BPS303 Multi Cultural Awareness

We live in a world that is culturally diverse. I have always believed that being aware of my culture and its influence on me would develop my cultural intelligence in a better way. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to understand how and why cultural self-awareness is important to develop cultural intelligence. After discussing the two key concepts, this essay further sheds light on related factors such as cultural sustainability and cultural competence. Although this essay provides an insight on the way cultural self-awareness assists people to be more culturally intelligent, it does not recommends strategies.

In order to perceive the significance of cultural self-awareness in developing cultural intelligence, first the term themselves need to be understood. Cultural self-awareness, as per Quappe and Cantatore (2005), is the capability of an individual to be aware of his own cultural values and beliefs, and how that shapes his mind and perspectives. It is usual that these perceptions of own culture helps developing a judgement about people of different cultures. On the other hand, according to David Livermore and Ang Soon (2015), cultural intelligence is the ability of an individual to understand own as well as others’ cultures, and relate to those in order to build a successful communication and relation with them. I have noticed that my father and his colleagues, who come from different cultures, are quite comfortable with each other. The reason, as my father explained, is that how he understands the fact that every culture has its own essence, and he never complaints or argues their cultural beliefs and values, rather he accepts them and shows genuine curiosity to understand those. This is what brought them closer and made it easier to work with. However, this made me realize that cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence has a deeper and multilayered relationship with each other.

As I already had the idea that, cultural self-awareness and cultural intelligence are related to each other, now it was important for me to understand how they are related and the significance of their relationship. According to Tomalin and Stempleski (2013), when a person has cultural self-awareness, he develops three distinctive qualities, such as – awareness of how his culture affects his behaviour, awareness of how others’ cultures have effect on their behaviour, and understanding of his own cultural viewpoint. All these qualities are crucial in developing sensitivity towards other cultures, which is a necessary element in this global context of cultural sustainability (Taipale, 2012). On the other hand, as opined by Brislin, Worthley and Macnab (2006), a person has cultural intelligence when he exhibits the quality of building strong relationships with multicultural people by showing them his understanding of the differences between his and their cultures and respecting each standpoint. As per Quappe and Cantatore (2005), in order to do this, one must understand that the way his own culture shapes his values and beliefs, others’ do too, which is, in other words, his cultural awareness. Thereafter, I reached to a simple conclusion that cultural self-awareness is the quality that not only helps developing the cultural intelligence, but also is the foundation of it, and in addition, both are significant in terms of cultural sustainability.

The population of my country includes people from various ethnicities, religious, races, countries, and languages, and thus, cultural sustainability is crucial in this context. In order to build a sustainable society, cultural competence is an important factor, as it helps people from different cultures to communicate positively (Taipale, 2012). Cultural competence is the ability to be aware of own culture as well as other cultures, and develop a positive approach towards the differences between the cultures. Hence, it can be said that a person would be more culturally competent if he has more cultural intelligence. Understanding another culture is impossible without understanding own culture and its influence. According to Wilson, Ward and Fischer (2013), the metacognitive features of cultural intelligence are an individual’s cultural awareness while communicating with people from different cultures. I recall my father teaching me how to greet his Indian guests when I was little. I did not understand what he meant, as, being 13 years old, I very well knew how to greet guests. However, my father told me, as they are from a different country and culture, they have their own ways and manners. Following his instructions, I placed my hands together in front of me and said ‘Namaste’ to them when they arrived. They were evidently pleased and surprised by this gesture. As opined by Russell (2011), due to our micro-sociological level of interaction, we acquire a knowledge of presenting ourselves, which can vary from culture to culture. It showed me how important it is to be aware of the cultures of the people living around us, in order to create a sustainable society.

As the foundation of cultural intelligence, it is important to understand how cultural self-awareness assists people to develop it. According to Erez et al. (2013), cultural intelligence is related to the cognitive features of cultural awareness and knowledge. This means, an individual’s understanding of different cultures and having knowledge on those would make him capable of functioning properly in culturally diverse situations. This reminds me of the disaster I made in my friend’s place. My friend has been living in Australia for five years and therefore well accustomed to our manners of doing things. Once, his parents came to visit and he invited me to have dinner with them. The first blunder I made was that after opening the door I straight went into the apartment with my shoes on. According to Japanese traditions, one wears slippers in their home. After that, when we were about to start eating, I casually took a spoonful while chatting with them. They were looking at me awkwardly, and I realized that again I have done something wrong. I never saw my friend praying before eating, and that is why I never knew about his customs. Therefore, I realized that day how important it is to have knowledge and understanding about different cultures, especially if we live in a multicultural society.

As this has been my belief that being aware of my culture and its influence on me would develop my cultural intelligence, this essay helped me to understand how and why cultural self-awareness is important to develop cultural intelligence. Cultural awareness is being aware of the difference between own culture and other cultures, and to understand the influence of culture on self. On the other hand, cultural intelligence is a person’s capability of managing a multicultural situation successfully. Therefore, it can be said that cultural awareness develops cultural intelligence, and that way it increases cultural competence and sustainability among people.

References

Brislin, R., Worthley, R., & Macnab, B. (2006). Cultural intelligence: Understanding behaviors that serve people’s goals. Group & Organization Management, 31(1), 40-55. doi:10.1177/1059601105275262

Erez, M., Lisak, A., Harush, R., Glikson, E., Nouri, R., & Shokef, E. (2013). Going global: Developing management students' cultural intelligence and global identity in culturally diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), 330-355. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amle.2012.0200

Livermore, D., & Soon, A. N. G. (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret to success (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Amacom.

Quappe, S., & Cantatore, G. (2005). What is cultural awareness, anyway? How do I build it?. Retrieved from https://www.culturosity.com/pdfs/What%20is%20Cultural%20Awareness.pdf

Russell, K. M. (2011). Growing Up A Third Culture Kid. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, 9(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1391&context=humanarchitecture

Taipale, S. (2012). Mobility of cultures and knowledge management in contemporary Europe. European Review, 20(2), 173-181. doi:10.1017/S1062798711000445

Tomalin, B., & Stempleski, S. (2013). Cultural Awareness-Resource Books for Teachers. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wilson, J., Ward, C., & Fischer, R. (2013). Beyond culture learning theory: What can personality tell us about cultural competence?. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(6), 900-927. doi:10.1177/0022022113492889