Culture Clash
Culture Clash
Factors other than prejudice
can affect intercultural
interactions'Baby luau! What's that?" Jack Lynch asked his coworker, Kimo Keala. Jack arrived in Honolulu two months ago and was employed by a construction company. He had worked on a variety of building projects in Nevada and often made suggestions to coworkers in Hawaii concerning ways to improve their efficiency.
After Kimo explained what a baby luau was, Jack declined the invitation since he did not think it would be an interesting way to use his free time. After turning down the invitation, Jack felt that people at work were beginning to ignore him, especially his suggestions for improvements. He concluded, "I guess there is more prejudice in Hawaii against mainlanders than locals want to admit."
Jack is undoubtedly experiencing some rejection, but he may not be diagnosing it accurately. "Prejudice" can be examined by breaking the word into component parts. Prejudice refers to judgments made before complex and extensive information is carefully considered. Most often, the term is used when referring to groups of people who differ in visible ways. In today's fast moving workplaces, individuals are extremely busy and encounter many pieces of information that might be used in their everyday decision making. One set of decisions deals with the question, "Who will we socialize with during our free time in and outside the workplace?"
Often, people from ethnic groups other than one's own are absent from this "social" list. When looking for explanations, skin color and other visible aspects of ethnicity "pull" judgments about why people don't interact in a friendly manner. People then make the easy jump in their thinking from skin color to the judgment that prejudice is rampant.
In Jack's case, his interpersonal difficulties may have little to do with his skin color or ethnicity. Jack has made some cultural errors that can be causing problems. Baby luau are important events and should be taken seriously by people fortunate enough to be invited. Long-term residents of Hawaii don't always enjoy the suggestions of newcomers concerning how they should do their jobs. Newcomers should "pay their dues," work hard and demonstrate their contributions, and wait to be asked for suggestions on how the workplace can be improved.
Rather than immediately concluding there is ethnic prejudice when people are not interacting in a cordial manner, my advice is to consider culturally influenced behaviors. Locals in Hawaii can prepare themselves to explain appropriate workplace and after-hours behaviors. Newcomers should be willing to modify habitual behaviors to meet Hawaii's cultural expectations.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Special attention will be given to miscommunications caused by cultural differences. Each column will start with a short example of such confusion. Possible explanations will be offered to encourage thought about these issues.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration,
University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the
College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu