The most important of factors when working with or among people with backgrounds different from one's own is the necessity of an open mind. It is vital that the person be permanently ready to learn and respect new insights into a people's or person's cultural rules, traditions, behaviors and beliefs. These things should not be learned through force but through desire. Additionally, one should be ready to act upon these insights. Whether that is by wishing locals during one of their festivals or participating in the festivities.
Along with understanding the social side of things, to work competently one must also acknowledge the different engineering ideas and be able to analyze them with respect to the various cultural factors and form links between the two. This may very well affect the ease with which a person is able to work in a culturally different environment with confidence.
I agree with you Tyler, I think that respecting other people is one of the most important parts of learning about new cultures. If you cannot respect other people, how can you even think about learning about their culture? Immersing yourself in their culture is another important part of learning about culture. For example, when I first went to India as a 6 year old I knew nothing about Indian culture. However, i attended many Indian festivals, played with a lot of Indian kids, and generally immersed myself in Indian culture. That was my introduction to Indian culture, and I learned really quickly and grew to accept Indian culture.
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