Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
This is a popular construct that is widely used among countries. Some definitions are:
1. A person's capability to adapt as s/he interacts with others from different cultural
backgrounds;
2. A measure of a person’s capacity to function effectively in a multi-cultural
environment;
3. Knowledge or understanding of how a person from a particular country, race,
religion, etc. lives and behaves, and how this affects the way they do business. (RUG
MCD slides week 1, 2020)
We can improve it because it is a ‘capacity’. So how is it different from emotional
intelligence? The two constructs are quite different from each other. The key differences are
that emotional intelligence is about understanding and regulation your own emotions and that
of others. Emotional intelligence is about understanding ‘human needs’
Cultural intelligence > Emotional intelligence
- A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same
time what makes each of us different from one another
- A person with high cultural intelligence can tease out of a person's or group's behavior those
features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this
group, and those that are neither universal nor idiosyncratic (= eigenzinning)
The complexity of operating multinational teams is well known, but one of the major
challenges is to understand the motives and thoughts underlying team members’ action and
intents (Earley, P.C. & Mosakowski, E. 2004).
How to develop cultural intelligence? Three sources: Head, heart and body.
1. Head (thinking, knowledge)
Cognative means learning about your own and other cultures, and cultural diversity.
Metacognative is learning how you process and acquire cultural knowledge.
Developing the head is about learning about beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign
cultures is only the first step. You will need learning strategies for culture-general
knowledge. This consists of two components: specific strategies for learning to learn
a.k.a. self-assessment; and cultural intuition, a sense of what is happening and why.
2. Heart (energizing, personal attributes)
Motivational means emotions, gaining rewards and strength from acceptance and
success. Adapting to a new culture involves overcoming obstacles and setbacks. It is
needed to believe in own efficacy, where confidence grows due to perseverance in
past challenges and it is about reengaging, not disengaging. The root of confidence is
mastery of a particular task of set of circumstances.
3. Body (action, personal skills)
Behavioral means using your senses and adapting your movements and body language
to blend in. Knowing what to do is one thing, doing it is another. ‘Disarming’ foreign
partners by learned gestures and behaviors is not enough. It is needed to have evidence
that you have already to some extent entered their world. Social mimicry is a
synchronized give and take of words and gestures that creates a flow of goodwill
between two people. It is about balance: avoid caricatures.
,Global mindset
- Intellectual capital: knowledge and capacity to learn (global business savvy, cognitive
complexity, cosmopolitan outlook)
- Psychological capital: openness to differences and capacity to change (passion for
diversity, thirst for adventure, self-assurance)
- Social capital: ability to build trusting relationships with those who are different
(intercultural empathy, interpersonal impact)
Complexities added by virtual setting differences in language proficiency and accents can
further complicate cooperation and communication in a virtual setting. Differences in cultures
are even as difficult as differences in institutions, resources, knowledge, skills, incentives and
personalities.
Strategically, the ability of an organization to develop the CQ (Cultural Intelligence) of its
managers can be an important resource when competing in the global marketplace. A
company can enhance the cultural capabilities of its managers in two ways. First, existing
managers can be trained using methods targeting the specific strengths and weaknesses of
CQ. Example: low on the ‘head’ means practice thinking more systematically about how to
learn in new cultural settings. Second, a company can select managers for their CQ attributes
rather than trying to train them.
X-Culture experience
- Differences in English language proficiency
- Differences in vocabulary use and accents
- The challenge of international managements is not just managing differences in
culture
- Differences in institutions, resources, knowledge, skills and personalities, etc. are at
least as important
- Part of cultural intelligence is to learn to recognize where differences in behavior
come from: do people think or value things differently? Or would I act in the same
way in their circumstances?
- Do not lose track of what makes us human
ARTICLES
1.1 Javidan, Teagarden, & Bowen (2010): Making it Overseas. April Issue.
Global mindset is the success of being a global leader and an effective manager in a cross-
cultural environment. Global mindset has three main components: intellectual capital,
psychological capital and social capital.
- Intellectual capital, or knowledge of international business and the capacity to learn
- Psychological capital, or openness to different cultures and the capacity to change
- Social capital, the ability to form connections, to bring people together and to
influence stakeholders, incl: colleagues, clients, suppliers, and regulatory agencies.
, What we learned is that success abroad hinges on something we call a global mind-set. This
mind-set has three main components: intellectual capital, or knowledge of international
business and the capacity to learn; psychological capital, or openness to different cultures and
the capacity to change; and social capital, the ability to form connections, to bring people
together, and to influence stakeholders—including colleagues, clients, suppliers, and
regulatory agencies—who are unlike you in cultural heritage, professional background, or
political outlook. The most effective international leaders are strong in all three dimensions.
A global mindset is often developed early in life.
For intellectual capital, your capacity to understand how your business works on a global
level, the three attributes are:
1. Global business savvy: a strong grasp of how the industry operates worldwide, how
global customers behave, how your competitors target their needs and habits, and how
strategic risk varies by geography.
2. Cognitive complexity: the ability to piece together multiple scenarios with many
moving parts, without becoming paralyzed by the number of options.
3. Cosmopolitan outlook: an active interest in the culture, history, geography, and
political and economic systems of different parts of the world.
Psychological capital
1. Passion for diversity: a penchant for exploring other parts of the world, experiencing
other cultures, and trying new ways of doing things.
2. Thirst for adventure: an appreciation for and ability to thrive in unpredictable and
complex environments.
3. Self-assurance: self-confidence, a sense of humor, a willingness to take risks in new
contexts, and high levels of energy; the ability to be energized, rather than drained, by
a foreign context.
Social capital For social capital, which helps you build trusting relationships with
people who are different from you, the three most important attributes are:
1. Intellectual empathy: the ability to engage and connect emotionally with
people from other parts of the world.
2. Interpersonal impact: the ability to bring together divergent views,
develop consensus, and maintain credibility; and skill at building networks—
not just with peers and senior leaders but with other, less obvious potential
connections.
3. Diplomacy: listening to what is said and what is not said, ease in conversations
with people who are different from you, and a greater inclination to ask than to
answer.
Development plan to managers: → How to gain the three capitals?
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