Well-blended Combination
"Yoon, why don't you take time to smile and talk to them?" exhorted one of my classmates.
"Why don't you be quicker?" I murmured in response.
During my senior mission trip at the Dream Center in LA, I was repeatedly challenged by my American friends to be more amiable to each homeless person. However, the endless line of the homeless waiting for foods motivated me to work faster, not to smile. As my American friends kept insisting my friendliness, I finally put an awkward smile on my face and initiated some conversations. Surprisingly, as time went by, I was enjoying every eye contacts and conversation with each homeless. Now it was my turn to influence my American friends. I suggested a systematic line that would accelerate the time to pack the foods. I encouraged them to keep their hands busy on their given tasks so we do not miss any homeless person in the line. At last, our group not only finished the line on time but also made the homeless people satisfied with our personal care. In other words, our group achieved a well-blended combination of Korean work culture and American work culture.
By their cultures, Americans value individuality and relationship while I and other Koreans value productivity and efficiency. From the experience, I learned how to combine the two different cultures by accepting the strengths of the others' and suggesting those of mine. I believe diversity of a group is accomplished when its distinct constituents amalgamate their strengths into the group instead of creating a chaos mixture of variety. At University of Michigan, I will contribute to a "successful" diversity by being a constituent who possess distinct strengths and also recognizes strengths of others.
"Yoon, why don't you take time to smile and talk to them?" exhorted one of my classmates.
"Why don't you be quicker?" I murmured in response.
During my senior mission trip at the Dream Center in LA, I was repeatedly challenged by my American friends to be more amiable to each homeless person. However, the endless line of the homeless waiting for foods motivated me to work faster, not to smile. As my American friends kept insisting my friendliness, I finally put an awkward smile on my face and initiated some conversations. Surprisingly, as time went by, I was enjoying every eye contacts and conversation with each homeless. Now it was my turn to influence my American friends. I suggested a systematic line that would accelerate the time to pack the foods. I encouraged them to keep their hands busy on their given tasks so we do not miss any homeless person in the line. At last, our group not only finished the line on time but also made the homeless people satisfied with our personal care. In other words, our group achieved a well-blended combination of Korean work culture and American work culture.
By their cultures, Americans value individuality and relationship while I and other Koreans value productivity and efficiency. From the experience, I learned how to combine the two different cultures by accepting the strengths of the others' and suggesting those of mine. I believe diversity of a group is accomplished when its distinct constituents amalgamate their strengths into the group instead of creating a chaos mixture of variety. At University of Michigan, I will contribute to a "successful" diversity by being a constituent who possess distinct strengths and also recognizes strengths of others.
