Can Arts-based Training Enhance Cultural Competence?

Prof Helen Higson, Dr Kai Liu17th June 2011

Introduction

Intercultural training – an overlooked area in business education - High percentage of International Students - “Educating Global Leaders”

Intercultural training in corporate sector - Intercultural training itself become a "growing branch of the coaching

and consulting industries" (Szkudlarek 2009) - There is call for “teaching to move away from focusing teaching

exclusively on country-specific, predominantly cognitive cultural and linguistic knowledge, toward general cultural sensitivity skills, or “cultural intelligence,” which enables managers to adapt swiftly to new cultural situations" (Blasco 2009: 13)

Literature Review

Intercultural training in learning context - The effectiveness of an individual to work across cultural boundaries increases

with the number of their international/intercultural experiences (Herzfeldt 2007) - It is important to challenge the “deficit” model of intercultural training where the

UK approach is seen as the best (Ippolito 2007) - Building training on individual stories rather than stereotypes (Welikala and

Watkins 2008)

Intercultural training in corporate context - Few intercultural training programmes are skill-based; instead, they are focused

on building awareness of the expatriate’s own culture and the culture of the host country (Littrell and Salas 2005)

- Those conventional methods that rely on country-specific knowledge often prove inadequate given the nature of increasingly complicated cultural environments and assignments (Earley and Peterson 2004)

Literature Review (contd.)

Arts-based methods for management and leadership development - Four distinctive processes (skill transfer, projective technique, Illustration of

essence and making ) of arts-based methods (Taylor and Ladkin 2009)

- Aesthetic forms have an important role to play in helping to make tacit knowledge of “invisible” concepts, such as “culture” visible (Linstead 2006)

- Theory of the aesthetics of leadership storytelling (Taylor, Fisher, and Dufresne 2002)

- Participating in the arts gives adults experiences, contexts and tools to help them re-experience, revise and reconceptualise multicultural diversity in their lives and communities.’ (Wesley 2007: 13)

Using Arts-based methods for Intercultural training

Practising arts can make people communicate deeply even without speak their own language, practising arts together can have a harmonising effects for all the participants, thus allow them to seek common grounds in their communicative process.It is fun! using arts -based methods often involve physical activities (e.g. theatre practice and dancing) which make the whole process an interesting and entertaining experiences.It plays a crucial role of "ice breaking" and building rapport among participants. Those skills are probably the most important skills to be acquired to deal with intercultural encounters.It provides a natural setting (non-academic environment) and level-playing field for home and international students to interact, thus build confidence and encourage reflections among participants.

Research Design

Sample - Undergraduate students in 2009 and 2010 - Pre-training (N=202) and Post-training (N=84)

Pre-training survey and post-training survey - Cultural Intelligence (CQ) can be defined as an individual’s

capability to deal effective in situations characterised by cultural diversity (Earley and Ang 2003)

- Four factors and 20 items (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, behavioural)

Descriptive Data Analysis (1)

Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQ) Pre-Training Post-Training DifferenceM SD M SD

MetacognitiveI am conscious of the cultural knowledge I use when interacting with people with different cultural backgrounds (Mc1)

5.19 1.43 5.33 1.54 + 0.14

I adjust my cultural knowledge as I interact with people from a culture that is unfamiliar to me (Mc2)

5.21 1.28 5.19 1.51 - 0.02

I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I apply to cross-cultural interactions (Mc3)

4.94 1.35 5.05 1.41 + 0.11

I check the accuracy of my cultural knowledge as I interact with people from different cultures (Mc4)

4.85 1.53 4.92 1.47 + 0.07

CognitiveI know the legal and economic systems of other cultures (Cog1) 3.64 1.45 3.99 1.51 + 0.35

I know the rules (e.g., vocabulary, grammar) of other languages (Cog2)

3.82 1.68 4.01 1.83 + 0.19

I know the cultural values and religious beliefs of other cultures (Cog3)

4.38 1.43 4.61 1.53 + 0.23

I know the marriage systems of other cultures (Cog4) 3.86 1.53 4.23 1.57 + 0.37

I know the arts and crafts of other cultures (Cog5) 3.82 1.51 4.17 1.58 + 0.35

I know the rules for expressing non-verbal behaviours in other cultures (Cog6)

3.74 1.58 3.88 1.70 + 0.14

Table 1a. Means and Standard Deviations of Measures at Pre-training and Post-training

Descriptive Data Analysis (2)

Table 1a. Means and Standard Deviations of Measures at Pre-training and Post-training (contd)Motivational

I enjoy interacting with people from different cultures (Mot1) 5.63 1.43 5.68 1.69 + 0.05

I am confident that I can socialize with locals in a culture that is unfamiliar to me (Mot2)

5.06 1.51 5.37 1.66 + 0.31

I am sure I can deal with the stresses of adjusting to a culture that is new to me (Mot3)

5.09 1.47 5.45 1.51 + 0.36

I enjoy living in cultures that are unfamiliar to me (Mot4) 4.73 1.58 5.06 1.52 + 0.33

I am confident that I can get accustomed to the shopping conditions in a different culture (Mot5)

5.09 1.48 5.38 1.39 + 0.29

Behavioural I change my verbal behavior (e.g., accent, tone) when a cross-cultural interaction requires it (Beh1)

4.7 1.59 4.92 1.56 + 0.22

I use pause and silence differently to suit different cross-cultural situations (Beh2)

4.29 1.49 4.69 1.66 + 0.4

I vary the rate of my speaking when a cross-cultural situation requires it (Beh3)

4.81 1.43 5 1.52 + 0.19

I change my non-verbal behavior when a cross-cultural interaction requires it (Beh4)

4.61 1.59 4.87 1.5 + 0.29

I alter my facial expressions when a cross-cultural interaction requires it (Beh5)

4.31 1.62 4.8 1.55 + 0.49

Descriptive Data Analysis (3)

Measures Pre-Training Post-Training Difference

M SD M SD

Metacognitive 20.2 4.75 20.5 5.14 + 0.3

Cognitive 23.27 7.01 24.9 7.92 + 1.63

Motivational 25.61 6.12 26.9 6.72 + 1.29

Behavioural 22.72 6.26 24.27 6.65 + 1.55

Table 1b. Means/Standard Deviations of Measures at Pre-training and Post-training (composite score)

Descriptive Data Analysis (4)

23.043527.1739

24.478320.1739

24.737726.8525

25.08220.623

24.070425.5352

24.718320.6056

21.992425.6489

22.480919.9847

0 10 20 30

post-training

pre-training

International

Home/EU

International

Home/EU

mean of metacognitive CQ mean of cognitive CQ

mean of motivational CQ mean of behavioural CQ

Figure 2: Four factor CQ of Home/EU and International students in pre-training and post-training settings

Descriptive Data Analysis (5)

24.12527.3333

26.062520.8125

24.472226.4167

23.388920.0833

24.316826.703

25.376221.5545

21.128724.5149

21.158418.8515

0 10 20 30

post-training

pre-training

Other Languages

English

Other Languages

English

mean of metacognitive CQ mean of cognitive CQ

mean of motivational CQ mean of behavioural CQ

Figure 3: Four factor CQ of English as first Language in pre-training and post-training settings

Descriptive Data Analysis (6)

24.693527.3065

25.774220.9194

23.090925.9091

22.519.3182

23.25926.4388

24.395720.777

21.539723.7778

20.777818.9365

0 10 20 30

post-training

pre-training

Yes

No

Yes

No

mean of metacognitive CQ mean of cognitive CQ

mean of motivational CQ mean of behavioural CQ

Figure 2: Four factor CQ of students who speak only one language (No) or more than one (Yes) in pre-training and post-training settings

Qualitative Analysis

What are you expecting to get from intercultural training?“I hope to learn more about different cultures and ways that make it easier to interact

with people from a different cultural background”

“I want to develop skills in interacting better when (I) am in a multicultural environment”

Were Expectations met?“It was quite different to my original expectations; however, it did address the issue of

how different people view the same situation in a different manner”

“I came out with a better understanding of group work involving team members whose first language was not English”

Conclusion

Arts-based methods prove to be an effective way to deliver intercultural training.

The training is particularly beneficial for improving motivational and behavioural factors.

The training works better for Home/EU students than international students.