Intercultural differences are indispensable in today’s interconnected world. International and global organizations today must have adequate measures to embrace and leverage people’s diversity. The management in such organizations has to find equitable ways of dealing with people whose cultural background may affect their perceptions and prevent discrimination. More so, employees in such organizations should understand the cultural differences that define them based on their cultural background and how to embrace and appreciate others, regardless of their cultural differences. For instance, people from Asian cultures may find it challenging to work in Western countries because of the cultural differences that define the two regions. Organizations can train people on assimilation processes and how to adapt to new cultures to prevent frequent conflicts. The current treatise delves into the issue of cultural differences for a Chinese employee working for Amnesty International in Canada. The essay argues that adapting to cultural differences is critical for employees in international organizations.
The anticipated international organization context is working for Amnesty International. As a Chinese immigrant in Canada, working for international organizations is a prestigious position. It offers me a platform to advance my knowledge about the intercultural values affecting a diversified workforce. The context involves working with people from different countries. As an international organization, Amnesty International hires people from any part of the world and can post people from any country in Canada. Thus, working in the organization’s head office in Canada would involve working in a globalized environment. For instance, the office may consist of people from the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa, among other regions. Consequently, the context would involve frequent cultural differences. Communication may also be challenging because of the cultural barriers that could affect communication patterns.
The intended position is a regional director of equity, people, and culture. The position involves setting a positive working environment and enhancing the organizational culture. The director also aligns the human resource activities and decisions with the organization’s objectives. The director also manages people’s mindsets and perceptions to ensure that the workforce works seamlessly and that all workers understand and apply the organization’s mission and vision in their operations. The director also advises and guides various departments to ensure they have the right mindset when working in a globalized environment. According to Stone et al. (2023), human resource managers work with senior executives to manage the organizational culture. Therefore, the director would link the executive and the top management regarding organizational culture management. The position requires understanding intercultural relations and their implications on human relations and workforce performance.
Research on the cultural aspects of Amnesty International requires reliable sources to ensure accurate details about the organization and culture. One source of information is the Amnesty International Canada’s website. The organization has adequate information about its policies and approaches available on its website. This website also details the current holder of the intended position and her qualifications, which helps in strategic planning on how to qualify. The current director of equity, people, and culture is Hawa Y. Mire. She has two decades of experience as a strategic senior leader in high-impact organizational change processes (Amnesty International, 2024). The website also explains her duties, including enhancing the Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ARAO-DEI) program (Amnesty International, 2024). This website is reliable because its information is from the organization, which means it is authentic and reliable.
The other sources of information include scholarly sources like journals and books. For instance, an article from Wiley Online Library by Mackinnon (2022) explains the human rights perspective of Amnesty International and how this perspective affects employees and other stakeholders. A book on intercultural communication by Gallois et al. (2023) also provides a comprehensive overview of what intercultural interaction entails. Other resources include newspaper articles from international media platforms like CNN and BBC and the organization’s annual reports. Out of these alternatives, the most reliable sources are the organizational website and the journal articles. The rationale is that the website mirrors the origination’s position and reliably reflects what the organization supports. Journals are also reliable because they undergo a peer review to ascertain their contents. Thus, they provide verifiable information. Most books are not current because they take a long time to prepare, and news articles may be distorted during editing or skewed politically.
The online sources reveal that Amnesty International embraces intercultural differences and leverages them to enhance employee engagement. For instance, Mackinnon (2022) asserts that human rights are critical to Amnesty International, and the management upholds human rights in all its operations. However, racial differences affect the organization’s success. The online sources also assert that ethnocentrism, ethnorelativism, and intercultural sensitivity are critical considerations in managing intercultural interactions (Kohli et al., 2020). Further online sources show Amnesty International’s efforts to ensure effective workforce management. For instance, Avula et al. (2019) expounds on how Amnesty International embraces cultural differences within its workforce. The website also explains the role of the director of equity, people, and culture and how she guides the organization into embracing people from different cultural backgrounds. Also, Gallois et al. (2023) explain organizational culture and how it affects organizations. The authors evaluate intercultural factors like beliefs, power distance, respect for hierarchy and authority, direct versus indirect communication styles, and interpersonal space, among other cultural values that affect communication. A future director of equity, people, and culture should focus on instilling policies that protect people’s heritage, enhance diversity, and promote intercultural interactions. Although these sources provide information that could help an aspiring director of equity, people, and culture understand what the position entails, the sources do not explain if Amnesty International has challenges in intercultural interactions. Thus, it is hard to assess if Amnesty International in Canada has organizational policies to support intercultural interactions and whether employees have cultural differences that affect their performance.
The remaining information can be found in Amnesty International’s annual reports about human resources management and employee insights. For instance, exclusive interviews with the employees could provide information to discern if the organization’s employees have intercultural challenges like discrimination and communication breakdown. Interviewing Hawa Y. Mire and other executives could also help determine if the organization has issues related to intercultural interactions.
The context of the information sources determines the sources’ authenticity, reliability, and relevance. First, the perspectives authors use affect the critical issues and their emphasis on those points. For instance, a Chinese author who reflects on the direct communication approach in Western countries like the US may use perspectives based on their cultural beliefs. The contents in their source may be skewed to legitimize maintaining high respect for authority and avoiding direct expressions that are considered rude and blunt in China (Gallois et al., 2023). Similarly, an author from the US may need help understanding Chinese culture and the use of implicit language, whereby people imply things instead of saying them directly. The perspectives in the two sources would not be relevant in analyzing a globalized workplace like Amnesty International Canada because they would give a biased analysis of the workplace processes observed.
An author’s objectives and viewpoints could also affect the source’s authenticity. For instance, a foreign author in Canada may believe that other cultures are wrong and that theirs is accurate and should be emulated. Such a trend occurs when authors are in the minimization stage in the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), whereby they believe other cultures should be corrected to match theirs (Gallois et al., 2023). When using a source written by a person whose perspective lies within this limitation, their ideas may reflect their expectations, leading to an inaccurate analysis. Overall, an author’s values and perspectives determine their approach to intercultural interactions and could influence the quality of the information in their sources.
Working in Amnesty International Canada differs from my current life context. First, as a Chinese student in Canada, I am exposed to limited aspects of intercultural interactions. Although I have met many international students and learned about their cultures, I cannot access organizational culture in a working environment. Therefore, the organizational context reflects a working environment composed of people from different cultures who may have been exposed to different cultures before. Therefore, most of them are likely to be in the acceptance, adaptation, or integration levels in the DMIS spectrum, whereby they accept others’ cultures and do not judge others ethnocentrically (Gallois et al., 2023). On the other hand, my current life as a student exposes me to people who are most probably experiencing international cultures for the first time. According to Gallois et al. (2023), such people are in denial and believe their culture is the only real one, and they avoid other cultures by maintaining a social distance. Therefore, such people will likely attack or avoid people from different cultures.
The other difference is that the global organization consists of intercultural relations experts who guide employees through integration policies. However, my current life does not involve expert guidance on intercultural interactions. Although the school guides how to embrace each other, the approach differs from the organizational context where Amnesty International invests in establishing a department to enhance intercultural interactions. The exposure to people from different cultures also differs in the two contexts. In the organizational setting, chances of meeting people from varying cultures at any time of the year are higher than in school, where admissions occur only a few times a year. This exposure to a new culture is lower in my current life situation than in the context of the global organization.
Amnesty International Canada portrays many global leadership qualities. One is that the organization’s executive team embraces gender and cultural diversity. For instance, the board chair is a woman of color, Agapi Gessesse, also the Executive Director of the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals. She was born in Toronto and raised by a refugee mother, exposing her to cultural differences that shaped her career in management (Amnesty International, 2024). The vice-chair, Geneviève Thériault-Lachance, is also a woman, while the treasurer, Greg Zatulovsky, and Aidan Sander, the director, are men. The trend shows that the organization embraces global leadership qualities of the 21st century that advocate for gender equality and support for women who were traditionally considered unfit to work in managerial positions (Gillard & Okonjo-Iweala, 2022). By trusting women with the top leadership, Amnesty International Canada portrays its commitment to promoting gender equality and shunning the stereotypes about women in leadership. Some leadership qualities are less noticeable.
One global leadership quality that is less visible is teamwork. Although not obviously visible in the company’s website analysis, the leadership team works harmoniously to achieve organizational goals. Therefore, seamless leadership implies coordination and teamwork. The second quality is work ethic. Although the website does not expressly explain that all leaders observe work ethics, one would expect leaders of their status and experience to work ethically and avoid unethical qualities. Lastly, freedom of expression may not appear on the organizational website. However, one expects that such leaders have democratic working structures that enable them to express their ideas freely.
Working in a global organization may involve interacting with people from varying cultures, and intercultural differences may lead to conflicts and misunderstandings. One intercultural difference could be the communication barrier. According to Balakrishnan et al. (2021), intercultural differences could hinder communication in intercultural teams. Working with global teams in Amnesty International may involve such occurrences. Communication issues may emanate from differences in direct and indirect styles or language barriers. Secondly, respect for hierarchy and authority could cause conflicts. As a Chinese person, I expect people to maintain a high respect for authority. The failure to maintain this respect for hierarchy could lead to problems. Time sensitivity could also lead to conflicts. People from different cultures may have varying perceptions about punctuality. For instance, the Dutch and Germans are punctual and consider lateness inappropriate, while people from Africa, Latin America, and Malaysia prefer arriving late to appointments (Gallois et al., 2023). Such trends may lead to intercultural conflicts during meetings.
The use of non-verbal communication could also cause conflicts. As Gallois et al. (2023) explain, nonverbal communication, as explained in the expectancy violation theory, differs across cultures. Thus, non-verbal communication may cause conflicts because the interpretations differ. Solving the conflicts would require understanding and embracing cultural differences (Zilola & Oyshirin, 2023). Lastly, ethos and humility would create a conducive environment for all employees. According to Markey et al. (2021), adopting new working approaches to accommodate all workers effectively prevents intercultural conflicts. Thus, the approaches would reduce the conflicts and ensure harmony.
Conclusively, working in Amnesty International Canada would involve interacting with people from varying backgrounds. The global organizational context reflects working as the director of equity, people, and culture at Amnesty International in Canada. Based on information from the organization’s website and scholarly sources, one can understand the cultural issues likely to affect the intercultural workforce. Interviews with the employees could also reveal more issues about the current intercultural working environment in the organization. In evaluating online sources, the authors’ perspectives matter because they determine the approach used in the sources. Also, although my current life context differs from the context in the organization, it is possible to evaluate the leadership qualities in the organization and predict the intercultural conflicts likely to emerge and their solutions. Thus, the analysis comprehensively overviews working with Amnesty International Canada and the intercultural issues that need attention.
References
Amnesty International (2024). Leadership and Board of Directors. https://amnesty.ca/who-we-are/leadership-governance/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2PSvBhDjARIsAKc2cgM3Nk9VLEAoadeZGKSpO6FCJXe-xfMOALCP8vk4n8BIwikDw7dbMqMaAicsEALw_wcB
Avula, K., McKay, L., & Galland, S. (2019). Amnesty International: Staff Wellbeing Review. The Kontera Group: Washington DC.
Balakrishnan, K., Harji, M. B., & Angusamy, A. (2021). Intercultural communication competence: Well-being and performance of multicultural teams. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 21(2), 82-96.
Gallois, C., Volcic, Z., & Liu, S. (2023). Introducing intercultural communication: Global cultures and contexts 4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Gillard, J., & Okonjo-Iweala, N. (2022). Women and leadership: Real lives, real lessons. MIT Press.
Kohli Bagwe, T., & Haskollar, E. (2020). Variables impacting intercultural competence: a systematic literature review. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 49(4), 346-371.
Mackinnon, E. S. (2022). Amnesty International and Human Rights. A Companion to Arthur C. Danto, pp. 301–308.
Markey, K., Prosen, M., Martin, E., & Repo Jamal, H. (2021). Fostering an ethos of cultural humility development in nurturing inclusiveness and effective intercultural teamwork. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(8), 2724–2728.
Stone, R. J., Cox, A., Gavin, M., & Carpini, J. (2023). Human resource management. John Wiley & Sons.
Zilola, A., & Oyshirin, T. (2023). EMBRACING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE: UNLOCKING THE POWER OF GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY. Journal of Academic Research and Trends in Educational Sciences, 2(2), 293–297.
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