanity toward increasing amounts of spiritual feeling and ritual over time.
     Twelve thousand to seven thousand five hundred years ago, it was the villiges and agriculture age. This was a time of plenty for plant and animal life, allowing humans to stay in one place for longer period. Possessions introduced an inherited hierarch in agricultural society.
     Seven thousand five hundred years ago until now, it's the large - scale civilizations ages. People are still learning how to live in large- scale anonymous societies. Parsons (1964) proposed a number of such pivotal, irreversible innovations. They are social stratification, alongside cultural legitimation, bureaucratic organization, money and markets, generalized universalistic norms, and the democratic association.
     Besides the evolution of culture, I also learn the essence of evolution and some contemporary issues, like business and government. From the chapter before, I know more specifically about the aspects of culture, but in this chapter, I combine the history with culture, which is interesting and fruitful.

CH 12 response by Kira

The evolution of culture is like a story. In this chapter, the writer guides us to go through the history of human culture. From a lonely planet to ice and fire, then to creative spark and extermination, to villages and agriculture and finally up to now: large scale civilizations. During this long period of culture development, many things have been created, for example, bureaucratic organization, money and markets, universalistic norms and democratic association. According to the writer, evolution is essential and he raises five crucial points about evolution:
1.Evolution is unavoidable
2.Evolution does not look ahead
3.Evolution is path dependent
4.Evolution uses many replicators
5.Evolution evolves.

These five points not only help us have a better understanding of evolution, but also help us to anticipate the future of culture. The evolution of culture is happening all around. Although evolution itself does not look ahead, we humans can. Therefore, we are responsible to prepare a sustainable world for our next generations and motivate preservation. Besides, cultural evolution is becoming more varied as societies become more complex internally. Finally, the main message that the writer want to bring out is that "you are a integral part of human evolution, the future is ours to create, and you can make a contribution". I totally agree with the writer. Whatever we are doing, good or bad things, we are making changes to the evolution of our culture and creating our future. Therefore we human should be responsible for what we are doing.

KATHERINE~ chapter 11 response~

Chapter 11 is about describing intercultural encounters, how they appeared in different situations and how to avoid them. Intercultural encounters are defined by the author as the “unintended cultural conflict”, meaning that unlike “intended cultural conflicts” for example wars; they happen although nobody wants them and all suffer from them (p.383). These kind of intercultural encounters appear in school, tourism, business cooperation, political cooperation and so forth. However, the most common form of intercultural encounter is the cultural shock, which emerges when an individual comes into a new cultural environment. It is one of the components of an “acculturation curve”, the other parts of this curve are the periods of euphoria acculturation and stable state. As for local people in the new environment, their reactions to foreigners may go through the process of firstly curiosity, then a sense of ethnocentrism and finally polycentrism. But there is also possibility that polycentrism will eventually become Xenophilia.

Although intercultural encounters are inevitable, as for foreigners “it’s unlikely that he or she can recognize, let alone feel, the underlying values” (p.387), there are still methods to fix them. Communication technologies, including television, e-mail, the Internet, mobile phones and social welfare, help us to cope with intercultural encounters, as they bring people around the world together and let them know more about cultures in other parts of the world. That could make communication with foreigners much easier in various aspects.

Gloria_Final Week_Reaction

Time Fries, it’s already the last time we met each other in class. In Friday’s class, we talked about organizational culture, hope you guys love the video and the game we prepared for you!

I love the video each group prepared, ever single video did remind the time we spent together. Actually, I think it’s really a good idea to record our feelings and learning outcome through video, I think it’s like a milestone that showed where we’re going! I’m sure that there will be so much fun when we watch this video several years later!

At the end of the class, we formed a circle and played a game as the ending our class. I think this game can let us know more about ourselves, it’s kind of self-discovery. Sometimes, it’s hard for ourselves to judge or define what kind of person we are, in this game, I know how other think of me and I receive a lot of positive feedback (it’s because all the statements stated are positive, haha). I think this game is beneficial for the person who touch and the person being touched. In one hand, one will know his/her merits and gain confident, on the other hand, one will learn how to appreciate and give support to others. I want to play this game with my students in my class one day too!

To be honest, I do love HRE199,I love the atmosphere of the class, it’s different from the traditional class/lecture. We learnt from the discussion in class and we learnt something about culture through the interaction with our classmates. This class really broadens my global perspectives. I learn with fun!

I’m so glad that I meet a lot of friends from all over the world and I greatly appreciate everyone’s efforts the contributed to the class. This class won’t be so meaningful and memorable without any of you! Thanks so much!

Last day of class :(

Unfortunately, it was our last day of class this week. It was presented by Ryo, Gloria, and David. They did a great job presenting the idea of "organizational cultures".

This being the last day of class, we all did our presentation of working together, it was really nice to see what everyone did in their group. It was actually really very sentimental. It really was nice to see everyone together, it made us come together and reminsce about the great memories that we had together.

At the end, we had a closing ice breaker and it was different from what I've ever done before. We all touch our classmate's backs when we felt that they fit the description--for example: "This person brightens up my day". Being in this class, I learned many things from everyone, specially from the Macau students. They have given me so much insight and also have given friendship.

The first time class, we all decided to eat afterwords. It was nice because they had set in a family setting where all of the food was being shared. It was nice because I never did that before, it was always everyone buy their own food and we just sit down together. Really, I am going to miss this class. It was really insightful, relaxing, and I've gain a surmountable amount of life lessons that I will take with me.

Thank You Murillo and Macau students, I will always remember you guys and this class. I will forever keep HRE 199 in my heart and the people that I've met.

Last week's reading was on the idea of intercultural encounter. This idea branches off to cultural shock and language problem. How people who travel or study abroad are the ones who usually experience this. It speaks about the experiences that people go through as they study abroad. The feeling of loneliness because they don't understand what and how everything is acting, the culture is different, there certain rules-- the "ins and outs" of certain behavior or just regular daily life actions.

When I studied abroad in China, I didn't know what it meant to be polite. I wanted to make a first impression by being a nice person. But, I realized that I didn't know the norms of how to be polite in China. I was lost. I wanted to make new friends but I was afraid of how I was going to be perceived. But, most importantly, there was a language barrier. Most of the time, I only knew how to say hello, goodbye, and saying no to people. It was a different experience, I felt really weird and left out for the first time.

Although, I was afraid the first few days, I was fully excited and embraced culture shock. I really think that what we need to do in order to fully get the whole experience of studying abroad is to embrace culture shock and go in with an open mind.

Final Class

As last week was our final "official" time together. it was definitely a little different than the other classes had been! I really enjoyed getting to know everyone in class this semester, especially my fantastic partner Katherine! I feel like I learned a lot throughout this class and also got to experience many different things that I would not have, had I not taken the class. I also really want to thank Murillo for being a wonderful facilitator and for bringing all of us together! It was really enjoyable to watch all of the videos made by our classmates and see the relationships that we have built with on another over the last few months. I am hoping that we will all get to see each other again before semester ends at our "last gathering" Looking forward to it :)!

KATHERINE~Final week reaction~

We had the very last class for this course last Friday, which was a pretty sad time for me. Like usual, the class began by discussion led by our dear classmates, Gloria, David and Ryo, thank you for your inspiring "lecture" on organizational cultures. It is useful to know about the differences between open and close organizational cultures, as we will soon graduating and should be prepared to find proper jobs for ourselves. 

Then we showed videos about how we spent time with our partners. In fact, it was so touching when the videos are shown on the big screen. Though they are actually made by photos that are very familiar to me, they gave me different feelings in different situations.

Our gathering ended by a game led by Murillo. It was so moving that I can't help crying ... Sorry for being so emotional... I am very very appreciated that someone tapped my shoulder during the game,thank you for trusting me and letting me know that I am meaningful to someone…I really agreed to what KU said, I wished that I could have a chance to touch every one .

Finally, I would thank Margo, my dear partner! It was fun to spend the semester with you and I have learnt a lot!! Of course, thanks to Murillo for organizing such a inspiring course ,thanks to our foreign friends for bringing new thoughts to the class and thanks to my friends from Macau for being there with me!

Done with the sadness! This class should be a "never say goodbye" one ! I will see you guys at our final gathering, maybe in a couple of days :)

Final reaction_Michael

This final class was lead by Ryo, David, and Gloria, who all did a wonderful job. Their activity was to create an interesting RSO and to try to pitch it to Murillo and try to convince him to join it. The also went over the themes in the reading but I really liked everyone's group videos. I could see what partners bonded more and how the relationship was. The class overall was pretty emotional and left me feeling nostalgia and made me realize that I won't be seeing these people again. It was an honor to meet everyone and a real pleasure to have been in this class. It was a wonderful opportunity and I'm glad I got to experience it.

Chapter 11 Response_Michael

In Chapter 11 the main talk is about the intercultural encounter. When two different cultural meet there is always a risk of there being conflict between the two cultures. Within this chapter, there is a list of problems that seem to appear in cross culture corporation. There are figures showing the acculturation curve, which is a graph that shows the amount of stability with in a new culture. I know that it is difficult for someone of a different culture to adjust at first when arriving to at a different place but overtime things change such as merging of cultures and other possible situations.This chapter was a nice chapter to end on because it tied up everything at the end because although when the students from Macau first arrived they may have been positive and open to new experiences but as time progressed they seemed more uncomfortable but with even more time they seemed to have adjusted better.

Final reaction_ yoyo

  Time flies so fast! I can't believe that it was the last class of our HRE199! I don't want to say goodbye!
  I would say our last class was so touching. I really love the videos that my classmates shown in the class. Those videos embrace every treasure moments that we had. I believe, we will be missing our class and partners when we watch it again after few weeks or years.
  I am very happy to make my new friends: Katrenna, Margo, Mia, Michael, Ryo and Yukari, in this class. You guys are very nice and awesome! Thanks for taking this course and giving us so much wonderful memories. Thanks Murrilo for teaching us so many interesting things. I really enjoy taking your class. It was fun, relaxed and inspiring. I did learn a lot about the five dimensions of culture differences. They are interesting and useful. I love the games, videos and discussion in class. I had my happy Fridays every week because of HRE199!
  Last but not the least, i enjoy spending time with you guys. I think we should not say goodbye, because we will meet each other in the future. Just come to Macau! We welcome you!

Week 12 Reaction_Ben

The time passes so quickly, we had our last class yesterday and it was a really touching time to us, I believed that the class gave a unforgettable memory to all of us. I appreciated to take the this lecture and made friends with all my classmates. I learnt many things from the class and each one, I knew how to make a poster in the symposium, how to lead the discussion section and how to communicate with the others. Furthermore, we came from different culture and different countries, we knew the different ideas from local and international students.

Moreover, this class is a part of my study abroad program and it also meant that the end of this program is coming soon, I hope that we can gather in the future.

Week 12 Reaction (Esther)

   It's the last class of this semester. I really want to say thank you to Murillo and all my classmates. Thanks for their sharing. I did learn a lot from them. It makes me feel warm when I think of some countries, I will think of some friends from that country. I guess I won't feel lonely or afraid when I go to that country. Because of the friends I know, I think all people from that country are kind and helpful.
    I like the game that Murillo taught us to play. Everyone has a chance to stand in the circle and touch someone else according to the instruction. No one knows who touches you but you do know how others consider you. That's so cool!
    Thanks for everything in this class. The classmates, the activities, the discussions and the snacks. Thanks for this experience. I believe it will be a good preparation for my future.

Final reaction by Kira

Last but not least, thank you Ryo, David and Gloria for giving us such an awesome lesson. The video is sooooo funny XD.When we were asked to think of a new RSO, the name "happy corner" immediately came across my mind. We are always busy with our study and assignments, but shouldn't we have fun and enjoy our university life?

I really love the last game we played. Honestly I was afraid no one would touch me but fortunately someone did. To me, it is a big encouragement. It is telling me that I am valuable to others. Thank you for touching me! And time flies. I can't believe it was already our last hre199 lesson. I really enjoy being with all of my classmates. Here, the most valuable thing I have learnt is not the cultural differences or theories but the precious friendship with them. Thank you everyone! It's been my pleasure to know you guys!

Final reaction by David

This week,  Ryo, Gloria and I need to lead the last class of HRE199. We talk about the "The elephant and the Stork: Organizational Cultures." Actually, it is quite hard to understand so I think we prepare the class lead not very well. In order to have a better atmosphere, we show a funny culture shock video to remind our classmate we have a culture shock experience at the beginning of the HRE class. Let them easier to understand the following contain. Then, we designed a game for our classmate to experience the organizational culture. Their goal is that they need to persuade Mr. Murillo to join their RSO. Seems they get a lot of fun during the discussion. After we remind them the six dimensions of the organizational culture. Murillo makes a final decision that the Happy Corner group wins this competition.

Since this is the last class of HRE199. All of the groups prepared their own video about their activity in their group. It is very funny and precious that we have this chance to review all the things happen before. Finally, we have the last activity in front of the class. We form a circle and follow the rules to touch someone. We find that everyone is important and they have different roles in a group. It is a good ending for the Leadership in Global Engagement course. Thank you Mr. Murillo and all the classmates.

Final reaction to our most relaxing class by KU

This is the end of our HRE199 class. Thanks Gloria, Ryo and David for preparing our last presentation. They played a funny interesting that shows culture shock and recalls our memories of alpha and beta cultures in the first class. It is the perfect video to shown in our last class! We also formed a happy corner today.

We also did our undergraduate research presentation this week. One of my goals to be here is exposed under western music. Fortunately, I met my lovely partner Michael. I was so excited when our research topic was set. Doing something you are interested in is absolutely fun. This research became one of my leisure activities when feel bored by the assignments and projects. "On the day I left you, blue rain fell in front of me." I truly love my topic. I truly love my partner. I truly love my HRE199 class. I believe even after our return to Macau. We can meet someday. To be continue...

Response to chapter 10, Ryo

This week’s reading topic is the organizational culture. When we consider the cultural difference, we are likely to think a cultural theory applies to all cases, however, in reality, culture is not absolute factor that determines the all people’ character or behavior. Culture is just only one of the factors that influence the people’ character or behavior to some extent. Therefore cultural organizational theory is not only thing that determine their organizational behavior. There are some other factors such as the scale, industry, gender, age proportion of the company. We should keep that in mind when we think about the organizational culture.

In the reading, the author mentions some cultural organization dimensions such as open or closed system, loose or tight control and normative or pragmatic orientation. In the open organization, members are open to newcomers and outsiders, and it is easier for them to fit into the organization. Newcomers and outsiders need just a few days to feel at home. In contrast, in the closed system organization, they feel to be more closed, even among insiders, and only special limited people fit into the organization. Employees need more than a year to feel at home in the worse case.

Loose control organization refers to casual culture.Meeting times are not punctual and flexible , and jokes about the company and organization are frequent. In contrast, tight control organization refers to more strict culture, and they tend to be more cost conscious. Meeting times are kept punctually and jokes about the organization are rare.

Normative organization tend to follow an organizational procedure much more than results although pragmatic organization emphasize on meeting the customer’s need and results are more important than correct procedures.

Response to Chapter 11_Ben

First of all, this chapter mainly focus on the idea of intercultural counter, it contained a part which called culture shock, it was general part which I experienced in United States during this study abroad program. Author draw a graph which included four steps of culture shock process - euphoria, culture shock, acculturation and stable state. Moreover, I believed that I am staying at the stable state, because I already spent three months to involve in the American lifestyle. Indeed, you will get a culture shock while you go to a foreign place, generally, the lifestyle and something of that place did not fit with your expectation, we can find this phenomena in the first or second month. However, you will feel well when you overcame the culture shock successfully. It really doesn't matter to you life. 

The author also mentioned the language problem, especially in people who have different native language with local residences. For example, I believed that I cannot express all of my ideas sometimes through English which is not my native language. For instance, people may misunderstanding the others meaning, because language contained the features of culture or their ideology. It usually appear in the conversation in daily life. The other important idea mentioned by the author that is "Competitive advantages of different cultural profiles in international competition", it compares the differences between power distance, uncertainty  avoidance, short or long term operation, collectivism and individualism. These ideas may affect the operation or idea of different organizations. It's a interesting topic for searching different organizations. 

Finally, I argued that this chapter seemed a combination of all ideas which mentioned in this book. We can apply those ideas in our daily life when we got to communicate with the others, especially the foreigners. It was a good method for this situation, we can avoid some unnecessary mistakes and misunderstanding, it also eliminate some dilemmas and obstacles. 

Gloria_Chapter 11_Response

This chapter mainly talks about the intercultural encounters! Time flies, my study abroad in the US is about to end! I think the acculturation curve on page 385 really depicts the shifts of my feelings and emotions over time when I am in the US. I still remember I felt extremely excited about all the new things as I arrived here for the first couples of days! However, as the semester began, especially in the first week of school, I felt a little bit worried and depressed because I couldn’t catch up what the professor said in class and moreover all the classmates were new to me! It took me about a month to adapt this situation and I didn’t feel that depressed after all. I enjoyed going to school and interacting with my classmates. Though I still have 3 weeks to go, I start missing my life here now! I think I am now at the stable state of the acculturation curve (Phase 4c) and I consider myself as biculturally adapted.

Overall, this study abroad makes me reflect upon language not only as a source of communication, but also as a source for power and learning. I think it is important for everyone, especially teachers, to experience a situation where no one else speaks the same language or shares the same culture because it teaches you to respect, understand, and acquire patience for those people who experience such situations every day, such as immigrant children in classrooms.

Reaction to chapter 10

This chapter was about intercultural encounters. It explained cultural encounters in several situations, such as in school and in tourism.

     The article reminded me of the orientation by ISSS in August. The advisor explained that there are several phases for international students to go through in order to adjust the culture in foreign countries. The phases are mixture of ups and downs; international students sometimes feel happy about being in foreign countries and sometimes feel depressed for facing cultural differences. Looking back my studying abroad life, I rarely felt embarrassed or depressed for being abroad, thanks to my wonderful friends and great studying environment.

     I agree with the idea that intercultural encounters in tourism have more advantages than disadvantages. The article suggests that tourism benefits people in many ways; for example, it enables people to be familiar with the region, culture, and language. I believe tourism is the best way to bring attention from other people to the region. At the same time, the reason why merits outweigh demerits is because the cultural encounter happens in tourism is superficial compare to the cultural encounter that happens in other occasions.

CH 11 response by kira

I think this chapter is highly related to my life in US. According to CH 11, it says "The threat of an external enemy has always been one of the most effective ways to maintain internal cohesion." and "Wars represent intended conflict between human groups." (p 383). Yes, indeed in the past war is a political trick of the emperor to unit his people. Such intended conflict is hateful and unforgivable for me. On the other hand, there is also unintended conflict. When two different cultural meet, more or less, there will be cultural conflict. I am glad I really do not have any conflicts yet (or I did not consider it was a conflict).

And about cultural shock, my acculturation is the same as shown in ch 11. In the beginning  I was very enthusiastic and interested in everything in US.Then, my passion wore off and I started getting used to it.   And time flies, now as it is getting closer to my departure, my passion is raising gradually again. I reallywish I could stay here longer...

Chapter 11 response

Chapter 11 is talking about the intercultural encounter. This chapter lists a whole bunch of problems will appear in cross culture corporation. At the beginning, there is a figure shows the acculturation curve. This acculturation curve is definitely showing the real situation of our exchange student. At the initial time we came to US, our feeling was positive and we were exiting with all the things , life, activity etc. However, the feeling became negative very quickly. Then we learned to function under the new conditions, has adopted some of the local values, finds increased self-confidence, and becomes integrated into a new social network, our feeling was better and the curve was increasing. This phenomena is called acculturation. Interestingly, the picture shows the bifurcation in the stable state. It depends on different people with different encounter will have different results (a) (b) and (c).  Actually, in my own opinion, my feeling is quite good. I like the UIUC and all the other stuff. They are much better than Macau beside the food. US is a good place!

Response to chapter 11 by KU

This chapter looks at the unintended conflicts that often arise during intercultural encounters. “The simplest form of intercultural encounter is between one foreign individual and a new cultural environment.”Quoted from P384. According to people’s feeling over time in a foreign cultural environment, an acculturation curve is plotted. It is a quite interesting idea. The curve is composed of four phases and they are euphoria, culture shock, acculturation and stable state. The length of time scale depends on people.

In my case of coming to US, I was first so excited to travel and see around the campus. Everything was new to me. Even the ordinary dinning meal and singing performance on the street was attractive to me. It was the first two weeks that I was in US and I named it “exploring period” in my photo album. Then I started to plan my life here. I looked for the RSO that I might have fun in this semester. And it was still at the excited state. This state lasted around two more weeks. In the beginning of February, more and more assignments and exams came and I start to adopt the life style in US. The feeling I had came to normal or even negative because of the busy works. These three processes repeated in the last few months. And now the semester is ending. I can say that I really enjoyed the life in US. On one hand, I miss my family and my friends in Macau. On the other hand, I will miss US and the life here as well after my return. No matter what, let’s enjoy the rest time here. 

Chapter 11 _ Response _ Yoyo

In chapter 11, the author discusses about the international encounters. There are different kinds of international encounters, including culture, language, humor, etc. The simplest form of intercultural encounter is the culture shock that a foreign individual would have when they are in new cultural environment. Foreigners often experience and see something new. What they have seen may be so different from what they used to see. The term of culture shock is not new for me because Lucinda talked about it before I came to the States. She said we may encounter culture shock and go through culture shock curve. We would have many new experiences, meet new people and learn something new. We may feel excited in the beginning, then we miss home in the middle and finally we don’t want to go back. Well, I think it is quiet true for exchange students. American culture is definitely different from Chinese culture. I do have a culture shock in the beginning. For example, I was shocked about the food that Americans eat every day. How come they eat hamburgers, French Fries and salad every day? How come the water in America is all iced? Although I have culture shock, I don't actually go through the culture shock curve. I am always happy staying here and never think of going back to home. Although I do miss my family and friends, I still think the time here are so fantastic for me and I wish to stay even longer. 

Response to Chapter 11 (Esther)

In this chapter, it talks about intercultural encounters. The simplest form of intercultural encounter is between one foreign individual and a new cultural environment. The foreigner usually experiences some form of cultural shock. For every new cultural environment there is a new shock. To deal with it, establishing true integration does work. The key to establish such an environment is that people can meet and mix as equals. In the article, there are some examples of this kind of environment. Sport clubs, universities, work organizations, and armies.

Besides this, we can find other aspects of intercultural encounters. Like language and humor, in most intercultural encounters the parties speak different native languages and have different humors. In tourism, schools and also work place, we can see intercultural encounters. One of the causes is the language. Since the language is the tool to express and deliver information. Other causes are differences in cognitive abilities and institutional, also too many irrelevant materials.

Actually, when I came to the US, I also experienced the cultural shock. Emmm, I think I am still experiencing cultural shock now but I get used to it gradually. And I do encounter some difficulties when expressing my ideas in English. When dealing with the same problem, people from different countries will have different perspectives and different styles. It's an interesting but also a tough process.

 

Chapter 10 Response

This chapter deals with organizational culture and working roles in different countries. I found it interesting that different cultures value completely different tenets for the way that employees complete their work. I thought it was noteworthy that HGBV in the Netherlands valued social adaptation over quality of work and that they considered rules to be flexible. The idea that hierarchy and rules are not important is very different from what we see here in the United States, so it was interesting to read about a company that was able to run successfully. I also enjoyed reading about the differences in organizational and national cultures and the ways in which our mental processes are formed and change from the way we were taught as children. I also agreed with the IRIC project that showed that shared perceptions should be at the core of an organization's structure--I think many different companies could do much better if they were to adopt these principles as their own.

Chapter 10 Response_Michael

In chapter ten the main points discussed are the organizational culture. This culture varies from nation to nation. Then there is also National cultures which differs from the previously mentioned organizational cultures. National cultures are things that are instilled into a person from a young age. This happens through society like their living environment around them. On the other hand organizational cultures are adopted when one is to enter the work force or organization. This type of adaptation seems to be on a more superficial level to seem more united because this culture can never be as strong and innate as the national culture has established itself since a very young age. International enterprises themselves have their own cultures and social structure which needs to be very superficial to be distinct and to give the illusion of a strong culture. Organizational cultures can and are influenced by National cultures and vice versa.

Gloria_Chapter 10_Repsonse

This chapter talks about the organizational cultures. Organizational culture refers to culture in any type of organization that could be school, university, non-profit groups, government agencies or business entities.

Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Culture includes the organization values, visions, norms, working languages, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.

Organizational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations. At the same time although a company may have "own unique culture", in larger organizations, there is a diverse and sometimes conflicting cultures that co-exist due to different characteristics of the management team.

CH 10 Response by Kira

Chapter 10 is about organizational culture. According to Chapter 10, there are six dimensions of organizational culture, which are 1.Process oriented vs. results oriented, 2. Employee oriented vs. job oriented, 3. Parochial vs. professional, 4. Open system vs. closed system, 5. Loose vs. tight control and 6. Normative vs. pragmatic. Learning theses six dimensions helps me to have a better understanding about culture.

I think this chapter is very useful and related to me because there is only one year before I graduate and start job hunting. Different companies have different culture, but I think they are more or less similar if they are in the same area or country. Learning and adopting the organizational culture are important tasks when first entering a company because it helps you to develop a good network and it plays an important role on whether you will successfully survive in in the company or not.

Chapter 10 had this overarching theme of organizational culture. Which organizational culture is pretty much this entity of what we have been talking about in this class this whole semester.  Each of those subsets are different characteristics that make up organizational culture. As a reminder of what we have been reading and going through and are the 6 dimensions of organizational culture is: process oriented vs. results, employee oriented vs. job oriented, parochial vs. professional, open system vs. closed system, loose vs. tight control, and normative vs. pragmatic. These dimensions are relation to different concerns of people when they are competing among each other. Reading this article, it definitely made me reflect back on what we have been learning this whole semester with the different readings. It is starting to slowly connect. It's interesting how one can dissect and find the culture of the people by looking at an organizational culture.

Looking at this organizational culture, I think one can really look into what type of candidate each organization is looking for. How one can integrate themselves to however the company wants--to be what they are looking for.

Chapter 10_ response _ yoyo

Chapter 10 discusses about the organizational culture. Organizational culture is different from national culture. National cultures are part of mental software we acquired during the first ten years of our lives, in the family, in the living environment and in school. Organizational culture acquired when we enter a work organization.  They are more superficial. (pg.4) I partially agree with this statement. Every corporation has its own organizational culture and employees have to adapt to this culture. However, I do also think organizational culture sometimes is influenced by national culture. For example, people in some European countries value the time of enjoying life and leisure time. It’s a part of their national culture. Organizations in those countries tend to give employees higher welfare and more days off. In contrast, in some eastern countries, like china, national culture values hard works and employees are usually required to work at least 8 hours a day and only have few days off per year. 

Chapter 10 response

In chapter 10, it discusses the national culture and organizational culture more detailly. The interesting things there will be affected by the personal values and the practice in an organizational culture. It is quite difficult to understand and I have not thought about it before.

In the national culture, there are six dimensions.  1.Power Distance, related to the different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality; 2.Uncertainty Avoidance, related to the level of stress in a society in the face of an unknown future; 3.Individualism versus  Collectivism, related to the integration of individuals into primary groups; 4.Masculinity versus  Femininity, related to the division of emotional roles between women and men;  5.Long Term versus  Short Term Orientation, related to the choice of focus for people's efforts: the future or the present and past. 5. Indulgence  versus  Restraint, related to the gratification versus control of basic human desires related to enjoying life.  The organizational culture also has six dimensions. 1. Process-oriented versus results-oriented.2.  Job-oriented versus employee-oriented.3.  Professional versus parochial

4.  Open systems versus closed systems5.  Tight versus loose control6.  Pragmatic versus normative. This six dimensions are new things until this chapter and I will show you more in the coming class.XD