The Blog for Culture Vultures

Be warned! Saudi Arabia is a confusing and contradictory place at the moment.

If you’re involved in doing business in Saudi Arabia, then you need to be aware of some of the current changes taking place at a cultural level.

Work with Iranians or doing business in Iran?

Learning about another culture is much more than learning about dos and donts; it’s about understanding their values and their mindset.

For those of us working in multicultural environments, it’s fair to say that our colleagues may ocassionally observe traditions which we aren’t familiar with. Ramadan is one such occasion.

In the same way that non Muslims may avoid asking questions for fear of intrusion, Muslims may equally avoid going into too much detail about Ramadan for fear of their colleagues not being interested.

A warning sign with the silhouette of an Orthodox Jewish man wearing a traditional 'Fedora' hat has been found on a lamp-post in north London amid one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe.

At a time when the foreigner, the immigrant, the Muslim, the Jew, the Mexican, etc are being constantly vilified by some segments of our media, one should not be surprised by the increasing intolerance towards 'the other'.

Zoroastrianism is one the oldest religions in the world.

It is definitely one of the first monotheist religions. It was founded by Zoroaster and it believes in one God, Ahura Mazda.

There are very few Zoroastrians in the world today but it still holds an important place. A large part of their population is divided between Iran and India. The Zoroastrians living in India are called Parsis.

Easter is nearly upon us and will be celebrated across the world! Here in the UK we have seen chocolate eggs of all sorts on our market shelves for weeks. However, Easter is not celebrated the same way everywhere in the world. Some countries have their own traditions and some, believe it or not, dont have chocolate eggs!

Global Real Estate advisor Jones Lang LaSalle have carried out some research into the difficulties that can be encountered by western companies when they enter the Indian market. The result? Cultural differences are a major obstacle.

Like living life on the edge? Try a Catholic mutual fund! A study from the University of Georgia and the Southern Methodist University has shown that the amount of risk mutual funds take corresponds to the religion of the local populous and the fund manager. Catholics are risk takers apparently.

Transcultural nursing with established clinical approached to clients with varying cultures are relatively new. According to Madeleine Leininger (1987) founder of the filed of transcultural nursing in the mid 1960s. The education of nursing students in this field is only now beginning to yield  significant results.

Today  nurses with a deeper appreciation of human life and values are developing cultural sensitivity for appropriate individualized clinical approaches.

Religious and Cultural knowledge is an important ingredient in health care. If the client do not respond as nurse expects the nurse may interpret it as unconcern or resistance the nurse then can be anxious and frustrated in order to incorporate cultural knowledge in care cultural knowledge in care.

It is important to understand some definition and cultural components that are important in health care.

For a nurse to successfully provide care for a client of a different cultural or ethnic to background, effective intercultural communication must take place. Intercultural communication occurs when each person attempts to understand the other’s point of   view from his or her own cultural frame of reference. Effective intercultural communication is facilitated by the nurse identification of areas of commonalities. After reaching a cultural. understanding, the nurse must consider cultural factor throughout the nursing process.

Major Nursing organizations have emphasized in the last decade the importance of considering culture factors when delivering nursing care.

According to the American Nurses’ s Association (1976)”Consideration of individual value systems and lifestyles should be included in the planning and health care for each client Nursing curriculum recognize the contribution nursing to the health care needs of a diverse and multi cultural society life-style may ret1ect cultural heritage.

Culture-Broadly defines set of values, beliefs and traditions, that are held by a specific group of people and handed down from generation to generation. Culture is also beliefs, habits, likes, dislikes, customs and rituals learn from one’s family. (Specter 1991)

Culture is the learned, shared and transmitted values, beliefs, norms and life way practices of a particular group that guide thinking, decisions, and actions in patterned ways.

Religion:  Is a set of belief in a divine or super human power (or powers) to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator and ruler of the universe? Ethical values and religion system of beliefs and practices, difference within the culture and across culture are found

Ethnic: refers to a group of people who share a common and distinctive culture and who are members of a specific group.

Culture-universals: commonalities of values, norms of behavior, and life patterns that are similar among different cultures.

Culture-specifies ; values, beliefs, and patterns of behavior that tend to be unique to a designate culture.

Cultural shock:-the state of being disoriented or unable to respond to a different cultural environment because of its sudden strangeness, unfamiliarity, and incompatibility to the stranger's perceptions and expectations at is differentiated from others by symbolic markers (cultures, biology, territory, religion).

Read more > Nursing

A bus company is attempting to accommodate the religious views of an employee who refused to drive vehicles displaying atheist advertising.

A Christian bus driver Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, has refused to drive a bus with an atheist slogan proclaiming "There's probably no God". He responded with "shock" and "horror" at the message and walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest.

His employer, First Bus, said it would do everything in its power to ensure Heather does not have to drive the buses.

When he returned to work last Monday, he was called into a meeting with managers and agreed to go back to work with the promise he would only have to drive the buses if there were no others available.

Audrey Williams, head of discrimination law at Eversheds, said: "The employer has been pragmatic and accommodating in its approach."

Read more > Bus Driver

What we say:

Religion in the workplace is of great importance today, especially in the UK with the passing of the The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. This story portrays nicely a case where the employer used common sense to bring about a positive outcome for the employee.

A British Airways (BA) check-in clerk who claimed she was religiously discriminated against for wearing a crucifix on a necklace has lost her appeal case.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld the employment tribunal's ruling from earlier this year, that Nadia Eweida was not indirectly discriminated against on the grounds of her religion when her employer insisted the cross worn on her neckline be concealed by her uniform.

Eweida was suspended in September 2006, after she refused to conceal a small crucifix at her post at Heathrow Airport, claiming it was her human right to express her faith by having the crucifix on display. She returned to work in February 2007 after BA revised its uniform policy.

Eweida claimed discrimination on the grounds of her religion and had sought £20,000 in back pay and compensation from the airline. She said that she turned down £8,500 from BA to settle out of court.

Read more > BA

Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims joined Britain's equality watchdog Monday in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas without worrying about offending non-Christians.

"It's time to stop being daft about Christmas. It's fine to celebrate and it's fine for Christ to be star of the show," said Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

"Let's stop being silly about a Christian Christmas," he said, referring to a tendency to play down the traditional celebrations of the birth of Christ for fear of offending minorities in multicultural Britain.

Suicide bombings by British Islamists in July 2005 which killed 52 people in London have prompted much soul-searching about religion and integration in Britain, a debate that has been echoed across Europe.

Read more> Christmas