Bern Widding Lecture Reflections
In last week’s class, Bernd Widdig gave a lecture about how culture can be thought of as an operating system of the mind; it runs in the background and informs our behavioral and perceptual inputs and outputs. According to Bates, culture is “a relatively organized set of beliefs and expectations about how people should talk, think, and organize their lives.” And, more simply put, it’s “the way we do things around here.” After discussing how culture in constructed and conceptualized, Bernd went on to emphasize that there are visible and invisible elements of culture, which comprise and define the concept. Out of these elements, we can begin to align ourselves with subcultures that represent our identities and influence how we interact with others in society. It is because of these foundational concepts that Bernd told us “culture eats strategy for breakfast, and then technology for lunch.” I think what he meant by this is that it is futile to try to dismiss or ignore the cultural component of relationships. It is embedded within us and has an extremely important influence in communication strategies, teamwork, and collaboration.
I have thought about Bern’s lecture for a week now and I can see its application to my work with the MIT-SUTD collaboration. Prior to IAP, I had never met anyone from Singapore and I wasn’t sure what to expect. The culture of the country that I am from (the United States) maintains that society value personal responsibility and individualism, and perhaps this was a factor as I formulated my expectations and assumptions for IAP and this course. I was concerned with doing the best I could do to support the students while they are here at MIT while still allowing them to have freedom to explore and learn things for themselves. Now that I have had a chance to meet with the students and interact with them more, I am finding it easier to facilitate cross-cultural communication because we are all learning the significance of recognizing the role of culture in communication via the Collaboration Across Cultures class. Now I am able to see the two levels of communication that Bernd and Jane had mentioned; content level and relationship level. Gradually, I think we are all learning how to purposely communicate the content we want to say while forging a relationship that bridges cultural nuances. I think that this this is key for thriving in new cultures with people who do not necessarily share the same value dimensions that Hofstede defines (per our class discussion). And, relevant to our experience in this course, it will enable us explore the value of cross-cultural exchange at MIT and its implications for receiving a diversified education.
-Katie