Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to discuss cultural worldviews and the relevance of future and past orientations.
In orientation, we are talking about a cultural worldview position, so a position that specific cultures take on towards the relevance of past relationships, events, or traditions, or whether or not they're going to focus more on future events, situations, or actions.
And there are two types of orientations that we're going to talk about in terms of cultural worldviews. The first is future orientation. If a culture has a future orientation, they are more willing or have a more degree of willingness to make changes that don't necessarily fit in with past events, traditions, or norms.
Whereas in a culture that is or has a past orientation, they really focus on or are attached to past or existing events, traditions, or norms. And making any future changes really is contingent upon fitting in with those past events, traditions, and norms.
We also need to be aware in discussing future and past orientation in terms of cultural worldviews that these specific positions are not absolute. So it's not the same case for every single member of a specific culture whether or not it's future or past-orientated. There are some individuals that are part of a specific culture that may not agree with or ascribe to a specific position that is given to their culture. We're making broad assumptions here and expectations on what is right and appropriate in given situations.
Let's look at some examples of what future and past-orientated culture may look like. So let's take holiday traditions, for example. In a future-orientated culture, they may be more willing to add or make changes to those holiday traditions.
So for example, maybe every year you go to your grandma's house for a specific holiday. And this year, you're going to actually spend the holiday on a vacation. And so you're making a change from those typical holiday traditions.
So a future-orientated culture would be more willing to change that specific tradition. Whereas a past-orientated culture may not be willing to go on that vacation for the holiday. And they'd rather stick with the tradition in going to grandma's house.
Another example is through time and planning. In a future-orientated culture, they may be willing to look ahead and to make a long-term plan on how they're going to achieve a goal or how they're going to change a specific, let's say, company. Whereas in past-orientated culture, they may be slow and conservative in wanting to make any changes with the company, and really are going to rely upon those past events that have shown and proven to be successful.
When there is a conflict related to two people, let's say, from a future-orientated culture and a past-orientated culture, we need to take into consideration that a person in conflict resolution process that is from a past-orientated culture may want to have some of those past issues discussed first before they can feel they can move ahead and look at future events. Maybe they want apology or they want some sort of restitution.
And whereas on a future-orientated person in a process may not want to dwell on the past and think, let bygones be bygones, forget about it, and really want to move ahead and see what they can do in the future to work together. So we need to take into consideration when we're in these conflict resolution processes that we will need to look at those past events so the past-orientated person can feel comfortable in moving ahead. And also letting the future-orientated person know that there will be a time where we will be able to look towards the future, but we need to look at the past here in order to move on so we can look at your wanting and need to be orientated in the future.
Let's look at our key points here before we go on future and past orientation. It is a cultural worldview position that specific cultures take on which they believe to be right and correct. And when we're talking about it, we need to be aware that we are making broad assumptions.
In a future orientation or a future-orientated culture, it means that they are willing to make changes that may not fit in with the past. And in past orientation or past-orientated cultures, they believe that changes really should fit in with past events. And making any changes is really contingent upon those past and making sure it fits.
And when we are dealing with or working with individuals in a future and past orientation, we need to recognize that it can have an impact on conflict and resolution. And we need to really focus on working with individuals so their needs of the past can be fulfilled as well as the future.
Here are your two key terms before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them a little bit closer.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.