e-PROFMAN

Online Professional Programme

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Assignment 1

Cultural Dimensions in Croatia, Macedonia and

Turkey
(Comparative Study)

Lecturers
Marina Tuneva, PhD
Pinar Aslan, MA
Mia Mie, MSc

Team 4
Team member, assignment participation % E-mail
Martina Halas (team leader), 16,66 % mhalas@e-profman.eu
Ayse Ece Ayta, 16,66 % aeaytac@e-profman.eu
Arsim Jonuzi, 16,66 % ajonuzi@e-profman.eu
Ayhan Demir, 16,66 % ademir@e-profman.eu
Lucian Mrzlic, 16,66 % lmrzlic@e-profman.eu
Dimitar Ivanov, 16,66 % divanov@e-profman.eu

09.04.2017.
 INTRODUCTION

Everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances where we live and
the culture into which we are born that differ.
- Oxfam
The world is full of diversity. People from distinct generations, as well as those who come
from diverse backgrounds based on factors such as language, geography, race, ethnicity, and
sexual orientation, all have points in common with each other and points of difference. We
belong to many cultures. Communication across these differences is central to effective
intercultural communication. How we view ourselves and the world, and how we interact,
varies greatly. What we say and how we say it or what we express as well as what we mean
and try to convey with words, nonverbal gestures, images, or even rituals is distinct across
cultures. We have diverse expectations of each other, what we are supposed to do, and how
the world works. Our views, like our languages and our cultures, vary greatly. Recognizing
that there are many perspectives and ways to interact with each other in this world is one
important step in our journey to explore intercultural communication.
Intercultural communication, in its many forms and contexts, seeks to highlight ways to build
bridges of understanding, not walls. Bearing that in mind, Team 4 made a comparative study
of team members cultures Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey in order to produce a better
understanding of common ground and distinct points of view between these cultures. In this
way, we can come to understand one another and respect our diversity.

2
 CROATIA in brief

As an independent state, Croatia has been present on the contemporary international political
stage for only 26 years, but in terms of history and culture, it is one of the oldest European
countries. Croatia was acknowledged for the first time in history on 7 June 879, when Pope
John VIII granted Duke Branimir the title dux Croatorum. Some of the most recent
archaeological finds, which date back to approximately 6300 BC, indicate that Vinkovci
(town in Slavonia region) is the oldest European town, with an urban continuity of over 8,000
years1. Nevertheless, Croats were constantly struggling for their national identity throughout
history with Hungarians, Austrians, Ottomans, Venetians and Serbs, who all subordinated
Croatian national interests. But, this legacy of foreign invasion is accountable for the richness
of Croatian culture due to the convergence and influence of different ethnic, religious,
economic and political factors.

Official name Republic of Croatia

Flag, Coat of arms

Anthem "Lijepa naa domovino"

"Our Beautiful Homeland"
Capital city Zagreb
Location Southeastern Europe
Surface area land 56,594 km, coastal waters (inland and territorial waters) 31,067
km
Language Croatian
Religion Roman Catholic 86.3%
Orthodox 4.4%
Muslim 1.5%
other 1.5%
unspecified 2.5%
not religious or atheist 3.8%
Political system unitary democratic parliamentary republic
Head of state President of the Republic

1 Croatia.eu Land and people, The Miroslav Krlea Institute of Lexicography, available at
http://croatia.eu/page.php?lang=2&id=17
3
Population (2011 census) 4,284,889
Ethnic groups (2011) 90.4% Croats
4.4% Serbs
5.2% others
Population growth rate (2016 est.) -0.5
Literacy (2015 est.) total population: 99.3%
male: 99.7%
female: 98.9%
Unemployment rate (2016 est.) 15.8%
Population below poverty line (2014 19.5%
est.)
Source: The World FactBook

4
 MACEDONIA in brief

The Republic of Macedonia is a former Yugoslavian territory. It became an independent state

on September 8th, 1991. It is a country in the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one
of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in
1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but, as a result of an ongoing
dispute with Greece over the use of the name Macedonia, was admitted under the
provisional description the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (sometimes unofficially
abbreviated as FYROM and FYR Macedonia), a term that is also used by international
organizations such as the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO 2.

Due to its geographical position on the crossroads of the Balkans, the country and its culture
has been subject to different external influences throughout the past, with the biggest one
from the Ottoman Empire, who ruled the country for almost 5 centuries.

Currently, Macedonia has still some transition problems even though 25 years have passed
since the independence. These still block the intentions for proper integration in the European
Union, with difficulties and ongoing problems in fields as judiciary system, rule of law, media
freedom, human rights, etc.

Official name Republic of Macedonia

Flag, Coat of arms

Anthem Denes nad Makedonija

Today over Macedonia
Capital city Skopje
Location South Europe
Surface area Total - 25,713 km2 (9,928 sq mi)
Water (%) - 1.9
Language Macedonian
Religion (2002.) Macedonian Orthodox 64.8%
Muslim 33.3%
other Christian 0.4%

2 Wikipedia, Republic of Macedonia, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Macedonia

5
 other and unspecified 1.5%
Political system Parliamentary republic
Head of state President of the Republic
Population (2014. estimate) 2,069,162
Ethnic groups (2002.) 64.2% Macedonians
25.2% Albanians
3.9% Turks
2.7% Roma
1.8% Serbs
2.2% other / unspecified
Population growth rate (2016. est) 0,18%
Literacy (2015. est.) total population: 97.8%
male: 98.8%
female: 96.8%
Unemployment rate (2017.) 23.1%
Population below poverty line (2011. 30.4%
est.)
Source: The World FactBook

6
 TURKEY in brief

Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, the modern secular republic was established in the
1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk.

Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkeys strategically important location has
given it major influence in the region and control over the entrance to the Black Sea.

Progress towards democracy and a market economy was halting after Ataturks death in
1938, and the army seeing itself as guarantor of the constitution repeatedly ousted
governments seen as challenging secular values.

Joining the European Union has been a longstanding ambition. Membership talks were
launched in 2005, but progress has been slow, as several EU states have serious misgivings
about Turkish EU membership.3

Official name Republic of Turkey

Flag, Coat of arms

Anthem "stikll Mar"

"The Independence March"
Capital city Ankara
Location Southeasten Europe, Western Asia
Surface area Total - 783,356 km2 (302,455 sq mi) (36th)
Water (%) - 1.3
Language Turkish (official), Kurdish, other minority languages
Religion Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni)
other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Political system Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
Head of state President of the Republic
Population (2016. census) 79,814,871
Ethnic groups (2016 est.) Turkish 70-75%
Kurdish 19%

3 Turkey Country Profile, BBC, 07 March 2017, available at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17988453

7
 other minorities 7-12%
Population growth rate (2016 est.) 0.9 %
Literacy (2015. est.) total population: 95%
male: 98.4%
female: 91.8%
Unemployment rate (2016.) 12.7%
Population below poverty line (2010. 16.9%
est.)
Source: The World FactBook

8
 COMPARISON OF CROATIAN, MACEDONIAN AND TURKISH CULTURE

Croatian, Macedonian and Turkish culture are quite connected due to bonds created
throughout history. Both, Croatian and Macedonian territory were part of the great Ottoman
Empire (originally created by the Turkish tribes) for centuries so integration of Turkish
culture was inevitable. Also, Macedonia and Croatia were part of Yugoslavia during most
of the 20th century. These influences and cultural interaction can be seen in various spheres.

Among the most prominent people at the court of the Ottoman Sultans there were several
Islamised Croats. Several of their names included the epithet Hrvat (Croat), such as
Mahmoud Pasha Hrvat, Pyale Pasha Hrvat, Siyavu Pasha Hrvat, and others. The most
famous was Rustem Pasha Hrvat, a Grand Vizier during the time of Suleiman the
Magnificent, whose daughter he married 4.

Further, Suleimans Bridge in Osijek was the most famous Ottoman construction in Croatia.
It was built in 1566 according to the designs of Koca Mimar Sinan and was nicknamed 'the
eighth wonder of the world'. It was burned down by the Croatian ban Nikola VII Zrinski in
a conflict with the Ottomans 5.

Next, in the colloquial language of the former Ottoman regions, a number of Turkish words
survived to this day. Turkish loanwords are represented in the Croatian language as
standard words, dialects, and as such, they are related to Islam, the East and the Turkish
way of life. For example, merak, jufka, barjak, ekser, pare, ufte, komija, sokak, papue,
zanat, dugme, egrt, ortakluk, muterija, kapara, duan, are just a small portion of Turkish
words adopted in Croatian language. On the other hand, Croatian and Macedonian language
are quite similar.

In addition, Turkish coffee is the common expression of hospitality in both, Croatian and
Macedonian society.

For the purpose of this task, Team 4 has used the scores 6 from the Global maps on
Hofstede's cultural dimensions by Sirous Kavehercy which displays that there are no major
differences between the cultures of Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey, and such assumptions
are proven with good reasons and examples in the next chapters.

4 Croatia.eu Land and people, The Miroslav Krlea Institute of Lexicography, available at
http://croatia.eu/page.php?lang=2&id=17
5 Same as reference 4
6 Target Map, available at http://www.targetmap.com/
9
Source: Sirous Kavehercy, 2014, TargetMap

Power distance
While all three societies rank as high power distance societies, Macedonians seem to expect
and accept unequally distributed power among the less powerful members of society the most.
Croatia is a parliamentary democracy and is organised as a unitary republic 7. The political
system is based on the principle of the division of power into three branches: the legislative,
the executive and the judiciary. The social state, freedom, equality, equal rights and the rule of
law are among the highest values of the constitutional order 8. But people at the bottom
consider inequality as normal part of society. Though everybody (on the top and on the
bottom) are in principle under the same rules of low, power is not always used legitimately.
For example, former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was given a guilty verdict for abuse of
office, war profiteering and bribery. He accepted a five million euro (US$ 5.5 million)
payment in 2008 from Hungarian energy group MOL in exchange for management rights to
Croatian oil firm INA9.
Similar occurrences are in Macedonia. Even though Macedonia is determined to be
constitutional parliamentary democracy, with clear division of power, since our
independency, it has been many cases of misuse of power and various cases of political
scandals and corruption. Power distance to the lower group of the people ruled by the

7 World Culture Encyclopedia, available at http://www.everyculture.com/

8
Croatian Parliament, Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (consolidated text), 2010, available at
file:///C:/Users/Martina/Downloads/CONSTITUTION_CROATIA.pdf
9
OCCRP, Croatia: Court Overturns Prison Sentence of Ex Prime Minister, 2015, available at
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/4223-croatia-court-overturns-prison-sentence-of-ex-prime-minister
10
government officials and inequality is widely expressed in our society and their irresponsible
ruling of the country hugely disappoints the citizens. For example, the past elections have
shown low participation of the voters and constant public expression of dissatisfaction with
public protest in the past year, addressed to the current government and the scandals that have
appeared in the media regarding the clear illegitimate use of their authority.
Hofstede's power-distance dimension is also very high in Turkey. For example, the distance
between the parent-child, the teacher-student. Such cultures also behave in a hierarchical
manner between those who have hierarchies and those who look at them from the standpoint
of age or status differences. In the opposite countries, the child is perceived as an individual
and given support for him to stand on his feet. The power range is also in these cultures.
In our education system in Turkey, the relationship between teacher and student is based on
official rules. The teacher, the figure of authority, is expected to show respect and obey. As I
have mentioned, there are also relationships between the elderly-young boss-employee.
In Turkey, the freedom of the young to express their thoughts on the older is limited in the
family environment. The importance given to the positions and titles in Turkey is high; there
are hierarchical respect, rigid and authoritarian management styles.
In Denmark, prime ministers are riding their bicycles, in Turkey, where prime ministers travel
in car conversions and even stop city traffic. In Turkish culture, social inequality and
hierarchy are naturally met. Employee participation in management is not encouraged.

Individualism
All three societies value group interests before interests of the individual, with Macedonian as
the most collectivistic society and Turkish as the least collectivistic society out of the three.
In collectivist societies, people find important their group, family, community and nobility.
They express the group they belong to before introducing themselves. They like to describe
themselves as an extension of the group they belong to. The group of people's private lives is
under the invasion of the family. In these societies, living together is the most important
value. These societies are the societies in which people "cultivate".
The family is the basis of the social structure in Croatian culture, and the interests of the
group precede the interests of the individual. The basic provisions of the Constitution of the
Republic of Croatia define it as a social state which demonstrates that the protection and
promotion of the social and economic well-being of the citizens are the key concepts 10.
Human need for security of the community is quite notable and it is usual need when
members of the community feel that the community is at risk. At such times an individual is

10 Croatian Parliament, Constitution of the Republic of Croatia (consolidated text), 2010, available at
file:///C:/Users/Martina/Downloads/CONSTITUTION_CROATIA.pdf
11
willing to sacrifice to protect the community. There is a non-government association in
Croatia called The Pride of the Croatia, founded to promote courage, humanity and honesty,
which annually awards Croatian citizens for such brave and selfless acts 11. A symbolic
statuette of the same name (Ponos Hrvatske) is given to the award winner in the formation of
three people embracing, which indicates the need for relationship and collectivism. The award
ceremony is broadcasted by the national television.
Macedonia is a former socialist state. Hence, there have remained several positive aspects of
that era even to the present day, especially for the elderly. At times, there have been political
parties that had used nationalistic rhetoric, however, there have been wise groups on both
sides who have gathered and stood together, to show that, nonetheless, the people are united,
and that no dividing agenda will come true. Collectivism is highly expressed throughout
everyday life in Macedonia, from the youngest age of each person where family ties are
always respected and have great influence in our life. In many personal choices, family
members are often consulted and they have influence in the final individual decisions. In
addition, having large group of friends and mutual respect among friends is often a case for
each person of Macedonian society.
Turkey is a also country where individuality is weak, and "we culture" is dominant. For this
reason, questions such as "Where are you from?", "Which school are you attending?", "Who
are you?" are important in our society. Even the most modern people try to connect with each
other with such traditional questions.
An example of collectivist behavior in Turkey was when a military coup attempt was carried
out by a group of soldiers who defined themselves as the Peace Corps in the Turkish Armed
Forces between 15 and 16 July 2016 in the name of the Turkish military coup attempt or coup
d'tat. Although a number of troops organized within the military have attempted this, they
can never be sold to all these soldiers. It is a fact that it can not defeat the Turkish soldiers. In
the early days, everyone acted collectively and supported the ruling party for the sake of the
country. There was a social attitude here.

Masculinity
In this dimension, we found that in the Macedonian society male and female emotional roles
are more distinct than in the Croatian and Turkish society, which means that in Macedonia,
men are more focused on material success and women are more focused on the quality of life.
In Croatia and Turkey the role separation is weaker as both genders focus on the quality of
life. Furthermore, there is less people living below the poverty line in Croatia (19.5%) and
Turkey (16.9%) than in Macedonia (30.4%) which also proves the assumption.

11 Pride of Croatia association website, available at http://www.ponoshrvatske.hr/

12
Croatia is portrayed as a patriarchal society, but women have fairly equal status with men.
Today, most women expect to have a job or career. When women work, men share some of
the duties at home. Grandfathers traditionally spend time with grandchildren, and fathers take
a fairly active role in raising children. Women are represented in most professions, politics,
and the arts and don't take a secondary role in public life. For example, Croatia had a female
Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, from 2009 until 2011. Further, in 2015, Croatian politician
and diplomat, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi, has been the elected as the 4th President of Croatia,
and she is the first woman to be elected president in Croatia 12.
Macedonian society norms show that the masculinity aspect and material success prevails.
The fathers are usually the heads of families and decide for the whole family. At the same
time they are dealing with facts and less by emotions. In the private sector and the family
businesses, people are more oriented to their work obligations; therefore work is an excuse for
neglecting the family. Women, especially those of Muslim confession, pursue a more
conservative patriarchal life, which drops the overall percentage of women inclusion in
business and politics.
Turkish society shows more feminine characteristics. In feminine societies, relationships
between people are warm, sincere. The Turkish people are a society attached to their
traditions, a respectable society that can hold the plenary and show compassion. However,
there are some masculine figures in the individual or geographical sense, not in the social
sense. As a society, we are carrying feminine characteristics at least compared to Western
countries. On the other hand, in some cases, there are signs of masculinity in Turkey. For
example, women dont go to the pubs or taverns without their husbands.

Uncertainty Avoidance
In all three cultures, members of a society feel quite threatened by ambiguous and unknown
situations.
Croats feel quite threatened by changes and unknown situations. It is especially observable in
the very slow structural changes made by the government and any attempt of more radical
change soon encounters resistance. We need rules, even if they are impractical or never
practiced. For example, there is a prohibition of smoking in public places 13, even though
Croatia has the third highest number of smokers in the European Union, according to a

12 Wikipedia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovi, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolinda_Grabar-

Kitarovi%C4%87
13 Zakon o ograniavanju uporabe duhanskih proizvoda, available at https://www.zakon.hr/z/80/Zakon-o-
ograni%C4%8Davanju-uporabe-duhanskih-proizvoda
13
Eurobarometer study released in 2015 14. Also, most people stay in their job as long as they
can, especially in public sector, where it is common to stay in the same job till retirement.
During the short existence of Macedonian state, different threats have risen to challenge the
existence and the unity of the country and among its people. People are trying to avoid risk
situations, arising in any part of their live. Employees stay more in the same job at all times,
due to the high unemployment rate in our country of 23.7 percent. Same as in Croatia, a
person retires at the same organization where they have started their career too. Another
example is the intention of the people to keep their savings in the banks with low interest
rates, or even keep money under the pillow, than to invest on the shares market or to invest
in businesses.
In Turkey most of people live a conservative life and 99.8 % of public is Muslim.15 The ratios
of employment depending genders regarding 2015 statistics, while the ratio of men 65%, it is
27,5% for women.16 The 2014 Pew Global Attitudes survey of Turkish public opinion also
found a major rise in xenophobia, revealing that Turks expressed a strong dislike for just
about everyone17. And also depending on self experiences, it is easy to say, people in Turkey
do not like strangers or differentness. Turkey is described as highly uncertainty avoidance
culture.
Comparing to uncertainty avoidance in Turkey with Macedonia and Croatia, it is quiet
similar. People are intolerant to unorthodox in Croatia and Macedonia, and also people are
mostly intolerant to non-Muslims in Turkey.

Long Term Orientation

Croatian and Macedonian societies are slightly more longer term oriented than Turkish
society, but they all hold relatively intermediate position on this cultural dimension.
The legacy of foreign invasion and control is the reason why nationalism is strongly
embedded in our culture, and why Croats are extremely proud of their heritage and culture.
Nationalism is commonly used by politicians today to win political points among voters, and
this is recognized by international media. After HDZ, referred to as nationalist part, won the
parliamentary elections in September 2016, The Guardian published an analysis by Paul
Mason, entitled Croatias election is a warning about the return of nationalism to the
Balkans and The Financial Times published an article which again focused on the dangerous

14 CroatiaWeek online magazine, Croatia has 3rd Highest Number of Smokers in EU, 2015, available at
http://www.croatiaweek.com/croatia-has-3rd-highest-number-of-smokers-in-eu/
15
CIA, The World Factbook, available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
16
Turkish Statistic Association, Women with Statistics,2016, 07March2017
www.tuik.gov.tr/PdfGetir.do?id=24643
17
Have Xenophobia and Rasicm Become Mainstream in Turkey?, Robert Jones, 15August2016
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8664/turkey-xenophobia-racism
14
growth of nationalism in the country18. Strong respect for tradition can be seen in the fact that
Croatia has 13 entries on UNESCOs Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
of Humanity, which makes it, together with Spain, the European country with the highest
number of entries 19. Though this indicates short-term orientation, Croatia is not
fundamentalist society. The efforts made in the process of accession to the European Union
display orientation to future and adapting to changing circumstances.
Macedonians have had multiple needs to be flexible and adapt to internal and external
circumstances, led by the government officials and authorities in our country. Even though the
history and tradition have been contradictory and disputed, the citizens remained humble but
proud of the tradition. But, good practices from more advanced societies are widely accepted
and recognized and modern trends and technologies are popular and implemented in the
aspects of the functioning of our country where applicable.
Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with an ancient cultural
heritage. Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in
organisations such as The Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major
economies. Turks still have many beliefs have no scientific basis anda re not linked to any
particular religious faith. Turkish music culture is made up of a rich combination of diverse
cultures rooted deeply in history. By virtue of its geographical position, Turkey lies at the
axis of the cultures of the East, the West, the Middle Eastern, the Mediterranean and Islam.20
Towards these information, Turkey has a modern face, at the same time it is very faithful to
traditions but not from only one nation, from mix of multiple nations. However it seems there
is an equality between Long Term and Short Term Orientations, some rules such as women
can not go to tea houses (specialized for men and in turkish called kraathane or kahvehane),
men obligated to military duty make it closer to Short Term Orientation.
Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia have a culture influeced by many different cultures, yet all of
three are very protective about traditions. However, if compared with the gedner roles in
society and community life, Croatia and Macedonia are closer to Long Term Orientation
culture.

18 Marini, A., Is Nationalism Growing in Croatia?, Euinside, 2016, available at

http://www.euinside.eu/en/comments/is-nationalism-growing-in-croatia
19 Croatia.eu Land and people, The Miroslav Krlea Institute of Lexicography, available at
http://croatia.eu/page.php?lang=2&id=17
20
Turkish Traditions, https://www.slideshare.net/dialed/turkish-traditions
15
Indulgence
One of the most important facts about indulgence vs. restraint dimension is the general
approach to having fun and enjoying life. 21 Though all the compared societies are categorised
as restraint, Turks seem to indulge themselves slightly more than Croats and Macedonians.
According to the UNs World Happiness Report 2017, which measures six factors: GDP per
capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support (as measured by having someone to
count on in times of trouble), trust (as measured by a perceived absence of corruption in
government and business), perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity (as
measured by recent donations) in 155 countries worldwide, Croatia is the 77th place. In
Croatian society family is the most important, while having friends is less important. Strict
moral discipline comes from religion. The Roman Catholic Church plays a large role in
Croatian social and political life. Religion is obligatory subject in school, and it is not
uncommon that church representatives meddle in government affairs. Work ethic is quite
accentuated, so it is quite common that an organization has its Code of conduct.
The perception of the personal life control is low in Macedonia, and people often blame other
factors rather than themselves for what happens to them. Poverty and unemployment is high,
so the disappointment of the citizens is very high, resulting to the fact that according to recent
polls, high percentage of the youth is planning to leave the country and look for better
opportunities elsewhere. Strict social norms regulate the relationship between people and
inability to follow them makes them rather pessimistic. All these facts confirm rather low
position on the World ranking of happiness 92nd place.
Traditionally, leisure and entertainment activities in Turkey were built around family and
community life. Weekends are usually spent with the families, same as in Croatian society,
hosting guests or visiting relatives and indulging themselves with never-ending feasts and
gossip about family and community members.22 Turkey is in the 69th place on the World
ranking of happiness, which makes it the least restraint out of the three. Yet the
unemployment rate in Turkey increased to 12.7 % in December 2016 from 10.8 % a year
earlier.23 Still, it is the smallest rate when compared to Croatia (15.8%) and Macedonia
(23.1%).

21
Dimensions of Culture: Indulgence and Restraint in Academic Life in Turkey, Bahcesehir University, Yavuz
Selim Yaar, 2014
https://www.academia.edu/10588084/Dimensions_of_Culture_Indulgence_and_Restraint_in_Academic_Life_in
_Turkey
22
Abazov, R., Culture and Customs of Turkey, 2009, Greenwood Press, London
23
Turkey Unemployment Rate, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/turkey/unemployment-rate
16
 CONCLUSION

Cultures reflect inequality, diversity, and the divergent range of values, symbols, and
meanings across communities. Our social and cultural identities include gender, sexual, age,
racial and ethnic, physical ability, religious, social class, national, regional, and personal
aspects.

The differences across these aspects shouldn't be the trigger for conflicts, but used as pool
of prudence to improve understanding of ourselves and people around us. When we
discriminate, let prejudice take hold, or restrict the beliefs of others that we ourselves hold
wrong, we invite conflict and deny respect. We are challenged to respect diversity, and it is
not always easy, but if we want to be respected, we have to give respect. Respect is an
integral part of effective intercultural communication.

In this assignment, Team 4 recognized that team members cultures do not vary much on
the examined cultural dimensions, even though there are different perspectives and aspects.
We like to believe that it is our mutual history background that connects us.

17
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