Intercultural Competencies Essay

Cultural competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.

Human Services is a profession that experiences an elevated degree of varied cultures. Therefore, cultural competency is significant for human service professionals. Cultural competence illustrates a set of skills, values and principles that recognizes value and work towards the most favorable interactions involving the individual and the various cultural professionals work with (“Understanding Cultural Competency,” 2015). In the reading of this paper, I will enhance the knowledge of culture in human services focusing on Culture Competency: Intergenerational Welfare Dependency. I will also clarify how culture and the article selected are relevant to the program or area of practice that I identify with.

Introduction and Aims “A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes that the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger. The officer, identified by the department as 49-year-old Brad Miller, graduated from the police academy in March 2015. He has been in field training and working under the supervision of a training officer, the department said. The training officer and other officers were on the scene when the shooting occurred, Rodriguez said” (The Brownsville Herald, 2015 August 11).

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people (TGNC) have made progressions in gaining acceptance in the community, but still face many barriers in receiving quality health care. Designing an in-service program focused on cultural competence training for health care providers will help transgender individuals receive the quality care they deserve. The TGNC community have many unique health disparities, such as mental health issues, suicide, anxiety, AIDs, HIV and cancer. Through use of leadership, communication and education health care providers will learn how to work with diverse groups and deliver quality care. With diversity increasing throughout the nation, challenges and opportunities present themselves for health care providers and health care systems to deliver culturally competent care.

These nine terms are all correlated and intertwined with each other. Without one, like culture, you cannot have the other, such as diversity. If one is going to work as a health care professional, they must know these terms and be able to respect the meaning of each one.

Knowledge about some differences between yours and the other person’s culture can, for instance enable you to plan an event so that you have the best chance of enabling the communication to run smooth. It helps us to have curiosity and knowledge about the customs and norms of other cultures and the meanings associated with simple actions so that we can understand reactions and can influence the action by preventing misunderstandings as far as possible. This involves being aware of our own rules and prohibitions so they can be evaluated and examined in terms of appropriateness in different situations, otherwise we make judgment based on acceptable criteria.

Orientation to Knowledge- The terms people use to explain themselves and the world around them

From module 8, I enjoyed the concept of Motivation (Positive Attitudes), which is part of the Air Force Cross-Cultural Competence (3C) Model. I enjoyed the concept of Positive Attitudes because it is the most essential component of the 3C Model. If I fail to apply this concept, I will not be able to absorb knowledge about a different culture. That means that If I do not have Positive Attitudes toward a culture, I will never learn and put into practice any given information, even if the training is high-quality. I can spend a year learning about Afghanistan, but if I am not motivated to understand their culture, all that training would mean nothing, I would arrive at the Country without any cultural skills. Thanks to being an Air Advisor,

The reading materials focus more on the cosmopolitan outlook and global culture. They provide thoughtful instances and valuable suggestions to illustrate the significance of the cultural intelligence. It is factual that the cultures in the world have been contacted closely due to the booming of the global business. However, the cosmopolitan corporation still lacks of the competent global leader. Therefore, it is necessary to build the cosmopolitan understanding in the corporation. I also consider that the firms are willing to explore the international markets, but their employees, customers, investors and supplier remain rooted.

According to Adler and Bartholomew (1992), five cross-cultural competencies must be developed by leaders entering the global market (as cited in Northouse, 2013). As we’re preparing for our new venture in Australia, our leaders need to focus on the first two competencies. Adler and Bartholomew stated that leaders need to first “understand business, political, and cultural environments worldwide” and second “learn the perspectives, tastes, trends, and technologies of many other cultures” (as cited in Northouse, 2013, p.383). To better help our firm develop these first two cross-cultural

The above characteristics suggest that I work in a truly global and culturally diverse business environment; therefore; cultural wisdom and cognition gained through this course can definitely improve the effectiveness of our global interactions.

Intercultural communication competence refers to the ability of an individual to adapt and communicate appropriately and effectively across a wide array of cultural contexts. That is to say, for an individual to be considered an intercultural communicator they must understand other’s cultures as well as they understand their own, and apply this understanding to communication (Chen 1-2). With the increasing diversity at the workplace, school and other social settings, it has become increasingly important to learn how to communicate with people from a diverse array of cultures. More importantly, adapting to a more effective intercultural communication competence model provides us with learning opportunities occasioned by the interaction with people from other backgrounds. The intercultural communication competence model comes with some key components including tolerance for uncertainty, self-knowledge, and motivation. The greatest and most important of these aspects is motivation. An individual must be willing to foster relationships with people from a different cultural background. If an individual lacks the willingness to promote intercultural relationships, then other aspects of the intercultural communication model become moot.

In the current era of globalization, the new economic and political reforms has made it evident and clear that leaders of organization not only need to build trans- global competence, but there is also a need to build cross cultural competence. Cross- cultural competences is known to be enhancement of flexibility and awareness for having the capability and ability for thriving and surviving across the global era as a business organizations (Jonsen, 2010).

According to the works of Chaney & Martin (2011) and Harris & Moran (2000), they agree that international management skills are in need for the increasing scope of international trades and investments. A large number of multinational companies have expanded their businesses through both developed and developing countries. Some of the business invest directly and others are partnership arrangements and strategic alliances with domestic operations. Their studies show that independent entrepreneurs and small businesses have started investing and competing in the world marketplace. Thus, to acquire corporations’ objectives, there is exceedingly a necessity for the development of strategic framework for cross-cultural management and communication in the current competitive global market. Chaney & Martin (2011) also noted that, cultural awareness and cultural differences are strongly important to the multinational corporations’ success. A good understanding of the culture where business is implemented can make international managers productive and effective.

When dealing with intercultural business a person should be well aware of the characteristics of the culture he is to be in contact with. He should be well prepared to face attitudes not common in his home country.