When you have intercultural competence, you and any members of your team at workplace will avoid making any cultural faux pas that could potentially damage the connection that you have with the other party. Insults can be hurtful to relationships even when they are not intended to be, and they can make it difficult for people to communicate with one another during office hours. When it comes to one’s personal life, intercultural competence might have a negative impact on friendships and lead to misunderstanding not just among friends but also among acquaintances(Matveev & Milter, 2004). In the world of business, a simple error can have significant repercussions, including the disruption of discussions or commercial transactions and the cancellation of entire supplier relationships.
The Importance of Intercultural Competence in Personal and Professional Relationships
Because of intercultural competence, it is of the utmost importance for us to acquire the necessary intercultural competencies in order to benefit our personal and professional interactions(Vera & Speight, 2003). When people have access to the relevant knowledge, they have a lower risk of misunderstanding the perspectives of others and of humiliating themselves in inappropriate social situations.
The disparities that exist between different civilizations might be usefully shown by the fact that different cultures have very different ideas about what constitutes polite behavior. Something intercultural competence is considered to be polite in one country could be considered rude in another(Chrobot-Mason, 2003). This is due to cultural differences.
Examples of Intercultural Competence
For example, if you want to show respect to a Japanese business partner, you should hand them your business card while standing and holding it out on your palm. This shows that you are serious about the relationship. intercultural competence is common practice to accompany this motion with a quick bow to show that you are attentive to the smallest of details. In a similar spirit, if a Japanese business friend of yours offers you their business card, you should take some time to read it and research it appropriately before continuing on with your day. Avoid just putting it into your handbag or wallet; in Japanese business culture, this type of behavior is viewed as highly disrespectful. Instead, try to find a more elegant way to store it.
The ability to converse freely across cultures is very beneficial when it comes to navigating social taboos. This is another another instance of a scenario in which having this information might be beneficial. It is considered rude to question about a person’s marital status, political ideas, or wealth while travelling to nations such as the United Kingdom or the United States, for example, since these things are viewed as private affairs in such countries. On the other hand, a tourist from Ukraine may not think that doing so is particularly impolite.
Last but not least, the ways in which people think about food and the act of eating are likely to vary greatly from one country to the next. In the United States, for example, a host may offer you food or seconds once or twice, and if you decline, they will stop asking and will assume that you are full and do not want any more food(Huang et al., 2003). This is because if you decline an offer of food more than once, they will assume that you are refusing all offers of food. Even if you have just turned down the offer once or twice before, this will still be the case. It is perhaps feasible that they will clear the table completely. On the other hand, in certain Arab cultures, it is considered acceptable to respectfully decline repeated offers of food. This is believed to be a sign of respect. A kind Arab guest can decline your offer of food seven or eight times before finally giving in and accepting it. This does not suggest that they are not hungry and does not mean that they will not eventually plunge in; rather, it is merely an expected aspect of their culture to be gracious.
References
- Chrobot-Mason, D. (2003) “Developing multicultural competence for managers: Same old leadership skills or something new?,” The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 6(2), pp. 5–20. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0095923.
- Huang, Y., Rayner, C. and Zhuang, L. (2003) “Does intercultural competence matter in intercultural business relationship development?,” International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 6(4), pp. 277–288. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13675560310001626963.
- Matveev, A.V. and Milter, R.G. (2004) “The value of intercultural competence for performance of Multicultural Teams,” Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 10(5/6), pp. 104–111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/13527590410556827.
- Vera, E.M. and Speight, S.L. (2003) “Multicultural Competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles,” The Counseling Psychologist, 31(3), pp. 253–272. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000003031003001.
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