How Does Cultural Strategic Thinking Play A Part Within My Organization?

    Large corporations may have statistical probability of greater cultural diversity due to the number of employees in the pool.  However, the small relocation firm, that I work for, also offers cultural diversity in terms of generation, country of origin, race, education, religion, family structure, work experience, task management, and entertainment interests.  Reflecting on the corporate culture, individual cultures, and the influences each has on the other, reveals the advantage of cultural strategic thinking. 

How Does Cultural Strategic Thinking Play A Part Within My Organization?

            Cultural differences are not often discussed in our organization as a matter of strategic thinking, but as a result of interaction. Therefore, our organization is deficient of advantages from initiating and engaging in culturally competent behavior. Cultural strategic thinking in our organization occurs as a response mechanism rather than a proactive initiative. Reactive measures are thoughtful, but not reflective of the inherent definition of cultural strategic thinking, as strategic refers to planning.

Two Specific Cultural Strategic Thinking Techniques Observed Within My Team

          Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) describes the three steps to improve cultural strategic thinking involve assimilating new information, determining appropriate strategies and then following up with changes, as needed. Our operations department team’s diversity includes all of the attributes listed previously. Successfully, the operations manager and team have utilized peer learning and observation, while the work tasks are a neutral basis of common ground. As a result, I have witnessed stereotypes and assumptions confronted and mitigated.

            Peer learning through inquisitive conversation creates understanding and reference for future interaction (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). It is company policy to dispatch crews dynamically rather than maintain static crews. In other words, the same people do not necessarily work on the same crew together each day, since they are assigned based on job requirements and skill sets. In this way, employees get to work with all of the other employees at one time or another.  During the time they drive to and from job sites, there is opportunity for peer conversation. Their conversations include cultural topics and the teams get to know each other and have taught each other basics of various languages they speak.  

            Observation is a quiet way to take in information, through various means, to expand openness to ideas, beliefs, and experiences (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). Management performs more of this type of cultural strategic thinking.  When the dispatcher performs job site visits, he not only is performing customer service follow up, but also observing how various teams operate, communicate, and welcome new employees.

Describe Evidence of Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

          According to Earley & Peterson (2004), three elements structure cultural intelligence: metacognition, motivation, and behavior. This is best exemplified by another situation. We had an operations employee who celebrated religious observations on Saturdays. Initially, we were unaware of this, but he called in sick or simply did not show for work many Saturdays. Company policy states that Saturday is a work day, as it is a busy day, and a week day is usually a day off. Once management discussed the situation with the employee, an alternate work schedule was arranged, as management desired to keep the employee. Employee behavior and management’s attitude both improved. Some other employees saw this as an unfair arrangement, but most saw a company supportive of a person’s culture and some even extrapolated that their culture is also respected by the company.

          Cognition, as Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) defines, is processing and recalling information. In the above example, management became cognizant of the employee’s religious culture and responded in a positive manner.  However, as Earley and Peterson (2004) propose, cognition is not effective across multiple cultures. 

          Another positive result of the situation pertains to connecting new information (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).  Management learned to inquire about employee’s cultural beliefs that may be related to their work schedule, when absenteeism is chronic.  Active listening and a positive response created a mutual benefit and example to other employees.

            On the other hand, management was deficient in efficacy prior to nearly terminating a valued employee. Further, management did not set goals to prepare for future situations of this nature.  Both efficacy and goal setting for evaluation are part of the motivational aspect (Earley and Peterson, 2004).

            Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012) emphasizes recognition of previous cultural experiences, identifying assumptions and applying new experiences.  Reacting to a situation, as our organization did, addresses the cultural awareness moment, but lacks metacognition to engage in cultural strategic management.

How CQ Can Be Improved

          The example above would be positively impacted by CQ improvements on a grander scale.  Therefore, general organizational CQ recommendations are presented with several steps our organization can take to become proactive in cultural intelligence based on three components presented by Earley and Peterson (2004): 1) Metacognitive skills begin with management deciding to become culturally competent, assessing current cultural awareness, setting goals, and learning.  Specifically, asking questions of employees about their culture, increases knowledge. 2) Motivation is generated from managers’ commitment to cultural intelligence improvement goals and value system. Our organization might create a written value statement related to cultural intelligence goals, shared by management. 3) Behavior is the response to the metacognitive information.  Our CQ might be improved by intentionally placing emphasis on our diverse cultures, beginning with simple steps to build camaraderie.  My peers in the unit 1 discussion offered a couple of suggestions.  Thi Kim (2018), suggested celebrating holidays that employees might celebrate outside of our firm’s recognized U.S. federal holidays. Additionally, Haghighatjou (2018) suggested sharing food representing our various cultures.

Conclusion

            Our organization, although not a global firm, employs people of multicultural backgrounds.  While the differences are mostly subtle, management’s intentional practice of improving cultural intelligence, goal setting, and communication, not only prepares for unanticipated cultural diversity, but builds an internal atmosphere of cultural appreciation and confidence.

References

Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0.

 Earley, P. & Peterson, R (2004). The Elusive Cultural Chameleon: Cultural Intelligence as a

New Approach to Intercultural Training for the Global Manager. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3(1), 100-115.

 

Haghighatjou, N. (2018). Culture Discussion Forum Unit 1.  University of the People BUS

5211 Managing in the Global Economy – Term 1, 2018-2019.

Thi Kim, T.T. (2018). Culture Discussion Forum Unit 1. University of the People BUS 5211

Managing in the Global Economy – Term 1, 2018-2019.