Developing Cultural Awareness In Modern Day Workplaces

Cultural Safety in Workplaces

In modern day workplaces, it is expected of every professional to develop cultural awareness as well as cultural knowledge in order to ensure culturally safety in workplace. Cultural safety can be defined as the environment which is socially, culturally, spiritually and emotionally safe to the persons working in the workplace who belong to different cultural backgrounds (Synowiec et al., 2017). In the present generation, not only organizations are expanding their reaches to multiple nations but people from all over the globe are coming together to work collaboratively or to receive services. Hence, individuals need to be well aware of various cultural suspects of different nations so as to ensure cultural sensitivity in workplace and work collaboratively in harmony without harming the respect and dignity of others.

In cases of ailment, people are seen to utilize both modern as well as fold medicines. They are seen to seek help from that of the practitioners of both types but reliance on that of the fold medicines has been lessening. Modern medicines with that of the physicians, nurses, pharmacies, clinics and sanatoria has become the norm. One of the recent developments is the consideration of the specialty of family physicians. Two distinct types of modern healthcare has been found in the nation (Czapka et al., 2016). One of them is provided by dentists as well as the physicians included in that of their own private practices on a fee basis to those individuals who are able to pay. Another of the services are mainly provided by the regional as well as the national governments. It has been found that the latter system is in big trouble because of insufficient as well as shrinking resources. The services are also considered substandard by the service users and even the healthcare workers and the state. People are also seen to complain about no continuity of the treatment of care as well as having difficult access to the different types of specialists and other types of problems meeting various legal requirements. Even different levels of healthcare workers from that of physicians to that of the lowest employee complain of low salaries (Gardela, 2015).

People in this nation display stoicism towards the concept of pain and may also suffer in silence. Still, there are many others who would seek treatment immediately the symptoms develop. Some of the Catholic Poland-born people are of the opinion that  that pain comes from God when the latter tries to give the person another chance in paying or atoning for the previous bad behaviors (Byrka & Kaminska et al., 2015). Pain-relieving drugs are found to be accepted but there are many people who try to utilize distraction as the means of coping with pain prior to utilization of medication. People of this nation are seen to desire in learning as much as possible but the side effects that arise from various medications.

Healthcare Practices in Poland

Complementary medications are seen to play an important role in the health of the people of the nation alongside that of the western medication and sometimes even without informing medical practitioners. Some of the people are seen to seek the help from homeopathic remedies in combination with that of the changes in lifestyle and eating habits. Even word-of-mouth medication recommendations also seem to carry huge significance with that of elderly Poland-born persons (Czerwi?ska-Rogowska et al., 2018). Poland born people are found to be polite to the authority figures. Therefore, it is usually seen that aged Poland-born people never ask for clarification from the doctor fearing that doing so might offend the doctors.

Women are seen to live in a male-oriented society. However, few groups of women are trying to change the nation attitudes by working and undertaking professional careers. Women are seen to subjected to different types of family violence within their own houses and even sexual harassment in the workplaces. They are also seen to have less access to different credits and jobs. Very few women in the nation are seen to reach the leadership positions in business, politics as well as professions. Even they are seen to have been excluded from the leadership in the Catholic churches (Zalewska et al., 2016). It has been found that among the peasants and the workers, there has been an existence of a strong patriarchal ideology where the husband is seen to regard himself as superior and the master. On the other hand, the wife is expected to accept the superiority but the man are mainly noticed to undertak important decisions without consulting his wife. In the upper classes and in the intelligentsia families, the relationship is found to be more equal and a man is seen to put greater values on the opinions of the wife and even the counsel. Marriage has always been considered to be a holy responsibility. It is mainly believed that the unmarried individuals or those individuals who never married cannot be really happy and that they would have to face many difficulties in obtaining salvation. Women and men are expected to get married and thereby have children and thereby have only one spouse for a lifetime (Makowska et al., 2017). People in Poland are expected to get married before the age of 20. Unmarried women who were above the age of 20 were considered to be spinsters and that the bachelors in their late twenties had to be a subject of mockery and censure.

Women’s Roles in Society

Ideally, the domestic unit is considered to be a three generation extended family and consists of the married couple, their wards as well as the parents of the husband. In the year 1991, over 6 percent of the families had been found to have a single mother with children. In the present generation, about then percent of the mothers are found to be single and many of them have been seen to be not married at all (Lim, 2017). Traditionally, a father was able to divide the inheritance in any way which he thought to be fit and just. However, nowadays, different legal restrictions have been imposed especially in the cases of real estates. The rural inheritance does not have proper systems. One of the heirs are seen to take the possession and he is then expected to make cash payments to that of the others. It has been found that as a result of the frequent changes of the governments as well as in the legal and monetary systems, there has been generation of ill will as well as interminable arguments regarding equitable division of inheritances.

The Polish people are found to be quite comfortable with directness. It has been seen that they do not hesitate in correcting people and they are also found to deliver criticism quite honestly. It can give the non-Polish people the impression that this culture of people are being quite blunt and that they are very self assured. A commanding nature in their communication style is quite common but others might find it quite rude and insensitive. It is also common for the people of the nation to utilize theatrical language for expressing their emotions openly (Bielak, 2016). These people are also found to be fond of implied meanings as well as metaphors. They are also quite humorous and have the ability to laugh at their own selves. They are also seen to use lot of sarcasm and they also like to accentuate and exaggerate the underlying irony of the situations. They also like to communicate in loud voices and to raise their voices while they are talking about something that they are very proud off (Parvaresh et al., 2017).

In case of non-verbal communication, personal space is one important aspect. The acceptable distance of that of the personal space in the nation is a little less than that of the arm’s length. These people can sit as well as stand close to others than what the latter are used to. Regarding physical contact, people can be found to be relatively tactile with those from Poland. Friends can be seen to walk arm-in-arm and can even touch each other out of reassurances.  Parents are also seen to show affection openly by kissing their children into teenage hood as well as adulthood. However, if one is not well acquainted, it is considered generally inappropriate to touch someone further than that of handshake (Hodge et al., 2015).  Direct eye contact is respected as it translates honesty as well as trustworthiness and avoiding a gaze is considered suspicious as well as disrespectful. Whole hand is supported to be used to show gestures or to be pointing at someone in place of single finger. Pointing directly at someone’s; forehead is considered to be offensive.

Customs Surrounding Death and Mourning

Death is mainly visualized as a tall as well as a slender woman who are imagined to be  dressed in a white sheet and carries a scythe. It is believed that nothing can stop her but animal can warn humans of her approach. People in the nation are seen to prefer death to be speedy and painless and that it should come because of illness and other ailments rather than affecting people without warning. It has been found that the dying individuals are mainly placed on the ground and doors and windows are kept opened so that their souls can go to heaven (Leenaars, 2017). The dead might be preferred to be buried in the Sunday best. There had been many customs that were followed traditionally which although exists in many areas and families, many have overcome them and do not follow them rigorously (Randhawa et al., 2016). A house where anyone die is considered to be unclean and was marked by a cloth to the door to signify death. Black cloth was attached to signify death of an old married man or women, green for a young man and white for young women. White cloth and flowers were considered symbols of mourning by the people from Poland.

The casket traditionally used to be made from boards with no knots of any evergreen trees. The deceased individuals are mainly placed on planks or inside the coffins between that of two chairs in the main room of the house. This was then followed by placing coins in the hand, mouth as well as left armpits with the beliefs that the deceased individuals have been already paid and that they have no reasons to come back. Candles are usually lit and kept burning, especially in the case of that of the first night. It is also believed that the soul stays rotating around the body and therefore, food and drink are usually left in the open. The wake pusta noc were believed to be involved in activities like singing and wailing in order to keep away any bad spirits (De Mello, 2016). At the funeral, people say goodbye with women putting their hands on the coffins and men do so by placing their cap on it. The coffins are then closed with wooden pegs. The coffins are then taken out of the houses with feet first and the cattle as well as the bees are notified of the demise of their master (Skirkbek et al., 2018)_. Once the coffins are placed in the grave, those who remain present on the spot except for the family members have the tradition of throwing dirt on the grave. The soul then goes to the creator and then returns back to the body until the priest throws dirt on the coffin. It is then believed that at this point, the soul goes to Saint Peter to find its fate that is whether they would go to hell or heaven.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it becomes clear that professionals need to be well aware of the different cultural aspects of the people they are dealing with. They need to be aware of the cultural traditions, customs and preferences of people to work with them effectively or to provide those services acceding to their cultural customs. While working with people from Poland, professionals need to know about the health beliefs, deaths and rituals, family systems and communication styles in details to work with them effectively.

References:

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