It is believed that working in a corporation, where diverse nationalities help to understand their culture. While it is a big advantage to be introduced to the culture, I do not believe that having co-workers from around the world could completely guarantee a perception about the culture.
On the one hand, working in a multinational environment might foster individuals’ knowledge about other cultures. Nowadays, some misconceptions (as known as stereotypes) about nationalities are being discussed, even people have little information about them. Therefore, being a part of an international corporation can reshape people’s opinion. For instance, if colleagues have a bad opinion about a certain country’s culture, they can directly ask their coworkers to make sure if it is true or false. Especially if the information is a stigma which provokes people to consider their cultures as weird. Subsequently, not only the knowledge about culture might be learnt, but also it could preclude thinking about others negatively.
On the other hand, to be colleagues with foreign people does not mean that it is an effective way to get to know them. Instead, visiting countries and experiencing their culture could halt spreading bad rumors about them and enlarge their background information. Having experienced this, people are likely to make assumptions by themselves without relying on others’ opinion. Moreover, since culture and its people are inextricably linked with each other, there will be something that people could learn from their locals. To illustrate, in 2019, when the winter Olympic games were held, athletes from Japan tidied up after themselves, illustrating their tidiness and politeness towards people. Thus, people are thought to be representations of their culture.
To sum up, the multinational organization is claimed to be the place where people can understand other cultures. Whereas it can be a chance to get introduced with it, I do not think that working in such an environment would be enough to get immersed in the culture.