50 Activities for Achieving Cultural Competence

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Identify Your Priority Values

FaridElashmawi,GlobalSuccess

SanJose,California,USA

Purposeandlearningobjectives

To develop an understanding of individual cultural values and how differences

in cultural values can affect business relationships. Specifically, participants will

be able to

• identify their personal cultural values

• contrast personal cultural values with national cultural values; and

• discuss differences and similarities in cultural values.

Targetaudience

This activity is designed for business executives and managers who deal with individuals

from different cultures who are managers, negotiators, salespersons, trainers, etc. An audi-

ence of 20 or fewer is ideal.

Time

30 minutes

Materials

• One back-to-back copy of Handout 1, “Identify Your Priority Values,” for each

participant

• Writing materials—paper and pen

• Flipchart or chalkboard for group presentations

Procedure

1. Give each person a copy of Handout 1 that lists 20 common cultural values.

2. Ask participants to choose their top five personal values (not necessarily in order).

3. Next, ask participants to identify what they believe are the five most important values held

by people of other cultures, such as American, Arabian, or Japanese.

4. Ask participants to compare their choices. They can also compare their choices with the

national cultural values listed on the second page.

50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetency

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Debrief

Ask participants to share what they learned with all participants and to highlight any answers that

surprised them.

You can also summarize the group’s five most important values. This exercise will be particu-

larly useful if participants make up an intact work group.

IdentifyYourPriorityValues



Reproducedfrom50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetence,byJonamayLambert,

SelmaMyers,andGeorgeSimons,editors.Amherst,MA:HRDPress,2000,2008

[Handout1–page1]

Identify Your Priority Values

1: Worksheet

Please choose your top five cultural values from the list below. Your facilitator might also ask

you to predict the top five values of another culture, such as American, Arabian, or Japanese, in

the “Other Culture” column.

YourTop

FiveValues

OtherCulture:

TopFiveValues

1. Group harmony



2. Competition



3. Seniority



4. Cooperation



5. Privacy



6. Openness



7. Equality



8. Formality



9. Risk taking



10. Reputation



11. Freedom



12. Family security



13. Relationships



14. Self-reliance



15. Time



16. Group consensus



17. Authority



18. Material possessions



19. Spirituality



20. Group achievement



50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetency



Reproducedfrom50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetence,byJonamayLambert,

SelmaMyers,andGeorgeSimons,editors.Amherst,MA:HRDPress,2000,2008

[Handout1–page2]

Identify Your Priority Values

2: Identified Values

Listed below are the identified values of nine national cultures, based on research performed by

Global Success.

Arabian USA Japan

Seniority

Spirituality

Reputation

Family

Authority

Equality

Freedom

Openness

Self-reliance

Cooperation

Relationships

Group harmony

Family

Freedom

Cooperation

Indonesia Korea France

Relationships

Family

Reputation

Cooperation

Group harmony

Family

Cooperation

Relationships

Group harmony

Spirituality

Self-reliance

Freedom

Openness

Relationships

Time

Germany Switzerland Spain

Time

Competition

Privacy

Openness

Reputation

Privacy

Formality

Self-reliance

Time

Reputation

Family

Reputation

Relationships

Freedom

Openness