Appreciating that individuals from different cultural backgrounds have different cultural norms, practices and expectations is vital for success in international business.
Although companies all around the world seem to move closer to common practices and appear to become more alike each day, differences in the way we think or act profoundly influence business interactions. People and companies may have certain similarities on the surface, but our upbringing, our education and training in ways of conducting business, the basis for our judgements and behaviour, all vary - not only from country to country, but from region to region, from small company to large company, from one business sector to another. When there was relatively limited contact, and contacts were confined to a small number of individuals, cultural awareness was the preserve of a few. In today's world of global communications, team empowerment, everyone needs some level of cultural awareness.
What are intercultural skills?
People see the world through their own set of assumptions and attitudes, through their own "cultural spectacles". For example, culture influences the way we deal with people and the way we solve problems. At the most fundamental level, each individual's interpretation of the world is different, but according to the groups to which we belong (national, regional, local, professional, family) we share some
interpretations with others. Culture can, for instance, be defined as: a system
of beliefs and value s shared by a particular group of people.'Culture' means that we and others will expect conformity to certain patterns of behaviour as a
consequence of the groups we are perceived to belong to. As culture influences every aspect of our lives - from the way we dress to the way we do business - we need to develop certain attitudes and skills to become successful global players, in our own country or abroad. These skills will enable us to interact both effectively and in a way that is acceptable to others when working in a group whose members have different cultural backgrounds. The Urdu language, used and understood by many people from Pakistan and India, uses the same word for yesterday and tomorrow: Kal!
Depending on the type of interaction, you will need a range of skills1, among them:
. tolerance of ambiguity;
. behavioural flexibility;
. communicative awareness;
. knowledge discovery;
. respect for otherness;
. empathy.
Tolerance of ambiguity
The ability to accept lack of clarity and to be able to deal with ambiguous situations constructively.
Behavioural flexibility
The ability to adapt your own behaviour to different requirements and situations.
Communicative awareness
The ability to identify and use communicative conventions of people from other cultural backgrounds and to modify your own forms of expression correspondingly.
Knowledge discovery
The ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and to use that knowledge in real- time communication and interaction.
Respect for otherness
Curiosity and openness, as well as a readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about your own.
Empathy
The ability to understand intuitively what other people think and how they feel in
given situations.
Where are intercultural skills needed?
At a corporate level
At a corporate level, intercultural skills are required inevery line of business and during every interaction. Cultural differences influence everything from the formulation of a company's mission statement and the way international subsidiaries are managed, to the rules and regulations set out for employees, the processes for negotiation of business deals or the preparation of marketing strategies. Global managers and workforces need intercultural skills both in face-to- face interaction and in virtual communication with people from other cultures, in their own country, abroad and in international teams. Intercultural skills are indispensable for effective management of a diverse workforce.
How are intercultural skills acquired?
Every time you deal with people from other cultures in an open way, in your own country or abroad, your intercultural skills will improve. You can consciously
contribute to this process by:
. reflecting on your own culture (the spectacles
through which you see and judge the world);
. learning a foreign language;
. meeting people from other cultures and being
prepared to learn about their different systems
of values, norms and behaviour;
. attending intercultural training courses.
Intercultural training falls into two main categories:
. culture-specific;
. culture-general.
Choose culture-specific training when you have to deal with a limited number of cultures, e.g. as a preparation for negotiations, before starting co- operation, for international assignments or as a teambuilding measure for bicultural teams. Choose culture-general training when you have to deal with many different cultures in different situations. This will give you an overview of cultural differences and how to deal with them. Interactive training provides a good start to improving intercultural competences! Intercultural competence is not only about knowing, but about doing, doing the right things at the right time!
Written by Gabriela Dorn and Alexandra Cavalieri-Koch
Edited and Published by CILT, the National Centre for Languages
© Regional Language Network North West 2005 . www.rln-northwest.com
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