PsyAsia Live at SIOP: PsyAsia’s consultants are currently attending the SIOP Conference in Chicago and posting brief summaries of the most interesting talks they attend. Here is one of them!
One obvious way to develop the cultural intelligence or CQ of employees and executives is to provide them with experiences in cultures which are significantly different to their own. Research has shown that it is not good enough to simply provide for interactivity across cultures within a diverse organization. Another stream of research presented at the SIOP conference demonstrated the importance of knowing when an overseas assignment will end. Executives who had little or no idea when their assignment would end were less likely to develop in terms of CQ. However, those with such knowledge tended to focus their behavior on improving CQ. The simple lesson from this research then is that if organizations wish to improve the CQ of their executives they need to ensure that they are clear in terms of assignment length. Such information is likely to also assist in adjustment and understanding what other aspects of the individual to invest in the new location. This ultimately prevents a feeling of limbo and results in superior work performance. Note that organizations with culturally compentent employees tend to be better performers in the age of globalization.
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