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Cultural differences in boardroom dynamics - Coggle Diagram
Cultural differences in boardroom dynamics
Through the combined forces of media scrutiny, shareholder voice, increasing governance compliance and a greater awareness of the benefits, there is a trend for boards to become more diverse in some areas, eg. female participation in FTSE 150 boards as of 2018 accounted for 25.5% of directorships up from 10.6% 10 years previously
Culture:
both the shared values and beliefs that a group has and also the consistent patterns of behaviour that these give rise to.
Bhawuk and Brislin (1992)
To be effective in another culture, people must be interested in other cultures, be sensitive enough to notice cultural differences and then also be willing to modify their behaviour as an indication of respect for the people of other cultures. A reasonable term that summarises these qualities of people is intercultural sensitivity
The developmental model is based on six core orientations towards cultural differences that represent predictable stages of becoming more interculturally sensitive. Bennett contends that such sensitivity is not necessarily natural and so this sensitivity must be learned.
Stage 1: Denial
This stage is characterised by an individual not perceiving cultural difference at all or peceiving it only in broad categories such as foreigner or minroity.
A person at this stage may make well meant but naive obersvations or use stereotypes as well as superficial statements of tolerance
Competencies to develop at this stage might include the ability to gather appropriate information about culture and the initative to explore subjective culture
Stage 2: Defence
In this stage there is a recongition of cultural difference but also a tendency to polarise it as us and them
Characterised by people feeling threatened by cultural difference and so tending to be highly critical and blaming of cultural difference
Competencies to develop through this stage might include the discipline to maintain personal control, the ability to manage ones own discomfort or anxiety with patience
Stage 3: Minimalisation
There is the recongition of some superficial differences (equivalent to the surface level artefacts in Schein's cultural model) while holding a view that all humans are essentially the same
This stressing of a universal cross cultural similarity reduces ones feeling of defensiveness such that people in this stage are much more tolerant of superficial cultural diversity
This stage also obscures deeper cultural differences which may include the dominant culture's false assumption of equality
Competencies to develop in this stage may include developing knowledge about intercultural communication processes, remaining open minded, knowing more about ones own culture, developing listening skills and the ability to be non-judgemental in interactions
Stage 4:Acceptance
An attitude of cultural acceptance is one when one views one's own culture as just one of a number of equally complex worldviews. The acceptance stage is also characterised by curiosity and being respectful towards cultural difference but a lack of esily adapting behavior to different cultural context
Typical things people may say or think include 'concepts of good and bad only exist in a cultural context - there are no universals'
Competencies to develop at this stage may inclue culture speciifc knowledge, developing the ability to differntiate and create cultural categories, the ability to perceive a wide range of contextua factors, respect for others, values and beliefs, tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity
Stage 5: Adaption
When one reaches the cultural sensititvity level of adaption, one is able to develop communication skills and alternative behaviour for the different cultural conetxt
This involves inter cultural empathy such that a person can shift perspective to understand and be understood across cultural boundaries
Characterised by generation of authentic behaviour in the alternative culture which is indicative of intercultrual communication competence
Competencies to develop at this stage include empathy, risk-taking, skills, problem solving skills and flexibility in social and communication style
Stage 6: Integration
This stage is characterised by the internalisation of bicultrual or multicultural perspectives. One would be able to conduct sophisticated cross-cultural mediation and be seen as a dynamic in between moving in and out of different cultures
Competencies at this stafe include a culturally sensitive sense of humour, the ability to take leadership roles and the ability to switch identity according to cultural context
Cultural intelligence
CQ builds on the concept of emotional intelligence while incorporating the capability to interact effectively across cultures
An individual with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of the behaviour of other persons or groups those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those particular to this person or this group and those that are neither universal nor idosyncratic
An outsider's seemingly natural ability to interpret someone's unfamilar and ambigous gestures the wya that persons campariots would
CQ can be developed in three ways
Through improviing one's cognitive CQ which is knowledge about cultures, including facts and cultural traits
Develop physical CQ which is specific skills to manage onself and one's social interactions
One can develop one's emotional or motivation CQ which includes the awareness one has of oneself and others
Multicultural teams
Brett et al (2006)
considers how to manage multicultural teams whose members come from different nations and backgorunds and thus have the potential for conflict
There are four strategies that most successful teams and leaders used for dealing with challenges
Adaption: acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them
Structural intervention: Changing the shape of the team
Managerial intervention: setting norms early or bringing in a higher level manager
Exit: Removing a team member when other options have failed
Adaption is the ideal strategy as this enables the team to solve its own problem with minimal outside input and therefore also learn from the experience for the benefit of future team performance, team members must be exceptionally aware and also willing to invest time to negotiate a common understanding