The efficient working of any organization is dependent on the collaborative effort of the people involved. However, the various environment like any workplace, university, or communities are comprised of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In order to work efficiently in these places, understanding the cultural capabilities to adopt the requirement of the working environment, without having any clash of cultural interest with any of the cohabitants, is of utmost importance.
1.2. Aim of the study
It is a known argument that the cultural capabilities are the key to operating effectively and efficiently in workplaces, communities, and universities. The cultural self-awareness, cultural intelligence, and cultural capabilities are essential in creating a safe working and social spaces. The paper would be exploring the basics of cultural capabilities in order to understand the strategies to create safe spaces.
1.3. Scope
As the spaces and communities consist of people of various cultural background, sometimes it becomes very tough to maintain cultural indifference away while working together. This might lead to ineffective performance and inefficiency on the part of the people involved due to trivial misunderstandings. In order to understand a few of such difficult cultural capabilities that are crucial to maintaining efficiency in cohabiting spaces, the paper will look into a video to create a case study to find out the effective cultural capabilities and provide some recommendations on them. In a broader scope, following the case study would be effective in creating the effective cultural capabilities in real life situations.
2. Summary and observations
The paper would analyze one of the videos to conclude the effectiveness of cultural capabilities. The following is the summary of the video titled Seven Pounds: Styles of Expressing Conflict (Columbia Pictures, 2008, December 19).
2.1. Summary of the video clip
The video clip from the Seven Pounds: Styles of Expressing Conflict shows a small conversation between a man and a woman. In due course of the video, the man asks the woman about her sources of current income that she is not reporting to the government, to which the woman answers that she has some, but the amount is almost negligible. The woman adds that the income is required for supporting her medical bills. The man, an IRS official, then asks about the current health condition of the woman, and the viewers come to know about her weak heart, which is a serious condition, but not so much that she would be eligible to apply for a government-aided heart transplant. The man then goes on to ask if the woman has quoted about being leading an 'unremarkable life,' but immediately shows his regret. The clipping ends with the man saying that he will be freezing the woman's account as immovable, which might save her from paying the penalty for around five to six months.
2.2. Observation
According to the observations of the video, the cultural conflict between two contrasting characteristics could be observed. After the initial few seconds of the video, the underlying cultural impact are observed through the characters they portrayed. The language of the artists, along with the tone of speaking and the subject of discussion lays the base for analyzing the video for studying it and come up with an analysis of the characters.
3. Analysis of the video
Although not apparent from the beginning of the video, it was later observed that the man was an IRS official, and the woman was an ailing heart patient of limited means. The IRS official enquired about the disclosure of unreported incomes, but he did not attempt offering any sympathy, even after knowing her medical condition beforehand. Moreover, it seemed that he was speaking in a tone of disregard for her situation, though apparently he was speaking in a casual manner. Here, it is perceived that the man, being a government official looks to portray his superiority at the cost of someone fragile, but at fault of hiding facts. He even quoted an alleged comment made by the woman where he mentions her life to be 'unremarkable' and 'undeserving' of a donor's heart. When he apologized, the woman asked the same question back to him, to which we learned that he has an immense inferiority complex about himself, despite working in an apparent position of power. The clip ends with the IRS man freezing the working financial accounts so that it might 'buy her some time' and protect her from paying penalties for the next five to six months.
The woman, on the other hand, was more worried about her health condition, and somewhat skeptical about the purpose of the visit by the government official. She made no attempt at hiding any fact and spoke freely to the point where the IRS man asked her about thinking her life to 'unremarkable,' the only point where she showed her irritation. Although the clip ends before showing her emotions on the freezing of her account, the viewer can expect her reaction based on her interaction in the 2 minutes duration of the video.
The video clip made quite a few revelations about the cultural capabilities of the two people in. On analyzing the character of the IRS person based on the two minutes of interaction, it can be observed that he was a follower of rules and likes everyone to follow them. Anyone violating the regulations, irrespective of their situation, is at fault. Therefore, he did not attempt curbing his superior attitude, even after knowing that the person whom he is visiting has a medical condition, who can think of a costly nature. He speaks in a mocking tone and even claimed that the woman has an unremarkable life, who does not think herself of receiving a donor heart because she is undeserving. This statement was quite offending to the woman, who did not attempt hiding it. However, as the woman asked the IRS official the same question, he said that his life is even less than being just an unremarkable one. This shows that underneath the public face of being a confident and obedient government official, he thinks very low of himself, and has some sort of inferiority complex. The fact that the IRS man did not take any high-impact action after knowing about the extra income of the woman could be due to the fact that he understands her situation, and does his best to provide her some time before the payment of any penalty. On analyzing the woman's character with respect to the video, it can be observed that she is a woman of practical thinking. She is an ailing woman but didn't ask for any undue financial aid.
Moreover, her only source current income could have been stopped, yet she did not hide the fact shows the confidence that she has in herself. She also knows the status of her heart condition and her mental strength in enduring it. These are a few character traits that make the fundamentals of the cultural characteristics of both the actors. Although the video tends to portray the singular personas of the actors, some recommended change could be helpful in developing their individual cultural capabilities.
4. Recommendations
According to the analysis of the video, the paper proposes a few recommendations. Working efficiently needs proper communication and mutual respect with all of the concerned people attached to the job. However, looking at the video makes it very apparent that the characters in it have no mutual respect for each other, which is predictable according to the speaking manners. If the IRS man has shown a little restraint in speaking with a superiority complex, maybe he could have expected some amount of respect from the woman, which could have help hew. Moreover, the situation could have handled in a better manner. The woman, on the other hand, can change her cultural qualities a bit by becoming paying more attention towards legality of any situation, like reporting the extra income to the government, which could have her harassment of hosting the IRS agent at her home.
5. Summary and conclusions
The analysis of the paper showed how the cultural differences between the individuals could cause some of the most uncomfortable confrontations in the communities. The video in question had two people of varied cultural capabilities; still, the differences in the cultural background caused friction between them. A space like a workplace, community, or a university has the presence of several such people coming from diverse cultural backdrops. Therefore, understanding the implications of the not understanding the difference between different cultures could cause ineffective working environment with the concerned people losing their efficiency to some extent.
Moreover, the acceptance of cultural diversities comes from mutual respect. Without the understanding of the basic structure of other cultures, it is very difficult to accept the differences of other people and work efficiently. Moreover, the video clip provided a short example of the importance of the cultural capabilities as the key to operating effectively and efficiently in workplaces, communities, and universities. The overall cultural self-awareness, cultural intelligence, and cultural capabilities are essential in creating a safe working and social spaces.
References
Muccino, G. (Director). (2008, December 19). Seven Pounds: Styles of Expressing Conflict (Columbia Pictures). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UbE-coFuqU
