Within the international and global business environment, activities such as exchanging information and ideas, decision making, negotiating, motivating, and leading are all based on the ability of managers from one culture to communicate successfully with managers and employees from other cultures.
Communicating across Cultural Barriers
In critical race theory, white privilege is a set of advantages that some say are enjoyed by white people beyond those commonly experienced by non-white people in the same social, political, and economic spaces. Theorists differentiate it from racism or prejudice because they say, a person who may benefit from white privilege is not necessarily racist or prejudiced and may be unaware of having any privileges reserved only for whites.
Imagine you are a member of a purchasing team. Your manager sets a goal: she wants everyone on your team to make at least one deal with a supply company of their choice. You end up signing a deal with a supplier who offers a great price, but — unbeknownst to you — is infamously slow to deliver. One of your colleagues has worked with them before, but the two of you haven’t been communicating much with each other, so he fails to advise you against it. Because you never receive this vital information, your performance suffers.
Culture is learned behavior shared among members of a group and from generation to generation within that group. In health care work, references to “culture” may also function as code for ethical uncertainty or moral distress concerning patients, families, or populations. This paper analyzes how culture can be a factor in patient-care situations that produce moral distress.
