PERSONNEL SUPPORT BRIEF - NFF

BRIEF 8
NATIONAL CULTURAL AWARENESS WITHIN THE NAVAL
SERVICE
Key Points:
• The Naval Service recruits sailors, marines and officers from around the
world and consequently has members from many different national cultures.
• A guide to national cultural awareness within the Naval Service has been
produced, which includes fact sheets for the national cultures which are
most heavily represented. These provide Divisional Officers and Troop
Commanders with basic information about each nation and guidance on
dealing with members of the national culture.
• The guide, which will be updated periodically, is available on the Navy
Command Equality & Diversity Policy Team website at http://defenceintranet.
diiweb.r.mil.uk/DefenceIntranet/Library/Navy/BrowseDocumentCategories/
Personnel/EqualOpportunitiesAndDiversity/Diversity/CulturalAwareness.htm
• The Naval Service recruits sailors, marines and officers from around the world. This
means that we are living, working and fighting alongside people with different national
cultural backgrounds, whose values, beliefs and behaviour may be different to ours. This
diversity of our workforce brings us enormous operational benefits through being able
to capitalise on different experiences, knowledge and talent. However, such differences
can on occasion, and in the absence of understanding, be a cause of friction and a barrier
to the smooth functioning of the Divisional and Regimental Systems.
• A guide has been produced, aimed at Divisional Officers and Troop Commanders,
who have a vital role in recognising and appreciating the cultural differences of the
people who make up their Divisions and Troops. The guide summarises the nations
who contribute the largest number of sailors and marines to the Naval Service today.
The biggest single group, other than British nationals, are the 240 or so citizens from
St Vincent, but there are also significant numbers of Fijians, Irish, South Africans,
Trinidadians and Jamaicans currently serving. The guide provides basic reference material
for each of the countries considered, along with some common cultural points for each.
The guide is of course is no substitute for getting to know each member of your Division
or Troop as an individual, but provides background material which assists in establishing
a good relationship with and between members of a Division or Troop from a position of
knowledge.
Brief prepared by Cdr Dave Joyce;
FLEET-DNPS PPOL 1 SO1/ 93832 5520
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