Discussion Board Forum NOTES
1. Briefly summarize the article
What were the researchers studying?
Researcher apart of a small but growing research community is gathering information and
data on the efficiency of short-term mission trips.
Answers on whether these trips are having a transformative impact on the participants.
Wanted to know if the participants of the short-term trips and the locals that hosted them
both had a positive experience.
What was the primary thesis of the article?
Exploring the nature of the cross-cultural interactions that occurred between the short-
term missionaries and the locals.
How did they conduct their research?
The finding reported are themes drawn from 3 studies conducted that compared the
experiences of the North American short-term missionaries with the experiences of the
locals who hosted them.
The subjects were 630 North American missionaries (95% from the US, 5% from
Canada) and 380 locals from 23 different countries
Used a grounded theory approach, which included interviews, research journals written
by the North American subjects, surveys, and on-site observation.
What were the results?)
4 key themes that emerged in studying the cross-cultural behavior and thinking among
American short-term missionaries. They were ethnocentrism, bounded-set thinking, the
money factor, and category width.
Further discusses CQ and how it could possibly apply to these short-term missionaries to
improve their behaviors, stereotypes, and thinking cross-culturally.
More research is needed to be collected and the CQ framework is uniquely suited to
address future research and resulting effectiveness of short-term missions.
4 CQ:
o Cognitive CQ
o Metacognitive CQ
o Motivational CQ
o Behavioral CQ
Rather than simply objectifying the peoples of the world as a potential market for goods,
services, or religion, short-term missions undertaken with CQ can be a vehicle for greater
good in the world. CQ provides a way to help direct the growing phenomenon of short-
term missions toward truly exercising kindness as the highest form of wisdom.
2. Using this article as well as other course materials, discuss the implications of
Cultural Intelligence in your chosen professional field.
What cross-cultural challenges exist in your profession?
Communication problems caused by the lack of a common language.
Communication problems caused by different codes of behavior, in interactions with
professional services.
Cultural differences in parent–child relations.
Health problems without adequate medical help available.
Structural barriers which made it difficult to adapt the social service system to the needs
of the minority clients
How will having high CQ help to address those challenges?
CQ allows individuals to gain a better understanding of cultures enabling them to work in
a positive and compassionate way with people from various cultures.
CQ can prevent you from making cultural faux pas that can cause upset and
embarrassment, or potentially undermine a project or deal.
CQ can also give you insights into the culture of every organization you work with. The
more you understand their values and expectations, the better you'll be at playing by their
cultural "rules."
What other research needs to be done in order to develop high CQ in your field?
Be curious and interested in learning about other cultures. ...
Develop an awareness of self in relation to others. ...
Make your mind a clean slate. ...
Develop an awareness of your biases towards other cultures and traditions. ...
Put yourself in situations with people from different cultures.
3. Imagine you were creating a professional development seminar on cultural
intelligence for professionals in your chosen field.
Aside from simply defining CQ, what topics would you focus on?
Cultural competency allows social workers to become more attuned with and sensitive to
individual, family, and group specific needs, values, beliefs, and attitudes in order to
provide more culturally competent interventions, services and supports.
Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to
understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress,
communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse
conflict. ... Social awareness – You have empathy.
How would you help your attendees practically apply CQ to your field?
Learn about people from various cultures and social classes.
Learn a foreign language and, in general, develop your cross-cultural communication
skills.
Volunteer for events that will expose you to teams, organizations, or groups from various
cultures.
Examine how people of various cultures communicate, paying close attention to their
body language.
Aim to learn about a culture's roots as well. You'll not only learn the "laws" of dressing
and eating, but you'll also understand why they exist.
Examine your beliefs on why things happen differently in different societies.
Keep an eye on the news and entertainment in your area. These could reveal new
information about how culture influences actions.
Keep a journal of your cultural impressions, noting both your frustrations and your
triumphs. Your notes will help you deal with immediate issues while still keeping you
focused on long-term CQ improvement.
It's also crucial that you keep an eye on your body language to make sure it's acceptable
and that you're not sending out messages that contradict what you're saying.
I agree that short-term mission trips are a great learning tool. They have made a significant
impact on my life. I do think there is a lack of training and better training could allow for trip
attendees to grow more spiritually. Better training could also help locals not feel like they are of
a lower status than their North American counterparts. I think a huge piece of the training
should happen on the actual trip. When the missionaries are able to process what they are
experiencing on the trip and able to ask questions to someone who understands both the locals
and the missionary’s cultures, it could help them retain what they are learning more. I was
recently on a short-term mission trip where we had a long-term missionary hosting us and
helping us understand the culture better. They did an excellent job incorporating cultural
intelligence training into the week. I walked away from that trip more aware of culture and how
it affects us than I have from any other trip that I have been on. It has continued to shape me
and allow me to see things differently in my daily life. It has softened my heart to people who
are different than me back home, not just on a trip. I think it is healthy when the experiences
and what we have learned, continue to shape us and help us grow in our relationship with Jesus
beyond just the trip.
Katrina,
These are some great ideas for educating teachers on cultural intelligence so they can better
care for their students. I can only speak to what I have seen at my children’s school. They have
had a rising number of Spanish speaking children in my son’s grade, so they put all of the
Spanish speakers in one class, which was my son’s class. Majority of the school day, they had a
bilingual teacher’s assistant from the same culture in the room. It seemed like this helped a lot
for the kids to have the connection with the assistant, but the teacher commented to me that
she wished she understood them better. I believe she was truly trying to care for those kids the
best she could with the lack of training that she had. I love your ideas on how to better equip
the teachers based on the community statistics. I would elaborate just a little and make them
aware of all cultural systems and values, so they could be on the lookout for those in children
who do not fit into the top three cultures. I think it is important for them to be aware of them
even if minimal time is spent on discussing them just in case there are children from other
cultures in their classrooms
