Cultural Awareness Definition

Cultural Awareness is being aware of dimensions of the culture, values, practice, and cultural theory. It is being able to develop sensitivity and understanding of another ethnic group in which involves internal changes in terms and attitudes and values. In order to have cultural awareness you must have cultural knowledge.

Cultural Competence is the ability in which an individual is able to interact effectively with individuals of different cultures. An individual who is culturally competent is someone who is able to have a respectful awareness and understanding of cultural differences. These are broken into four different components. Firstly it is the awareness of our own cultural worldview and of our reactions to others who are different,

The manager needs to have awareness of that employee’s beliefs and values and need to have the responsibility to accommodate the employee’s needs. When I think of why this is so important for others to understand I begin to look at my own position within the healthcare field as it is so diverse between the patients and providers. I have had many patients that were of different ethnic groups and each culture has their own beliefs and values, whether that be food that they will and will not consume or medical procedures such as blood transfusion that they will not receive. When I view providers of other ethnic groups they are ones that are having to set their beliefs in the back seat, so to speak, and treat the patient(s) per their requests, even though providers may not always agree. It is important to be culturally aware of both your own values and beliefs, but to also be aware and sensitive towards others. Within the workforce currently there is a lot more diversity therefore it is almost viewed as a requirement for the 21st century leaders to be prepared and understand a wider range of work styles and be able to determine what aspects of an interaction are resulted from personality and which are resulted from cultural perspective. If a manager is able to see and understand a diverse workforce is it likely that both

Reflecting in my career and life I would agree with the current scoring. As stated previously working within healthcare there is a lot of diversity. Within my current role I do need to understand other cultures values and beliefs, however I would agree that I do not think globally. Living in Wisconsin and working for a smaller company I think that has a lot to do with why my score is the way it was. Looking long term career wise I would love to be able to work for a larger company and be able to work internationally with other companies and be able to travel to learn more about other cultures. Reflecting on my score for contextualization I would also agree with the scoring as the only international traveling I have done is for leisure and vacation. I was able to go on different excursions to learn more about the islands and cultures I have visited, but not as far in depth that I would be able to culturally