We had a second meeting scheduled in this first week, on Friday we met on teams to discuss further about the specifics of this project. We particularly focused on selecting an appropriate location and workplace for this project. We’ve decided to concentrate on offices near King’s Cross, targeting companies with a global presence and an established office environment. Some examples included tech companies like Google and Samsung. Although there’s an understanding that gaining access for a tour and interviews might be challenging, we are optimistic and plan to approach with a proposal.
Our discussion also revolved around the evolution of work, spanning from the past and present to our speculations for the future, in our context of Asian work culture vs the Western work culture. We feel like colonialism has left a lasting impact in the Asian countries which has been colonized before (which is most of it). This past is still mirrored in the present scenario, where exploitation of workers, manufacturing demands, and environmental concerns are burdens for these Asian countries to carry, while the Western countries reap the benefits. This dynamic really shows how colonialism is still kind of alive and kicking in our present society.
As we speculated into the future, I had a slightly different idea. I thought that with the ongoing globalization and modernization, the primary divide of Asian versus the Western could shift to a more pronounced disparity between the upper and lower classes. This perspective sparked a thoughtful discussion within our group, even comparing it to the caste system in the Indian culture. We were really interested in how these evolving dynamics could shape future work environments and societal structures, but we were far too ahead so we dropped this discussion and plan to come back to it in future weeks.
By the end of this discussion, each of us were allocated a subject that is within our interest to look into. I will be looking into the context of Western vs Eastern working culture, XQ on how the result-based culture impacts the Asian working culture, Khyathi on the caste system and it’s impact on the Asian workplace, and Nina on international working in the context of globalization and colonialization. Our next steps involve reaching out to potential companies for tours and interviews, alongside further refining our speculative scenarios based on our research findings and discussions.
This is a brilliant reflection on our progress this week!!!