Importance of Cultural Competence in the Workplace

Running head: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural Communication
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Author’s Note

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION1
In the era of globalization, it is imperative for all the cultures to pick up the note of
cultural competence in order to promote a positive work environment in any workplace.
Delivering a high quality service is possible only if the workplace treats every employee equal
thereby closing the gap for social inequality and grievances that might arise from a negative
work atmosphere. A culturally competent workplace has the ability to infuse different people
from different background and promotes an efficient workplace operation (Leong, 2017). In this
report, a brief analysis will be made about one of the important aspects that determine fair
condition of workplace – cultural competence. It also aims to provide a through insight into the
cultural quotient which is essentially an important arena that needs to be discussed in order to
have a seamless intercultural interaction within a workplace.
Cultural competence can be defined as the ability to interact with people from other
cultures effectively by respecting the cultural differences and paving the way for seamless
communication among each other. Not only does it help in increasing the production of the
company, but it also allows the employees to go through a better working condition, lesser
conflicts, better exchange of ideas leading to effective collaboration among the employees
(Garneau & Pepin, 2015). If the policies of the company regarding cultural competence is strong,
it would automatically lead the company in strengthening the healthy culture of the workplace.
According to (Martin & Nakayama, 2015), cultural competence also explain the attitude needed
to interact with women, gay, queers and other type of people along with people from other
cultures. This widens the prospects of understanding the needs while communicating in a
culturally diverse workplace. Similarly, Ang & Van Dyne (2015) suggested that the individuals
have an impact in the levels of organizational as well as the systematic operation of a company
thereby resulting in a culturally positive theories and policies. It also resonates the goodwill,

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION2
brand value and the reputation of the company which helps in enhancing the profit motif of the
company. The effectiveness of cultural communication lies on both the verbal and nonverbal
communication that needs to be improved in an individual. It may also be noted that the
intercultural communication is a two way process that should be initiated by both the parties
from different culture, which only can it be successfully applied (Chao, Takeuchi & Farh 2017).
Moreover, the cross cultural communication should also be developed and honed considering the
difference that exists. It should also be made possible only through sheer understanding and
ready acceptability.
The three theories of competence are Intercultural Traits [MPQ], Intercultural Attitudes
& Worldviews [IDI] and Intercultural Capabilities [CQS].
MPQ or multicultural personality questionnaire is prepared to understand the intercultural
traits of an individual. It assess five traits namely cultural empathy, flexibility, emotional
stability, open mindedness and social initiative which determines the extent of cultural awareness
in them.
The limitations involved in this process is that it has inadequate longitudinal data. This is
because most of the empirical studies are dependent on the cross sectional designs. Therefore, it
needs to take into account any socio-psychological changes that would enable the person to be
assessed before the departure from one’s country. This particular method is also not performed in
the Asian context adequately which would suggest the efficiency of the method (Leong, 2007).
The IDI or Intercultural developmental inventory is also formulated to assess the cultural
competency of a person. The questions are designed in such a way that would help to assess the
intercultural attitudes and worldviews of an individual (Ang, & Van Dyne, 2015). The purpose