Intercultural Conflict and the Formula of Patience
Human values are non negotiable. Each of us, based on our culture, has a series of personal values that we hold as a basis for our decision-making and for evaluating the world around us. A conflict presents itself when one of our values is against another and we must choose between them. For example, we may place high value on honesty, but then find ourselves in a situation where we have to lie to a friend in order to protect them. In this case, we are putting the value of friendship above honesty.
Other ethical dilemmas arise in professional relationships. For example, maybe you emphasize the value of hard work, and a situation arises where a coworker prefers relaxation and personal enjoyment in the workplace. It is important to have open and honest discussions, while recognizing everyone’s values. Perhaps your coworker is just as motivated as you are, but simply has a different working style and needs relaxation to unlock their creativity.
These ethical questions have everything to do with our values, which are ingrained in our culture and worldview. The core values that come from our culture compared to those of other cultures may start to look different and our limits of tolerance for others may change.
The diversity of values that exists in our communities helps us expand our vision of the world, but it may also cause conflict with what we know as cultural tradition. The solution to this conflict is to listen to the motivation of all parties in a conflict. As long as we apply the patience formula (listening, waiting, analyzing, and evaluating before answering), we know we are using critical thinking to resolve the conflict. In this formula of patience it is necessary that we give ourselves a private space to apply steps 2 to 4. The diversity of values will always cause cultural conflicts, it is up to us to employ CVL and use patience to create solutions of prosperity for all and decide which of our values are non-negotiable.
This article was originally written in Spanish by Dr. Veronica V. Herrera and was translated and adapted by Scotty Brown.