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Cultural Intelligence Model

University of the People - MBA

BUS 5211 - Managing in the Global Economy

Unit 3

2022
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Cultural Intelligence Model

Globalization has made the business environment more complex, dynamic, and competitive,

and cultural intelligence has become the ability to work effectively in different cultural contexts.

Employees who have a high level of cultural intelligence play an important role in bridging

knowledge gaps in the organization, educating their peers from different cultures, and

transferring knowledge between disparate groups (School, 2015). In the discussion of the third

week of this course, we will discuss the elements of cultural intelligence and how cultural

intelligence differs from emotional intelligence and social intelligence.

A specific element of the ABC’s of Cultural Intelligence

Cultural intelligence emphasizes three areas: metacognition and cognition, motivation, and

behavior. Metacognition and cognition represent the ability to think, learn, and develop

strategies. The principle of motivation in cultural intelligence refers to self-efficacy and self-

confidence. Behavior is the ability to possess a repertoire of skills and the ability to adapt

behavior. It is useful to think of it as acquiring knowledge, building, contemplating, and doing,

as shown below:

1- Acquire Knowledge

It is necessary for any person, whether a leader or an administrator, to be aware of cultural

systems, how these cultures were created, interpreted, and shared, and how cultural

interpretations and symbols can affect behaviors and attitudes. Therefore, we find that this field

means acquiring information and knowledge that help identify cultural elements and benefit from

storing information stock in memory.

2- Build
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This component of cultural intelligence helps people develop and expand what they possess of

information about behaviors, as when acquiring knowledge about culture, it must be with him

determining how to use it because it is the ability to build awareness of your surroundings and

know how things work and what is appropriate in a new culture.

3- Contemplate

This component of the cultural intelligence model means being able to pay attention to one's

surroundings and reactions to unfamiliar situations. Contemplate requires being present, taking a

step back, suspending judgments and prejudices, reflecting on assumptions, listening carefully,

and being alert and aware of one's cultural surroundings.

4- Do

It represents the level of conscious choice in daily life, the person's awareness of how his choices

affect those around him, the ability to adapt and perform new behaviors based on a new cultural

environment, and the knowledge of interpreting what others say and knowing the response (1.0),

2012).

Cultural intelligence is a person's seemingly natural ability to interpret someone's gestures as

unfamiliar and ambiguous as that person's compatriots do A person with high cultural

intelligence infers the behavior of a person or group from those traits that may be true of all

persons and all groups Cultural intelligence is innate, but a reasonably alert and stable person can

achieve an acceptable level of cultural intelligence, given that cultural intelligence resides in the

body, heart, and head (Earley, 2004). Cultural intelligence emphasizes the circular path, not the

linear path, as over time the person continues to learn and grow his cultural intelligence and learn

more about himself and his ability to deal with other cultures. It does not target a specific culture,
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but rather a broad approach that seeks to develop a set of skills and develop awareness, and

knowledge that help adapt and interact with other cultures (1.0), 2012).

How does it differ from emotional and social intelligence?

Cultural intelligence means a person's ability to successfully adapt to unfamiliar cultural

environments. It is related to skill and flexibility in understanding culture and learning more

through continuous interaction with it and gradually reshaping thinking to be more sympathetic

to culture. Therefore, we find that cultural intelligence requires leadership, not management, as

the leader focuses His behaviors and tasks are based on innovation, vision, motivation, and

confidence. Emotional intelligence is an individual's ability to identify, evaluate, and manage

one's own emotions as well as those of others. Emotional intelligence assumes a degree of

familiarity within the culture and context that may exist across many cultures for a given

individual, cultural intelligence may share with emotional intelligence the tendency to suspend

judgment and think before acting. Social intelligence is the ability to sense the social situation

captured and used by a person with high social intelligence and the ability to sense an

individual's internal state and feelings regarding the social environment and deal with it

appropriately (1.0), 2012).

In the twenty-first century, there must be new forms of leadership that include thinking

globally, appreciating cultural diversity, developing technological intelligence, and building

partnerships. The need has become urgent for culturally intelligent leaders, as they can enhance

creativity and cultivate an environment of trust. Culturally intelligent leaders focus on change

and anticipate different scenarios for change as well as empowerment their institutions to enable

change.
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References

1.0), (. (2012). Cultural intelligence for leaders. licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 .
Earley, P. &. (2004, October). Cultural intelligence. Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence
School, I. B. (2015, March 24). Why you need cultural intelligence (And how to develop it).
Forbes.com https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2015/03/24/why-you-need-cultural-
intelligence-and-how-to-develop-it/#400eb8d217d6