Abstract
In the globalized world of business, there is a need for leaders to be culturally competent. They should have cultural competence not only within the local dimensions but also at the global level. Transcultural competence is a necessary ingredient to ensure that a leader supports diversity and inclusion while serving as a global leader. This paper aims to discuss the theme of transcultural competence. The report will define the theme, discuss its importance, and explore the prerequisites for transcultural competence. Also, the report will discuss how leaders can gain transcultural competence.
Keywords: Transcultural, competence, culture, leader, diversity
Introduction
Due to globalization and the need for diversity, the lives of business people and employees depend on manifold connections across nations. In most countries, people are involved in multiple migrations. The migrations are transnational, and this has made most nations ethnoculturally diverse. Acknowledging the global progressions of transnational relocation and international flow opens up the need to understand the notion of transcultural competence. The development of transcultural competence matches to the relevance of gaining skills and familiarity to behave and relate proficiently in a diverse workforce and society. In most multinational organizations, transnational competence is an essential ingredient for successful leadership. Thus, when hiring leaders, multinationals focus on the need for leaders to develop transcultural competence. This paper aims to discuss the theme of transcultural competence. The report will define the theme, discuss its importance, and explore the prerequisites for transcultural competence. Additionally, the report will discuss the potential benefits leaders can gain from transcultural competence.
Definition of Transcultural Competence
According to Wildman et al. (2016), “Transcultural competence refers to being able to adaptively operate within diverse cultural contexts without knowing in advance the specifics of any culture but, rather, through being able to have a more general understanding as to how culture works within any context” (p.54). Trans-culturalism provides new experiences and a new-fangled way of viewing the globe and comprehending things where integrity is at the crossroads of potential in human interactions. The transculturation process views cultures as unsolidified, combining them under continuous collaboration with other cultures.
Transculturation refers to the circulation of varied cultural characteristics as people of different cultures accept them across boundaries. As such, trans-culture involves the autonomy of all individuals to stay on the limit of one’s inherited philosophy or go outside it, adding alternative ethos and moving towards the inspirational dominion that recounts different philosophies as they recount to nature (Wieland et al., 2023). Thus, trans-culturalism develops new formations in the interference zone that challenge solidified and established identities.
The trans conveys the idea of changing aspects, moving towards interstellar across the boundary and building the bounds outside a single distinctiveness, swapping between languages and cultures as a means of being, with a logic of range, transformation, and treatise. Based on this sense, trans-culturalism entails stabilizing or destabilizing impacts, historical conditions, social conjunctions, and disintegration or integration of power, groups, and cultures.
Transcultural Competence Dimensions
Transcultural competence is a multi-dimensional transformative process. It challenges people’s assumed edges of references and builds the limits of their perspectives. The three broad dimensions of transcultural competence include cognitive, affective, and social.
Cognitive Dimension
The cognitive dimension focuses on people’s inquisitiveness, referring to the development of various languages, standards, and cultures. Besides, it focuses on individual’s exploration and reasoning about their experiences and biases. According to this dimension, curiosity to discover varied openings to learn about cultures and build their familiarity systematically drives people (Jurkova, 2021). Moreover, people should be emotionally connected to this dimension, and the connection is depicted by sensitivity, support, and openness to approach other cultures and communicate with individuals.
Affective Dimension
The affective dimension focuses on individuals’ ability to act according to the perception of others and be flexible to change. Primarily, one has to empathize with others and conform to their cultural ideas to gain cultural competence (Jurkova, 2021). The dimension recognizes the capacity to acknowledge varying cultural characteristics without divulging one’s culture.
The Social Dimension
The dimension is concerned with a cognisant determination and willpower to comprehend and relate with others in professional, cultural, and social spheres. Using this dimension, individuals travel and immerse themselves in various cultures, creating a source of cultural knowledge (Jurkova, 2021). The dimension helps people to change prevailing practices and promote inclusion in the work area and society.
The Significance of Transcultural Competence
Increased Creativity
Creativity is a critical aspect of any organization that desires to realize success in operations. Notably, transcultural competence is critical for increased creativity. Being creative helps to solve challenges that impact businesses during daily operations (Glover & Friedman, 2015). People are likely to become more creative when they understand the cultural aspects of other cultures. The curiosity that individuals develop activates the drive to enhance their creativity, developing more knowledge and expertise that can be beneficial to solving challenges in businesses.
Enhanced Collaboration
Collaboration is exceedingly vital in helping to realize a common goal. It is challenging for individuals to collaborate if they do not understand and respect the cultures of others. One has to eliminate biases and perspectives concerning a particular culture for the collaboration to develop (Dolan & Kawamura, 2015). Embracing and respecting the cultural ideas of others can foster collaboration since people can work together despite their cultural diversities. Therefore, transcultural competence helps to increase collaboration.
Increased Engagement
The ability to recognize diversity and inclusion fosters engagement. Transcultural competence plays a critical role in helping individuals embrace diversity and inclusion. Notably, people are more likely to engage others when there is inclusion and diversity since they are included in the diversity. As such, increased transcultural competence results from engagement. Enhanced engagement is vital in businesses since it increases people’s awareness and helps in sharing knowledge and expertise.
High Productivity
Transcultural competence is critical in supporting productivity. Individuals from diverse cultures work as a team to realize a common goal due to transcultural competence (Mary Ville University, 2020). For instance, there is better communication when individuals appreciate inclusion and diversity. When diverse individuals work together, they can increase productivity by combining their knowledge and expertise to solve a challenge and accomplish a common objective.
Prerequisites for Transcultural Competence
Cultural Relativity
Cultural dilemmas fail to result in verdicts with correct answers. Instead, they mirror significant cultural variations that first have to be acknowledged and respected (Greene-Sands & Greene Sands, 2017). An essential prerequisite for attaining transcultural competence is accepting cultural relativity, which implies not favouring any cultural variation as being characteristically worse or better. Based on cultural relativity, a person should recognize their culture and respect those of others.
Attaining Diachronic and Synchronic Perspectives
Synchronic views focus on individuals in the present day across space. On the other hand, diachronic outlooks centre on individuals throughout time, for instance, through history and tradition. According to Wildman et al. (2016), it is crucial to use a synchronic perspective to understand people’s decision-making process since it considers different cultures. Alternatively, cultures do not exist in a vacuum but have a past. As such, building a logic of how things have developed into what they are instead of just what they are in the current period is a vital requirement for transcultural competency. A diachronic view helps to look at aspects by considering their development over time.
Holistic Vantage
Having a perspective where all cultural elements are considered is a vital precondition to transcultural competency. A culture’s religious, political, economic, and other institutes are vital to consider. Stressing on only one dimension can lack holism (Wildman et al., 2016). Without a holistic view, professional practitioners and researchers may not realize that the whole is superior to the sum of constituent portions. When it comes to cultures, it is critical to understand that components are always interconnected. Associations hold more relevance than any cultural component in comprehending culture and cultural variations. The lack of seeing the bigger representation in a cultural setting can result in unexpected outcomes and flawed approaches to understanding culture and its working.
Understanding Values
Understanding cultural values dimensions is another prerequisite for transcultural competence. Specific-diffuse and universal-particular dimensions constitute significant value dimensions. Universal values focus on desiring to attain uniformity without exceptions (Wildman et al., 2016). On the other hand, specific values focus on setting clear boundaries.
How Leaders Can Gain Transcultural Competence
Embracing Empathy and Inclusivity
Leaders can gain transcultural competence by embracing empathy and inclusivity. In this regard, leaders should focus on embracing and respecting the cultural ideas of others. Furthermore, they should employ first-hand perceptions of others to understand their cultural elements (Wieland & Montecinos, 2019). A leader should ensure that all cultures are inclusive rather than favouring just one culture.
Adaptability and Flexibility
Leaders should be open to embracing other cultures. They should openly accept other cultures instead of just embracing only theirs (Simier, 2018). Moreover, leaders should be flexible in learning opportunities to study the cultural elements of others.
Develop Cultural Intelligence
Leaders can gain transcultural competence by developing cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence involves having the ability to understand cultural values, norms, and communication approaches. The intelligence can help leaders to adapt their approach and develop connections across cultures.
Conclusion
Transcultural competence is an indispensable aspect of a global leader. Notably, transcultural competence is the ability to function within assorted cultural settings without prior knowledge of the particulars of any philosophy but still having a universal understanding of the cultural operations within different contexts. Importantly, the analysis offered information on the prerequisites for transcultural competence. Through a comprehensive study, the association of the three dimensions with transcultural competence is apparent. The three dimensions include cognitive, affective, and social dimensions. Moreover, this study highlighted that global leaders need transcultural competence to address the challenges of multiculturalism. Nevertheless, embracing empathy, cultural intelligence, adaptability, and flexibility is critical for leaders to gain transcultural competence.
References
Dolan, S.L. & Kawamura, K.M. (2015). Cross cultural competence: A field guide for developing global leaders and managers. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Glover, J. & Friedman, H.L. (2015). Transcultural competence: Navigating cultural differences in the global community. American Psychological Association.
Greene-Sands, A. & Greene Sands, R. (2017). Cross-cultural competence for a twenty-first-century military: Culture, the flipside of coin. Lexington Books.
Jurkova, S. (2021). Transcultural competence model: An Inclusive path for communication and interaction. Journal of Transcultural Communication, 1(1), 102-119. https://doi.org/10.1515/jtc-2021-2008
Mary Ville University. (2020). Cross-cultural leadership: Leading a diverse workforce. Maryville University. Retrieved from https://online.maryville.edu/blog/cross-cultural-leadership/
Simier, C. (2018). Four core competencies for leading culturally diverse teams. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/07/18/four-core-competencies-for-leading-culturally-diverse-teams/?sh=6bf864ff5515
Wieland, J. & Montecinos, J.B. (2019). Transcultural leadership and transcultural competence. Metropolis-Verlag.
Wieland, J., Montecinos, J.B. & Grunfelder, T. (2023). A relational view on cultural complexity: Implications for theory and practice. Springer International Publishing.
Wildman, J.L., Griffith, R.L. & Armon, B.K. (2016). Critical issues in cross cultural management. Springer.
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