Cultural Intelligence and Cultural Awareness

Running head: CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL AWARENESS
Cultural Intelligence and Cultural Awareness
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes:

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL AWARENESS1
Culture can be defined as the manner in which a group of people lead their life, the way
they behave and the assimilation of their values and beliefs (Spencer-Oatey, 2012). The modern
business environment consists of people belonging to various cultures. Thus, individuals must be
culturally intelligent. Cultural intelligence refers to the effectiveness of individuals and
organisations and the capability of the individuals to cater to operations so that they are able to
be sensitive to each culture and work effectively with people with different cultural belongings. I
have been able to realise that the development of the latter can help organisations and individuals
in terms of development of competencies through which they can bolster their ability of
intercultural communication and that of the organisation as well. Hence, cultural awareness is
significant as it bolsters the ability of individuals in terms of developing a capability that is
characterised by cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is a major soft skill that is required in
individuals in modern day organisation and thus it is important for individuals to possess the
same (Brislin, R., Worthley, R, & Macnab, 2006). The aim of this paper is to critically evaluate
the scope of cultural awareness and the capability of the same in determining the effectiveness of
individuals through which they are able to achieve a stature of culturally intelligent being.
Australia is a country where the communication structure is much more open from where
I belong. People refer to each other by using first name, use of slangs are common teh culture is
friendly. In the article “Growing up a third culture kid: A sociological self-exploration”, Russel
(2012), talks about growing up as a third culture child. I had similar experiences when is I came
to study in Australia. I was not aware about the norms that existed and the behaviour that I had to
exude in order to blend in effectively. I tried by best from day one to be culturally intelligent so
that culture was the last thing that I had to worry about. At first, I used to feel just as a fish in
water and I felt that I would ultimately fail in my efforts to blend in. To my astonishment, my

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL AWARENESS2
Australian peers and associates where welcoming and warm enough and never made me feel out
of place. Finally, I was able to mitigate my constant tension regarding blending in.
According to Taipale, (2012), it has been found that one of the most significant factors
affecting the viability of smooth intercultural communication is the language barrier. The
languages or dialects that people of a particular country or locality use to communicate with each
other might be different. As a result of the same, I feel that individuals need to be aware of the
different languages and dialects that exists in a place that is new to them. I faced similar
incidents when I started studying in the current institute that I am associated to. Most of the
teacher of the institute were Aussies and thus, had dialects that I perceived to be unique in that
time. Often there would be situation when I was not able to identify what they intended to
communicate. My inability to laugh with jokes being cracked and lectures made me question my
decision to study in here. I can say that I was experiencing a cultural shock. It can be said that
Cultural Shock is a situation in which people belonging to a minority groups in a particular group
is in a situation where they are not able identify how they are supposed to behave and react to the
cultural norms that exist in an area. Through the knowledge that I gained with the help of the
current course; I have been able to related my situation with the work of Flanja (2009). The latter
talks about the scope of cultural shock during intercultural communication (Flanja, 2009). As
mentioned in the work of the latter there are various stages of a cultural shock that one
experiences. The stage that I felt that I was similar to that of anxiety. However, what happened
later helped me extremely
Here, the teachers and coordinators of the course that I was a part of displayed great
degree of cultural awareness and is something I learnt from. The latter were bets suited for their
position as they not only did their job, but also paid individual attention to the needs of every