Intercultural skills means-
• Leads to bridging cultural different business behaviour
• Generates empathy during intercultural encounters
• Leads to adequate solutions for dealing with different business cultures
• Is focused on the individual level
• Skills help to create mutual beneficial individual relationships
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
What is intercultural sensitivity?
Intercultural sensitivity is all about-
• Leads to instant recognition of cultural different behaviour
• Generates empathy during intercultural encounters
• Leads to asking clarification and verifying cultural misunderstandings
• Is focused on the individual level
• Sensitivity creates mutual beneficial personal relationships
To quote an example of how important is intercultural sensitivity I would like to tell the episode that happened between an Indian cricketer (Harbhajan Singh) and Australian cricketer (Andrew Symond). Harbhajan had referred Symond as monkey in a fit of anger during the cricket match. This angered Symond and the Australian team very much, as in Australia if you call somebody monkey it amounts to racial abuse. It seems to me that the whole incident was because of cultural insensitivity on the side of Harbhajan. As for calling someone monkey in India is no big deal.
• Leads to instant recognition of cultural different behaviour
• Generates empathy during intercultural encounters
• Leads to asking clarification and verifying cultural misunderstandings
• Is focused on the individual level
• Sensitivity creates mutual beneficial personal relationships
To quote an example of how important is intercultural sensitivity I would like to tell the episode that happened between an Indian cricketer (Harbhajan Singh) and Australian cricketer (Andrew Symond). Harbhajan had referred Symond as monkey in a fit of anger during the cricket match. This angered Symond and the Australian team very much, as in Australia if you call somebody monkey it amounts to racial abuse. It seems to me that the whole incident was because of cultural insensitivity on the side of Harbhajan. As for calling someone monkey in India is no big deal.
Friday, April 24, 2009
What does intercultural awareness do?
From a study that we have done on the impact of intercultural awareness the following are some of the key findings-
We realized that building awareness is a very powerful way to bridge the cultural differences. Many forms of awareness building was done, the most effective one seems to be the exchange program. It has helped to understand cultural differences at the individual and team level. It has helped in generating knowledge on different cultures and how they operate. It has lead to looking for cultural clues and providing explanation for misunderstandings, reduced judgemental behaviours from either party.
We have seen that cultural awareness has lead to open mind among the teams. By nature there are far more interactions and the quality of interactions are improved. There is a shift in the interactions from formal and business like to the informal-collaborative with a focus on the end gaols to be met.
We realized that building awareness is a very powerful way to bridge the cultural differences. Many forms of awareness building was done, the most effective one seems to be the exchange program. It has helped to understand cultural differences at the individual and team level. It has helped in generating knowledge on different cultures and how they operate. It has lead to looking for cultural clues and providing explanation for misunderstandings, reduced judgemental behaviours from either party.
We have seen that cultural awareness has lead to open mind among the teams. By nature there are far more interactions and the quality of interactions are improved. There is a shift in the interactions from formal and business like to the informal-collaborative with a focus on the end gaols to be met.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Seeing the world through different lens
• Cultural diversity is not something that goes away tomorrow: it makes doing business more complex but enriches global business as long as the best of both worlds are recognised
• Basic concepts (like agreements) have different meaning to cultures involved in the team
• Learn to foresee and calculate how others will act / react
• To minimise unpleasant surprises and enable the team to interact successfully. E.g. business dilemma: Americans are interested mainly in profit and the Japanese in market share: how to proceed?
• Basic concepts (like agreements) have different meaning to cultures involved in the team
• Learn to foresee and calculate how others will act / react
• To minimise unpleasant surprises and enable the team to interact successfully. E.g. business dilemma: Americans are interested mainly in profit and the Japanese in market share: how to proceed?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Key cross-cultural competence to be considered
• Space orientation
• Time: past, present, future orientation
• Communication patterns for meetings
• Listening habits for aspects of sales, marketing & advertising
• Body language as 80% of our message
• Time: past, present, future orientation
• Communication patterns for meetings
• Listening habits for aspects of sales, marketing & advertising
• Body language as 80% of our message
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Time perception and gathering information in various countries
· Linear-actives: Germans, Swiss, American
· Multi-actives: Latin Americans, Arabs
· Re-actives: Chinese, Japanese, Finns
· Multi-actives: Latin Americans, Arabs
· Re-actives: Chinese, Japanese, Finns
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
What are the traits in creative individuals and what influences these traits?
We find creative people to possess great amount of curiosity and openness on the one hand, and an almost obsessive perseverance on the other. Biological inheritance is a possibility, however what clearly come out is that early background has a significant effect on individuals. Interest and curiosity tend to be simulated by positive experiences with family, by a supportive emotional environment, by a rich cultural heritage, by exposure to many opportunities, and by high expectations.
In contrast, perseverance seems to be developing as a response to a precarious emotional environment, a dysfunctional family, solitude, a feeling of rejection and marginality. Most people experience either one or the other of these early environments, but not both of them. (Excerpts from Creativity, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
In contrast, perseverance seems to be developing as a response to a precarious emotional environment, a dysfunctional family, solitude, a feeling of rejection and marginality. Most people experience either one or the other of these early environments, but not both of them. (Excerpts from Creativity, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
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