Week 6: Portfolio

What is conflict?

The Cambridge English dictionary defines conflict as an active disagreement between people
with opposing opinions or principles. The truth is, it can be between individuals, organizations or
groups. This is usually born from a statement, word, sentence, action, process or even ideas
which contradicts one from another.

What is culture?

Culture refers to a group (often of same ethnic background in the traditional sense and believe
system or goals in the business world), with closely related values and believes system.
Generally speaking when we talk of culture in our place of work, we are referring to the missions
and visions that units us. For instance, Nike which is a footwear company, has a culture set out
for all her employees and leaders one of which states " perfect results count .. not a perfect
process. Break the rules and fight the laws". From Cameroon, where I Stem from, a child is not
expected to cross his/her legs when seating with the elderly, it's considered an insult.

What's a culturally diverse team?

A culturally diverse team is a team that comprise of people or individuals who have different
views, values, norms or belong to different ethnic groups. A person acts according to the values
and norms of his or her culture; another person holding a different worldview might interpret his
or her behavior from an opposite standpoint. Hence a very sensitive trigger for conflict within a
team of individuals as even families have personalized culture and believe system.

1. Explain how you will address potential conflicts or differences in cultural values and
practices to ensure a harmonious and inclusive work environment within the team and
for resort guests.

Firstly, you can't wash off the soup from your eyes if you don't acknowledge that you are in need
need of water to do so. So thus is conflict within an organization. The best way for an
organization to resolve her situation of conflict is by first acknowledging there's a problem.
Andrea address this by providing 3 ways we can resolve conflict within an organization, which
includes.
a. Probing for the cultural dimension: The resolution process should start from the
parties' acknowledgment that their conflict contains a cultural dimension. Next, there
should be willingness on all sides to deal with all conflict dimensions including the
cultural one. Third, systematic phased work on the conflict is needed. Williams identified
four phases: (1) the parties describe what they find offensive in each other's behavior;
(2) they get an understanding of the other party's cultural perceptions; (3) they learn how
the problem would be handled in the culture of the opponent; (4) they develop conflict
 solutions. Resolution of the conflict is particularly complicated if the conflict arose not just
out of misunderstanding of the other's behavior, but because of incompatible values.
b. Learning about other cultures: This is personally one of the most exceptional magic in
resolving conflict because it gives us an inside view of how the other person thinks, acts
and evaluates things in their perspective. I believe that is one of the reasons group
outings and talks are very important because you get to learn a little about a person's
values.
c. Altering organizational practices and procedures: At times, as a leader you will have
to find the gray area between conflicting parties to get them to work together for the
betterment of the team and organization even if it's out of the books. Experience has
made me put it this way, the greatest danger to timely conflict resolution is bureaucracy,
personal ambitions and misappropriated interest.

2. What innovative marketing strategies will the team implement to effectively promote
the resort as a preferred destination for travelers seeking culturally enriching and
eco-friendly experiences? Support your answer with relevant examples.

There's one undeniable fact about all travelers and culture that our first travel location is our
belly/stomach. No matter where you go, you always will need something to eat and most people
feel comfortable consuming food that they already know and are used to consuming. Though
with some level of excitement to explore new dishes, our logic always defaults us to something
we already know and have consumed in the past. Africans believe you don't go into negotiations
with someone who is on an empty stomach and come with positive feedback, hence a need to
get a location that has dishes that doesn't compromise our values as a team. With that said,
some of the things we will have to consider include;
I. Study the culture of your destination beforehand
II. Converse with someone who has traveled there before
III. Respect the local culture
IV. Maintain good communication
V. Have empathy

Reference:

1. Black, J. S., Bright, D. S., Gardner, D. G., Hartmann, E., Lambert, J., Leduc, L. M.,
Leopold, J., O’Rourke, J. S., Pierce, J. L., Steers, R. M., Terjesen, S., & Weiss, J. (2022).
Organizational behavior. OpenStax. Licensed under CC 4.0.
2. Andrea Williams, (2023). Resolving Conflict in a Multicultural Environment.
3. Gabrielle Boucher, (2023, November 2). 5 ways to embrace cultural differences while
traveling.