LED520 Cross-Cultural Communication and Leadership Assignment - 1

LED520 Cross-Cultural Communication and Leadership - Assignment Example The dichotomy of individualism/collectivism individuals from different cultures related with one another on an individual level and within a group. The degree of individualism or collectivism is determined, by the way, an individual responds to groups (Earley & Gibson, 1998). Some cultures encourage members to prioritize the needs of the group while in some personal needs come first. Power Distance, Individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/feminism are the four dimensions of culture advanced by Geert Hofstede (Hofstedes Intercultural Dimensions, n.d.). The Power Distance dimension refers to the level of equality/inequality in a particular society. A society with high power distances are very unequal, and it is difficult to climb the ladder. Individualism dimension refers to the level of importance attached to individual achievements. Cultural metaphors help in understanding the difference in culture. It facilitates efficient cross-cultural communication (Vernon-Wortzel & Shrivastava, 1996). The idea is to select something that the members of a given society consider important. That thing can be used to comprehend the basic features of that given society (Vernon-Wortzel & Shrivastava, 1996). The use of cultural metaphors makes it easy to understand the most important features of a society. The cultural group selected for the project is Afghanistan. During the project, I had a chance to interact with Afghanistan Army soldier who also act as interpreters. It will be my first time to be in contact with people from Afghanistan. The Afghanistan people have a very distinct culture that is very different from the Western culture. The cultural activity entails working with the group of Afghanistan arm soldiers starting from April. We spent most of the time with soldiers because we work, eat, fellowship, and sleep beside each other. The