Developing the Intercultural Competence of Global Leaders

—A recent guest lecture by Dr. Tjitra at the colloquium workshop for PhD candidates at the Padjajaran University, Bandung, Indonesia

International trade and across-border investment have accelerated swiftly over the last decades. Business goes beyond the country borders, and the world becomes unprecedentedly interconnected, which trigers corporations and organizations'  frequent encounters with culturally diverse groups. Hence the increasingly urgent needs for systematic development of intercultural competence and sensitivity tailored to leaders and professionals at all level become a overwhelming trend.

In general, the various abilities and characteristics used by individuals to work in intercultural setting are called intercultural competence. Bennet (1993) defines it more clearly as the ability to think and act in interculturally appropriate ways. Taylor (1994) classifies intercultural competence as an adaptive capacity based on an inclusive and integrative world view which allows participants to effectively accommodate the demands of living in a host culture. Bhawuk and Brislin (1992) suggest, “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 behavior as an indication of respect for the people of other cultures”.

Recent studies and best practice examples on building intercultural competence and sensitivity for different target groups, incl. senior leaders and young professionals are presented. Different learning and development approaches, which highlights on the examples from Germany, China and other Asian region, will be addressed subsequently.

About Poster

Admin – who has written 29 posts on Global Indonesian Network.

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