Acknowledging Values and Principles created by Experiences and Backgrounds
The life events and experiences of an individual shape and influence the decisions and outcomes. While the influences can be positive and negative for an individual, it is necessary for the individual to acknowledge the importance and values that has been created by these experiences. According to Tomlinson et al. (2018), the change caused by the different experiences of an individual impact the decisions as well as the course of life through the identification of different factors and institutions that contribute to the development of individual capacity. It is also necessary to note in this regard that the contribution of social, ethical, cultural and other backgrounds of an individual also had significant impact on the journey of the individual as well as for contextual understanding of the decisions that are being made. The life story also exhibits the progress that has been made by the individual and provides a synergic reflection for the different life events. The influence of the external factors that are beyond the control of the individual also aids in the development of the values, principles and ethics of an individual (Hoffmaster & Hooker, 2009). The personal perspectives of the individual are facilitated through the development and exploration of the life story as well as present the account of the individual as enumerated through the cultural social context of the public and private life experiences. The test of the perceptions of the individuals in similar circumstances are noted through the development of the nuanced approach of the life story as well as contribute to the development of theories and research design due to the development of awareness about the personal biases and issues that were previously held for granted.
This life story report would consider the life events of Shruti who has migrated from India to Australia in search of better career prospects and opportunities. It would critically appraise the different incidents of her life to showcase development of her character and attitudes as well as the global outlook. It would help to conclusively develop the inferential arguments to showcase the causal relationship of the strengths, validity of the experiences and others in order to present the journey of her life as an abstract of moral and ethical principles. The researcher would also utilize theoretical background such as feminist theory and multicultural theory in order to develop the life story and explain the contextual cultural and social relationship between the experiences and developed characteristics features (L4 Item 1).
Shruti is Indian by birth and have migrated to Australia on work visa for better opportunities. She has also worked as a marketing intern in a publishing house while also working in a supermarket to make ends meet. After a few years, she has now gained permanent residency in Australia and also got a full-time job as a digital media analyst at Deakin University. She also faced different challenges and problems while migrating to Australia from India due to the initial lack of parental support or figuring out the best approach that she can use to migrate. The culture of Australia is different from that of India which also caused a problem for Shruti when she started to work in the country as she had to adapt to the new environment and cultural traditions of the society (L9 Item 1). They were also part time jobs and unpaid internships which was undertaken by Sruthi in order to survive and learn different tricks of the trade before she got a full-time paid position. The Covid-19 pandemic has also been very hard for her as she was unable to travel to meet her parents in India. It has also caused loneliness, stress and anxiety to be developed within her.
The Influence of External Factors on Personal Growth and Development
Shruti has been consistently grappling with the development of individual identity at different stages of her life. As stated by Rosa (2019), the individual differences of people around the world as well as the inherent similarity belonging to a worldview defines the structure of the persons world different life stages. It is necessary to understand that Shruti is from India which is largely considered a conservative society. The roles and responsibilities that are accrued to a woman are highly limited within the four walls of the house and it is often frowned upon or discouraged for the women to look for job opportunities and earn a living for themselves. Hence, Shruti had a domestic life being the discourse at very early stage of her life. However, there has been significant social and cultural evolution since that time that has encouraged Shruti to take up education and understand the implications of her independence and responsibility in order to influence and impact her future decisions in regards to her own life (L9 Item 1). Although, Shruti was educated by her parents it was generally limited to the gaining of critical information and knowledge which will be required for marrying her off. According to Brosius & Polit (2020), the cultural and traditional heritage of India has undergone vast changes in the globalized world in order to accommodate modern methods of thinking that offers liberties and independence to even woman. While this may sound grim, it is also necessary to understand the implications of long held traditional values that centers around the concept of family and community. During the developmental stage, Shruti was exposed to inflow of different information and access ability to get overview of life abroad which excited her to pursue the different career opportunities that are available abroad. While the notion of traveling abroad alone has not yet completely formed, her aspirations often resonated with that or steely resolve and made her characteristics feature to develop accordingly. Sharma & Joshi (2021) opined in this regard that the notional ideology of the Indian culture has been long standing on the principles of developing individuality and character in an individual through the educational system (L4 Item 3). While the Indian education system now a days are merely theoretical in its approach, there are have incredible developments of characters and strains which are in viewed within the students in order to have further developed resonance with their communities in nature. Her parents being against her decision to move abroad at least initially is primarily centered around her gender which is not made out to survive on her own. However, these blocks are precisely the factors that has resulted in the development of her character and attitudes which is strong yet compassionate, ethical yet considerate, social and yet individual in its approach. It has largely served her to form an ideology and unfailing zeal to succeed in her job not merely for the success of it but also to present an alternate argument for women empowerment in the country.
Challenges and Life Events Faced by an Indian Migrant in Australia
Jayachitra & Jagannarayan (2021) discussed the socially attributed role of women in Indian societies which is that of a homemaker. The same reflects on the mother of Shruti as well who has been a homemaker as well. Her mother has shown her the meaning of resilience and resourcefulness which Shruti has earnestly picked up. She faced immense difficulty while migrating to Australia in terms of the different visa requirements being sorted as well as conversion of the Indian qualifications and work experience in accordance with the Australian standards. However, the resourcefulness which has been influenced and impacted by her mother made it possible for her to find new ways in order to fulfill her dreams of migrating to Australia. While the social construct limited responsibility that are offered to a woman in the Indian culture, it must also be stated in this regard that such notions are that of the patriarchal society (Tripathi, 2020). The patriarchal beliefs, or disbelief in this case, for growth and development of women or holding gender equity within the society has been largely detrimental due to the perceptions and beliefs (L3 Item 3). Admittedly, Shruti has also stated that it is not easy for a woman in the country to work having subjected to different forms of discrimination and bias. However, the events of her life such as the marginalization of her talent in class and upholding the performance or superiority of boys has made it possible for her to compete against the best and develop a different approach in her mind. Like many before her, she has also been able to break the stereotypes of gender discrimination in order to pursue a career of her choice that do not judge her on the basis of her gender for most part.
In the professional space, Shruti being a woman was considered a disadvantage, especially in India where the male peers subjected her to choose a more ambient work-life balance that did not require active participation. Sharma & Dhir (2019) discussed the different expectations from women simply due to their sexual gender. This specifically handicaps the capabilities and resources that are available to women for developing skills and abilities as well as progressing through the career in different organizations. The inherent challenges that are faced by Shruti despite the limitations of the social constructs influencing the decision-making process even with the existence of the policy frameworks to eliminate bias and discrimination (L3 Item 2). Such adversity has also contributed to the development of her individual characteristics while educating her about the implications of her decision-making process as well as critical analysis that would be conducted. Each of her decisions are held in much higher regard and standards of evaluation in order to justify her claims that has significantly improved her capability in her job role. The social constructs have also been influencing the private and public behavioral repertoires. Being from India, Shruti is generally perceived to be very traditional consisting of core values and principles that generally revolves around her social and religious responsibilities. The exposure that was received by her while working in the different job roles in India and Australia has subjected her to opening to different cultures that has been absorbed by her and formed a unique cultural identity. While it must be stated that the Indian cultural background still persists within her, the influence and impact of the Australian culture or social and community-based influencers can also be noticed which is exhibited through her confidence and non-apologetic attitudes towards her work. Constant et al. (2019) stated the role of deontic value and active influence which is conformed through the perception of society in the decision-making process of the individual as an obligatory social rule. However, it also misses the premise of individualistic characteristics that may manifest in accomplishments and aspirations of the individuals that transcends the limited role attributed by society for a particular gender. Her life experiences while doing MBA and other college degrees has also been instrumental in shaping her beliefs and worldviews that has significantly changed over a period of time. She is much more open to change and is adept at adopting different cultures in her personal life that adjudicates motivation and employability as a perfect combination of individual and social characteristics that can provide meaning and context of the decision-making process that she utilizes in her job roles.
Development of Individual Identity in Different Stages of Life
Shruti has been subjected to conscious and unconscious gender discrimination from an early stage in our life as she was a female in traditionally conservative society and family. As stated by Gupta (2021), there are inherent gender discrimination that exists within the Indian workplace and society as a whole. The educational system of India is highly discriminatory in nature with persistent marginalization of girls in comparison to boys in terms of the developmental and growth opportunities that are provided. It is also notable in the social norms that considers the improvement of boys to be of greater value than that of the girls. The reluctance of the social norm has created a generational gap between the skills and abilities of women and men largely being contributed by the discriminatory practices employed by employers, educational institutions and other workplace. Shruti on the other hand, has been positively influenced by these instances of discrimination that has developed a strong willpower and innate desire to succeed despite the discriminatory treatments that were given to her. She also had the preconception that advanced societies like that of Australia are non-discriminatory in nature and inclusive of the women in society and in the workplace. This also resulted in change in the world view above her in relation to the gender-based discrimination that are observed primarily in India in her experience. This idea was also reinforced due to the wage discrimination which is observed on the basis of gender in the urban labor market (Padhi, Mishra & Pattanayak, 2019). Her experience while working in the Indian workplace made a distinct impression of the discriminatory practices that are encouraged through the institutionalization of the process and seemingly placing women at a disadvantage. Shruti has also pointed that the cultural differences had also aggravated the issues of migrating to a new country. Australian societies can be largely considered open and independent but it has been somewhat similar to her experience in India which was not expected by her. The representation of the Australian society, at least in a foreign media like that of India is largely representative of the good features of the society. It is the inherent responsibility of the expatriates to search for relevant information about the workplace and societal problems that exists. The continuous discrimination experienced by Shruti has made her impervious to such factors and made her more resilient and proactive in implementing measures that encourages collaboration and participation among the peers to create an inclusive environment.
Different experiences have different impacts on people in terms of the social, cultural and ethical values (booker & Perlin, 2021). The high levels of discrimination that exists within the Indian workplace taught Shruti about the necessity of being compassionate and responsive to the plights of the people. It has also made her more considerate of the problems faced by the society and provide credible solutions in order to considerably develop community outcomes. The importance and value of data analyst roles also considers the implications of ethical behaviors of individuals. Shruti has been born and brought up in an Indian environment which generally imbibes values of ethics from their parents and society as a whole. However, the high level of corruption in India that was observed by Shruti has made her to question the perceptions of the society at large and the role of different governmental organizations and bureaucrats. She has questioned the role of ethics and social value that must be implemented by these officers in order to dispense the duties and responsibilities of office which has not been the case. Hence, she argued with herself to include an ethical perspective in her decision-making process as well as learned its value while dealing with clients and customers in her various job roles. The information and utilization of the sensitive information is at the discretion of the individuals and Shruti has implemented her long-standing and developing ethical discourse in her current job role as well to comprehensively develop the ethical boundaries of operation. The use of verbal and non-verbal communication is critical for bridging the gap of communication as well as to better disseminate the messages and engage with the listeners (Del Giacco, Salcuni & Anguera, 2019) (L5 Item 1). Due to the numerous interaction and educational experiences Shruti has gathered immense exposure to different cultures and mindsets of people. It has considerably developed the capability of Shruti as a human being. The shared experiences of individual in society informs and shapes the beliefs and values in an individual and helps reflecting on incidents with greater importance and critical outlook (Abney et al. 2018). The life of women in general in India is considered private and should align with standards of social norms that discourages explicit social life to be enjoyed, especially in rural areas of the country (Vakulenko & Yakovenko, 2020). While working in India, Shruti had very minimal social life being a girl and faced challenges in convincing her parents about her desire to go abroad. Strictly from the perspective of a parent, the safety and security of their children is a concern that cannot be refuted especially in a foreign country where they cannot immediately help, it must also be stated that it also often curtails the independence and liberty of individuals like Shruti, more so in the case of girls. However, the educational basis and strong willpower of her also communicated her desire to study and grow in a different country that supposedly has more opportunities to offer (L5 Item 1).
In a nutshell, these experiences of bias, discrimination, challenges has made Shruti develop a strong character and will to decide on her own about her career choices. While the discrimination formed higher standards of democratization of the system through implementation of organizational change. It has also made it possible for ethical, social and cultural aspects of Shruti to be included in the decision-making process that is enriched due to the biased treatment of her by her peers. The shaping of the personal voice and opinions influenced by the experiences and events of her life made her aware of the prejudices that exists win the workplace in India and Australia alike. While her previous perceptions has been largely formed by the available reflections of the movies and internet-based searches, her individual experiences has generated similar response from her. She has become the person due to these events teaching her the value of social and ethical context of job roles as well as the contribution that an individual can make all the difference and foster change. She is fearless as she has developed methods and capabilities of not only performing her duties but also deploy tactics to encounter discriminatory and biased practices to which women are subjected to specifically. It has shaped and reshaped her worldview that is consistent with the expectations of the workplace as well as coherent with the expected standards of ethics and social context as well.
References
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