From the onset of globalization and internationalization of global business operations, different employees from diverse background have found themselves working in different environments which are uncommon to their domestic work relation practices (Ang et al., 2015). Therefore, the need to integrate cultural competencies in business management has arguably become central and therefore the management of multinationals companies are highly advised to adopt different cultural competencies which are ready to promote the integration of all employees within the workplace. By definition, cultural competencies refer to the ability and capacity of an individual to interact in an effective way with people from other cultures (Kaufman " Sternberg, 2010).
Question 1
Cultural knowledge: to become culturally competent, an individual should have basic skills in cultural knowledge, For instance, the person must be aware of the existence of different cultures, their norms, values, perception and tolerance levels. The person, in addition, has to be well informed about the history of different cultures and how they differ from their own cultures Van (Dyne et al., 2017). Different factors such as ethnic groups or races forming the culture need also to be known and be well understood. Moreover, a person has to have basics skills in understanding certain behavior portrayed by a certain group.
Culture awareness: basically, for an organization to be competent there is a need to understand and be aware of the culture being referenced. At this stage, there is a need to be culturally open about the perceptions and feeling relating to other individuals within an organization (Kaufman " Sternberg, 2010). Importantly, it is cardinal to understand different groups within the company or workstation. Moreover, there is a need to be more open in regard to ideas and integrate them in the cultural attitude that is prevailing at the workstation.
Cultural sensitivity: the basic aspects of this principle is for individual and organizations to be well informed about the differences existing between different cultures including aspects such as what is right, wrong, better and even worse. However, it is not recommended for a person to attach or assign any value of such deviance in cultural factors as this can led to bias. A conflict is likely to ensure when values are placed on cultural differences (Dyne et al., 2017). The aim is to only help an individual be conversant with them so that they can understand their colleagues for a mutual corporation.
Question 2: Skills needed to become culturally competent
Communication skills: effective sharing of information between an individual at the workplace is important for an individual who wishes to become culturally competent. A person should understand the manner in which colleagues from different background view different aspect of communication. The cohesiveness of communication will dictate the extent to which an individual is an open or cultural diversity. For instance, to be successful, one has to understand how different communities view information being delivered to them. For example, appreciate that different people relate differently to bad news or good news and the manner in which such information is conveyed (Dyne et al., 2017). To cite an instance, persons from Asia are known for being reluctant to give their supervisors bad news, however, those who come from different cultures are known to exaggerate such information.
Team-Building: to be fully successful in becoming culturally competent, there is need to have strong team building skills. Precisely, this relates to the ability of an individual to closely work with other to deliver quality results. Owing to the fact that an organization is composed of persons from diverse background, corporation is likely to be impaired due to values held by other employees in regard to how thy value aspects like time, sharing of information, attitude, corporation, time, and even deadline (Kaufman " Sternberg, 2010). To overcome such weakness, an individual should possess strong skills in team building which can help him or her coordinates the entire group and foster teamwork for mutual trust and open mode of sharing information freely among others. In addition, it calls for patience and tolerance to fully understands all persons within the company for you to build a sound team. For instance, employees from the US are known or being highly individualistic.
Time management skills: people from different background have different time management skills (Ang et al., 2015. For example, there exists a big difference in how different cultures view time management; some values the balance between work and family, as well as social factors which defines their work relations that are purely determined by time element. It is also advisable that a person is conversant with time factor differences such as overtime and the exact deadline for different activities as defined by other communities represented in the organization. Suggestively, poor time management skills are likely to cause great acronym and misunderstanding or even conflict at the workplace when there are tasked to be accomplished by strict deadlines. By understanding and posting high time management skills, conflicts are likely to be reduced when working with persons from diverse backgrounds and thus promoting diversity in the workplace (Kaufman " Sternberg, 2010).
Question 3
Gender has got a significant impact on cultural competency. In order to attain diversity in the workplace, there is need to ensure that an organization attains a balance between men and women who are employed. Therefore, its integration will greatly dictate the extent to which an organization has attained divert. Personality also has a significant impact on cultural competency. For instance, individuals have different personalities in terms of attitudes as well as values which essentially are significant in maximizing happiness, extroversion, dissatisfaction and even contentment which directly affects productivity owing to the degree to which such personalities have been managed (Ang et al., 2015).
Personality traits can also influence hiring and promotion process and thus dictate the levels of competency at work. Emotions affect personal attitude toward things like tolerance. For instance, it determines the pleasure and displeasure levels. Moreover, it defines individuals’ mood, personality and even motivation which are core factors when it comes to managing cultural diversity at the workplace (Dyne et al., 2017). Cognition deals with factors which relate to mental activity in regard to acquiring knowledge as well as understanding thoughts through experiences or another mechanism. Such factors are important in appreciating and learning different practices and values defined by a certain culture and the need to learn and understand individual memory also influence cultural competency as it influences one’s ability to remember and comprehend different aspect at the workplace which can inference their capability to remember different aspects governing a certain culture. Development is cardinal in cultural competency as it helps persons from diverse backgrounds to learn diverse cultural aspects of easy association with their colleagues.
Question 4: Five-factor model of personality
This is a clinical theoretical model which emphasizes the five areas of human personality. The model has been for its accuracy of predicting behavior over a long period of time and therefore giving a room for a complete prediction of human behavior. However, the model suffers one of the serious flaws in explaining hum personality. For instance, the model does not singularity predict a specific behavior. Human behavior is as a result of different factors and not limited to personal traits alone, and thus giving a narrow view of human behavior. Moreover, the model is limited by its universalism approach to human behavior and thus failing to give a broad understanding of specific culture, gender, and expression.
Question 5: Using FFM
To develop effective culture competent, different skills and values will be measured using the five factors of the model. Firsts, extroversion would be used to define those individuals who have high levels of socialization. Secondly, it is important to evaluate people based on neuroticism. Individuals with low neuroticism level are to be classified as being a lot of anxiety while those with high neuroticism have low anxiety levels and thus culturally stable. Such considerations are vital in identifying individuals from a different culture who can competently manage emotions and beliefs, values and norms (Ang et al., 2015) Openness is another factor to consider in evaluating those people from different cultures who are ready to share and accept new ideas from other cultures. Agreeableness can also be used to evaluate how persons from diverse cultures are ready to go along with others effectively. Conscientiousness is the ability of a person to be mindful to those who surround them from different cultures. Such helps them to develop a sense of duty to other people who exhibit different cultural values (Kaufman " Sternberg, 2010).
Conclusion
Proper management of cultural competency at the workplace is critical to the success of both person and an organization. For instance, it helps in building trust among employees, reduces fear and mistakes, promotes, equality as well as inclusion, enhances creativity, innovation and even motivation for staff. The success of an organization is determined by the rate at which cultural competency is managed.
References
Ang, S., Rockstuhl, T., " Tan, M. L. (2015). Cultural intelligence and competencies.
International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences, 2, 433-439.
Kaufman, J. C., " Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2010). The Cambridge handbook of creativity.
Cambridge University Press.
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S., " Tan, M. L. (2017). Cultural intelligence. Oxford University Press.
