Studying in an international university, I am always stirring in a melting pot of cultural differences. This foreign atmosphere is not new to me, considering I've studied abroad in Germany for almost a year.
Seldomly but surely, I encounter several arguments and conflicts, especially during tense phases of a group assignment. I try to avoid conflicts as much as I can, but stuff does happen.
Perhaps context is in order. I usually volunteer to lead on most of my group assignments, and my job is simply to delegate tasks to other members, making sure everyone was accountable with the task they were assigned to. Group members for this particular assignment is picked at random, and its usually a mix of local and international people.
Taking pieces of what I experienced in Germany, I highly value direct communication among my team members. I think its best that we move fast and leave emotions out of the way in getting the job done.
And here is where the conflict begins. It was Ramadhan at the time, and usually, Muslims focus on praying during the final few nights of the month. A team member, who has a Middle Eastern background, did not complete their task for this reason and they only messaged me at the last minute.
I was somewhat displeased by this, given that I specifically told them to tell anything it advance, so I replied with a strict tone, letting them know what consequences this will bring to the assignment as a whole.
Apparently, they took great offense to this and started lashing out, exposing my private messages with him to the group chat. I had nothing to hide to begin with, so I wasn't afraid, just starkly confused by what has unfolded. Nonetheless, I had no choice but to compromise and redelegate their task in order to finish the assignment, and it was concluded from there. Luckily.
To this day, I often think about that event, and what was the missing link that could explain what went wrong.
Not too long ago I came across this video about Japanese Web Design. To summarize, most websites in Japan are presented with abundant walls of text presenting all the information necessary, unlike in other countries, where things are more simplistic.
This is due to the fact that Japanese people are very sensitive to uncertainty, and tend to avoid things that are hidden away. By presenting all the information at once, websites can make it more reassuring for them.
In terms of culture, this reflects Japan as a high-context culture. High-context in this case, means that they communicate in an implicit way, while still understanding exactly what the other person meant. This is in contrast with low-context cultures such as in European countries, where communication is more direct and straightforward.
And this is the missing link that made me understand about my situation. Middle eastern cultures are mostly high-context cultures, and my way of communication that is explicit and direct, left a greater impact than what I intended. It is a cultural mistake on my end, and I finally understood why.
The takeaway from this is, as I live among diverse people, I should be more aware about their cultural background and from there, treat them in accordance to their way of thinking, instead of being equal to everyone.

High and Low: Context