Discuss about the Cross Cultural Intelligence at the Workplace.
Cross-cultural adaptation encompasses the issues related to migrating from one culture to another in compliance with the other country or culture’s rules and regulations, norms, customs, practices and linguistics. Several social science researchers over the years have studied this human behavior and the theory termed as ‘Integrative Communication Theory’ proposed by Young Yun Kim may be referred to in this context (Kim, 1988). The theory may be widely applicable to a vast population ranging from immigrants, refugees, military men to sojourners and others and is firmly based on certain assumptions and axioms that pave the way for the establishment and maintenance of a relatively stable and reciprocal kind of relationship of the individual with the host surrounding. Stress induced adaptation has been emphasized as the key driving force for increased personal functional fitness necessary to embark upon the dynamic process of adaptation. Although ethnic and personal attributes are unique for an individual, yet effective, interpersonal communication together with social skills, as well as host environment situations play significant roles among others in enabling a person to adapt to a new environment. In a nutshell, it may be said that it is advisable to follow the old saying “While in Rome, do as the Romans do.” in the context of cross-cultural adaptation.
A newspaper article published in the Time magazine in 2014, supports the given theory with relevant reports from various investigators (www.time.com, 2016). A study conducted by the researchers at University of Florida conclude that pupils who preferred to pursue academics abroad show inclination towards complex and critical thinking compared to the groups who have neither studied nor have plans to study in overseas nations. Similar reports by researchers from the Singapore Management University and INSEAD corroborated with this result where they mentioned that students with multicultural exposures and experiences are more creative thinkers capable of linking between disparate concepts and possess flexibility in their actions.
Ahn & Kim, (2015) in a research article mentioned that the linguistic competence of the North Koreans determined their level of comfort and adaptability in Los Angeles, U.S. The study was executed following an explorative interview approach where language incompatibility, varied cultural practices and differences in their adjustment with the South Korean immigrant mass residing in Los Angeles were identified as the crucial problems and challenges encountered by the North Koreans and the findings were explained in the light of Kim’s theory.
In the globalizing world of today, finding a home beyond one’s cultural territory and adapting to the host cultural scenario is an important aspect of living (Kim, 2015). Human beings since the advent of civilization are accustomed to adjusting themselves to the ever changing environmental and social conditions thereby leading to evolution. The integrative theory of cross-cultural adaptation lays great emphasis in prolonged and in-depth intercultural communications to foster sustainability and acceptance in an unfamiliar setting. The determining factors affecting the cross-cultural adaptation may vary depending upon the ethnicity and personal attributes of the respondent individual. In this regard, the open mindedness, personality make up and strength of the stranger may be considered that in due course of time enable him/her to successfully comply with the prevalent condition. Often the ability to adapt rests on the degree of communication competence on the part of the stranger. The ultimate outcome of cross-cultural adaptation is borne out of the steady, continuous changes at the personal level. These changes are diverse and interrelated in nature and lead to individual transformation in a sound and subtle, unconscious manner. Identity transformation is vital to the emotional, perceptual and knowledge development which in turn is integral to addressing the adjustment issues holistically. Verbal and non-verbal behaviors both intertwined in a person, contribute to the cultural intelligence rendering suitable adaptation mechanisms. Adaptability ensures the simultaneous and healthy co-existence of the old as well as the new virtues. To cater to the needs of the adjustment, the intellectual, aesthetic and emotional experiences are integral (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015).
Discussions pertaining to the research executed by Ahn & Kim, (2015), focused on the communication experiences of the North Korean defectors in the Los Angeles region of U.S. Analysis of the extensive personal interviews of the four participants including three males and one female of North Korean defectors were done taking into account the ‘Integrative cross-cultural adaptation theory’. Several factors like personal and social communication skills are reported to be crucial in the integration of the adaptation process. Two general groups of North Koreans entering the U.S. domicile have been talked about where one group contain legal refugees who are awaiting confirmation following an appeal for asylum and the other group involve the illegal refugees encroaching a territory. The U.S. government adopted certain measures of providing case money for settlement, rations, health insurance, English education and employments for the legal refugees. The adjustability concerns of the North Koreans migrating from South Korea to U.S. are surging progressively and therefore necessitate the urgency to include a safe cross-cultural practice for this particular population (Kim & Kim, 2016). The results of the study conducted, implied that difficulties associated to communication posed challenges to cross-cultural adaptability, delaying their familiarity with the new environment. Difference in language, varied cultural norms stood on the way of effective interpersonal relationship. Lack of English language proficiency also hindered their reach to the American society at large, restricting their interactions solely to the South Korean sub-culture based in LA. Psychosocial health of the North Korean defectors is greatly affected consequently due to dual cultural shock encountered from South Korean and American culture (Roh et al., 2012). Thus carefully considering the problems discussed, appropriate interventional strategies must be recruited for the North Korean defectors for their better receptivity within the American cultural realm. The chosen case study thus aided in better understanding the concept of cross-cultural adaptation with reference to the integrated theory, and insightful perceptions on the condition of the North Korean defectors were acquired in the process of learning.
The newspaper article (ww.time.com, 2016) highlighting the cross-cultural adaptability issues and the congruent personality modifications as experienced by the students engaged in studies abroad provide an overall knowledge regarding the applicability of the integrated theory of cross-cultural adaptation. The documentation of the students’ experiences pertaining to the foreign context is a relatively lesser known fact and therefore has scopes for further investigation and explorations.
The studied case by Ahn & Kim, (2015) highlights the perspectives and adjustment issues faced by the North Korean defectors on settling in the American region of LA. There are two major identifiable issues pertinent to the given context. First of all the language barrier and discrepancy in the social practices were observed among the North Korean settlers in the U.S. Alongside these challenges threatening their existence in U.S., the discrimination from the South Korean immigrant community living in U.S. also offered a major setback. Moreover, the interactive patterns varied considerably while communicating with the South Korean immigrants to that of the North Korean defectors. Thus analyzing the identified problems, it may be opined that the linguistics incompetence and discriminating social norms in vogue in the U.S. are more rational and convincing with reference to the North Korean defectors settlement there. The strength of the article lies in the fact that it considered both personal and social communication for assessing the situation of the North Korean defectors. However other factors such as the environmental ones, intercultural transformation and propensity towards personal adaptation were widely overlooked. The overall life experiences of the North Koreans in U.S. were documented depending upon qualitative verbatim response. The sample respondents consisting of only four participants cannot adequately extrapolate the findings to other people of similar status and hence provide a kind of biased overview. Besides this, the study did not take into account the participants of varied age groups that acted as a drawback and therefore cautious measures must be taken for analyzing the results correctly (Epstein, Santo, & Guillemin, 2015). The impact of intercultural communication on cross-cultural adjustment as well as work attitudes relevant to foreign workers in South Korea was discussed in an article where host country’s language proficiency together with the frequency of social interactions have been identified as the key issues of the cross-cultural adaptation (Froese, Peltokorpi, & Ko, 2012). Similar study pertaining to cross-cultural adaptation concept, through the usage of the intelligibility in context scale (ICS) for South Africa’s official languages alongside English, as a reference guide for the speech language therapists working there served a significant role in improving the quality and accessibility of the services provided by them to the South African resident families(Pascoe & McLeod, 2016).
The newspaper article from Time magazine (www.time.com, 2016) explored the various researches available to infer that studying or working abroad in a foreign country make a person smarter, thereby proving the credibility of the cross-cultural adaptation concept. The various studies referred to mostly dealt with the students experiences as a result of multicultural engagement and revealed that the students who are receptive to foreign cultures are better in relating the abstract concepts and ideas. Additionally, they tend to be better problem solvers and critical thinkers with ample creative traits. The inclusion of a wide number of students and professionals for the purpose of study seem to be an advantage in understanding the cross-cultural adjustability issues as the subject students belonging to diverse backgrounds responded in distinctive manners. Reports concerning studies from different countries like Singapore, U.S.A., and France were mentioned thereby making the report more informative and insightful. Although the integrative theory for cross-cultural adaptation formed the basis of all the studies reported, yet more such extensive research must be executed for concrete evidence and firm conclusion. Intercultural transformation, a key concept of the integrative theory consisting of functional fitness, psychological or mental health and intercultural identity was the prime focus in the article. Thus, the report effectively addresses the cross-cultural adjustability issues and consecutive acclimatization of the students or professionals with the working environment in the foreign country. In view of this context, a similar study concerning learning experiences in a clinical environment for linguistically and culturally diverse healthcare students mentions language difficulty and cultural differences as the chief learning obstacles (Mikkonen, 2016). Another study examined the academic adjustment of the Chinese postgraduate students in the UK higher education sector through a process based stage model which in turn may help in the design of academic programs in conjunction with provision for suitable induction (Quan, He, & Sloan, 2016).
References:
Ahn, J. S., & Kim, Y. S. (2015). Communication experiences of North Korean Defectors in Los Angeles: An Exploratory Interview study of Cross-Cultural Adaptation. International Journal of Art & Humanities Center for Global Research Development, 1(1), 13-24.
Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2015). Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge.
Epstein, J., Santo, R. M., & Guillemin, F. (2015). A review of guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of questionnaires could not bring out a consensus.Journal of clinical epidemiology, 68(4), 435-441.
Froese, F. J., Peltokorpi, V., & Ko, K. A. (2012). The influence of intercultural communication on cross-cultural adjustment and work attitudes: Foreign workers in South Korea. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(3), 331-342.
Kim, J. S., & Kim, J. H. (2016). The relationship between social support and acculturative stress from cultural adaptation of people displaced from North Korea to South Korea. China Journal of Social Work, 9(1), 3-24.
Kim, Y. Y. (1988). Communication and cross-cultural adaptation: An integrative theory. Multilingual Matters.
Kim, Y. Y. (2015). Finding a “home” beyond culture: The emergence of intercultural personhood in the globalizing world. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 46, 3-12.
Mikkonen, K., Elo, S., Kuivila, H. M., Tuomikoski, A. M., & Kääriäinen, M. (2016). Culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students’ experiences of learning in a clinical environment: a systematic review of qualitative studies. International journal of nursing studies, 54, 173-187.
Pascoe, M., & McLeod, S. (2016). Cross-cultural adaptation of the Intelligibility in Context Scale for South Africa. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 0265659016638395.
Quan, R., He, X., & Sloan, D. (2016). Examining Chinese postgraduate students’ academic adjustment in the UK higher education sector: a process-based stage model. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(3), 326-343.
Roh, Y. H., Noh, J. H., Kim, W., Oh, J. H., Gong, H. S., & Baek, G. H. (2012). Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Korean version of the Oxford shoulder score. Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery, 132(1), 93-99.
www.time.com, 2016, Retrieved on 19 September 2016 from, https://time.com/79937/how-studying-or-working-abroad-makes-you-smarter/?iid=sr-link3
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