Business
Morris, International Business, 1e Help | System Announcements
DOWNLOADABLE eTEXTBOOK PRINTER VERSION BACK NEXT
CHAPTER RESOURCES Reading Content Introduction 8.1 What Is Culture? 8.2 What Does Culture Mean for Business? 8.3 Managing Cultural Differences 8.4 Building Cultural Intelligence Summary and Case ORION: Build your
Proficiency Videos Animations Multimedia Study Tools Business Hot Topics
COURSE RESOURCES
Career Center Business Hot Topics Videos Animations
PRACTICE Chapter 8 Reading Quiz
APPENDIX
Cognitive CQ.
8.4 Building Cultural Intelligence
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Discuss how to adapt to different cultures.
Managing cultural differences in the workplace is key to a company's survival, but it is also key to an individual's ability to contribute to society. To operate effectively in a global world requires the use of cultural intelligence, or the knowledge to function effectively across cultural contexts. Cultural intelligence is measured by a person's cultural intelligence quotient (CQ). A person with high CQ can differentiate features of a behavior that relate to culture, features that are universal, and features that are specific to an individual. For example, if you attended a meeting in Finland and your Finnish colleague didn't do a lot of talking but then summarized what you said, would that be a common cultural communication pattern found among Finns or is it unique to that individual? If it is not unique to the individual but is a behavior common in Finnish culture, then it can give you a clue about how you might want to structure your own conversations with other Finnish colleagues.
Take, for example, a U.S. manager who was serving on a design team that included two German engineers. As other team members offered ideas, the two Germans shot the ideas down—even describing them as not applicable or too immature. After a fair amount of interaction with these engineers, the U.S. manager concluded that Germans, in general, were rude and aggressive people. Had she possessed a higher level of cultural intelligence, however, the U.S. manager might have realized that she was conflating the merit of ideas and the merit of the people offering them—two factors the Germans were able to make a sharp distinction between.
Many managers would probably empathize with the team members whose ideas were being criticized and propose a new style of discussion for the team that would protect people's feelings while allowing for candor. However, without being able to distinguish how much of the engineers' behavior was culturally determined and how much was unique to them as individuals, the manager couldn't know how to influence their actions or how easy or difficult it might be to do so.
Assessing Cultural Intelligence Cultural intelligence is rooted in research across many different countries and profoundly affects the way businesses work and the success of cross-border leadership. Three factors determine a person's level of CQ. It's not enough to be good at just one or two—all three are necessary to effectively and appropriately adjust behaviors in a foreign culture. These three factors, which we discuss next, are cognitive CQ, behavioral CQ, and motivational CQ.
Cognitive CQ is our level of understanding about how cultures are similar and different. Most corporate training programs focus on developing cognitive CQ, or understanding the beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign cultures. Unfortunately, understanding everything about every possible culture is impossible. For that reason, the point of cognitive CQ is not to be
41
42
43
44
45
DOWNLOADABLE eTEXTBOOK PRINTER VERSION BACK NEXT
CHAPTER RESOURCES Reading Content Introduction 8.1 What Is Culture? 8.2 What Does Culture Mean for Business? 8.3 Managing Cultural Differences 8.4 Building Cultural Intelligence Summary and Case ORION: Build your
Proficiency Videos Animations Multimedia Study Tools Business Hot Topics
COURSE RESOURCES
Career Center Business Hot Topics Videos Animations
PRACTICE Chapter 8 Reading Quiz
APPENDIX
Cognitive CQ.
8.4 Building Cultural Intelligence
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Discuss how to adapt to different cultures.
Managing cultural differences in the workplace is key to a company's survival, but it is also key to an individual's ability to contribute to society. To operate effectively in a global world requires the use of cultural intelligence, or the knowledge to function effectively across cultural contexts. Cultural intelligence is measured by a person's cultural intelligence quotient (CQ). A person with high CQ can differentiate features of a behavior that relate to culture, features that are universal, and features that are specific to an individual. For example, if you attended a meeting in Finland and your Finnish colleague didn't do a lot of talking but then summarized what you said, would that be a common cultural communication pattern found among Finns or is it unique to that individual? If it is not unique to the individual but is a behavior common in Finnish culture, then it can give you a clue about how you might want to structure your own conversations with other Finnish colleagues.
Take, for example, a U.S. manager who was serving on a design team that included two German engineers. As other team members offered ideas, the two Germans shot the ideas down—even describing them as not applicable or too immature. After a fair amount of interaction with these engineers, the U.S. manager concluded that Germans, in general, were rude and aggressive people. Had she possessed a higher level of cultural intelligence, however, the U.S. manager might have realized that she was conflating the merit of ideas and the merit of the people offering them—two factors the Germans were able to make a sharp distinction between.
Many managers would probably empathize with the team members whose ideas were being criticized and propose a new style of discussion for the team that would protect people's feelings while allowing for candor. However, without being able to distinguish how much of the engineers' behavior was culturally determined and how much was unique to them as individuals, the manager couldn't know how to influence their actions or how easy or difficult it might be to do so.
Assessing Cultural Intelligence Cultural intelligence is rooted in research across many different countries and profoundly affects the way businesses work and the success of cross-border leadership. Three factors determine a person's level of CQ. It's not enough to be good at just one or two—all three are necessary to effectively and appropriately adjust behaviors in a foreign culture. These three factors, which we discuss next, are cognitive CQ, behavioral CQ, and motivational CQ.
Cognitive CQ is our level of understanding about how cultures are similar and different. Most corporate training programs focus on developing cognitive CQ, or understanding the beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign cultures. Unfortunately, understanding everything about every possible culture is impossible. For that reason, the point of cognitive CQ is not to be
41
42
43
44
45
https://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/lti/main.uni 2020/6/10 17;37 第 1 ⻚页（共 4 ⻚页）
Behavioral CQ.
Motivational CQ.
Step 1: Identify CQ Strengths and Weaknesses.
about every possible culture is impossible. For that reason, the point of cognitive CQ is not to be an expert on every culture; rather, it's to understand key cultural differences and how they affect everyday business interactions. For example, communication styles, predominant religious beliefs, and role expectations for men and women often differ across cultures. Culture can also influence managers' effectiveness in specific business functions.
Knowing about someone else's culture doesn't help much unless you can adapt your personal behavior accordingly. Your actions need to demonstrate to the people in the other culture that you have entered and understood their world. Behavioral CQ measures your ability to do this. For example, do you know how you pass your business card to someone from the other culture? Do you know how to hail a taxi? Your ability to mimic and mirror the customs and habits of the people around you proves that you value and respect those cultural norms enough to follow them. In fact, studies show that job candidates who adopt some of the mannerisms of recruiters with cultural backgrounds different from their own are more likely to receive a job offer.
While adapting your behavior to local norms is important, behavioral CQ also covers knowing when not to adapt. For example, U.S. managers who do not to speak up at all in a meeting with Chinese colleagues might violate those colleagues' expectations make them worry that they'd caused offense. Overcompensating or taking a cultural norm to an extreme is easy; the challenge is to adapt in the right way. In addition, you shouldn't adapt to cultural practices that are unethical or potentially harmful to you or your company, such as giving or receiving bribes and discriminating against or objectifying ethnic or gender groups.
Sometimes people have the knowledge and ability to make cultural adaptations but don't care to do so. Motivational CQ assesses your level of interest, drive, and energy to adapt cross-culturally; this can come from both an innate (intrinsic) desire as well as external (extrinsic) forces. Intrinsic forces are internal motivations, like the enjoyment you get from having culturally diverse experiences. People with high levels of intrinsic motivation are often more extraverted and open to new experiences. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, comes from external motivators, like taking a job in a foreign country or realizing that distinct professional or personal benefits can be gained from an experience. For example, an individual could be motivated to understand different cultures because research shows that people who increase their cross-cultural experiences are more innovative and are better able to share and work with others from different cultures. Ultimately, motivational CQ measures your sense of desire to learn about and function effectively in different cultural settings.
Improving Cultural Intelligence Our level of cultural intelligence is not locked in at birth and can be developed with effort. So, if you're not happy with where you are after assessing your current CQ, you can follow three steps to improve your cultural intelligence. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, undertake some training, and make time every day to reinforce that training. Let's consider some specific ways to implement these steps.
Identify your target areas of CQ by looking at your results from the CQ assessment above. For example, perhaps your cognitive and motivational CQs are high, but your behavioral CQ is low. Knowing this, you can focus on some of the specific questions with low scores and brainstorm ways you can build skill in those areas.
You can also ask for feedback from peers or your boss, based on cross-cultural interactions
46
47
48
49
50
51
Behavioral CQ.
Motivational CQ.
Step 1: Identify CQ Strengths and Weaknesses.
about every possible culture is impossible. For that reason, the point of cognitive CQ is not to be an expert on every culture; rather, it's to understand key cultural differences and how they affect everyday business interactions. For example, communication styles, predominant religious beliefs, and role expectations for men and women often differ across cultures. Culture can also influence managers' effectiveness in specific business functions.
Knowing about someone else's culture doesn't help much unless you can adapt your personal behavior accordingly. Your actions need to demonstrate to the people in the other culture that you have entered and understood their world. Behavioral CQ measures your ability to do this. For example, do you know how you pass your business card to someone from the other culture? Do you know how to hail a taxi? Your ability to mimic and mirror the customs and habits of the people around you proves that you value and respect those cultural norms enough to follow them. In fact, studies show that job candidates who adopt some of the mannerisms of recruiters with cultural backgrounds different from their own are more likely to receive a job offer.
While adapting your behavior to local norms is important, behavioral CQ also covers knowing when not to adapt. For example, U.S. managers who do not to speak up at all in a meeting with Chinese colleagues might violate those colleagues' expectations make them worry that they'd caused offense. Overcompensating or taking a cultural norm to an extreme is easy; the challenge is to adapt in the right way. In addition, you shouldn't adapt to cultural practices that are unethical or potentially harmful to you or your company, such as giving or receiving bribes and discriminating against or objectifying ethnic or gender groups.
Sometimes people have the knowledge and ability to make cultural adaptations but don't care to do so. Motivational CQ assesses your level of interest, drive, and energy to adapt cross-culturally; this can come from both an innate (intrinsic) desire as well as external (extrinsic) forces. Intrinsic forces are internal motivations, like the enjoyment you get from having culturally diverse experiences. People with high levels of intrinsic motivation are often more extraverted and open to new experiences. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, comes from external motivators, like taking a job in a foreign country or realizing that distinct professional or personal benefits can be gained from an experience. For example, an individual could be motivated to understand different cultures because research shows that people who increase their cross-cultural experiences are more innovative and are better able to share and work with others from different cultures. Ultimately, motivational CQ measures your sense of desire to learn about and function effectively in different cultural settings.
Improving Cultural Intelligence Our level of cultural intelligence is not locked in at birth and can be developed with effort. So, if you're not happy with where you are after assessing your current CQ, you can follow three steps to improve your cultural intelligence. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, undertake some training, and make time every day to reinforce that training. Let's consider some specific ways to implement these steps.
Identify your target areas of CQ by looking at your results from the CQ assessment above. For example, perhaps your cognitive and motivational CQs are high, but your behavioral CQ is low. Knowing this, you can focus on some of the specific questions with low scores and brainstorm ways you can build skill in those areas.
You can also ask for feedback from peers or your boss, based on cross-cultural interactions
46
47
48
49
50
51
https://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/lti/main.uni 2020/6/10 17;37 第 2 ⻚页（共 4 ⻚页）
Step 2: Select and Apply Training to Focus on Weaknesses.
Step 3: Organize Daily Tasks to Align with Training.
You can also ask for feedback from peers or your boss, based on cross-cultural interactions they've witnessed. Request specific comments about what you could have done differently to improve your cultural adaptation and how motivated and informed you seemed. Ask how well you adapted your behaviors to interact in the multicultural environment. This type of feedback is most effective if you can ask your colleague or boss before an upcoming encounter so he or she can prepare to analyze what you do well and what you can do better. In this way, the other person can be better prepared to observe the specifics of your behavior and offer detailed and helpful feedback.
Once you've received feedback on your strengths and weaknesses, develop specific training to correct those weaknesses. Don't forget to practice your strengths, too, because CQ can deteriorate over time if not used. For example, to improve your cognitive CQ, you could read books that help you understand how different cultures interact and communicate. You could also visit a museum and focus on the art of a specific country or culture.
If you lag in behavioral CQ, you could enroll in an acting class or role-play specific behaviors that differ from your typical style. Reading about and playing a role as someone from a culture different from your own can be enlightening and help you act in ways that might otherwise feel uncomfortable at first. Finally, if you're struggling with motivational CQ, interview someone who has worked or traveled extensively and ask him or her about cross-cultural interactions.
The last step in improving your cultural intelligence is to integrate your training into your daily tasks as much as possible. Most people are too busy to worry about how they interact cross-culturally. This is a major reason so many people aren't better at it. The key is to find ways to improve your CQ while on the job. Many of the ideas suggested above can be incorporated into your daily work.
Find coworkers who can help you improve your skills by acting as a translator and ensuring that your interpretation is correct. They may be from a different culture or simply have lived or worked in one. People who grew up in a bicultural family (with parents from two different countries) have personal experience with understanding multiple cultural perspectives and are especially good at identifying ways to bridge them.
Another tip is to find out what resources your company has access to or is willing to provide. Some companies (usually multinationals) have access to training materials and will sometimes offer reimbursement for cultural training. Managers often look favorably upon people who want to improve their CQ. That desire shows not only that you are interested in improving a skill set but also that you are a potential candidate for a foreign assignment. When selecting people for these assignments, managers look especially for willingness and ability to live and work in a foreign environment.
52
Concept Check 8.4 ! "
Question 1 of 3 NEXT NEXT
Question 1
What are the three types of cultural intelligence?
Personal, Societal, Governmental
Lingual, Behavioral, Societal
Step 2: Select and Apply Training to Focus on Weaknesses.
Step 3: Organize Daily Tasks to Align with Training.
You can also ask for feedback from peers or your boss, based on cross-cultural interactions they've witnessed. Request specific comments about what you could have done differently to improve your cultural adaptation and how motivated and informed you seemed. Ask how well you adapted your behaviors to interact in the multicultural environment. This type of feedback is most effective if you can ask your colleague or boss before an upcoming encounter so he or she can prepare to analyze what you do well and what you can do better. In this way, the other person can be better prepared to observe the specifics of your behavior and offer detailed and helpful feedback.
Once you've received feedback on your strengths and weaknesses, develop specific training to correct those weaknesses. Don't forget to practice your strengths, too, because CQ can deteriorate over time if not used. For example, to improve your cognitive CQ, you could read books that help you understand how different cultures interact and communicate. You could also visit a museum and focus on the art of a specific country or culture.
If you lag in behavioral CQ, you could enroll in an acting class or role-play specific behaviors that differ from your typical style. Reading about and playing a role as someone from a culture different from your own can be enlightening and help you act in ways that might otherwise feel uncomfortable at first. Finally, if you're struggling with motivational CQ, interview someone who has worked or traveled extensively and ask him or her about cross-cultural interactions.
The last step in improving your cultural intelligence is to integrate your training into your daily tasks as much as possible. Most people are too busy to worry about how they interact cross-culturally. This is a major reason so many people aren't better at it. The key is to find ways to improve your CQ while on the job. Many of the ideas suggested above can be incorporated into your daily work.
Find coworkers who can help you improve your skills by acting as a translator and ensuring that your interpretation is correct. They may be from a different culture or simply have lived or worked in one. People who grew up in a bicultural family (with parents from two different countries) have personal experience with understanding multiple cultural perspectives and are especially good at identifying ways to bridge them.
Another tip is to find out what resources your company has access to or is willing to provide. Some companies (usually multinationals) have access to training materials and will sometimes offer reimbursement for cultural training. Managers often look favorably upon people who want to improve their CQ. That desire shows not only that you are interested in improving a skill set but also that you are a potential candidate for a foreign assignment. When selecting people for these assignments, managers look especially for willingness and ability to live and work in a foreign environment.
52
Concept Check 8.4 ! "
Question 1 of 3 NEXT NEXT
Question 1
What are the three types of cultural intelligence?
Personal, Societal, Governmental
Lingual, Behavioral, Societal
https://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/lti/main.uni 2020/6/10 17;37 第 3 ⻚页（共 4 ⻚页）
Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Question Attempts: 0 of 1 used CHECK ANSWER
Lingual, Behavioral, Societal
Cognitive, Behavioral, Motivational
Physical, Mental, Emotional
Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Question Attempts: 0 of 1 used CHECK ANSWER
Lingual, Behavioral, Societal
Cognitive, Behavioral, Motivational
Physical, Mental, Emotional
https://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/lti/main.uni 2020/6/10 17;37 第 4 ⻚页（共 4 ⻚页）