Cultural Intelligence: A Key Competence for Managers in a Diverse and Global Workplace

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Cultural IntelligenceA Key Competence for
Managers in a Diverse and Global Workplace

• By
• Yvonne du Plessis
• Sumari ONeil
• Riana van den Bergh

University of Pretoria South Africa
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Overview

• What is Cultural Intelligence
• Importance of Cultural Intelligence
• Purpose of this study
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion Conclusion

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What is Cultural Intelligence?

• The ability to adapt to new cultural settings
• Capability to cooperate effectively with other
  people from a dissimilar cultural background and
  understanding
• Ability to function in Culturally Diverse
  situations

Thomas Inkson (2003) Early Ang (2003) Early,
Ang Tan (2006)
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Basis of Cultural Intelligence (CI)

• CI finds a place alongside the different
  components of intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence (EI)
• Social Intelligence

CI picks up where EI leaves off by taking the
impact of culture on interactions into account
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Components of Cultural Intelligence

• Meta-Cognition (Head)
• Learning Strategies
• Clues to shared understandings

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Importance of (CI)
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Purpose of the Study

• The purpose of this study is to explore how
  managers in South African organizations, who have
  to succeed in an existing multi-cultural
  workplace, perceive the term cultural
  intelligence, as well as its importance as a key
  managerial competence
• Capture the experiences and perceptions of South
  African managers in culturally diverse settings

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WHY?The need for this study

• CI is a relatively new and unexplored concept as
  a holistic phenomenon (lot on Diversity and EI,
  but not CI)
• Assess, Evaluate and Develop managers in diverse
  environments Sustainable performance in diverse
  globally competitive environments
• Intercultural/multi-cultural training
  development

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Methodology

• Qualitative part of a broader study
• Basis of Questionnaire CQ Self Assessment
  (Linn van Dyne Soon Ang, 2005)
• Convenience Sample of 500 SA Managers
• Response Rate 70.6 (353)
• Development of a CI measurement instrument for
  South African Managers
• (Poster presentation by Ms. Sumari ONeil, Dr
  Yvonne du Plessis and Prof Leo Vermeulen)

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Methodology (Cont)

• Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire
• Section A Biographical Information
• Section B Cultural Intelligence
• 37 Closed-ended Items, 5-point Scale
• (Motivation, Cognition, Behaviour)
• 6 Open-ended Questions
• (Experiences, Perceptions,
• Attitudes,Motivation)

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Data analysis

• Qualitative Analysis of 6 Open-Ended Questions
• Emergent themes per question coded
• Frequency Analysis

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Results
Question 38 An employee from another culture
invites you for dinner and you know that the food
may be different to what you are used to. What do
you do?
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Themes
Ask for guidance w.r.t. menu/explore the food
beforehand
Only Accept if I want to get to know the person
better
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Question 39 My most exhilarating moment in
having to deal with people from different
cultures was ..
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Themes
Presenting
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Question 40 My most embarrassing moment in
having to deal with people from different
cultures was
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Themes
Gestures/Comments/Actions
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Question 41 What are your goals as a
manager/supervisor of a multicultural group?
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Themes
Cross-Cultural Understanding
Knowledge Understanding
Respect Differences/Tolerance
Equal/Fair Treatment, Maximising Potential
Organisational Objectives
Productivity
Achieve Results irrespective of Culture
Managing Diversity
Communication
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Question 42 Are you actively trying to learn
about other cultures? How?
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Themes
Learning a new Language
Passive Learning/Not Learning
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Question 43 In having to deal with people from
different cultures I would like to have answers
on the following ..
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Themes
PERCEPTIONS BETWEEN CULTURES
Globalisation
How different cultures perceive each other
Stereotypes/ Specific Cultural Questions
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Discussion Conclusion

• Managers in SA state that CI is important as key
  competence in multicultural settings
• Managers are positively inclined towards learning
  more about different cultures, especially through
  active participation in cultural events, learning
  new languages and interaction with other cultures
• The achievement of organisational goals take
  preference above cultural intelligence

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Key issues that emerged from the analysis

• Participation in multi-cultural events
• Mutual understanding and acceptance
• Achieving organisational objectives
• Learning and understanding through interaction

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Discussion Conclusion (Cont)

• Suggestions for future research
• Test validity of emergent themes (replication
  study)
• Exploring the attitudes, perceptions and
  experiences of managers outside the RSA context
  in order to determine the generalisability of
  results
• Comparison of results across different
  nationalities/countries

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Outcome of the study

• We hope that these shared experiences and
  perceptions of South African managers on Cultural
  Intelligence will inspire
• the rest of the world.
• Managers can benefit
• from CI as key competence, to deliver sustainable
  performance in a diverse
• global competitive environment.

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Any Questions?
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Thank you