Intercultural Competence in Business

This report explores the concept of intercultural competence in business, focusing on self-awareness, interviewing colleagues, and comparing cultures. It discusses the similarities and differences between the cultures of two individuals and evaluates them using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The report concludes with the importance of intercultural competence in today's globalized business environment.

Intercultural
Competence in
Business

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Self-awareness by completing a cultural autobiography questionnaire......................................1
Awareness of different cultures by interviewing a colleague with different background...........2
Compare and contrast the two biographies and identification of similarities and differences....3
Implementation of culture framework to evaluate the similarities and differences....................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Inter cultural competences in business can be defined as the culture of different
individuals who are working in the same organization. With the help of it, two or more persons
get to know other people and interact with them so that they can get aware of their culture and
analyze differences and similarities in them (Benčiková, Malá and Ďaďo, 2019). With the help of
it, most of the individuals can enhance their knowledge about different cultures around the world
which will be beneficial for them to understand all the colleagues who are working with them.
Present report is based upon analysis of inter cultural competences. Different topics that are
covered in it are self-awareness with the help of autobiography questionnaire, interviewing the
colleague from different culture, compare and contrasting of biographies and identification of
similarities and differences. Apart from this, cultural framework is also implemented to evaluate
all the identified similarities and differences.
MAIN BODY
Self-awareness by completing a cultural autobiography questionnaire
Self-awareness can be defined as the process of analyzing own’s culture so that its major
elements could be identified. With the help of it, an individual can compare self’s culture with
another person’s so that differentiation between both of them could be conducted. In order to
analyze own culture an autobiography questionnaire is being filled by myself. All the essential
details are being mentioned regarding me and my culture so that all of them could be compared
with the colleague (Deardorff and Arasaratnam-Smith, 2017). The questionnaire is as follows:
Questionnaire
Name: Adrian Adam
Email Id:
Contact details:
Question 1: Where are you from?
Answer: Romania, Bucharest
Question 2: How old are you?
Answer: 24 years old
Question 3: What kind of religion do you have?
Answer: Orthodox Christian
1

Question 4: What customs you have in your country?
Answer: We welcome our guest in our country with bread and salt
Question 5: What kind of traditional food do you have?
Answer: Sarmale, Radauteana soup, beans with pork, etc
Question 6: Do you celebrate the Christmas and Easter?
Answer: Yes
Question 7: Did you have some restrictions imposed by your religion?
Answer: No
Question 8: Which language did you speak when you were growing up?
Answer: Romanian.
Question 9: Do you also speak another language?
Answer: English and Japanese basic
Question 10: Does your faith gives you strength?
Answer: I’m not much of a believer
Awareness of different cultures by interviewing a colleague with different background
In order to analyze different cultures, it is very important for all the individuals to interact
with different culture’s people. It will help to be aware of various types of culture around the
world. It is beneficial to enhance knowledge about different cultures. With the help of it, all the
employees working in an organization can interact with each other properly. Apart from this, it
also helps them to treat everyone similarly (Feng, 2016). If a person is not having proper
information of culture of others then it will be very difficult for them to communicate and great
people around them appropriately. The first step which was taken to enhance knowledge about
different cultures was interviewing an Indian colleague so that awareness about Indian culture
could be enhanced. All the questions were asked in the form of a questionnaire which is as
follows:
Questionnaire
Name: Raj Malhotra
Email Id:
Contact details:
Question 1: Where are you from?
2

Answer: Delhi, India
Question 2: How old are you?
Answer: I am 26 years old
Question 3: What kind of religion do you have?
Answer: Punjabi, Indians
Question 4: What customs you have in your country?
Answer: In India we welcome out guests and friends with tea, some biscuits, sweets and some
snacks. We also touch feet of our elders so that we can get tehri blessings.
Question 5: What kind of traditional food do you have?
Answer: Makki ki Roti and Sarso Ka saag, Chicken Tikka, Biryani, Smoked Pork, Vada Pav,
Roasted Beef and Parotta etc.
Question 6: Do you celebrate the Christmas and Easter?
Answer: Technically no but now I am living in UK so yes, I take part in all these festivals and I
like them.
Question 7: Did you have some restrictions imposed by your religion?
Answer: No there is no restriction.
Question 8: Which language did you speak when you were growing up?
Answer: Hindi.
Question 9: Do you also speak another language?
Answer: English
Question 10: Does your faith gives you strength?
Answer: I am a person who have full faith in god and it gives in strength to deal with all the
difficulties that I face in my life.
Compare and contrast the two biographies and identification of similarities and differences
From the above discussion it has been identified that there are two different people who are
from totally different culture around the world. First person is Adrial Adam who is from
Romania, Bucharest. The age of this individual is 24 and orthodox Christian culture is followed
by him. In Romania which is home country of Adam guests are treated with bread and salt.
These two things are offered to the guests when they visit each other. There are different types of
traditional foods in Romania. These are Sarmale, beand with pork, Radauteana soup etc. The
major festivals that are celebrated in the country are Christmas and Easter. There are no
3

restirctions or strict rules that are imposed by the Romanian culture on the citizens of Romania.
The first language of Adam is Romanian which was spoken by him when he was growing up.
Adam speak various other language which are English and a little bit of Japanese. Apart from
this, Adam is not a believer type of person so he does not think that his faith gives him strength.
Another person who has filled the autobiography questionnaire is Raj Malhotra who is an
Indian and currently working in UK. He is basically from Delhi India and age of Raj is 26.
Punjabi Indian culture is followed by Malhotra and in India they greet the guests with tea,
biscuits, sweets and some snacks. There are various types of things that are offered to the
individuals that are visiting their home (Friganovic Sain, Kužnin and Charry Roje, 2017). One
thing which is also followed in India that all the younger one’s touch feet of the elder people so
that they can get tehri blessings. Different types of traditional food which could be enjoyed in
India are makki ki Roti and Sarso Ka saag, Chicken Tikka, Biryani, Smoked Pork, Vada Pav,
Roasted Beef and Parotta etc. There is variety in food and any one can enjoy any type of food in
India. Raj does not celebrate Easter and Christmas but as he is living in UK therefore, he takes
part in all these festivals. He like to celebrate all these festivals. From the questionnaire it has
been analyzed that there is no restriction of the religion on the individuals who are following it.
When Malhotra was growing, he used to speak Hindi and now he can also speak English. He is
religious person who is having faith in god which help him to get strength to deal with all the
problems that could be faced by him in future.
Similarities: From the autobiographical questionnaires it has been analyzed that there are
various similarities in Romanian and Indian culture. First thing which is same in Adam and
Malhotra is no restriction of religion on them. Both of them are not required to follow any type
of strict regulation which is imposed by the culture upon them. It is a good sign which help them
to live their lives freely. Another similarity among both of them is that they speak English and at
earlier stage their mother languages were different. One other similarity among them is that they
celebrate Easter and Christmas (Gowindasamy, 2017).
Differences: There are various differences among the cultures of Adam and Malhotra.
One of them is their nationalities which are Romanian and Indian. Adam is from Romania,
Bucharest and Raj is from Delhi India. Customs in their culture are very different from each
other. In Romania bread and salt is offered to the guests but on the other hand, tea, sweets,
biscuits and snacks are offered to the guests in India. There is a culture in India that Indians
4

touch feet of elders so that they can get blessings of their elders. One of the key differences is the
food which is offered in culture of both the individuals. In India the culture food items are Makki
ki Roti and Sarso Ka saag, Chicken Tikka, Biryani, Smoked Pork, Vada Pav, Roasted Beef and
Parotta etc. On the other hand, the local food items of Romania are Sarmale, Radauteana soup,
beans with pork etc. The culture which is followed by Adam is Orthodox Christ and Raj’s
culture is Punjabi Indian. One last difference in culture of both the individuals is faith in god
Adam is not a believer but Malhotra believes in god and think that his faith gives him strength to
deal with all the difficulties in life (Ng and Lillevik, 2017).
Implementation of culture framework to evaluate the similarities and differences
There are various types of cultural frameworks but one of them which is used by most of the
individuals is Geert Hofstede’s Five dimensions of culture. There are five different dimensions
of it which are described below for the purpose of evaluating the similarities and differences in
two autobiographies:
Power distance: This dimension is highly focused with distribution of power among the
individuals who are living in a country. By analysing this dimension, it has been identified that
the similarity of no restriction of religion could be evaluated with the help of it. It shows that in
India and Romania the power distance index is high as power in all the individuals are
distributed similarly (Ramirez, 2016).
Individualism versus collectivism: This dimension states that countries with
individualism tends to be more focused with their own goals. On the other hand, nations with
collectivism culture have higher focus on welfare of entire group rather then a person. By
analyzing culture of Adam and Malhotra it has been evaluated that in Romania and India
collectivism culture is followed.
Masculinity versus femininity: This dimension is focused with differentiation between
such cultures which are highly focused with male or female growth. For instance, Romania’s
culture is considered as managed growth, India is focused with Masculinity culture and
Thailand’s culture is treated as feminine culture.
Uncertainty avoidance: It can be defined as the dimension of culture in which there is a
need of formal rules and policies. This factor is not related with the culture of Adam as well as
Malhotra as in India and Romania strict rules are not required because of democracy.
5

Long term orientation: It is the last dimension of the cultural model in which long term
dimension culture is focused with employee’s long-term relation with their company. On the
other hand, short term dimension is focused with changes in employer by employees as they do
not want to work with an entity for so long (Swartz, Barbosa and Crawford, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that inter culture analysis can be
defined as the process of analyzing different cultures so that detailed information regarding
various types of cultures. For the purpose of assessing culture of different individual’s
autobiography questionnaires could be filled. The model which could be used to evaluate
similarities and differences between the culture Hofstede’s cultural dimensions could be
analyzed. There are five different elements of it which are power distance, individualism versus
collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation etc.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Benčiková, D., Malá, D. and Ďaďo, J., 2019. Intercultural competences in slovak business
environment. Economics and Management.
Deardorff, D. K. and Arasaratnam-Smith, L. A. eds., 2017. Intercultural competence in higher
education: International approaches, assessment and application. Routledge.
Feng, J. B., 2016. Improving intercultural competence in the classroom: A reflective
development model. Journal of teaching in international Business. 27(1). pp.4-22.
Friganovic Sain, Z., Kužnin, M. and Charry Roje, R., 2017. Teaching Intercultural Competence
in Undergraduate Business and Management Studies–A Case Study. Croatian Journal
of Education: Hrvatski časopis za odgoj i obrazovanje. 19(Sp. Ed. 1), pp.55-71.
Gowindasamy, M., 2017. A Case Study on the Implementation of Reflective Development
Model in Improving Intercultural Competence among Business Student in Stamford
College. Journal of Education and Practice. 8(12). pp.168-174.
Ng, E. S. and Lillevik, W., 2017. Intercultural communication in the world of business. De
Gruyter Mouton.
Ramirez R, E., 2016. Impact on intercultural competence when studying abroad and the
moderating role of personality. Journal of Teaching in International Business. 27(2-3).
pp.88-105.
Swartz, S., Barbosa, B. and Crawford, I., 2018. Building Intercultural Competence Through
Virtual Team Collaboration Across Global Classrooms. Business and Professional
Communication Quarterly. p.2329490619878834.
7