Cultural Intelligence, Multiculturalism, and Diversity

From the global leadership perspective, cultural intelligence, diversity, and multiculturalism play a vital role in the running of a business. Leaders communicate the vision of a company by influencing employees to embrace different cultures and work together toward the goal of an organization. In this case, cultural intelligence permits leaders to gain information and develop new skills that help them succeed. Through connectivity of individuals from a different background, the culture within an organization encourages dialogue between radically different cultures with perspectives. Multiculturalism enhances different individuals from different backgrounds, culture, and multicultural to work together to impact the strategies of a company. Consequently, generating an environment in which all individuals feel appreciated, and respected enables leaders to acknowledge differences and use them as a valuable asset of an organization. In this case, culture intelligence, diversity, and multiculturalism may differ from country to country, but they all play a significant role by bringing different employees with different variety and culture to increases skills and experience, improves, the performance of employees and creates innovation.

Keywords: multiculturalism, culture, diversity

Culture, Diversity, and Multiculturalism

Meaning of the term’s cultural intelligence, multiculturalism, and diversity.

cultural intelligence

From the global leadership perspective, cultural knowledge is the capability of an individual to function effectually, in unfamiliar and artistic scenery and ability by using capacities and skills correctly in a cross-cultural environment. The business environment has become more competitive, dynamic and complex due to globalization advent. Cultural intelligence is the capability of business and people to function effectively. Workforces who possess a higher level of cultural intelligence plays a vital role in associating knowledge gaps, cultural background gaps, and divides in an organization (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015).

Employees can acquire cultural intelligence by training their peers about unique cultures, conveying knowledge between despairing groups, rationing to improve interpersonal connections and smoothening the interphase processes in a multicultural employee (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015). Further, employees who are culturally intelligent possess a higher perspective to drive up inspiration and invention due to their capability to assimilate diverse resources and help a company in making the best use of various perceptions brought by the multicultural workforce.

Multiculturalism

Nowadays multiculturalism is very common with the globalization. Individuals of different religious, background and cultures work together in one place. Multicultural leadership includes deep involvement with various cultures to appreciate their values and specific history. A manager can professionally connect the dots and highlight important variances between cultures that influence business policy. In this case, multiculturalism is when different individuals from different backgrounds, culture, and multicultural groups exist within a company, who work together for the benefit of a business and the benefit of themselves.

Diversity.

From the global perspective, the difference is the capability of understanding and accepting an individual irrespective of his or her background. Diversity means a group or an individual and show respects toward them and understand that each person is unique and have differences. This can be along the age, status, social economics, religious, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015). In other words, diversity is about understanding each other beyond simple tolerance in embracing different cultural dimensions and the diversity within each.

Analyze the importance of these concepts or competencies in effective global leadership.

Cultural intelligence

Leadership entails communicating a vision and influencing others toward the goal of an organization. In global leadership perspective, cultural information enables leaders to gain knowledge and develop new skills that help them succeed. Cultural intelligence leaders understand that the way they communicate is expository to their success. By following the cultural traits of their followers and adapt to a given atmosphere, it will be easier for them to communicate effectively.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism involves connectivity if individuals from a different background, the culture within an organization. In global leadership perspective, encourages dialogue between radically different cultures that have different views. Through multiculturalism, leaders can lead a global workforce with distributed teams from across the world having team members drawn from different languages, ethnicity, languages and religious beliefs.

Diversity

From the perspective of global leadership, diversity includes creating an atmosphere in which all individuals feel valued, respected and have the same opportunities. Diversity enables leaders to acknowledge differences and use them as a valuable asset of an organization. Leaders who value diversity increases skills and experience, improves the performance of employees and creates innovation.

Compare the ways different countries and cultures conduct business. (Keep this limited to 3-4 countries or cultures, including the United States.)

United State

It is the third largest country both in population and size with a multicultural mosaic of three hundred millions of people mixed of heritage and race (Hall, Covarrubias & Kirschbaum, 2017). Regardless of the traditional and cultural diversity, united state displays a distinct business culture. The United State corporate culture is characterized by a heavy emphasis on individuals and achievements. In this case, professionalism, personal skill, and responsibility for separate presentation are valued (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015). This creates a work culture where superiors are only accessed when needed and where most corporate is carried out separately.

Canada

This is the largest country in the world. Based on the national values business communication is expected. There is an excellent variation in customs and etiquette from one region to the next. The business culture in this country is influenced by European culture. The core values of Canada comprise of equality, social justice, and inclusiveness. The primary business culture of this country is to treat people with courtesy, respect, and humility.

China

It is the second largest country in the word. The business culture in China is that one should be well prepared in business meetings with at least 20 copies of the proposal to handle out. Individuals enter the meeting room in a hierarchical order. They assume that the first to enter the room is the head of the delegation. According to their culture having too many emotions could have an adverse effect on business negotiation.

Describe the demographics of today’s workforce

Demographics are various traits that can be used to determine the preference or the buying behavior of a customer. In today’s demographic workforce, consumers are targeted with similar demographic characteristics to minimize the sales and the profits of a company. The demographic factors in today’s workforce comprise of birthrate, level of education, gender, marital status, occupation, and the level of income (DeLancey, 2013). Consequently, current workforce demographic looks significantly different since minorities, women, and other employees over fifty-five years have increased their employment considerably. Women make up the most significant share of the workforce. According to researches, today’s women are increasing their share of job regarding numbers by taking up a step-in term of the best paying one. Responding to increasing diversity, with labor markets, organizations should adapt to their change in demographics.

Describe at least two situations in which misunderstandings related to culture could occur.

cultural ignorance and insensitivity

Culture misunderstanding arises whenever there are cultural differences. The cause of disagreement stems from cultural ignorance and insensitivity that forces community services and service workers to overemphasize or underestimate the cultural influence in their working environment.

The difference in cultural practice. Individuals do not automatically discuss their artistic tradition. However, their cultural practices become invisible to conflicts or misunderstanding regarding particular matters for instance not accepting food due to cultural dietary tradition. Therefore, it is important to share the cultural differences to avoid misunderstanding. Describe strategies for improving cultural intelligence and expanding comprehension of multiculturalism and diversity.

Strategies for improving cultural intelligence

Understanding of self-culture

Before understanding the cultures of others, it is important for an individual to first understand his or her lifestyle. Taking a personal inventory of the reason one believes, what to think and where one comes from will help in understanding others. Additionally, one can acquire thorough knowledge through interactions with others (Janssen, Kuipers & Verboord, 2008).

Experiencing different culture. Having experience of being surrounded by another culture is very formative. Cross-cultural interaction is the degree of separation one achieves from one’s religion and background. Therefore, experiencing different cultures across borders helps one to increase his or her cultural intelligence.

Expanding comprehension of multiculturalism and diversity.

Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse culture such as religious, racial or group culture manifested in common behaviors, the pattern of thinking, and spiritual. On the other hand, diversity encompasses respect and acceptance. Many individuals use multiculturalism and diversity interchangeably, however; the two terms are different. Diversity is the differences between individuals the differences can be informed of religion, background, social, economic status gender or sexual orientation. In most cases, variety is from the perspective of the workplace that focuses more on the policies set by the government (DeLancey, 2013). On the other hand, multiculturalism goes deeper than diversity by focusing on inclusiveness, respect, and understanding and look on unique power in society.

Conclusion

Therefore, multiculturalism, cultural intelligence, and diversity add up one thing in an organization. In this case, workers experience a wide range of differences, it is the role of a company to ensure that all employees in a company are accommodated and live in harmony with each other. Additionally, different countries conduct business in different ways based on employees’ culture, diversity, and multiculturalism. Workplace demographics carry the traits of individuals in an organization. Currently, there are variations of people culture since employees in a given company come from different background and various part of the world.

Reference

Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2015). Conceptualization of cultural intelligence: Definition, distinctiveness, and nomological network. In Handbook of cultural information (pp. 21-33). Routledge.

DeLancey, R. M. (2013). Employees Perceptions of Multiculturalism and Diversity in Multinational Corporations. African Journal of Business Management, 7(35), 3559-3574.

Hall, B. J., Covarrubias, P. O., & Kirschbaum, K. A. (2017). Among cultures: The challenge of communication. Routledge.

Janssen, S., Kuipers, G., & Verboord, M. (2008). Cultural globalization and arts journalism: The international orientation of arts and culture coverage in Dutch, French, German, and US newspapers, 1955 to 2005. American sociological review, 73(5), 719-740.