Individualism versus Collectivism

Individualism–collectivism refers to the degree to which a culture relies on self or the group. Individualistic cultures stress self-reliance and personal achievement. People are encouraged to be unique, to stand out, and to express themselves. Individualistic cultures include countries in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

In collectivistic cultures such as countries in Asia, South America, India, and the Middle East, one's identity is associated with the group. The common good is more important than individual rights. Cooperation and interdependence are very important. In a training situation, people from collectivistic cultures will like working in groups and arriving at decisions through consensus. You can expect that they will not speak up in the large group but will become more animated and participative in small-group situations.

Power Distance

Power distance is the extent to which differentials of power are expected and accepted. For example, in a high power distance culture learners would defer to the trainer as the authority figure and expect him or her to have all the answers; therefore, make your status and expertise known. They expect a more instructor-centered design with clear goals and structure. Participants are very conscious of status and, therefore, senior-level people will dominate the discussion. High power distance cultures include many Asian, Latin, and Arab countries.

On the other hand, in low power distance countries such as Canada, Australia, the United States, Great Britain, Israel, and Scandinavia, learners and trainers are regarded as more equal. Learners are at ease challenging the trainer and asking questions. They also expect to learn from each other and appreciate a participant-centered design.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance refers to how much ambiguity a culture is comfortable with. Uncertainty avoiding cultures are not comfortable with unstructured situations. Learners in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance index scores such as Guatemala, Greece, Japan, Germany, and Argentina, just to name a few, would expect trainers to give explicit instructions for assignments and classroom activities. They would not be comfortable with unstructured situations.

On the other hand, those from low uncertainty avoidance cultures such as Northern Europe, Australia, and North America, appreciate flexibility and informality.

Cultural Intelligence Development Stages

1. Stage 1: Reaction to external stimuli
   • Oblivious that there are differences
   • Little exposure or interest in other cultures
2. Stage 2: Recognition of other cultural norms and motivation to learn more about them
   • Heightened sense of multiculturalism
   • Struggle to sort through the complexity of the cultural environment
   • Genuinely want to learn more
   • Search for simple rules of thumb to guide behavior
3. Stage 3: Accommodation of other cultural norms and rules in one's own mind
   • Deeper understanding of cultural variation begins to develop
   • Cultural norms and rules of various societies begin to seem comprehensible and even reasonable in their context
   • Recognition of appropriate behavioral responses to different cultural situations develops
   • Adaptive behavior takes lots of effort and is awkward
4. Stage 4: Assimilation of diverse cultural norms into alternative behaviors
   • Adjusting to different situations no longer requires much effort
   • Develop repertoire of behaviors from which you can choose depending on the specific cultural situation
   • You feel at home almost anywhere
5. Stage 5: Proactivity in cultural behavior based on recognition of changing cues that others do not perceive
   • Have ability to sense changes in cultural context, sometimes even before members of the other culture
   • Attuned to nuances of intercultural interactions and automatically adjust your behavior
   • Make connections between disparate pieces of information

Self-Awareness

Another way to help you identify your level of cultural intelligence is to respond to the “Cultural Awareness Self-Assessment” (Exhibit 13.1).

How did you do? Once you have identified areas where you need to improve, then you are ready to take action to become more culturally intelligent. Learn about other cultures: attend ethnic festivals; try different foods from around the world; attend other religions' worship services; talk to people from other cultures and ask them questions about their culture; and research and read about other cultures on the Internet and in books. A great book reference is Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, second edition by Terri Morrison and Wayne Conaway (2006), profiling more than 70 countries. The authors also have published three separate regional books focusing on Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Another good resource to help you become more knowledgeable is the Multicultural Calendar that gives dates and descriptions of the world's religions and cultural festivals as well as descriptions of various religions. The calendar is available in wall, desktop, and electronic formats. Of course, one of the best ways to learn about other cultures is to visit various countries and interact with the people.

Communication Issues

In addition to Hofstede's cultural dimensions, we also need to be aware of context and how it impacts verbal and nonverbal communication across cultures. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall's theory of high-context and low-context cultures help us to understand how much communication is impacted by culture. Context refers to the situation, background, circumstances, or environment associated with an event or an individual.

Communication in low-context countries is very direct and informal. It relies on the literal and precise meaning of words. People in low-context cultures rely on facts and value logic and directness. People in low-context countries include those in North America and much of Western Europe. Their communications are concise and straightforward using precise words they expect to be taken literally.

High-context cultures rely on both verbal and nonverbal communication to convey the meaning of the message. As a trainer, you must have good listening and observing skills to understand what the communicator really means. For example, in a high-context culture, the speaker's tone of voice, facial expression, posture, and even the person's background and family all contribute to the meaning of the message. Communication tends to be indirect and formal with flowery language. High-context countries are those in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. People in these cultures emphasize interpersonal relationships and the importance of trust.

Think about the different ways in which people from various cultures communicate both verbally and nonverbally, so that you can prevent communication miscues. For example, you may interpret head nodding to mean that the participant is agreeing with what you are saying. In some cultures, however, nodding one's head is only an indication that the person is listening and is also encouraging the speaker to continue. In U.S. culture, people often make negative judgments about those who do not engage in direct eye contact. Once again, other cultures view direct eye contact as challenging or disrespectful. It is important that you not misinterpret a participant's behavior that may be culturally based.

Research Your Audience

• Find out as much as you can about the people in your audience. At the very least, you should have some idea of the following cultural characteristics:
  • Preferred physical distance from another person.
  • Handshakes (e.g., firm or loose, number of “pumps,” between genders).
  • Religious and social customs.
  • Food and dining taboos.
  • Nonverbal communication/body language/facial expressions (e.g., smiling, eye contact, head nodding).
  • Time sense (e.g., promptness).
  • Culturally sensitive words.
  • Topics to avoid.
• Review Hofstede's dimensions, and determine where your group or individuals would be placed on each dimension.
• If you are training in another country, arrive a day or two early, not only to recover from traveling and adjust to the time difference but to get a sense of the culture and, if possible, interact with some of your participants.
• When choosing food for meals or breaks, be aware of food and dining taboos.

Selecting Methodologies and Activities

• Don't use role plays in Asian cultures where avoiding conflict and saving face are of primary concern.
• Use small group discussions and case studies to promote more interaction and to promote participation in cultures where participants will not speak up in a large group.

Preparing Materials

• Make sure your materials reflect the culture(s) you are training, (e.g., change names and situations that represent various cultures and do not show images of women in Arab cultures).
• Use British spelling of words (e.g., programme, analyse, behaviour, centre, realise, visualisation) when training abroad.
• Use and distribute many handouts and other resource material.
• Use graphics, visuals, and demonstrations.
• Make sure your participant materials are well-organized with unambiguous language, and explicit instructions.

Delivering Training

• Greet each participant with an appropriate handshake, keeping in mind that in some cultures, a man will not shake a woman's hand.
• Ask the participant his or her name and how he or she would like to be addressed. Make sure you can pronounce the person's name correctly.
• Speak slowly and distinctly using brief, simple sentences.
• Do not use jargon or slang expressions.
• Arrange people in small groups according to similar age, status, and, if appropriate, gender.
• If they would be more comfortable doing so, encourage the small groups to conduct their discussions in their native language and then report out in English.
• Don't schedule too tightly in order to allow more time for discussion.
• Be patient and don't be alarmed by silence. Some people may need time to translate mentally what you have said and how he or she wants to respond.
• Take frequent breaks and allow time for socializing.
• Learn a few basic words and phrases in the language of your host country.