Culture is a set of shared beliefs, morals, values and characteristics people typically share together within a community of like minded individuals. The basic elements of culture as stated in the Global Business book are language, religion, values and attitudes, manners and customs, material elements, aesthetics, education, and social institutions. A deeper look at these basic elements will show how each component is incorporated into one's culture. Language whether it be verbal or non verbal signals communication, while the verbal language actually relays the message the sender is encoding, the non verbal communication complements the verbal message with one's body language, gestures, expressions, and body positioning. Religion can be recognized all over the world and varies in many ways, it should be handled carefully when discussing with others as it can be a sensitive subject and should also be taken into consideration when doing business with or in a different country. Values and attitudes go hand in hand as they both focus on one's perception of another thing or others. While attitudes focus on feelings and opinions, value emphasis the importance one may hold about a particular item. Following with manners and customs, the way people go about doing things and the style they do it in. Manners and customs can vary greatly from countries to people within those countries. Material elements are technology based and results determine how different infrastructures are formed. Aesthetics is the art part of culture, and leads one to becoming fond of a certain type. Education is the degree to which one develops and expands their knowledge this can affect the type of institution one gets involved in, whether it be work groups, churches, athletics or groups of friends.
Often times culture can be passed onto future generations, or they can fade away, as seen in history, it is not uncommon for populations' to be confronted and suppressed by those of a higher power, resulting in diminished identities and culture. This was the case for the Polynesian people as European settlers colonized the islands and claimed the Polynesian voyagers landed on many of the islands within the Polynesian Triangle by accident, the settlers did not want the Polynesian islanders practicing wayfinding thus ensuring that the native people would lose their ways of navigation. Wayfinding was on the verge of being lost forever until the Polynesian voyaging Society grasped on to the little knowledge that was left behind and began learning the ways of their ancestors. During our cultural experience aboard the Hikianalia we interacted with Polynesian islanders from a few different islands within the Polynesian triangle from Samoa, Hawaii, and Tahiti. Although difficult to distinguish the differences among the group a couple of crewmembers helped us recognize accents, tattoos, and a few other subtle things in order to recognize which island one might have history from. The aesthetics of the tattoos express not just art but also have meaning and history, rooted deep within Polynesian culture.
Many people came with their family members ranging from grandparents to little children to experience a once in a lifetime opportunity to board the Hikianalia. Each and every one of the Polynesian islanders who we interacted with had a warm friendly attitude, and all were very friendly. The canoe crew was very welcoming and kind to share any food they had with us, they said this was the local family style way to welcome guests. The manners and customs they carried were to be kind, respect and care for one another, and to do the same for mother nature by returning something good to the ocean, in their case knowledge and awareness. Many people on board had an educational background in sustainability, photography, voyaging, and history with an overall varied background in order to connect with the community.
Connecting with people and spreading knowledge about wayfinding, sustainability, and ocean preservation is critical to the Polynesian Voyaging Societies mission. Geert Hofstede’s research focuses on five different cultural levels or dimensions, which focus on a group or countries throughout different regions. Individualism versus collectivism describes the worth of an individual opposed to the worth of the group. As seen aboard the Hikianalia, the Polynesian people can be seen as a highly group oriented. On these long voyages the group must interact closely and work collectively as a team. It is also shown in the way each one cares about another and the safety of others rather than just thy self. The Polynesian people really care about their history and culture and coming together as a group to spread the knowledge. While there seemed to be a head captain in charge every one was spoken to on a level of equal status. Power distance is based on egalitarianism versus authority. The Polynesian islanders have a great deal of respect for their elders and they are treated as a superior, but overall everyone is treated as an equal so they are ranked low on power distance.
While Polynesia is made up of many countries, we chose to further examine Tahiti as it is the country from which the Polynesian Voyagers originally journeyed from and it possesses a great deal of history and Polynesian culture. Tahiti is currently HÅkÅ«leÊ»a’s second home and whom the voyagers share routes and their origins from, all while continuing to learn from each other. Tahiti is by far the most inhabited island of the French Polynesian islands, with roughly 70% of all islanders residing in Tahiti. The official languages of the island are French and Tahitian.
In the late 18th century France took over the Polynesian islands and in 1958 France gained even more control over each island’s internal government. A lot of the Polynesian islands have strict laws and enforcement for drugs and crimes, mainly due to the influx of people bringing them into their islands. Tahiti has control over the basic domestic administration which is responsible for basic policies such as public works, sports, health, social services, primary education, and electing the president. However the military, justice system, and monetary policy is controlled by France as well as the French constitution being governed as supreme law. Tahiti has great overall infrastructure compared to the surrounding islands and has been given lots of help through French development programs such as tax incentives for businesses investing in the island. Tahiti has fully paved and operating airports as well as having full communication systems in place. For being a very small island this country has almost all of the same luxuries as France and more developed countries.
The economic and monetary environment in Tahiti is fairly stable however inflation and exchange rates affect the tourism rather heavily. The overall economy relies heavily on the tourism industry and public sector. Nearly 85 percent of tourists are coming from the United States, which is a great sign for even more growth because the US tourism rates grow every year. However, the tourism industry in Tahiti is controlled largely by multinational corporations. With many of these facilitates being foreign-owned it has made indigenous Polynesians unhappy about the situation since most of Tahiti’s GDP doesn’t directly relate to the islanders themselves. Services account for roughly 78 percent of GDP. This is a large shift from how the economy was before they were under French control. Before the 18th century they were a full agricultural society as were many other island nations and much of the world as a whole. The island of Tahiti was able to easily adapt to the influx of tourism because of how beautiful their island is and by fully embracing this sector as a huge revenue. The currency system for Tahiti is the Pacific Financial Community franc (CFPF). It has a fixed rate of 18.18 CFPFs to 1 French franc, which is then used in comparison to the other world currencies.
The trade environment is based around what the island of Tahiti already has near them. For example, their primary money-earning export is cultured pearls. In 2000, these pearls had an overall revenue of 185 million US dollars because of their uniqueness and the fact that they’re Tahitian pearls. Other exports include non-fillet fresh fish, coconut oil, vanilla beer, sandalwood oil, sandals, and other hand-made items. Although mining is an expensive task, surrounding Tahitian waters have shown signs of large amounts of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper. Tahiti’s main trading partners, especially for cultured pearls is Japan, the largest consumer for Tahitian pearl, as well as France for most other products. Many of Tahiti’s basic goods have to be imported, causing its overall trade deficit to be fairly large. Main imports include refined petroleum, medicine, cars and computers. In 2016, French Polynesia as a whole had a negative trade balance of 1.09 billion US dollars. Much of Tahiti’s trade barriers come from the fact that they are in a difficult area to navigate, being in an archipelago of islands. However, the creation of multiple airports and runways has helped work around this positioning. There is little trade incentives for local people, with the exception for outside foreign investment coming into the country, such as tax write-offs. Being a part of the French Polynesian islands, as well as a stable trading partner with Japan and the United States has helped Tahiti in its regional economic integration. Although, like most island nations being controlled by a larger more powerful country, native Polynesian islanders still seem to have been exploited in efforts to grow the economy.
For our new cultural experience our group chose to participate in and help coordinate the arrival of the Hikianalia, a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe, on their third leg of the California Voyage. The Hikianalia California Voyage was made possible by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, an organization whose roots originate from the first canoe, HÅkÅ«leÊ»a, which proved that traditional Polynesian wayfinding techniques by use of the stars was in-fact possible, as opposed to more modern technological means of seafaring.
We were able to connect with the Polynesian Voyaging Society by way of their Outreach Lead, Jenna Ishii, and Captain, Mark Ellis, who right away set forth a standard of graciousness and inclusiveness just through our correspondence. Ms. Ishii had us help on Sunday, November 4th from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, who were generous enough to allow the Hikianalia a dock space in the harbor. On our arrival we were greeted by the crew with a multitude of “thank you’sâ€, which only reinforced our very warm view of their culture, before being shown the entirety of the sea vessel and positions where we would be most effective throughout the day. We were then briefly told about the history and goals of Hikianalia and the Polynesian Voyaging Society as a whole by Todd Yamashita. One of the driving points of this short lesson was the message of MÄlama Honua, which means “to care for our Earth.†As such, we worked alongside the crew in order to make the area around the Hikianalia ready for the public: preparing entrance points for those visiting, setting general safety measures boarding and leaving the vessel, and working with the staff of the Maritime Museum regarding entry policies and museum guidelines.
After the preparation was finished, we shifted through various roles during the day so that each of us would be able to experience and appreciate how important the history of traditional wayfinding is to Polynesian culture. Our group members worked alongside the crew positioned by the front entrance, the pre-boarding line for the canoe, and on Hikianalia itself. The front entrance facilitated public outreach by way of advertising this free, rare, and wholly unique experience to those on the harbor. The queue prior to boarding the canoe was a quick lesson in Polynesia led by Hiapo Elderts, the educational outreach lead, who taught the visitors about Polynesian culture, the significance of the voyage, and the historical importance of wayfinding. On the canoe, the remaining crewmembers led a more in-depth lesson on all aspects of the Hikianalia, including the day-to-day minutiae of living and working on a canoe for months at a time, all while connecting with one’s cultural roots and collectively working towards a greater goal of spreading the message of the importance of conservation and sustainability by way of MÄlama Honua. After the Hikianalia closed to the public, we assisted in the clean up so that the crew could get the vessel prepared for the relief crew’s journey back to Hawaii in the following week. We wished them safe travels and were again bombarded with hugs, food, and a final showering of “thank you’s†from the crew before we parted ways.
Our interaction fulfilled all of the requirements as Polynesian culture was new to all of us, and we were all pleasantly surprised at the generosity and inclusivity of all of the crew there. The face-to-face interaction was from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and we were able to meet and talk with all of the crewmembers either by way of them offering us refreshments or a hearty hug. We achieved a common goal of educating the public of the importance of sustainability and conservation as well as teaching about Polynesian culture and the historical significance of wayfinding by nature of our facilitation of the event attendees throughout the day. We had equal status as the event itself was free, we were working alongside all of the Hikianalia crew all day, the event was legal, and we even helped maintain a greater degree of safety in regards to the canoe.
Overall we found the interactions with the Hikianalia crew and the event attendees the most memorable. All day we were floored at how inviting and helpful every single one of the crewmembers were to us, near complete strangers. They were constantly checking up on us to see if we wanted refreshments, needed a break, or just to purely offer gratitude that we “thought of them†when we selected this as our new cultural experience. We all saw first-hand of how passionate the crew of the Hikianalia was as explained the history of Polynesian wayfinding and culture to the guests aboard the canoe. We could tell that every single one of them had a deep connection with their cultural heritage, either by the passion in their speech or by their personal stories on what motivated them to join a voyage with no definitive end date. Mr. Elderts spoke with a certain reverence of past wayfinders who kept that aspect of Polynesian culture alive by teaching the future generations the voyaging techniques that were passed onto them. Another quite memorable experience was that about half of the registered event attendees brought food or refreshments to give to the crew and a several of the attendees were friends and family of the crew who had not seen them for multiple months.
Cultural Intelligence is much more important than most people think, especially in the United States, where we have become a “Melting Pot†of cultural. Cultural intelligence (CQ) is simply, the ability to recognise the beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviours of a group of people and to apply that knowledge toward achieving specific goals. It can be broken up into three main parts. First is Cognitive, then Physical, followed by Emotional/ Motivational. Cognitive CQ refers to learning, adjusting planned reactions to certain situations, ways to relate, etc. Physical CQ refers to adapting body language, expression, speech styles and changing the way one acts when required. Emotional/ Motivational CQ refers more so to adaption and confidence in intercultural situations.
As globalization continues to progress, different cultures continue to come together, so it is important for us to be culturally conscious, and especially to act with cultural sensitivity. Although cultural sensitivity and awareness are very important, and key elements of CQ, it goes way beyond just that. Having the ability to effectively work with and even relate to people from different cultural contexts is going to give somebody a huge advantage. The ability to easily integrate with different cultures will help so many aspects of personal life; communicating, networking, attaining personal goals, building a business etc. From a business standpoint, improving cultural intelligence can be a serious game changer. When cultures are integrated fluidly and intelligently in the workplace, efficiency between the workers and relations between workers and customers will obviously be positively affected. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Looking at the bigger picture, increasing CQ can help a company increase productivity and quality of service, all while decreasing management costs and HR and legal issues. All in all, it can really boost a company's bottom line.
Collectively, our team’s cultural intelligence would be about a “3†on a scale of 1-5, before our cultural experience. A few college students jumping into a new culture can be a little intimidating at first, partly because our CQ ability was not quite up to where we wanted it to be from the start. So being ready for unexpected encounters and knowing how to react in certain situations, as a main part of Cognitive CQ, was the biggest challenge. After conquering that, Physical and Emotional/Motivational CQ fell right in line. Physical CQ was easy for us, after about an hour of observing and learning the physical cultural differences, our expressions and body language quickly adapted. “Always Smile†and “Hug Everybody†was something we learned very quickly. Of course at first, this was confusing when, before we knew somebody’s name, they were hugging us, but in no time at all we adapted, and enjoyed the extra love. By the end of our experience, we were throwing up the “Shakaâ€, AKA “Hang Loose†or “Right On†hand gesture back and forth, just as if to say, “Everything is all good!â€.
Our Emotional / Motivational CQ was up to the point that we were all happy with by about half way through the experience. We were all very comfortable with the new culture, and had built up the confidence to be able to jump into other intercultural situations and handle them appropriately. So with this newly built confidence, we all agreed that we now had a sense of motivation to get out there, dive head first into other cultures, and continue learning and building our Cultural intelligence. So by the end of our CQ experience, our rating was increased from a “3†to a solid “5â€.
Our team had a strong drive and was very open to learning more about the Polynesian culture and the way that this particular group of people chose to live, travelling by canoe often for weeks at a time. Much like everybody else, when you meet new people and emerge yourself into their culture and enter into their environment, it can be pretty intimidating and a little scary as well. Though we were probably all a little nervous in the beginning, we went into their environment with open arms and even more importantly, an open heart. The group was very welcoming and excited to share their culture and way of life with us. They gave us a brief introduction about who they were including their background and values, then went into what we were going to be teaching the visitors on the tours. Essentially, they gave us the same tour that we’d be giving to the visitors and guests later that day and told us sort of a loose script and possible questions people might ask. They showed us around and took us down into the different male and female living quarters and common areas. Then it was our turn! We had groups of people line up in the Maritime Museum and sent maybe a dozen at a time to come on the Hikianalia to get the tour. One of the crew members gave them a quick introduction speech and then the guests were allowed to wander the canoe and learn what it was all about. I think we were a little shy speaking to the guests in the beginning but once we were more comfortable and confident in our knowledge, we were excited and happy to share it.I am very confident in my team’s ability to understand and interact with members of culturally different groups as we all acted very polite and considerate, and asked many questions to ensure that we would not be or sound ignorant when speaking to guests and the crew members alike.
Our team was initially a bit reserved in terms of interacting with the new group of people but that was quickly dissolved when they all cheerfully welcomed us onto the ship, introduced everyone and offered to share what they had with us. They were showing us they way Polynesians welcome guests and this could be seen by each person that walked onto the ship. Our team was initially a little bit slow in terms of interacting and getting adapted to the new culture but that immediately changed with the help of the crew and the loads of information they provided to us. We probably started out at about a “2†in terms of observing and interacting with the new culture, but the more that the event went on, the easier and quicker it was for us to adapt to the welcoming ways of the new culture, thus ending up at a “5â€. For example, when we got there, we tried to shake the crew member’s hands when we were first introduced to them, but they had another way of introduction. The Polynesian culture typically offers hugs when they first become introduced to you, and that is what they did. However, by the end of the event, we were hugging everyone and were very accustomed to the friendly culture that is the Polynesian culture. Another difference in culture was when we were assigned to duties. We were expecting to have individual jobs or duties, but it turned out that we would be serving as a collective and shared similar jobs. We were used to being more individualistic due to our culture, but by the end we were able to adjust to the more collective culture of the Polynesian culture, and worked more together than separate.
One main factor that contributed to the increase in the team’s overall cultural intelligence was the characteristics of the hosts. The hosts were very friendly and felt more family oriented than anything else. The hosts would primarily hug instead of shaking hands, demonstrating a closer-knit community or culture than the one that we are accustomed to here in the United States. This characteristic added an increase in our cultural intelligence, as most people from our culture are not used to that kind of friendliness from strangers. Not only did the characteristics of the hosts add onto our cultural intelligence, I would also add onto the activities that we did during the experience. One activity that we did was inform people all about the Polynesian culture. Of course, beforehand, we had no idea about the Polynesian culture, but after we were taught by the crew about it, and thus informed others about it, our overall cultural intelligence increased. We had never been made aware of all the fascinating facts about Polynesian culture, so by us learning and teaching other people facts about the new culture, it really added onto our cultural intelligence as a collective whole. The last characteristic that added onto our cultural intelligence would have to be the place that we did it at, which was in their canoe. In the canoe, each person collaborated or worked to make the canoe successful in sailing. This was very symbolic of their culture, as it is quite collective in nature, and everyone works together to be successful. We learned from the canoe that their cultural is very group-oriented, and thus, this factor was another way in which our cultural intelligence was enhanced.
https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/pyf/ ⇠for part 4
http://www.hokulea.com/worldwide-voyage/
The MÄlama Honua Worldwide Voyage Continues into 2018. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2018, from http://www.hokulea.com/worldwide-voyage
http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/moolelo/discovery_and_settlement.html