Intercultural competence - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

with people of other culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

s.

A person who is interculturally competent captures and understands, in interaction

Interaction

Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect...

with people from foreign cultures, their specific concepts in perception

Perception

Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...

, thinking, feeling and acting. Earlier experiences are considered, free from prejudice

Prejudice

Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...

s; there is an interest and motivation

Motivation

Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...

to continue learning

Learning

Learning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...

Cross-cultural competence

Cross-cultural competence (3C), another term for inter-cultural competence, has generated its own share of contradictory and confusing definitions, due to the wide variety of academic approaches and professional fields attempting to achieve it for their own ends. One author identified no fewer than eleven different terms with some equivalence to 3C: cultural savvy, astuteness, appreciation, literacy or fluency, adaptability, terrain, expertise, competency, awareness, intelligence, and understanding. Organizations from fields as diverse as business, health care, government security and developmental aid agencies, academia, and non-governmental organizations have all sought to leverage 3C in one guise or another, often with poor results due to a lack of rigorous study of the phenomenon and reliance on "common sense

Common sense

Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have...

" approaches based on the culture developing the 3C models in the first place. The U.S. Army Research Institute, which is currently engaged in a study of the phenomenon, defines 3C as: "A set of cognitive, behavioral, and affective/motivational components that enable individuals to adapt effectively in intercultural environments". Cross-cultural competence does not operate in a vacuum, however. One theoretical construct posits that 3C, language proficiency

Language proficiency

Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language. As theories vary among pedagogues as to what constitutes proficiency, there is little consistency as to how different organizations classify it...

, and regional knowledge are distinct skills that are inextricably linked, but to varying degrees depending on the context in which they are employed. In educational settings, Bloom

Benjamin Bloom

Benjamin Samuel Bloom was an American educational psychologist who made contributions to the classification of educational objectives and to the theory of mastery-learning...

's affective and cognitive taxonomies serve as an effective framework to describe the overlap area between the three disciplines: at the receiving and knowledge levels 3C can operate with near independence from language proficiency or regional knowledge, but as one approaches the internalizing and evaluation levels the required overlap area approaches totality.

The development of intercultural competence is mostly based on experiences one comes across while communicating with different cultures. While interacting with people from other cultures they face certain obstacles which are caused due to differences in the cultural understanding between the two people in question. Such experiences motivate people to work on skills that can help them put forward their point of view in front of an audience belonging to a completely different cultural ethnicity and background.

An issue that comes forward, especially for people who live in countries which is not their country of origin is that of which culture they should follow. Should they try to fit in and adapt to the culture surrounding them, or should they hold on to their culture and try to avoid interacting with the culture surrounding them? This issue is one faced by most people today. Globalization has caused the immigration rates to sky rocket for most of the developed and developing countries, and hence people come to these countries in order to find employment and settle down in such countries where they are constantly surrounded by a culture which does not belong to them. International students are another part of the population that faces this dilemma. They have to make a choice about whether they are willing to modify their cultural boundaries in order to adapt to the culture around them or whether they hold on to their culture and surround themselves by people from their own country. The people who decide to live by the latter rule are the students which face most problems in their university life and face constant culture shocks, while the students who live by the former rule face less problems and interact more with the domestic students. They end up increasing their knowledge about the culture which is followed by the domestic students and modify their own culture to inculcate certain aspects from the culture surrounding them in order to help them blend successfully in the society.

Basics

Cultures can be different not only between continent

Continent

A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...

s or nation

Nation

A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...

s, but also within the same company

Company

A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

or even family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

. (geographical, ethnical, moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...

, ethical, religious

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, political, historical) resp. cultural affiliation or cultural identity

Cultural identity

Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....

Typical examples of cultural differences

The perception is different and often selective:

Behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...

and gesture
Gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body...

s are interpreted differently. For instance:
- Showing the thumb held upwards in certain parts of the world means "everything's ok", while it is understood in some Islamic countries as a rude sexual sign. Additionally, the thumb is held up to signify "one" in France and certain other European countries, where the index finger is used to signify "one" in other cultures. In India and Indonesia, it is often regarded as wishing "all the best".
- In India showing somebody the palm of your hand is regarded as a gesture of blessing the person, mostly done by elders. Most Hindu and Buddhist deities are depicted as showing the palm of their right hand, while in some east European countries it is considered a rude gesture. Similar is the use of the hand as a sign for someone to come. Bending the index finger with the palm facing up should be avoided in some cultures and replaced with a grasping hand motion with a downward or outward facing palm.
- It is very common for heterosexual men in the Indian subcontinent and most parts of the Arab world to hug each other, sit with arms over the shoulder or walk while holding hands but it is regarded as homosexual behavior in the West and some Asian cultures such as China, Indonesia and Japan.
- In Indonesia, and many Asian nations, girls and adult females will often hold hands and be quite "touchy-feely" with one another, even slapping one another on the bottom. This is considered locally as harmless sister-like platonic affection, but some outsiders may inaccurately perceive it as widespread lesbianism.
In the Americas as well as in Arabic countries the pauses between words are usually not too long, while in India and Japan pauses can give a contradictory sense to the spoken words. Enduring silence is perceived as perfectly comfortable in India, Indonesia and Japan, to the point where being unnecessarily talkative is considered rude and a sign of poor self-control. To some in Europe, North America and Australia, however, it may feel as if a faux pas
Faux pas
A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...

has been committed and thus cause insecurity and embarrassment. Scandinavians, by the standards of other Western cultures, are more tolerant of silent breaks during conversations.
In many cultures all over the world, avoiding eye contact or looking at the ground when talking to one's parents, an elder, or one of higher social status is a sign of respect. In contrast, such body language can be construed as deception, boredom, disinterest or shame (on the part of the doer) in others. For example, an Anglo-European teacher may expect direct eye contact as a sign of paying attention, while an Asian or Navajo student will deliberately avoid it so as not to appear rude or confrontational. Unbroken eye contact is a common sign of aggression or dominance posturing among the animal kingdom, for example guard dogs.
In Persian and Pakistani cultures, if a person offers an item (i.e. a drink), it is customary to not instantly accept it. A sort of role play forms with the person offering being refused several times out of politeness before their offering is accepted. This tradition is known as tarof (or taarof
Taarof
T'aarof/ Tarof is a Persian form of civility emphasizing both self-deference and social rank. The term encompasses a range of social behaviours, from a man displaying etiquette by opening the door for a woman, to a group of colleagues standing on ceremony in front of a door that can permit the...

) or takaluf which in Persian literally means "offer". A similar exchange happens in many countries, such as India and Indonesia, where especially if visiting poorer people, it shows a form of empathy to deliberately not impose upon them. In many other cultures, it would be considered polite for the person offering to only ask once, so as to respect the other person's wish when the offer is declined.
In African, South American and Mediterranean cultures, talking and laughing loudly in the streets and public places is widely accepted, whereas in some Asian cultures it is considered rude and may be seen as a mark of self-centeredness or attention-seeking.
People from the West may be shocked by the squat toilet
Squat toilet
A squat toilet is a toilet used by squatting, rather than sitting. There are several types of squat toilets, but they all consist essentially of a hole in the ground...

found in parts of Continental Europe (France, Italy. Turkey etc.) and prevalent Asia (most especially China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and the Indian subcontinent) even found in Singapore's spotlessly clean, ultra-modern Changi Airport toilets. However, it is common for Asian public toilets have both type of toilet designs. However, these may not be connected directly to main water supplies and not have toilet tissue. Instead in these cultures, cleansing after defecating is done with a through water (and preferably soap) douche, and the user is expected to flush their resultant mess on the toilet or floor manually via the ladle or bucket provided. As such, many Asians are revolted by Western toilets not providing the post-defecation toilet hose. Humorously, even among themselves many resourceful Asians will bring bottled water into toilets or fill them from the sinks as a makeshift post-defecation rinser.
Additionally, a wet toilet seat and surrounding floor is considered clean, or newly rinsed, in many parts of Asia, while a dry toilet and bathroom are considered possibly dirty. A Westerner would find a dry toilet cleaner.
Arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...

is very common in the Middle East, India and Africa, while in some Asian and most Western cultures, the romantic marriage is idealized and the right to choose marital partners is valued. An arranged marriage is perceived correctly (if a forced marriage
Forced marriage
Forced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...

) or incorrectly as an infringement on this right, and therefore is viewed unfavorably.
In some nations, heterosexual unmarried couples holding hands in public are uncommon or frowned upon, and hugging is considered unacceptable. In many Western and Westernized nations, especially urban centers, this is common and considered harmless.
It is common to see couples kissing, even quite passionately, in public in the Western countries but such an action may cause consternation, alarm or even legal action in African and a few Asian countries.
In Christian and most Muslim weddings the bride wears white to symbolize her virginal purity, while in Hindu and Korean culture white clothes are a symbol of sorrow and should be worn to mourn the dead.
In Korea and most other Asian countries, in universities it is considered to be rude to interrupt the professor during the lecture whereas in Western countries it is considered good to ask questions during a lecture if necessary.
In Asian cultures, it is important to have a modest attitude, while in Western culture it is more important to express oneself.

Requirements

Basic needs are sensitivity and self-consciousness

Self-consciousness

Self-consciousness is an acute sense of self-awareness. It is a preoccupation with oneself, as opposed to the philosophical state of self-awareness, which is the awareness that one exists as an individual being; although some writers use both terms interchangeably or synonymously...

: the understanding of other behavior

Behavior

Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...

s and ways of thinking as well as the ability to express one's own point of view in a transparent way with the aim to be understood and respected by staying flexible where this is possible, and being clear where this is necessary.

It is a balance, situatively adapted, between four parts:

knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...

(about other cultures, people, nations, behaviors ...),
empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...

(understanding feelings and needs of other people),
self-confidence
Confidence
Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself. Arrogance or hubris in this comparison, is having unmerited...

(knowing what I want, my strengths and weaknesses, emotional stability),
Cultural identity
Cultural identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....

(knowledge about one's own culture)

Cultural differences

Cultural characteristics can be differentiated between several dimensions and aspects; the ability to perceive them and to cope with them is one of the bases of intercultural competence.

Collectivism
Collectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...

and individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
Masculine
Masculine
Masculine or masculinity, normally refer to qualities positively associated with men.Masculine may also refer to:*Masculine , a grammatical gender*Masculine cadence, a final chord occurring on a strong beat in music...

and feminine
Feminine
Feminine, or femininity, normally refers to qualities positively associated with women.Feminine may also refer to:*Feminine , a grammatical gender*Feminine cadence, a final chord falling in a metrically weak position...

cultures
Uncertainty avoidance
Power distance
Chronemics
Chronemics
Chronemics is the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication. The way we perceive time, structure our time and react to time is a powerful communication tool, and helps set the stage for the communication process. Across cultures, time perception plays a large role in the nonverbal...

: Monochrone (time-fixed, "one after the other") and polychrone (many things at the same time, "multi-tasking"); Also called long-term orientation
Structural characteristics: e.g. basic personality, value
Value (personal and cultural)
A personal or cultural value is an absolute or relative ethical value, the assumption of which can be the basis for ethical action. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based...

orientation, experience of time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

and space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...

, selective perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...

, nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch , by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact...

, patterns of behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

Assessment

For assessment of intercultural competence as an existing ability and/or the potential to develop it (with conditions and timeframe), the following characteristics are tested and observed: ambiguity tolerance

Ambiguity tolerance

Ambiguity tolerance is the ability to perceive ambiguity in information and behavior in a neutral and open way.Ambiguity tolerance is an important issue in personality development and education...

, openness to contacts, flexibility in behavior, emotional stability, motivation to perform, empathy

Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...

, metacommunicative competence

Metacommunicative competence

Metacommunicative competence is the ability to intervene within difficult conversations and to correct communication problems by utilizing the different ways of practical communication:...

, polycentrism

Polycentrism

Polycentrism is the principle of organization of a region around several political, social or financial centres. Examples of polycentric cities include the Ruhr area in Germany, and Stoke-on-Trent in the UK. Today, the former is a large city that grew from a dozen smaller cities, the latter a...

Assessment instruments

Assessment of cross-cultural competence (3C) is another field rife with controversy. One survey identified eighty-six assessment instruments for 3C. The Army Research Institute study narrowed the list down to ten quantitative instruments for further exploration into their reliability and validity. Three examples of quantitative instruments include the Inter-cultural Development Inventory, the Cultural Intelligence Scale, and the Multi-cultural Personality Questionnaire. Qualitative assessment instruments such as scenario-based assessments are also useful tools to gain insight into inter-cultural competence. These have proven valuable in poorly defined areas such as 3C. Research in the area of 3C assessment, while thin, also underscores the value of qualitative instruments in concert with quantitative ones.

Criticisms

It is important that cross-cultural competence training and skills not break down into application of stereotypes of a group of individuals. Although the goal is to promote understanding between groups of individuals that, as a whole, think somewhat differently, it may fail to recognize the specific differences between individuals of any given group. These differences can often be larger than the differences between groups, especially with heterogeneous populations and value systems. In addition the tendency of 3C training to simplify migration and cross-cultural processes into stages and phases has been criticized by Madison (2006), whose research emphasizes an existential and more subjective view of such experiences.