BUS 5211: Managing in the Global Economy, University of the People
Unit 4 Written Assignment
In Chapter 7 of your textbook, Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, please read the 7.3 Case Study 3: Building a Multicultural Team—Is it Worth it? Please be sure to particularly address the following questions related to the case:
How do you describe Kalia’s self-efficacy? Is she showing levels of high and/or low efficacy? Discuss how her behavior exhibits each level.
How does Kalia’s self-efficacy impact her leadership?
What strategies do you recommend to Kalia to help her improve her cultural intelligence and develop her self-efficacy? Discuss at least two specific development approach.
What suggestions do you have for Kalia in leading her staff to be a culturally intelligent team?
Grade: 85.35/90 (642 words)
Case description
Kalia is a leader of a team consisting of eight members. This team is diverse in terms of age, race, and working experience. Her team members are Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, Asian, and African. The younger employees have less than two years' experience, most members have worked for about10 years, and senior staff has been working for 25 years. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012)
Although it seems the team doesn't have problems, Kalia is aware of employee conflicts, which hinder productivity and success. For example, differences in values between a younger employee, a Hispanic employee, and a senior member are interfering with their work. Robert is a younger employee, and he blamed Ana's working style. Unlike other employees, she doesn't tend to express her opinion in the meeting. A senior member, Margaret, told Robert that her work style is from cultural things. However, he ignored it. Margaret felt her long experiences in the organization is disregarded by Robert. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012)
Kalia's self-efficacy
Before discussing Kalia, I introduce the basic concept of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy represents a perception of one's abilities to meet a goal one has set for oneself. People with higher self-efficacy believe they can overcome obstacles, whether difficult or not. It also helps to see the best in people and expect that changes will be positive. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012)
Based on the concept described above, Kalia failed to show high self-efficacy. She set her goal, and she tried to fix the situation based on her cultural intelligence. However, she couldn't believe herself to solve it, and she felt it was a complete failure. Also, she recognized her lack of skill sets to facilitate the team meeting. It's even worse, and low self-efficacy impacts her leadership. Her employees may disregard Kalia if they are aware of her less confidence. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012)
Recommended strategies for Kalia to improve her ability to adapt to the situation
I describe the two approaches for her: 1) improving her cultural intelligence and 2) developing her self-efficacy to overcome conflicts.
CQ is the "ability to adapt to unfamiliar cultural settings" (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012). The framework for CQ consists of ABCs: Acquire, Build, Contemplate, and Do. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012) As the first step, she must learn and use the framework to objectively understand her situation. Next, she will share her knowledge regarding CQ with colleagues. Although the case study focused on the failure of Kalia's self-efficacy and skills, the conflicts in the team occurred due to a lack of employees' CQ. Therefore, sharing the knowledge and discussing the issues based on the framework is essential.
2) Developing self-efficacy through mindfulness
In addition to practical approaches, like identifying moments of success, teaching and promoting resilience, and providing social role models, I recommend Kalia develop mindfulness techniques. According to Robinson, mindfulness is paying attention to what's happening in the present moment, being aware of what experiencing while experiencing it, and accepting without judgment whatever arises, whether it is a thought, feeling, or body sensation. Mindfulness helps with stress reduction, focus, and self-awareness: improving engagement and productivity. (Robinson, 2021)
Through mindfulness, leaders can see the view of a situation, objects, people, places, or ideas. The connection between mindfulness and self-efficacy is such that using mindfulness helps leaders focus on their performance and goals. (Cultural intelligence for leaders, 2012)
Conclusion
In this case study, Kalia felt difficulty in solving conflicts happened between colleagues due to cultural differences. At a glance, Kalia's lack of skill and self-efficacy prevented them from solving the disputes. However, I describe the importance of all employees learning cultural intelligence. Alos, to improve her efficacy, I introduced mindfulness. Developing self-efficacy and utilizing the basic framework of CQ leads the team to solve problems and improve their productivity to achieve their goals.
References
Cultural intelligence for leaders (2012, December 29). Lardbucket. Retrieved from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/cultural-intelligence-for-leaders.pdf
Robinson, B. (2021. December 2). People Are Incorrectly Using Mindfulness, Research Shows: Here's What Needs Correcting. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2021/12/02/people-are-incorrectly-using-mindfulness-research-shows-heres-what-needs-correcting/?sh=4a8a69c810f7