'Cultural Interaction Analysis Essay\r'

' mining is a suffice that is composed of three study logical, organized and successive phases; exploration, development and production with unique risks, frugal considerations and constraints characterizing each(prenominal) stage. Before deciding to develop a exploit the dig friendship root considers the accessible, socio scotch and environmental consequences of the decision. This paper discusses the businesss that the foreign exploit companies face turn under winning their exploit processes in a club with different purification than theirs.\r\nThe major hitches they face in general included; power differential, permeability and psycho societal factors like misgiving and displeasure amongst the smart set staff and the pilferical anesthetic club members. A Canadian gold archeological site follow in Ghana faced these ch on the wholeenges during their reside in this West Afri substructure democracy. The crises originated from talking to obstacle and pa st experiences the topical anesthetic anesthetic anesthetic communities encountered with former(a) excavation firms.\r\nAlthough the authoritative language in Ghana is English the larger percentage of topical anaesthetic anaesthetic residents were illiterate and were but informed with their topical anesthetic dialects. This made conversation a problem as the mine imprinters could non translate those languages easily. Even with the avail of interpreters there was distortion of facts resulting into power differences. Similarly, sections of the community of interests were so indifferent with the mine go with since the previous archeological site companies had negative effects to their environment and families.\r\nTheir children whom they taught were to earn their supporting from these mine companies were instead exploited. However, the major factors that affected the come with-community dealing and which as easy had an immense impact on how exploration activitie s were poted by this community included: First, the heathen salmagundi amidst modern business practices of developed countries as represented by exploration activities and traditional communities. Second, was the organic power differential that existed in any progress to amongst the cardinal interacting groups.\r\nThe topical anaesthetics perceived the exploration activities in seclusion and with minimal knowledge of the larger disc everywhere deep shine the minelaying fabrication and therefore they were non only groping only when excessively terrific concerning the exploration activities. The local community rargonly unders likewised the risks that were associated with mineral exploration as s well up up as the period of time required to corroborate the economic viability of the mineral deposits. They throw out assumed that a minelaying companionship would only invest massive amounts of bills with a fixed time frame for in advance(p) exploration.\r\nThe minelaying companies were unable to bridge these power differentials that resulted into justifiable expectations as well as fears from the locals. But the expectations were counter to the reality on the ground ab appear the mine to be developed. These communities were unable to distinguish between a major confederation and a junior company whereby to them these companies appe bed to be as rich, powerful and potentially threatening. Additionally, the local community fe atomic number 18d be marginalized oerdue to language ride outraint and power impermeability and wished to be given a continuous update of day-to-day events of the company.\r\nThey further feed judgment to receive immediate answers to their worries from the company officials. Since these fears were non turn to in time by this Canadian company there immerged ill-founded rumors and misinformed messages which gained credibility inwardly and among the community members resulting into change magnitude fear and disquiet from the community (Ian Thomson and Susan A. Joyce 2000). This situations surrounded by fear and distrust between the community and the company severed the conference and understanding between the two giving g all overnment agency to outside interest groups and frankincense imp painsing further efforts for deliberations.\r\nThe experiences and the extent to which the community felt uncertain about the future impacts of mine activities mine effort led into increased suspicions. The Communities viewed the mine in besprinkleries differently depending on the previous exposure to mining explorations. Members of those communities without a explanation of mining were naive and inactive towards exploration activities which were taking send around them since they believed that good things like melody opportunities and development of the argona were to be associated with these explorations as well as mining activities.\r\nOn the other egest, the responses of those communit ies which had an annals of mining were diverse since some were go forthing to find exploration while others unwilling and instead rancid hostile to the presence of foreign interest or as well as opposed a return to environmental and social destructiveness experienced in previous mining activities. Areas with pocketable scale armourer mining were so much opposed to these mining activities since they fe atomic number 18d being displaced, their traditional chip in uplihoods being destroyed and registration of their modal value of life within their community.\r\nThe mining company did not regaining time to make the local community understood well the personality of their bleed as well as address the hopes, fears, traditions and social norms that may result into conflict and negative consequences to all parties. However, the mining company could prevent all these from occurring by forming a community relations team whose major role would be to mitigate the impacts as well as to build a harmonious consanguinity ground on proper handling of expectations, taproom and resolution of conflicts.\r\nThe community relations team should also be involved in incorporating the results of s military issue holders, single-valued function process, identification of Impact ara and summarizing quantifiable objectives and targets based on management indicators that are measurable (Chuck F and Fernando R. 2007). Equally, the community relations programs and policies should cover local purchasing, local manpower, hiring training, nationed estate purchase and resettlement grievance resolution.\r\nThe community should be consulted in every endeavor that the perseverance engages in as well as collaborating with the local communities to fully understand the social pagan value and aspirations and reach a consensus on the best priorities identify by the community. 2nd Analysis It has been established that Canadian mining companies befool a bun in the oven the largest s take in the mining industry in most third cosmea countries. Official records indicate that this stake is at 30% of all mining prospects in Africa.\r\nsouthward Africa too plays a ample role, it is home to many giants mining companies in Africa and consequently the largest mining company is the origination DeBeers is based and headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, it has mining interests expanding end-to-end the realness. These two companies have dominated the mining industry by and large in the third world and have over the past years been on the center over various divulges but mostly counselling on their family relationships with the surrounding environment and the communities As afore maintained, mining companies have strained relations with the locals.\r\nThis relation is cardinally compounded by the difference in cultural dis localizes and the overbearing ulterior motivates of mining companies. Profit cadaver the basic drive in business and the mining companie s pursue it at whatever cost, many measure with no consideration of the locals’ needfully and priorities. An analysis of cultural interaction between the miners and the local communities must take this in to account. A tonicity too in Latin America also produces this grim picture. Latin Americans have been up in arms over what they claim are exploitative tendencies from the mining companies.\r\nThis is the radical of analysis of the culture between the miners and the neighboring communities. The relationship between employees and the neighboring community is also equally strained and both have a violent time interacting with each other. A look at the mining culture over time indicates that it tends to switch off the community interests and the relations between the two are usually digress to a distributor point of aggressiveness Jacobdeen Higgins is an engineer with one of Canadian companies based in Latin America. This is his fifth month in Ecuador, having been tran sferred to capital of Ecuador after leaving an equally lucrative logical argument in his homeland Canada.\r\nHis relocation to Ecuador was after a promise of a hefty allowance as well as other fringe do goods. In his middle age, this is his first time to travel out of Canada and consequently his interaction with people from the developing countries. He has been born and raised in a country and a neighborhood that has not amply fain him to interact with people of diverse indorsegrounds and mostly those that live with an income of below a dollar per day. This factor is further exacerbated by the nature of his occupation. He is a miner and the perception the locals in Ecuador have of miners is one of fear and hatred.\r\nThey see them as exploitative and only pursuit to deflower the vast virginal and re lineageful land in Ecuador. The first issue Higgins has come to rassling with is the difference in the orientation of the local communities cultures and way of life with that of Ca nadian miners. There exist such fundamental variations in the two cultures such that the interests between them are always at a crossroad. The first barrier and major difference that Higgins has had to cope with is the language. This that is not unique to Canadian miners in Latin America but is a problem faced by most miners in foreign lands and aggravates an already sour situation.\r\nThis is one predicament that miners tend to overlook. They do not take time to learn a hardly a(prenominal) lessons on the cultural disposition of the local communities. Higgins is only fluent in English, it is his only language and beside that he can only catch a few French words. On the other hand Ecuador is a Spanish babble outing country and in deed it is the official language. Besides that, there are other local dialects that would take years to learn. His company has based its operations in Napo province.\r\nIt is a territorial dominion that is laden with mineral re seminal fluids, but the company has centrally for the time being focused on gold. The communities residing in Napo province are yet to come in to contact with large mining companies with such huge machines and large workforce mainly composing of foreigners. precise few too understand or speak English. The mass of the leading personnel on these mining companies do not understand Spanish or worse still the local dialects Higgins has been at line assay to interact with local community and mostly has to employ the use of interpreters who charge exorbitant prices.\r\nHis position in the company requires him to source for laborers from the neighboring villages and small towns, in so doing the potential laborers have to sustain strenuous interviews to establish their skills and competencies. This is a nightmare he has to contend with in his daily activities. First comes the issue of hostility from the locals and then the tricky situation of the local language (www. mineralresourcesforum). Small-scale mining has been entrenched in the local community’s economic system. journeyman miners roam all over and wield so much influence in the community due to the lucrative nature of their venture.\r\nTo them, and equally to the rest of the community, Higgins and his work colleagues are foreigners and should be accorded the treatment befitting intruders. This withal is understandable as the large companies pose a threat to their livelihood. To the rest of the community the miners are a threat to their lands and open hostility is only way to pass this message. Others in the same community view Higgins with a mixture of dread and awe. He drives a big four-wheel state of the art vehicle, a luxury machine and a reserve of the top government executives and rich businessmen.\r\nHe clearly does not understand the lives of the locals and does not understand why the locals are reluctant to leave their lands when there is a goldmine lying underneath. In his first days in Napo province, Higgins h ad been enthusiastic of this first chance to interact with the locals, except his friendly grins were usually met with cold stares and mostly scratchy insults form the locals as he later came to learn from a political representative who nowadays acts as his take aim just because he understands a few English words.\r\nCommunication has been difficult to a point of frustration, attempts to reward with kind words or tantalise his employees are met with again cold stares; they just formalism communicate with each other. This has resulted to a situation characterized by hostility from both the company and the local community. They rarely communicate with each other beyond a point of need. Higgins is now filled with disparage for the locals. He has been unable to understand their needs and neither their hostility, to him and to the rest of the miners. The minimal interaction he has had with the locals has not helped blot this ill feeling towards them.\r\nBut for the cheap source of labor, Higgins would not wish to interact in any way. This is the notion and the perception held by both parties and emanates from the constituent(a) cultural differences existing between the miners and the communities. Whereas miners such as Higgins are driven by personal economic motives, the locals on the other hand are alert of the miners and fail to see the long term economic benefits that may arise, they abhor the environmental degradations and social afflicts the mining will have on the surroundings and in particular on their lands.\r\n3rd Analysis This Canadian mining company has also to contend with the argufy of asylum, more(prenominal)(prenominal) so, convincing the community of the appropriateness of the measures consecrate in place to ensure the recourse of the workers and the environment. The issue of communication not withstanding, safety concerns continue to bug the mining companies. It is not a secret the extent of bleakness meted out against the locality of the mining operations. They leave huge dents on the surface of the earth and damage the inw unskilfult habitat permanently.\r\nThe surrounding communities are aware of this and they usually fight tooth and nail to have the companies relocate their activities or demand huge compensations, which in most cases pass unyielded to. Higgins is in the same position; he stands between a rock and a hard place. The company privations to mine, explore and exit within the allocated time but the neighboring communities are unrelenting in their rhomb resolve not to give way.\r\nMiners culture has over time not demonstrated any considerations for the eudaemonia of the environment, driven by surreptitious intentions, environmental needs take a back seat being overridden by profit maximization needs. Rarely does it have any room for work backs directed towards environmental conservation. Being in an influential position as he is, Higgins is at the forefront in construct a favorable relations hip between the community and the company. He is also aware of the implications of the company’s mining operations but he is not in a position to call the shots within the management.\r\nHe has a rough time trying to make his guide understand this. He also thinks that the devastations caused by the miners are exaggerated compared to the benefits that are reaped with mining. As the guide tells him, the local community’s hostility emanates from this fear. They fear the environmental impact of the mining project, the take a chances that lie in wait resulting from the industrial wastes and air defilement from clouds of dusts emanating from the earth’s bowels. A look at the vast lands in Napo province reveals an fantastic land untainted by the vulgarities of modernity.\r\nMost of the land is still in its virginal state and is characterized by uninhabited territories that remain revered and cherished by the locals. The mood on the ground is set against the mining c ompanies operations. The vast natural habitat is a source of spiritual inspiration to the surrounding communities and has come to shrink a lot of human onslaughts. To Higgins and the mining company in general, those perceived considerations do not hold any water. They are in business and will pursue their interests to the end. It is an economic venture that eventually stands to benefit the locals through employment opportunities.\r\nProducing more benefits than the natural habitat in its current state stands to do. Mining culture is impervious to environmental hazards consideration; its eyes are on the prize and not on the sideshows. It is not in line with the local communities worries on safety in the environment. Miners are hungry for profit and the only way to maximize it is through intensifying their explorations. Higgins’ guide cannot understand this selfish drive and likewise the local community’s does not. They value social interactions and solidarity more than economic ventures.\r\nThe community is close knit and not highly commercialized to a point of neglecting social ties. The bond with the environment is to a point of divinity. The environment is clean and the mining operations are a threat to this, they fear that it will bring pollution that in the end might result to diseases and other health complications. The safety of the environment remains the central factor. To most local communities where mining takes place, the environment is not the only safety consideration; safety within the mine is also taken into account.\r\nHiggins has had a rough time trying to explain the safety measures put in place to ensure that his (and that of other employees) safety in the mines, but the few incidences in the mines world over that have resulted to fatalities are a prove that the unexpected sometimes happen. His guide as well as the rest of the community are convert otherwise. The prevalent perception and notion held by the majority of the loc al people is that the mines are not a safe place to work in, the sight of the tangled machines and the large pits confirms this, the miners recognize these machines and the large pits as a source of livelihood.\r\nHiggins is an engineer and understands the internal dynamics of these machines. He has operated these machines and been in the bottom of the pits for years and is convinced that they are safe. The necessary measures have been put in place to ensure this. This is the same headache facing Higgins as he tries to recruit more and more workers. The local community is adamant on the safety hazard of the mine. They claim that it can collapse any signification as a result of the spirits vexation towards humanity for destroying its habitat.\r\nFew people are volunteering for the metro mining due to the perceived hazards. The local community is also set against this. Families, even in the rampant(ip) poverty, are willing to see their family members involved in the mining activiti es. Pressure is being put by the families of the young men who are in count of quick bucks in the mines, they don’t want to see them volunteering for the underground operations. The local community, according to Higgins’ guide, knows that the dust from the mine can lead to health complications that can turn fatal in the long run.\r\nA look at the local communities cultural beliefs, practices and perceptions reveals that they are different from the mining culture. Miners are more have-to doe with with the output and the benefits in the mines more than with the safety environmental consideration. Miners are trained scientists and rarely take a course on social relations. They do not understand the complexities of the local community and the diverse nature of their culture (Lia Bryant and Delrdre Tedmanson 2002). To them, mining is just but a renewed opportunity to make a killing.\r\nIt is primary(prenominal) that the mining culture undergoes a major geological fault to ensure that miners are more responsive to the local communities’ needs and aspirations. They should enact mechanisms through which the mining companies should plough back a portion of their profit back into the community to ensure a trickle down effect to the people on the ground. The hostility that arises between the mining companies and the locals usually is fostered by the reluctance of the miners to take time and understand the local community.\r\nPeople are of diverse cultural backgrounds and have some ununderstandable attachment to their ancestral lands. This is not expected to change over night. Understanding the underlying cultural factors and language should be a prerequisite to mining activities. References Ian Thomson and Susan A. Joyce (2000-08-17). Minerals exploration and the challenge Of community relations: PDAC accessed online on 23/10/07 http://www. pdac. ca. pda/members/community/relate. pdf Chuck foster and Fernando Rivera (2007): Mining in Ecuador Hard assets investor. com\r\nAccessed online on 23/10/2007 http://hardassetsinvestor. com/index. php Lia Bryant and Delrdre Tedmanson (2002): Diversity in the mining industry: the multinational journal of knowledge, culture and change management. Accessed Online on 23/10/2007 http://ijm. cgpublisher. com/product/pub. 28/prod. 241 Doctor Mthethwa, Matthews Hlabane, and Ibinini mara: Breaking communication Barriers between communities affected by mining and the mining industry in South Africa accessed online on 2007 October 23rd. http://www. mineralresourcesforum. org/docs/pdfs/communication. pdf\r\n'