Cultural Awareness: A Case Study

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without prejudice, for instance, that there’s a “correct” or “wrong” way to think or feel in any given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts and minds adapt into what we are sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. Which meaning to say, accepting any given situation without and judgemental state of mind. It is a state of openness to novelty in which the individual actively constructs categories and distinctions (Langer 1992).

Cultural intelligence is a one’s capability to adapt effectively in situations characterized by cultural differences. It is what keeps the balance

For instances, when it comes to authority, Westerners managers - often consider themselves part of the team but just happen to be the ones in charge because of specialized skills and greater experience (Chalre 2015). Whereas with the traditional Asian managers, they consider themselves as a secondary father figure who gives out guidance and personal support to the employees and expect strong loyalty and obedience in return (Chalre 2015). From my past experience, I did my internship in Mah Sing Group, which is a local public listed company in Malaysia. During my internship, I have a colleague who was a person who came from an English educated background. During meeting, he will sometimes voice out his opinion to point out that my superior’s plan was inaccurate and with mistake. Afterwards, I can see that my superior would assigned him to do a huge amount of work that sometimes he could not handle. This is where mindfulness come into the picture, my manager come from a Chinese background, and he cared about respect given from his subordinates, while being publicly confronted by my colleague, he felt insulted and humiliated thus seeking ways to punish my colleague. My manager has an automatic behaviour that subordinates must only wait for instruction given by the manager. On the other hand, my colleague should understand that his manager is a Chinese

It is basically paying crucial attention to the context of another party instead of presuming what they will do or say. By possessing the mindfulness, it would improve mutual understanding between different cultures, hence improving cultural intelligence. Being mindful does not only mean accepting what they are as it is, but also understand their culture. Understanding their belief, values and cultural practices before presuming that they are incompetent. Mindfulness assist one to have greater sensitivity to one’s environment, and more open to new information that are not within their culture.

In conclusion, in this multicultural environment, interaction among one and other is inevitable. So, mindfulness is the stimulant to help improve cultural intelligence. We must keep an open mind in accepting the other culture on their belief and lifestyle, being observant and not to provoke any unnecessary conflicts among each other. Mindfulness is a catalyst to improve communication with the others, have a little empathy and understand one and another, avoid having rigid