Be prepared to Manage in a Global Environment

 As much as I know that self-assessment is a great tool to help us better understand our skills and knowledge in a specific subject, and can show us where and what we can improve, I am not used to doing it as much as I could be. Making self-assessments about Management in a Global Environment, I came across some unexpected results, questions I had never thought of before and answers that made sense with what I experienced after working with people from different cultures.

One of the self-assessments was, "Are you culturally intelligent?" well, to be honest, I have never wondered about that. Have I always paid attention to and understood the customs of the people around me? Was I always prepared to behave differently depending on the situation? Have I always been able to deal with my expectations around other cultures? I needed to consider the situations I had experienced to answer these questions.

The first self-assessment statement was, "I plan how I am going to relate to people from a different culture before I meet them," and thinking about my experiences, unfortunately, this is mostly false for me. I usually do not take this time before as I should. It is an important way to show how much we care about people and their cultures. Another statement that my answer needs improvement and related to the previous one was, "I understand the rules for nonverbal behaviour in other cultures." Since I do not take adequate time to familiarize myself with plans for how I am going to relate to people from a different culture, how am I going to understand their rules of nonverbal behaviour?

On the other hand, I am happy to say that it is mostly true for me that "I can handle the stresses of living in a different culture with relative ease." and "I am confident that I can befriend locals in a culture that is unfamiliar to me." And even knowing that I can improve my behaviour, I considered that the final interpretation of this self-assessment was positive. The self-assessment would measure aspects of the CQ (Cultural Intelligence or Cultural Quotient). My Cognitive CQ (also known as using one's 'head' to think through how to properly interact with different cultures) has indicated that I need to work in this area. But the indications from my Emotional CQ (also known as using one's 'heart' to appreciate cross-cultural relationships while communicating well within and being respectful of cultural differences) and Physical QC (also known as using one's 'behaviour' in order to properly interact with different cultures) were strong.

All this information is really important to help me develop my knowledge and be prepared, as nowadays we manage in a global environment.

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE