Intercultural Competence in Business

This report explores the significance of intercultural competence in the business environment. It discusses the cultural autobiographies of Romania and India, comparing and contrasting their cultural frameworks. The report also examines the impact of culture on education, healthcare, and infrastructure. It delves into the Hofstede cultural model and its relevance in understanding different cultures.

Intercultural Competence in
Business

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Cultural Autobiography for the Romanian Culture.....................................................................3
Cultural Autobiography for the Indian Culture...........................................................................4
Compare and contrast the two profiles using the different cultural frameworks........................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
Books and Journal........................................................................................................................7
Appendices......................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Intercultural competence is a crucial skill with the help of which an employee can ensure
their success within the workplace as this ensures that all the employees can efficiently interact
with each other (Barger, 2020). The effectiveness in the understanding across culture enables to
think and act properly at the workplace. For achieving the organisational objectives it must be
ensured that employees interact with each other efficiently so that they become comfortable with
the cultural diversity by managing the behaviours, attitude and policies. In this report the
Romanian culture and Indian culture is discussed that facilitate to understand their culture from
different aspects. Further their comparison is facilitated on the basis of various cultural
frameworks.
Cultural Autobiography for the Romanian Culture
I belong to Romania where culture is distinct in terms of their evolution of history and its
product in terms of geography. The Daci an people are considered to be indigenous people
within the South-east Europe which are treated as predecessors of the Porto-Romanians. The
culture of Romania keeps itself distinct from the other within the Eastern Europe region.
Considering the cultural structure, religion that has been adopted within the Romania is Christian
and they celebrate the Christmas on December 25 with the Pagan theme of life and death. On the
occasion the citizen have the tradition of eating pork on the Christmas Eve which is accompanied
by other dishes such as fish, dishes made from pork etc. along with dessert which is traditional
fluffy cake. The spirituality within Romania is affected by the connections within the eastern
Christian world due to which the church and various monasteries are all overall the nation
(Dervin and Gross, 2016).
For ensuring effective interaction among the people within the nation people adopt
various languages which has direct impact on the way they behave and support each other. The
national language which is considered by the people within the country for the ensuring
effectiveness in communication is Romanian while some of the people living near the border
area speak English and French. In context of the tourism most English is preferred as it facilitates
the local people and the tourist to understand each other as well as their expectations and need.
In the nation the medical and health facilities are improving as the transformation is taking
place in health care system. The education system is such in which children from six to sixteen

have to go to school mandatorily and free of cost. After this the students are promoted for the
higher education and various other vocational, technical courses. This facilitates that all the
children within Romania are literate and further it enables them to have efficient growth and
development.
The government of Romania is taking into consideration various aspects which has direct
impact on the quality of the life of the people such as health issues, infant care, and infrastructure
develop which the help of which the uncertainty avoidance index of the country improves. The
Masculinity and Femininity dimension facilitates to understand that in Romania women are
given equal and fair opportunities to study, work and to contribute to the overall development of
the nation and their families. The society is more of cooperative, modesty, caring etc. which
facilitate in making lives of the people comfortable.
The culture that has been adopted in a country defines the lifestyles of the people residing
in the country, their values, myths and symbols as they are decided as per their following. The
values related to the treatment of other individuals, ethical practices, care of the environment etc.
are all defined by the culture which is healthy in Romania but due to economic hardship faced by
the country they have liberalised various laws and regulations so that they can boost the
economic growth with efficient
Cultural Autobiography for the Indian Culture
The another profile that is interviewed is related to Indian culture where different religions
are followed by the people such as Hinduism, Jainism, buddhism and Sikhism which make the
country a significant fusion of different cultures and place of origin for the birth of various
religion. Throughout the world India is considered to be most religious and ethically diverse
country where people adopt different religion as per their location they resides at. The country is
Hindu predominant as most of the people follows the same in different states their own values,
believes and customs.
In ancient period Sanskrit language was mostly used in India for writing various books and
formal communication but gradually people adopted other classical languages in different states
and union territories. The common language which is spoken throughout the nation is Hindi and
English which ensure that individuals with belonging to different languages can interact with
other as well (Soares, Farhangmehr and Shoham, 2007).

Government of India has been consistently taking various measures to ensure an effective
growth and development of all the individuals by emphasising on the level of education at
primary, secondary and higher level with around 166 universities in the year 1996. The medical
and health care system of India is known for their best throughout the world as it has been
classified into four systems Ayurveda, Sidda, Unani and biomedicine/ scientific medicine.
Further the infrastructure has been consistently focussed considering diversity in geography of
India so that growth and development as well as availability of all the services to each and every
individual can be ensured.
Various factors have impact on the culture that has been adopted by the people with in the
nation and this enables to define various dimensions of hofstede cultural model. The power
distance index reflect that people with more money and wealth rests with more power in India
and this bring inequality among people at personal as well as professional aspects. The spirit of
togetherness within Indian reflects collectivism due to which the people have belief of 'we' rather
than 'I'. The country has different regulatory authorities and according to their guidance and
efficient planning the impact of the uncertainty on the contrary can efficiently be managed. In
addition to this different social welfare and change programs are organised to ensure that all the
people positive impact on the overall cultural development.
Due to different religions adopted in India the values, beliefs, customs and norms. Most of the
people belonging to Hindu communities have up the fundamental believe in reincarnation with
different believes but such believes bring inequalities of the caste system. This has direct impact
on the businesses operating within the nation as well as on the overall development of an
individual (Chudzikowski, 2011).
Compare and contrast the two profiles using the different cultural frameworks
For the organisation it is necessary to undertake comprehensive studies on various cultures
that they are related with as this enables them to collectively understand the mind set, behaviour
and attitude of the people in different countries where they are operating. To support the same
hofstede cultural framework is used that provided six dimension to analyse the national culture
which can be applied to different academic and professional management settings. All the six
dimensions represent that they have their individual presentation and preference in different
aspects on the basis of which differentiation can be done among different countries. On the basis
of the responses to the following questionnaire used to develop cultural autobiography the

differences and similarities between the two national cultures that is Romanian and Indian is
discussed below:
 All the women are treated equally and given opportunity to work in the offices in
Romania and with the help of which overall development of the economy is ensured.
Spirituality and religion that has been adopted by the people of Romania is considered to
be not so very effective as most of the people are Christian but in India people belongs to
different religions which are adopted by them is per their location at which they live at.
 The availability of opportunities for the growth and development of education is high in
India as they have been consistently opening of various public and private institutions
that can impart education at different levels. But in Romanian culture the compulsory
focus is laid upon primary and secondary education so that each and every individual is
literate in the country (Ursu, 2018).
 All the aspect has positive impact on the performance of the organisation as well as
individual because with the help of this they can be made comfortable with their needs
and expectations of the target market and accordingly they can them efficiently.
On the basis of the above discussion and culture autobiography various similarities in
different cultures are given below:
 Both of culture has focus on growth and development by ensuring effecting healthcare
system and infrastructure for the individuals as this satisfies the need of businesses as well
because understanding of culture of different nation enables to address main Expectations of
the customers directly.
 Both the countries are focusing upon development of the women by enacting laws and
regulations as well as focusing upon environmental practices. This improves the ability of
the people of the nation to willingly contribute and encourage others to participate.
 Significant level of planning is done in both Culture which enables them in ensuring that
they have high uncertainty avoidance index as with the help of this they can attract new
business and opportunities for the local people to grow and develop.
Conclusion
It is concluded from the above report that the businesses that are operating must ensure that
their employees are aware of different cultures so that they can make themselves compatible to
it. For this they need to consider various cultural frameworks such as hofstede cultural model

because it enables them to identify impact of different factors as per their requirement and
expectation. Further understanding of culture at different destinations and locations enable the
people to think out of box which later on make the people to come up with solutions along with
areas of improvement that need to be made.

References
Books and Journal
Ursu, O., 2018. The role of the Media in Acquiring Intercultural Competence. A Business
English Teaching Perspective. Studii de Ştiinţă şi Cultură, 14(4), pp.209-214.
Dervin, F. and Gross, Z. eds., 2016. Intercultural competence in education: Alternative
approaches for different times. Springer.
Barger, R.P., 2020. On Teaching and Learning: Integrative Reflections on Intercultural
Competence through Dialogue Education. In Cultural Competence in Higher
Education. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Soares, A.M., Farhangmehr, M. and Shoham, A., 2017. Hofstede's dimensions of culture in
international marketing studies. Journal of business research, 60(3), pp.277-284.
Chudzikowski, K., and et. al. 2011. The evolution of Hofstede's doctrine. Cross cultural
management: An international journal.
Appendices
Questionnaire
Q1. What cultural structure is adopted in the country?
Q2. What is the level of intercultural interaction among people?
Q3. What is the impact of culture of the nation on the growth and development of an
individual?
Q4. According to you how the factor of Hofstede cultural framework does impacts the
national culture?
Q5. How the cultural frameworks affect the traditions, value systems, myths and symbols of
the nation?