Cultural agility

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Cultural agility is a term employed in talent management to design a complex competency based on skills whose command allows an individual or an organization to perform successfully in cross-cultural situations. [1] [2] [3] Cultural agility has been conceptualized as an individual's ability to comfortably and effectively work in different cultures (e.g., countries, organizations) and with people from different cultures, national origins, generations, gender, etc. [4]   People with cultural agility are able to "build trust, gain credibility, communicate, and collaborate effectively across cultures". [5]  The concept appears to overlap with others such as cross-cultural competence and cultural intelligence. [6] The subject has been linked to studying abroad, [7] foreign talent acquisition, [8] immigrants and refugees, [9] career success, [10] sports coaching, [11] leadership development, [12] and global business. [13] Currently, the term is often associated with research carried out by Paula Caligiuri, and a few others like Marisa Cleveland, [14] and Zeinab Shawky Younis. [15] On psychological aspects, the command of cultural agility resources may be facilitated by personality traits like extraversion, openness, and predisposition to novelty seeking, but also by appropriate learning. [16] Self-assessment has been pointed out as a practical approach to evaluate the level of competence reached by cultural agility trainees. [17]

Contents

History

Apart from its colloquial use, the term agility was proposed as a relevant concept to industry and business management in the 1990s by Steven L. Goldman, [18] who published a volume on the subject. [19] An early use of the full term (cultural agility) is found in a series of conferences by Terry Lee named "Leadership for the New Millennium", in 1999. [20]

In recent times, the concept has been amply developed by Paula Caligiuri from Northeastern University and her co-authors, through many academic articles and books, now being widely used in academic literature. [21] Other authors publishing books on agility as a main subject include Peter Gillies from TIAS School for Business and Society (Tilburg, Netherlands), [22] and Guy Morrow, from the University of Melbourne, Australia. [23]

Beyond academic circles, the term has gained popularity in mass media when commenting about the need for acquisition of intercultural skills to achieve adequate inclusion in the socioeconomic workings of an increasingly globalized world. [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] A Cultural Agility Collaboration Group has been established by the University of Minnesota to facilitate developing inclusive, equitable, socially just spaces in campuses, and local communities. [29]

Digitalization

Digital technologies facilitate communication across cultures, and help overcome language barriers to some extent. [30]

Localization

Although adapting business practices to local cultural preferences may seem generally appropriate, [31] detailed assessment of circumstances may reveal overall benefits from the use of countercultural practices on some occasions. [32]

Training

Opportunities to learn cultural agility theory and/or techniques appear to be growing through:

Further reading

Recent papers

Books

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication studies</span> Academic discipline

Communication studies is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different cultures. Communication is commonly defined as giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, information, signals or messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to seek information, to give information or to express emotions effectively. Communication studies is a social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge that encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation at a level of individual agency and interaction to social and cultural communication systems at a macro level.

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Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations. This process is marked by the common consumption of cultures that have been diffused by the Internet, popular culture media, and international travel. This has added to processes of commodity exchange and colonization which have a longer history of carrying cultural meaning around the globe. The circulation of cultures enables individuals to partake in extended social relations that cross national and regional borders. The creation and expansion of such social relations is not merely observed on a material level. Cultural globalization involves the formation of shared norms and knowledge with which people associate their individual and collective cultural identities. It brings increasing interconnectedness among different populations and cultures. The idea of cultural globalization emerged in the late 1980s, but was diffused widely by Western academics throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. For some researchers, the idea of cultural globalization is reaction to the claims made by critics of cultural imperialism in the 1970s and 1980s.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social work management</span>

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References

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