Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures

Citation

Austin, A. (2006), "Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working with People from Other Cultures", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 83-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730610641395

This book is exactly what the subtitle says: “A guide to working with people from other cultures.” It is practical and loaded with easy‐to‐understand definitions, tips and ways to work with others, in both social and business settings. The chapters are divided into six sections:

1. 1.

   Part 1: What is culture?

2. 2.

   Part 2: The importance of culture in daily life and work.

3. 3.

   Part 3: What is cultural intelligence?

4. 4.

   Part 4: Applying cultural intelligence in daily work and life.

5. 5.

   Part 5: Knowing your cultural style.

6. 6.

   Part 6: Increasing your cultural intelligence.

The focus is on international culture, not on domestic cultural diversity issues related to skin color, sexual orientation, gender, age, etc.

Written in plain language with many examples and drawings to illustrate the points, Peterson presents his five basic culture scales to aid in figuring out the CI of any individual or group. These scales measure a variety of dimensions including the: equality‐hierarchy, direct‐indirect, individual‐group, task‐relationship, and risk‐caution.

While some of the scales and advice may seem formulaic (e.g. if you are high on this scale, then take these actions, etc.), Peterson cautions that we must look at individual situations and select the optimal approach. Although the world is becoming more standardized, culture continues to play a crucial role in human interactions, and Peterson makes the distinction between stereotyping and generalizing. Regardless of which country, culture or organization you are considering, individuals exist who disprove each rule. The book acts as a fine starting point for assessing one's own skills, as well as the needs of the people we encounter.

For the purposes of this book, cultural intelligence is defined with strong reference to Howard Gardner's interpersonal intelligence theory and Daniel Goleman's emotional Intelligence theory, “as the ability to engage in a set of behaviors that uses skills (i.e. language or interpersonal skills) and qualities (i.e. tolerance for ambiguity, flexibility) that are tuned appropriately to the culture‐based values and attitudes of the people with whom one interacts.”

In part 4 of the book (“Applying cultural intelligence in daily work and life”), more scales are presented that support and give more depth to one or more of the five basic scales. For example, the scale called the “role of managers” could relate to the first culture scale from part 1: “equality versus hierarchy”. Or it could relate to the third scale “individual versus group” because the decisions made by managers may be more collaborative in group cultures and more command style in individual cultures. Just reading through these scales becomes tedious – but can be very valuable in practice.

The book is written from a US perspective and probably would be most valuable for people working in US companies to improve their relationships with their international clients, colleagues and neighbors. It does, however, provide insight for residents of countries other than the US into the views held by some US companies on the roles of culture in work and life.

The best use of Cultural Intelligence is to know your objectives and to read the chapters with your questions in mind. This will prevent you from engaging in a purely academic exercise, and will aid in finding the information you need more efficiently. Except for those seeking a scholarly foundation in this area, almost anyone interacting with people from other cultures will find value in the advice of this book.