I learned about some habits and common behavior characteristics frequently used by each individual group member. For example, Maxy uses hand gestures when speaking, and Julian frequently Jokes around in meetings. I learned that their behaviors are part of their character, and specific to themselves.  I have also learned that I should not fully interpret someone’s behavior because my interpretation may be incorrect. After reviewing my observations with my group members, they believe my interpretations where in line with their intentions. 

         I found this exercise to be vey interesting, and taught me that people react, and feel differently based on the roles they were given. In this exercise I was a Randomian worker in the balloon factory. The role I had to play made me behave in an inferior manner, compared to the instructors/trainers. I had to not maintain eye contact, as well as always showing a positive attitude. Acting this way made me feel uncomfortable because I am very use to talking at people and making eye contact. Maintaining a positive attitude and acting like nothing ever went wrong also made me feel that I was always trying to prevent problems, or confrontations from occurring. The trainers had a different behavior, they tried to interact with us and find out ways we could improve our work. They were very direct, tried to make eye contact, and straight to the point. They behaved like they were superior and maybe felt that we were not working at are full potential. What I learned is that people react differently based on their background and upbringing. They might behave, act, think, and feel differently and you should take this into consideration. 

A personal experience I had in a real life cross-cultural situation was this past weekend when I was ordering Chinese food, at a fast food restaurant. I was not clear about the menu and was uncertain about what to order, I also asked a few questions about the food in order to help me decide what I wanted to order. The cashier which was of an Asian background, quickly lost his patience and started to become agitated. I could tell by his body language that he just wanted me to pick something and leave. This frustrated me because your clients should always feel welcomed and comfortable in your restaurant, rather than them feeling rushed and unwanted. This situation then made me wonder about our different cultural backgrounds, I know from my culture restaurant owners, or fast food owners, will always make you feel welcomed and comfortable. Maybe in Asian countries they emphasize the fact that fast food needs to be fast, and knowing what you want to order beforehand is appreciated. This is the reasoning I gave his behavior and how I ended up interpreting his attitude. An alternative behavior from me would be deciding quickly on what to eat and not asking more questions than needed. This would then in turn make the cashier have a different response.  

I am also mostly polichronic with my time, as in I execute multiple tasks rather than doing one thing at a time. For example I could be cooking food, while listening to music, and reading something from my book. 

I am also very close when it comes to personal space. For example when speaking to someone or greeting a friend I get into their personal space because that’s how I am used to. 

I prefer being in harmony with nature. Not dominating it, but also not being subjected to it, it is important to live in harmony with nature and have a correct balance. For example I love living around nature, but having a balance where nature doesn’t become overwhelming. 

I characterize myself as someone who is both task oriented and relationship oriented.  Combining the skills of managing the task and time correctly as well as cooperating correctly in a group. For example I am good at managing my time when it comes to deadlines for assignment, as well as working well in groups for group projects and presentations.  

2) I have many similarities and some differences between my Cypriot cultures characteristics. For example my culture uses high context communication, which is similar to the way I communicate. My culture is also very polychronic when it comes to time and task management. I am also polychronic when it comes to time but at a lesser extent than my culture. I am also similar to Cypriot culture characteristics when it comes to personal space. In my culture and I personally, when communicating come in close personal contact. When it comes to nature I differ compared to my cultures characteristics. I am a person who likes to live in harmony with nature, on the other hand my countries culture show a more dominating character when it comes to nature. I also differ in orientation compared to my countries characteristics of orientation.  My culture is predominantly relationship oriented, I on the other-hand would like to be both relationship oriented and task oriented because it is important to have a balance of both.  

3)  By creating a group profile we can conclude many different things. For example I have many similarities with Imani when it come to communication, dominating/in harmony with nature, and task relationship. The biggest gap to bridge is the dimension of personal space. I have no similarities with anyone because I am a high contact person, compared to my group members that are more lower contact people. Another dimension that I differ slightly compared to my group members is that I am closer to poly-chronic regarding time. The majority of my group members are in the middle, a combination of both mono-chronic and poly-chronic time. We deal with these differences by understanding that everyone is different when it comes to these 5 dimensions. The more we get to know each other the easier we deal with our differences and become a more effective group.