Cultural Awareness in Increasing Organizational Effectiveness
Most of what is written about leadership has been written by western scholars and practitioners—mostly from the United States. Thus, what we have studied in this module so far reflects western assumptions and values about how to improve leadership performance.
But leadership quality, we know, is mostly about perception. If the followers perceive that a person is a leader, that person will be treated with respect and the followers will grant him the power and authority to guide their actions. These perceptions can vary across cultures, and successful global leaders know that leadership is viewed differently in different cultures and modify their behaviors to align with culturally diverse expectations. This is what is called Cultural Intelligence.
Required Reading
The following reading discusses the importance of cultural awareness in increasing organizational effectiveness:
O’Reilly, C. (2013). Why is cultural intelligence important? Retrieved from http://www(dot)trainingzone(dot)co(dot)uk/topic/soft-skills/why-cultuiral-intelligence-important/181942
Assignment
In this exercise, there are two sets of quizzes (A & B) that you will participate in.
Select either the Cross Cultural Work Scenarios or Working Globally Across Cultures quiz from http://www(dot)commisceo-global(dot)com/quizzes/cultural-awareness-quizzes?view=qcategory&cat_id=39
Choose any one of the country quizzes at http://www(dot)commisceo-global(dot)com/quizzes/cultural-awareness-quizzes?view=qcategory&cat_id=41 that looks interesting to you.
After completing the quizzes, address the following questions in a 2- to 3-page essay:
Which quizzes did you take?
Include your actual results in an Appendix at the end of your paper.
Were you surprised at your score?
What strengths do you think you have in intercultural awareness?
What weaknesses are you able to identify?
If there were gaps between your assessment results and your own thoughts about your level of cultural awareness, why do these gaps exist?
Create a plan of specific, concrete actions you can take to build on your strengths and improve areas of weakness so that you improve your cultural awareness.
Why is it important for managers to increase their levels of cultural awareness?
SLP Assignment Expectations
Your paper will be evaluated using the criteria on the SLP rubric (see the rubric for more detail): Assignment-Driven, Critical Thinking, Business Writing, Effective Use of Information, Citing Sources, and Timeliness.
2-3 pages double spaced.
Leaders and Leadership
Student's Name
Institution
Course
Professor's Name
Date
Leaders and Leadership
Which quizzes did you take?
I did the cross-cultural work scenario test and the UK culture quiz. The results are attached in the appendix section of this paper.
Were you surprised at your score?
The score surprised me. The score indicated that I have adequate knowledge about cross-cultural work issues after scoring 100% in one trial. I am afraid this may not be the case because I have not exhausted all the cultural scenarios considering that there are several cultures globally (Noronha Cunha et al., 2020). For example, I do not have enough knowledge of the culture of indigenous people living in Africa. Therefore, the first quiz's score may not reflect my knowledge of intercultural work relationships.
However, the results on UK culture did not surprise me. I have interacted with different content on the UK culture because of its position in the global economic, political and social spheres. I scored 80%, failing two questions only.
What strengths do you think you have in intercultural awareness?
I identified two significant strengths that I have in intercultural awareness. The first one is communication. I prioritize communication in intercultural communication because it is the only way I can understand other cultures (O'Reilly, 2013). This helps me interact with them.
The second strength I identified is tolerance (Noronha Cunha et al., 2020). Cultures have different practices, some of which may be against our values. However, tolerance helps us cope with other cultures and learn their dos and don'ts, which is crucial for intercultural integration.
What weaknesses are you able to identify?
One weakness I identified is not being sensitive to other cultures. The difference in cultures needs one to be sensitive when interacting to avoid annoying or offending the party from another culture (O'Reilly, 2013). However, I lack this sense of sensitivity. I often address people from other cultures without filtering my words and questions, which prevents me from establishing a good and lasting relationships.
If there were gaps between your assessment results and your own thoughts about your level of cultural awareness, why do these gaps exist?
The gaps exist because of the nature of the questions asked in the assessment. In most cases, the questions come from the major cultures in the world that people have researched or interacted with in real life (O'Reilly, 2013). However, a challenge exists in other cultures that may be a minority but significant. For example, African cultures are different and numerous. The region is promising for investment because it is developing and has numerous opportunities (Noronha Cunha et al., 2020). This makes it crucial to learn about their culture. Therefore, questions focusing on African cultures may produce different results, thus the gaps in the assessment results and the level of cultural awareness.
Create a plan of specific, concrete actions you can take to build on your strengths and improve areas of weakness so that you improve your cultural awareness.
I would take two steps that I believe are crucial in building my strengths and improving my weaknesses in cultural awareness. The first is gathering enough knowledge on cultural awareness. This information would include how cultural awareness impacts economic, political and social sectors (Satrio et al., 2020). This would be the first step in strengthening my cultural awareness skills.
The second step is seeking cultural awareness. This involves learning the dos and don'ts of various cultures. This way, I would know how to approach specific cultures and interact with them easily (O'Reilly, 2013). I would also know the values I would have to compromise or enhance based on cultural differences.
Why is it important for managers to increase their levels of cultural awareness?
Managers interact with people from various cultural backgrounds, making it crucial for managers to increase their cultural awareness levels. Among the people they interact with are the employees, shareholders and clients, who may all come from different cultural backgrounds (O'Reilly, 2013). This means that managers have a significant task to interact with all of these people in a way that pleases them and makes them feel relaxed (Satrio et al., 2020). They would need to learn their cultures to know how to handle each of the cultures. Therefore, this makes it crucial for managers to increase their levels of cultural awareness.
References
Noronha Cunha, S., Bigotte Chorão, G., Moreira Silva, M., & Ribeiro, S. (2020). Cultural awareness and distance communication. Developing technology mediation in learning environments, 117-128.
O'Reilly, C. (2013). Why is cultural intelligence important? Retrieved from /topic/soft-skills/why-cultuiral-intelligence-important/181942
Satrio, D., Priyanto, S. H., & Nugraha, A. K. (2020). Viral marketing for cultural product: The role of emotion and cultural awareness to influence purchasing intention. Montenegrin Journal of Economics, 16(2), 77-91.
Appendices
Quiz Results: Cross Cultural Work Scenarios Test
Your result is: 7 / 7 (100.00%).
Wow! Excellent! You passed! Keep up the great work.
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1. Jane and Diana had been working together as teachers in Istanbul, Turkey.
It was coming up to the end of their contracts and had decided they wanted to see a bit more of 'real Turkey'. As they got further into the countryside and away from Istanbul they started to feel hostility towards them.
On one occasion they stopped at a small coffee house in a village for some refreshments and found themselves the centre of attention. They felt shaken by the numerous stares. Jane and Diane could not understand the difference in attitude between people in Istanbul and those in the countryside.
Which would you say explains this best?
There was no hostility - in many parts of the world people tend to stare at something new or unusual. Istanbulis are a lot more cosmopolitan and are used to Western women.
Women are not allowed to leave the house in rural Turkey. That's why the locals were looking at them.
Re...