The 5-Dimension Intercultural Competence Model

In restaurants, I sometimes eat dishes with ingredients that I don’t know. This is an element of Behavioral Flexibility because of the habit to consume dishes with ingredients that I do not know. Considering that the eating place is a restaurant, it does not necessarily mean that any food consumed there must be studied or researched on before consumption as long as other people are eating it (Laurent, 2016). This shows my ability to interpret a restaurant set up like other consumers and go ahead to consume dishes with ingredients that I sometimes do not know.

I always seek contact with other people to learn as much as possible about their culture. This is a Knowledge Discovery dimension of cultural competence because of communication and contact help in understanding other people better while giving me the best chances to blend with them culturally.

When other people don’t feel comfortable in my presence, I always notice it. This is a Communicative Awareness factor, which comes as a result of no direct verbal or physical communication and can give me the opportunity to show other people how modest I am, especially with strangers. However, making them feel comfortable is recommended.

I always find it easy to adapt to people from diverse origins. Respect for others is essential in making people from diverse origins like you (Samova et al., 2014). In this case, I always find it easy to adapt to people from the diverse origin as a result of respecting them from the very moment that we meet each other. This way, they will respect me back thus creating a sense of mutual respect.

I am sometimes comfortable with not understanding things if I am in a strange place or foreign country. This is an element of tolerance of Ambiguity. Knowing that something that is strange to me is not strange to foreigners comes as a result of acknowledging that I am also strange to foreigners and that should not be a big a deal (Schnabel et al., 2015). This sometimes happens as long as the environment that I am in is safe and accommodates me accordingly.

When there are colleagues in my work area who constitute an ethnic minority, I always try to involve them in the majority group. Empathy is visible in trying to involve workmates from an ethnic minority in the majority group regarding the need to show equality to workmates from an ethnic minority group. Furthermore, empathy comes naturally, and this kind of involvement is essential in achieving a great working environment in workplaces (Hellerstein-Yehezkel, 2017).

When colleagues or superiors from different cultures criticize my work, I always consider changing my work habits accordingly. Behavioral Flexibility is vital in ensuring that a person develops positively culturally to blend with different people from diverse cultures, uniquely, when they are your colleagues or your superiors.

These results that portray my intercultural competency are favorable in achieving the goal of creating a workable and friendly relationship among diverse cultures at any given moment ( Hernández-Moreno, 2017). I agree with my level of competency when my relationship with other cultures is in question. This is because intercultural competency calls for Behavioral Flexibility, Knowledge Discovery, Communicative Awareness, Respect for others, Tolerance for ambiguity, and Empathy which are all incorporated positively in my data for intercultural competence assessment. 

I chose the themes of knowledge and respect in examining my three instances (8,9 and 10). My first instance: “You have been selected to take part in an international work project with an associate European company. This will involve you spending 3–4 months in a country which you have not visited before, although it is possible that you learned some of the languages at school.” In this case, I would learn or review the language and look for official sources on history and culture about the people in my destination before I leave for the international work project. Apparently, because I have never visited the country, I cannot assert that those people’s culture and history resemble mine. I will, therefore, have to find a way to familiarize myself with the history and culture of the citizens of the country which I am headed for just to ensure that I will not feel strange whenever I witness their culture within their country. Likewise, because my destination country might be speaking a different language from mine, I would familiarize myself with their national language to easily blend in with them regarding different topics that would be discussed during the international work project. Nevertheless, considering that the work project will be on an international platform, the audience that I will be engaging myself with will be from all over the world (Czerwionka, Artamonova, and Barbosa, 2014). This gives more room to learn about the people who will attend the work project so that I can get to know their culture and languages and allow myself to fit in an international platform culturally. All the preparations would be bundled as a show of my knowledge of what to do before and during the international work project regarding intercultural competence.

On my second instance: “You have been appointed to placement in another country for training purposes. Early in your placement, you discover that the system of hierarchy is different from that practiced in your own country. For example, you are used to people dressing informally, using first names, eating in the same canteen. Here there are much more formality, rules, and regulations, and people don’t even speak the same way to each other. It is very strange, and you cannot help feeling that your way is much better.” In this case, I would seek an explanation from superiors to understand reasons (Dusi, Messetti, and Steinbach, 2014). This will also give room to know the people in person and maybe be shown more than what I will have already witnessed. I would also make an effort to be patient, tolerant so that I can blend with the people that I found there culturally as time goes by. I would also try out a different way of behaving to fit in, co-operate, adapt self to others so that I do not feel uncomfortable while not making the others feel uncomfortable too (Chuang, 2014). I would do all these as a show of respect for superiors and colleagues. This kind of connection would enable anyone to blend in culturally with different people (Dusi, Messetti, and Steinbach, 2014).

On my third instance: “A young person from a different country comes to work at your firm for six months. You are aware that he is rather isolated and you consider the idea of inviting him to join you and your friends. The problem is that your group of friends has known each other for a long time and a stranger would find it difficult to fit in.” I would Invite him even if interests are different and go ahead to tell friends that I am bringing a stranger and explain why I would also find out whether the person would like to join our group of friends and later on invite him because I would like to be asked if I were in the same position.

On the thirteenth instance of roleplay, Mr. Wang doesn't think this meeting is the place to talk business. He only wants to get to know Mr. Parker but doesn't take him seriously as a negotiation partner. On the fourteenth instance of roleplay, Mr. Wang is just curious. On the fifteenth instance of roleplay, Mr. Wang is embarrassed because Mr. Parker is so eager to conclude a deal. On the sixteenth instance of roleplay, Mr. Wang is just trying to keep the conversation going, but he knows that Mr. Parker has no time for cultural activities on such a short business trip. On the seventeenth instance of roleplay, Mr. Wang isn't aware of the details of the contract. Mr. Parker should have given Mr. Wang more information and ask him to make the most critical decisions. The details can then be worked out with Mr. Li. On the eighteenth instance, Mr. Parker and Mr. Wang each followed the rules of their own culture. Mr. Parker should have explained himself better and asked Mr. Wang to say more clearly what he means. This conversation shows that Mr. Wand lacks cultural respect for their agenda and for Mr. Parker too but is culturally knowledgeable about basic things in China.

References

Chuang, L. M. L. (2014).  Effective computer-mediated intercultural communication factors: the influence of intercultural communication competence, social cues, and accommodative behavior in intercultural online exchange (Doctoral dissertation, [Honolulu]: [the University of Hawaii at Manoa],[August 2014]).

Czerwionka, L., Artamonova, T., & Barbosa, M. (2014). Intercultural competence during a short-term study abroad: A focus on knowledge. In  Selected Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence  (Vol. 3, pp. 46-77).

Dusi, P., Messetti, G., & Steinbach, M. (2014). Skills, attitudes, relational abilities & reflexivity: Competencies for a multicultural society.  Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences ,  112 , 538-547.

GarrettRucks, P. (2016).  Intercultural competence in instructed language learning: Bridging theory and practice . IAP.

Hellerstein-Yehezkel, D. (2017). The path to reading comprehension through intercultural competence in the multicultural EFL classroom.  Language and Intercultural Communication ,  17 (3), 323-343.

Hernández-Moreno, B. (2017).  Intercultural Competence and Its Assessment: A Critical Contextualization  (Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, Baltimore County).

Laurent, P. (2016).  Detecting Collective Intercultural Competences: Myth or Reality? DISSERTATION  (Doctoral dissertation, University of St. Gallen).

Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2014).  Intercultural communication: A reader . Cengage Learning.

Schnabel, D. B., Kelava, A., Van de Vijver, F. J., & Seifert, L. (2015). Examining psychometric properties, measurement invariance, and construct validity of a short version of the Test to Measure Intercultural Competence (TMIC-S) in Germany and Brazil.  International Journal of Intercultural Relations ,  49 , 137-155.