Biz-commPulse

Cultural intelligence refers to behaviour based on the knowledge and skills related to the cultures of employees with whom the manager interacts in the business.  This can range from language skills or other qualities such as tolerance for uncertainty or flexibility which could also be enhanced because of emotional intelligence (see my post on emotional intelligence ). Cultural intelligence is developed by learning about the beliefs, customs and even restrictions of specific cultures as well as showing an understanding of a different culture by blending in. Cultural intelligence consists of four aspects, namely linguistics, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Image Credit:  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net Linguistics refers to successfully interacting with employees from other cultures whose native language is different and thus overcoming any language barriers.  For example, learning some key words or even lingo of another language spoken by emplo...

Effective cross cultural communication is increasingly becoming more important in a business. Employees usually consist of diverse cultures with different backgrounds.  Although all employees need to adhere to the corporate culture in a business (the way things are usually done), a manager needs to have good cross cultural communication skills when it comes to dealing with employees with different cultural backgrounds.  Many managers want to achieve better cultural communication, but still face many barriers.  The following are the most common cross cultural communication barriers  many managers still have to overcome in their attempt to communicate better with diverse employees: Values and attitudes : The manager may have different values than his or her employees or the employees may even have different values and attitudes. At the end of the day it is the task that has to be completed and having different values and attitudes can be overcome if all employ...

When developing a diversity programme based on the results of a diversity survey (see the article managing diversity in a business ), managers should avoid making the following repeated mistakes: • Managers should not expect of employees to formulate a diversity philosophy. Real diversity in the business should start with a change in its corporate culture. To create a real change in the business’ corporate culture should be the first priority, before focusing on customers. True change can only occur if the manager is committed and continuously involved in the process. A business’ corporate culture refers to the way things are done in the business, be it policies or how meetings are held based on shared beliefs. • Real diversity issues should be addressed, for example, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national identity and disability. Diversity issues should not be broadened to only include individual differences. • Managers should not use euphemisms (substitution...