Developing cultural intelligence: learning together with reciprocal mentoring

摘要

Globalization and the consequent immigration have changed the cultural makeup of societies across the globe. Societies, which were traditionally homogenous, are now characterized by diversity of race, religion, and ethnicity. The same is reflected in organizations that have increasingly become highly multicultural and multilingual. Crosscultural competence, a skill traditionally associated with expats, has now become an indispensable expertise that all employees need to possess, as they are continuously placed in cross-cultural situations. Not only your co-workers but also you may need to face customers, suppliers, or other organizational stakeholders, who might come from different cultural backgrounds owing to the internationalization of firms. Being able to navigate these intercultural situations successfully becomes a coveted skill in today’s workplaces. Professors Soon Ang and Christopher Earley defined this capability of being able to succeed in cross-cultural situations as cultural intelligence (CQ). Being culturally intelligent helps an individual not only work effectively and efficiently in cultures different from his/her own but also avoid or mitigate a lot of problems attributed to cultural differences, namely, conflicts, mistrust, and stereotyping and bias. CQ is not a culture specific construct but a competency that enables adjustment and success in any foreign culture. Extant research exists on the individual, team, and organizational outcomes of CQ. So how do we develop CQ amongst our employees? CQ was conceptualized as a malleable quality that can be developed through various interventions. Research exhaustively talks about the different methods of intercultural training, ranging from cognitive knowledge to behavioral training, which have been found effective to cultivate CQ amongst employees. But less research exists on how co-workers can help each other develop their CQ levels. What we aim to focus on in this article is how the age-old organization