Culture, Values, & Behaviour

Nobody is beyond culture. In a way, having a culture is what defines us as human. All cultures, past and present, have had, at some point, to decide how to solve common problems and concerns.

Some of these areas have typically been:

• Religious Beliefs
• The value of life
• Crime and Safety
• Leadership and Political Power
• Labour and Commerce
• Communication, verbal and non verbal
• Relationships to Young and Old
• Time and Priorities
• Individualism versus Collectivism
• Individuality, Space & Privacy

While the list represents a collection of very abstract terms and values, you will probably be surprised by the radically different methods that various cultures have chosen to deal with these and other issues. Think for a moment about the relationship, or the lack of between families in the Eastern and Western parts of the worlds, or how different types of political leadership is often accepted between the southern and northern hemispheres.

So yes, many of the values and ideas that control our culture today were developed in days gone past. So what does that have to do with us today? The answer to this is ‘just about everything’. Cultures change, but they only change as fast as society changes. And as you will see throughout this training, society does not change all that fast. Because of this, you can safely assume that cultural aspects and thus potential cultural differences that have developed over hundreds of years are still present - If not fully visibly, then often directly under the surface.