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Culture and Intelligence


Drawing on the readings and on your personal experience, how can HR Managers help raise the cultural intelligence of an organization. Do you think that HR bears the brunt of this task or are there other offices within an organization that should be sharing this goal? How can Human Resources help to promote an environment that is welcoming respectful and inclusive?
Drawing on the readings and on your personal experience, how can HR Managers help raise the cultural intelligence of an organization
The rise in international trade and travel have caused people of various cultures to interact. Successful interaction requires cultural intelligence that reflects sensitivity and awareness. (Bradley, J. 2018). The culture is shown in the values, assumptions and symbols are reflected in one’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions. Values are what determines people’s behaviors, assumptions are the beliefs that influence our thinking and doing, whereas symbols are used to create meaning in organizing our lives and interacting with others (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). Mariah Brown (2018) states that knowledge of these cultural definitions are important elements to business success and business partnerships can fail because of not knowing these elements and how they impact the business environment.
John Coleman (2013) identifies six components of a great culture. These are; vision, values, practices, people, narrative, and place. Vision provides the direction for the company which is based on its values or principles. These principles are acted on and used daily. Therefore, hiring managers must make sure that the right people are selected for their company that will espouse these values in their daily interaction with all stakeholders. Companies also need to find their story; who they are and articulate it as part of the dynamics of their culture and doing so in a culturally sensitive environment.

Do you think that HR bears the brunt of this task or are there other offices within and organization that should be sharing this goal?
I do not think HR bears the brunt of this task. All the managers and leaders of the different department are obligated to make sure their workers reflect cultural intelligence. A global organization is obligated to provide opportunities for its employees to become more culturally sensitive and increase their cultural awareness through an understanding of the cultural system of values, assumptions, and symbols. Also, because we live in a connected world, cultural intelligence is important. Cultural intelligence helps all leaders deal effectively with people from different cultures (Paz, Margo 2015). In order to survive and thrive, organizations and leaders must be flexible and willing to change. A leader that possess cultural intelligence gives a competitive edge to the organization. This can make the company have greater access to more resources, knowledge, and talent (Hodge, A.2017). The leaders are the ones that can affect these changes by focusing on innovation, vision, motivation, and trust to change. They must be courageous in order to come to terms with what they have or what they need to have to make use of opportunities as they present themselves. In other words, culturally intelligent leaders have the mindset of:
  • Setting goals
  • Developing a future
  • Having a strategic vision for change
  • Aligning of people
  • Communicating direction
  • Creating a coalition
  • Commitment focused
  • Motivating and inspiring
  • Leveraging human valued and potential
This requires courageous leaders who understand national cultures and the wants and needs of the stakeholders. Cultural intelligent leadership realizes that culture is important in the formation of their organization. They are central to aligning their workers with the culture of the organization. They must make cultural intelligence a priority in order to be creative and innovative and make stakeholders accountable for differences (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders 2012). David Burkus (2014) in his article How to Tell if Your Company Has a CreativeCulture, highlights the importance of understanding cultural dynamics to create a strong culture. Three factors were stated that can help leaders identify the elements of their own culture. They are artifacts, values, and assumptions. Artifacts are tangible things people can see such as furniture and office attire. Values are shown through employees’ interaction and how they do things, which helps to define the organization.
How can HR help to promote an environment that is welcoming, respectful, and inclusive?
Our actions and choices affect others, and this relates to our constant interdependence. In order to live well with each other there is the need to understand the relationships among the different cultural systems such as political, legal, social economic and familial. In working with intercultural groups HR must know their role and use it as a framework to achieve organizational goals and cultural sensitivity. Human resource could ask itself questions such as what would the organization look like if diversity were not present, what would be lost if cultural diversity did not exist? This will allow human resource and other organizational leaders to balance and close gaps in cultural experiences and perform the function of being visionary, communicating values, developing and empowering employees; steering the organization towards the future (Niekerk, E.J & Nierkerk, P., 2013).
References
Brown, M.J. (2018, June 30). How Can Cultural Differences Affect Business Communication. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/can-cultural-differences-affect-business-communication-5093.html
Burkus, D. (2014, December 02). How to Tell if Your Company Has a Creative Culture. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/12/how-to-tell-if-your-company-has-a-creative-culture
Coleman, J. ( 2013, May 06). Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/six-components-of-culture
Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Saylor Academy. Retrieved fromhttps://saylordotorg.github.io/text_leading-with-cultural-intelligence/index.html
Hodge. A. (2017, April 18). the importance of cultural intelligence within a global organization. Retrieved from https://www.randstad.com/workforce-insights/workforce360/archives/the-importance-of-cultural-intelligence-within-a-global-organization_186/
Niekerk, E.J & Nierkerk, P. (2013, November). Conscious Leadership: A Conceptual Framework of Elements for Short-Term and Long-Term Effectiveness. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288300111_Conscious_Leadership_A_Conceptual_Framework_of_Elements_for_Short-Term_and_Long-Term_Effectiveness
Paz, M. (2015, September 16). Cultural Intelligence and Its Importance in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cultural-intelligence-its-importance-workplace-margot-paz/
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