When you first arrive in a new culture, there is a period of confusion that comes from the new situation and from a lack of information. It leaves you quite dependent and in need of help in the form of information and above. The second stage begins as you start to interact with the new culture. It is called the stage of small victories. Each new encounter with the culture is fraught with peril. It is preceded by anxiety and information collection and rehearsal. Then the event occurs and you return home either triumphant or defeated. When successful, the feelings really are very much as though a major victory has been won. A heightened roller coaster effect is particularly characteristic of this stage. The support needed is emotional support, people who appreciate what you are going through and who can cheer you onward. It often happens that once some of the fundamentals of life are mastered, there is time to explore and discover the new culture. This is the honeymoon stage of wonder and infatuation, in it there is a heightened appreciation of the new, the different, the aesthetic. Depending on the degree of cultural immersion and exploration it may continue for a considerable period of time. During this time there is no interest in attending to the less attractive downsides of the culture.
After a while, a self-correction takes place. No honeymoon can last forever. Irritation and anger begin to be experienced. Why in the world would anyone do it that way? Can’t these people get their act together? Now the deficits seem glaringly apparent. For some people, they overwhelm the positive characteristics and become predominant. Finally, if you are lucky enough to chart a course through these stages and not get stuck (and people do get stuck in these stages), there is a rebalance of reality. There is the capacity to understand and enjoy the new culture without ignoring those features that are less desirable. This cultural entry and engagement process is both cognitive and affective. New information is acquired and remembered; old schema and perceptions are revised and qualified. An active learning process occurs. At the same time, anxiety arises in reaction to uncertainties and the challenges of the learning processes. It must be managed, as must the extremes of feeling that occur in this labile period. Thus, I am describing a learning process that results in valuing and affirming the best in the culture while at the same time seeing it in its completeness, seeing it whole. The capacity to affirm the whole — including those aspects that are less desirable yet are part of the whole — is critically important. An appreciative process, “appreciative inquiry” is proposed as a way of helping members of different cultures recognize and value their differences and create a new culture where different values are understood and honoured. Executives — those who must lead this culture–change projects — need to understand that equal employment opportunity, affirmative action and sexual harassment policies, as viewed and implemented in organizations, are problem-oriented change strategies. They focus on correcting what is wrong rather than creating a valued future. Executives themselves will need to inquire appreciatively into cultures that are not known to them before they are equipped to lead cultural change in their own organizations.
Which of the following statements is not true?
Show Hint
- A particular effect of interaction with a new culture is an opportunity to enjoy a roller coaster ride.
- Entering a new culture brings about a shift in processes of thinking and feeling.
- An initial sense of wonder and awe makes a new entrant oblivious to the less pleasant side of the new culture.
- Some people can forever remain angry and dissatisfied with the new culture.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Entering new cultures can predominantly help the entrant in
Show Hint
- understanding the appreciative process.
- appreciating stages in cultural development.
- appreciating diversity.
- understanding the problem solving process.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Opening a bank account in a new culture is an example of which stage?
Show Hint
- Confusion.
- Small victories.
- Honeymoon.
- (b) and (c).
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
According to the passage, entering a culture that is very different from your own is overall
Show Hint
- an infatuating process.
- a learning process.
- an exhausting process.
- a depressing process.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Which of the following statements cannot be inferred from the above passage?
Show Hint
- Acts that are meaningful in the familiar culture cannot be taken for granted in a new one.
- Social interaction becomes less predictable in a new culture.
- Seeing someone in completeness means accepting him with his strengths and weaknesses.
- Modifications in organization culture must result in appreciative inquiry.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Which of the following is true?
Show Hint
- Infatuation and heightened appreciation with a new culture can be maintained forever.
- Entry to a new culture evokes an extremely negative feeling.
- Affirmation of a new culture involves viewing it in its entirety with its strengths as well as weak points.
- Organizational policies to deal with sexual harassment can bring about a change in the organizational culture.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The author is making a case for
Show Hint
- varying interest rates on loans.
- withdrawing the legislation on usury.
- reducing the interest rate difference on large deposits as against small.
- ensuring that owners get interest rates, which are determined by free market operations.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The lament of the author is that the mischief that the law makes is that
Show Hint
- it puts a ceiling on interest rates.
- it overlooks economic theory.
- it accepts the selling of a product at an exorbitant price while lending at high interest rates as illegal.
- many needy people do not get money.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The author suggests that
Show Hint
- usury is desirable.
- there should be no legal restrictions on interest rates.
- one should have one’s cake and eat it too.
- he has no answer to the question of usury legislation.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
How is usury defined?
Show Hint
- Charging interest rates in excess of legal limits.
- Charging exorbitant interest rates.
- Allowing any amount to be borrowed.
- None of the above.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Bentham was primarily concerned with
Show Hint
- all loans in the economy.
- loans by money lenders.
- loans by individuals and businesses.
- loans by banks and financial institutions.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
To reclaim his own money, man becomes an oppressor because
Show Hint
- he will reclaim it with high interest.
- the borrower cannot repay.
- borrowers do not like to part with money.
- the critical need being over, the money lent is of less value to the borrower.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Who should be allowed to borrow and lend at any interest rate?
Show Hint
- Individuals and businesses.
- Money lenders.
- Sane men acting freely and with full knowledge.
- Small lenders and borrowers.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The author is
Show Hint
- a politician.
- a plutocrat.
- a reformed post glasnost Marxist.
- a staunch supporter of free market operations.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Mischief of usury legislation has increased as
Show Hint
- loans have increased.
- more people have become lenders.
- small lenders are hardest hit by the legislation.
- more people, among the working class, are net lenders.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
As of 2009, there are 890 World Heritage Sites that are located in 148 countries (map). 689 of these sites are cultural and include places like the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Historic Center of Vienna in Austria. 176 are natural and feature such locations as the U.S.’s Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. 25 of the World Heritage Sites are considered mixed i.e. natural and cultural Peru’s Machu Picchu is one of these. Italy has the highest number of World Heritage Sites with 44. India has 36 (28 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed) World Heritage Sites. The World Heritage Committee has divided the world’s countries into five geographic zones which include (1) Africa, (2) Arab States, (3) Asia Pacific (including Australia and Oceania), (4) Europe and North America and (5) Latin America and the Caribbean.
WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN DANGER
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