Cultural intelligence refers to the capability to function effectively in various cultural contexts. It involves having knowledge of different cultures, the motivation to interact with different cultures, and the ability to adapt one's behavior appropriately for different cultures. Developing cultural intelligence is important for individuals and organizations working in multicultural environments or globally, as it allows them to understand cultural differences, problem solve across cultures, and perform well in diverse cultural settings.

1. Cultural Intelligence
THE CAPABILITY TO FUNCTION
EFFECTIVELY IN A VARIETY OF CULTURAL
CONTEXTS

2. What is culture?

3. What is Culture?

4. What is culture?
 "Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of
the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies.
 The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible
cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use,
and perceive them.
 It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that
distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is
not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies.
 People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols,
artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways."
Source:
Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989). Multicultural education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

5. What is culture?
HTTP://WWW.CARLA.UMN.EDU/CULTURE/D
EFINITIONS.HTML

6. What about YOU?
 Do you speak another language (fluently)?
 Do you have a passport?
 Have you ever visited another country for vacation?
 Have you ever lived outside the USA?
 Do you see yourself ever living in another country?
 Do you think living in another country would be easy?
 Do you read the news about other countries?
 In your line of work, do you collaborate with individuals
from other countries?
 Do you eat foods from other countries?
 If you could go ANYWHERE in the world, where would
you want to go?

7. Are you prepared?

8. Cross-Cultural Sensitivity Inventory
 A 32-item instrument that provides dimensional
scores for individuals on five subscales.
 Levels of sensitivity on issues & experiences related
to cross-cultural or inter-cultural interaction
(the higher the score, the more sensitive the individual is)
 Used to raise people’s awareness of the issues to
consider prior to intercultural interaction.

9. The Five Subscales
 Cultural Integration
 Assesses the degree to which an individual integrates elements from cultures
other than their own in their daily activities.
 Behavioral Scale
 Assesses the degree to which an individual has adopted behavior that is new
or has a degree of comfort when interacting with others.
 Intellectual Interaction
 Assesses the degree to which an individual seeks out knowledge of other
cultural orientations.
 Attitude Toward Others
 Assess the degree of openness towards others.
 Empathy Scale
 Assesses the degree to which an individual identifies with the feelings of
others.

10. HSBC Cultural Differences

11. Mistakes Americans Make

12. A CROSS-CULTURAL TEST OF YOUR SOCIAL “GRACES”
 1. ______ considered bad manners to open a gift in front of the giver
 A. Iran
B. China
 2. ______ gifts that appeal to intellect or esthetics are especially appreciated
 C. France

 3. ______ avoid giving chrysanthemums (used only for cemeteries)
 D. Luxembourg

E. Germany
 4. ______ when giving flowers as a gift, take an odd number, but never 13
 F. Japan

 5. ______ never eat food with your left hand, as this is considered offensive
 G. Egypt

H. Kenya
 6. ______ it is impolite to eat everything on your plate

 7. ______ white, blue, and black gifts should be avoided as they are associated with funerals

 8. ______ never give alcohol as a gift

 9. ______ don’t bring flowers except to express condolences

 10. ______ avoid discussions of or asking questions about family, and job


13. What is cultural intelligence?
 The capability to function effectively across a variety
of cultural contexts.
 Ethnic
 Generational
 Organizational Cultures
 Emphasis is on
 understanding different cultures
 Problem solving
 Effective adaptations for various cultural settings.

14. Why do we need cultural intelligence?
 The global workplace requires individuals
 to be sensitive to different cultures,
 to interact appropriately with people from different cultures, &
 to analyze new cultures as they are encountered
 Cultural intelligence is needed
 to manage the stress of culture shock, and
 the consequent frustration and confusion that typically result
from clashes of cultural differences

15. Who needs cultural intelligence?
 Business leaders
 Government leaders
 Non-profit leaders
 Corporations
 Government agencies
 Universities
 ???

16. Individuals & Organizations
 How do individuals develop their capacity to adapt effectively across
different cultures?
 Why do some individuals possess superior capacity to deal with the
challenges of working in different cultures?
 How do individuals reach full productive potential working in culturally
diverse work environments in the home countries and overseas?
 How do organizations build capability for effective work assignments in
locations around the world?
 How do organizations optimize individual and collective performance
when they harness the cultural diversity of their people across the
world?

17. Capabilities of cultural intelligence
CQ Drive (motivation) CQ Knowledge (cognition)
 Your interest and  Your knowledge about how
confidence in functioning cultures are similar and
different.
effectively in culturally
diverse settings.
 The emphasis is not on being
an expert about every culture
 Without the ample drive to you encounter.
take on the challenges that
inevitably accompany  Instead, to what extent do you
understand some core culture
multicultural situations, differences and their impact
there’s little evidence you’ll on you and others?
be successful.

18. Capabilities of cultural intelligence
CQ Strategy (meta-cognition) CQ Action (behavior)
 How you make sense of  Your capability to adapt
culturally diverse your behavior
experiences. appropriately for
different cultures.
 It occurs when you make
judgments about your own
thought processes and  It involves having a
those od others. flexible repertoire of
responses to suit various
situations while still
 Can you plan effectively in remaining true to
light of cultural difference? yourself.

19.  People use overly simplistic
approaches
Low CQ  “People are people. A smile and a kind
word work anywhere.”
* You react to external
stimuli (what you see &
hear, in a new cultural
context) and you judge it  Business continue to lose millions of
based on what that means
in your own cultural dollars when expanding into
context. culturally diverse markets.
* You begin to recognize
other culture norms.
You’re motivated to learn  Business leaders with low CQ use
more.
disjointed, slap-dash approaches to the
* You begin to myriad of cultural forces barraging them.
accommodate other
cultural norms into your
thinking. You can explain
how culture impacts the  Many charitable organizations get kicked
way people might respond
differently to the same
out of developing nations because of their
circumstances. inability to work with local officials.

20.  When something seemingly bizarre,
random, or unfamiliar happens, those
with high CQ
High CQ
* You adapt and adjust  Have a repertoire of strategies & behaviors to
your thinking and orient themselves
behavior to other
cultural norms.  Have a mental frame to discern whether it’s
explained by culture or it’s something unique
to a particular person or organization
* You automatically
adjust your thinking  Have the ability to encounter new cultural
and behavior when you situations
get appropriate cues,
sometimes  Are able to think deeply about what’s
subconsciously. happening (or not happening)
 Make appropriate adjustments to how one
should understand, relate, and behave in
these otherwise-disorienting situations.

21. What High CQ looks like:
Teachers Human Resource Managers
 When working with  Have a better sense of
students from various how to handle a
cultural backgrounds, Muslim employee’s
they learn how to adapt request to miss a sales
their: conference during
 Teaching Ramadan.
 Assessments
 Feedback strategies

22. What High CQ looks like:
Hospitals Students
 When led by culturally  Have more long-term
intelligent leaders, are benefits
more effective at:  Volunteer
 Treating immigrant  Study Abroad
patients
 Have fewer lawsuits due to
misdiagnosis of those
patients

23. Benefits of Increasing CQ
 SUPERIOR CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT
 IMPROVED JOB PERFORMANCE
 ENHANCED PERSONAL WELL-BEING
 GREATER PROFITABILITY

24. Together We Can Be Catalysts!
 IMAGINE A LIBERAL POLITICIAN AND A TEA PARTY
ACTIVIST ENGAGING IN RESPECTFUL DIALOGUE.
 IMAGINE A JEWISH FAMILY SHARING A HOLIDAY
WITH A PALESTINIAN FAMILY.
 IMAGINE A CEO WORKING WITH A HIP-HOP ARTIST
TO REDUCE WORLD HUNGER.
 IMAGINE AN ACLU ADVOCATE JOINING AN
EVANGELICAL PASTOR TO PROMOTE WORLD
JUSTICE.

25. Discussion
 What is cultural intelligence?
 How can you improve your global awareness?
 What are some questions you may want to ask someone
from another culture before going to their country?
 In order to improve your cultural intelligence, how could
you “scare yourself?”
 What does “think widely, focus deeply” mean?