Cultural competence

Ang, Van Ding, and Livermore describe the four possibilities of CQ: motivation (CQ Drive), cognition (CQ Knowledge), metacognition (CQ Strategy) and behavior (CQ Action). The CQ score shows the results of all four opportunities, as well as a series of supporting indicators for each opportunity. Four possibilities arise from an individual development approach to cross-cultural regulation and productivity. ^[5]

• Motivation (CQ-Drive) - a person’s interest and confidence in the effective functioning in a cross-cultural context. This includes: self-interest - enjoyment of cultural diversity, external interest - benefit from experience gained from cultural diversity, self-efficacy - a sense of confidence in the effective functioning in a cross-cultural environment.
• Cognition (CQ-Knowledge) - a person’s knowledge of the similarities and differences of cultures. It includes: business - knowledge of economic and legal systems, interpersonal communication - knowledge of values, norms of social interaction and religious beliefs, social linguistics - knowledge of the rules of languages ​​and the rules of non-verbal behavior.
• Metacognition (CQ-Stratagy) is a concept that means how a person makes sense for himself from the experience of cross-cultural interaction. This happens when people make conclusions about their own thinking processes and the processes of others. This includes:

Awareness - knowledge of someone else’s existing cultural heritage; Planning - developing a strategy before confronting cultural diversity; Verification - verification of assumptions and adjustments to the mental map when actual experience differs from expectations.

• Behavior (CQ-Action) - the ability of a person to adapt verbal and non-verbal behavior to make it appropriate in different cultures. This implies a diverse repertoire of behavioral responses that are suitable in various situations. It includes: non-verbal - changes in non-verbal behavior (for example, gestures, facial expressions), verbal - modifications of verbal behavior (for example, emphasis, tone).

Additional studies of cultural competence are conducted by scientists around the world, including studies of cultural competence organizations, the correlation between neuroscience and the development of cultural competence, as well as situational court decisions and CQ scores.

Cultural competence, also known in business as the “cultural development coefficient” or “CQ”, is a theory within management and organizational psychology that maintains that understanding the influence of an individual’s cultural traditions on his behavior is important for effective business and measuring ability people successfully interact in any environment or social environment.

Christopher Earley and his wife Elaine Mosakovsky in October 2004 raised the issue of cultural competence in Harvard Business Review . CQ has gained recognition in the business community: CQ teaches strategies for improving cultural perception, with the goal of distinguishing culturally driven behavior from individual behavior, assuming that knowing this and understanding the difference can achieve better results in business practice.

CQ develops through: cognitive means: head (study of your own culture, as well as all cultural diversity); physical means: the body (using one’s own feelings and adapting one’s movements and body language in order to fit into society); motivational tools: emotions (increasing self-esteem and receiving rewards from acceptance into the community and successful activity in it).

Cultural competence refers to cognitive, motivational and behavioral opportunities, the purpose of which is to understand and effectively respond to the beliefs, values, attitudes and behavior of individuals and groups in difficult and changing conditions in order to implement the desired change. Cultural knowledge and war are closely linked to each other by cultural competence, which is central to ensuring successful military operations. Culture is made up of factors, including language, society, economics, habits, history, and religion. For military operations, cultural competence refers to the ability to make decisions based on an awareness of these factors. In a military sense, cultural competence is a complex combination of anthropology, psychology, communication, sociology, history, and, above all, military doctrine.

Diplomatic implications

Diplomacy is the behavior of government officials during negotiations and other relations between nations. The use of cultural competence and other methods of soft power were approved and accepted as the main instrument of government, in contrast to more coercive forms of government; its further development is currently singled out as the main way to exercise power, in contrast to expensive (politically and financially) forced places, such as military operations or economic sanctions. For example, in 2007, US Secretary of Defense Gates, Robert called for “strengthening our capacity to use soft power and better integrating it with hard power,” saying that using these other tools “may make military use less likely forces, since local problems can be solved before they turn into a crisis. ” ^[6] In a 2006 speech, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for similar actions in support of her doctrine of “transformational diplomacy” ^[7] ; she made a similar speech also in 2008. ^[8]

Government negotiations and other diplomatic efforts can be much more effective if studying the culture of nations is highly valued and practiced with skill. Joseph Nye , a leading political scientist , argues in his book Soft Power that “a country can achieve the desired results in world politics because other countries - admiring its values, imitating its example, striving for its level of prosperity and openness - want to follow her. In this sense, it is also important to set the agenda and engage other countries in world politics, and not just to make them change, threatening military force or economic sanctions. This soft power - the desire of others to achieve the results you want - makes people cooperate, not force them. ” ^[9]

The effects that Nye describes in his book are much more productive if there is a willingness on the part of the influencing agent to respect and understand the cultural background of another agent. An example of such diplomacy was the provision in the US Patriotic Act "condemning discrimination against Arab and Muslim Americans" in response to the events of September 11, 2001 . ^[10] This provision provides protection for American Muslims and Arabs, the difference between them and those who committed these attacks. This precedent establishes a relationship of awareness and respect for peaceful, law-abiding Muslims.

However, cultural competence can be used to achieve the opposite effect. An unintended incident occurred in 1968 when President Richard Nixon flashed an OK gesture with his hand, addressing the Brazilians as soon as he got off his plane. The gesture, which in America means that everything is good, is the equivalent of the middle finger in Brazil - and an unintentional violation that could have been avoided if Nixon had been aware of this cultural difference. ^[eleven]

• Ang, S. and Van Dyne L (eds). (2008) "The Handbook of Cultural Intelligence." New York: ME Sharpe .
• Bhagat, Rabi S. (2006), "Rev. of Early and Ang, Cultural Intelligence , and Hooker, Working Across Cultures ", Academy of Management Review T. 31 (2): 489–93  
• Earley, PC and Ang, S. (2003): Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures . Stanford Business Books: Stanford.
• Livermore, David A. (2009) "Leading with Cultural Intelligence." New York: AMACOM.
• Livermore, David A. (2011). "The Cultural Intelligence Difference." New York: AMACOM.