The importance of intercultural skills
our organisation value them more than professional qualifications?
The modern workplace is becoming increasingly globalised and multicultural.
Whether your average day involves a growing amount of cross-border communication with colleagues or clients, or working within a more culturally diverse team, intercultural skills are an important asset in any employee.
If fact, organisations now value intercultural skills just as highly as formal qualifications, according to an international study from the British Council, in partnership with consultants Booz Allen Hamilton and pollsters Ipsos.
When employers were asked to rank the importance of workers’ technical and soft skills, “demonstrating respect for others”, “building trust” and “working effectively in diverse teams” comprised the top three, beating “job-related qualifications” and “field expertise” into fourth and fifth place respectively.
Companies were surveyed across nine countries, and frequently defined intercultural skills as “the ability to understand different cultural contexts and viewpoints”.
The research found that HR managers associated intercultural skills with significant business benefits, such as the efficient running of teams and the development of new or existing relationships with clients – both of monetary value to companies.
Concerns around a lack of such skills included the risk of cultural insensitivity, project mistakes, loss of custom and reputational damage.
However, despite the advantages of hiring people with strong intercultural skills, less than half of the 367 employers canvassed felt that their recruitment process sufficiently screened candidates for strengths in this area; although many did see proficiency in a foreign language and study or work abroad as indicators of such.
More than half of the respondents said that their organisation encouraged and trained staff to build on their intercultural skills, but one-quarter felt that education provision in their country was insufficient at developing intercultural abilities.
“These skills are vital, not just in smoothing international business transactions, but also in developing long-term relationships with customers and suppliers,” said the report.
“Increasingly they also play a key role within the workplace, enhancing team working, fostering creativity, improving communication and reducing conflict. All this translates into greater efficiency, stronger brand identity, enhanced reputation and ultimately impact on the bottom line.”
The British Council’s research was conducted among 367 large employers in nine countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US.
Respondents came from across the private, public and charity/NGO sectors.
Whether your average day involves a growing amount of cross-border communication with colleagues or clients, or working within a more culturally diverse team, intercultural skills are an important asset in any employee.
If fact, organisations now value intercultural skills just as highly as formal qualifications, according to an international study from the British Council, in partnership with consultants Booz Allen Hamilton and pollsters Ipsos.
When employers were asked to rank the importance of workers’ technical and soft skills, “demonstrating respect for others”, “building trust” and “working effectively in diverse teams” comprised the top three, beating “job-related qualifications” and “field expertise” into fourth and fifth place respectively.
Companies were surveyed across nine countries, and frequently defined intercultural skills as “the ability to understand different cultural contexts and viewpoints”.
The research found that HR managers associated intercultural skills with significant business benefits, such as the efficient running of teams and the development of new or existing relationships with clients – both of monetary value to companies.
Concerns around a lack of such skills included the risk of cultural insensitivity, project mistakes, loss of custom and reputational damage.
However, despite the advantages of hiring people with strong intercultural skills, less than half of the 367 employers canvassed felt that their recruitment process sufficiently screened candidates for strengths in this area; although many did see proficiency in a foreign language and study or work abroad as indicators of such.
More than half of the respondents said that their organisation encouraged and trained staff to build on their intercultural skills, but one-quarter felt that education provision in their country was insufficient at developing intercultural abilities.
“These skills are vital, not just in smoothing international business transactions, but also in developing long-term relationships with customers and suppliers,” said the report.
“Increasingly they also play a key role within the workplace, enhancing team working, fostering creativity, improving communication and reducing conflict. All this translates into greater efficiency, stronger brand identity, enhanced reputation and ultimately impact on the bottom line.”
The British Council’s research was conducted among 367 large employers in nine countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US.
Respondents came from across the private, public and charity/NGO sectors.
Comments
Comments in chronological order (5 comments)
Ekaete Jacob 08 March 2013 19:41
Have your say...Intercultural skills are very vital in the 21st
century Organisations. I did my dissertation on "Culture" and
interviewed people based on this, the response interesting and I learnt
alot. Based on this, I think interactions with people from diverse
background and communities can be introduced in workplaces as a training
/ orientation programs
working in a very culturally geographical area, within the UK,it is
key for us to be able to work with and support families from a wide
range of backgrounds and abilities. However, although it is important to
have staff with good understandings of others' cultures, more important
for me is that the staff treat each service user as an individual with
individual needs, and as you say above- to demonstrate respect for
others.
Sarah 12 March 2013 10:34
It is not at all surprising that organisations stated “demonstrating
respect for others”, “building trust” and “working effectively in
diverse teams” as their top three requirements above “job-related
qualifications” and “field expertise”.
Rather than being top 3 requirements/skills I would have thought they are better described as being core underpinning values-based behaviours as without them all the technical qualifications in the world are not going to be effective.
To quote Fun Boy Three and Bananarama "It's not what you do it's the way that you do it and that's what gets results"!
Rather than being top 3 requirements/skills I would have thought they are better described as being core underpinning values-based behaviours as without them all the technical qualifications in the world are not going to be effective.
To quote Fun Boy Three and Bananarama "It's not what you do it's the way that you do it and that's what gets results"!
NEELU PGDM 2SEM
No comments:
Post a Comment