Cultural Intelligence and Capability for Awareness-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCultural Intelligence and Capability for Self Awareness. Answer: Discussion For one to develop cultural intelligence, it is integral for him/her have cultural self awareness. The arguments presented in this paper provide insight into understanding other cultures, other peoples perspective on particular issues, understanding the concept of individual uniqueness and understanding ones one culture. Whereas cultural self awareness constitutes the foundation of communication between different individuals, cultural intelligence reflects to the capacity of an individual to understand and work effectively in different cultures. Understanding the background of people entails knowing where the people come from, their customs and cultures they practice in their daily lives. Obtaining this understanding will not only help in the development of cultural intelligence capabilities but also help in avoiding misunderstandings with individuals from different cultures. For example, during my childhood I had a friend called Muhammad Khan who was a Muslim. Before meeting him I had a lot of misunderstanding with regards to Islam and the practices of Muslims. The misunderstanding was as a result of the negative portrayal of individual from the Muslim community by some of my friends. Muslims were portrayed as cruel individuals who did not like individuals from other cultures. This misconception was shattered when I started talking to Muhammad and realized that Muslims are not the cruel people they are painted out to be but more or less like other members of the society. In such situations, having cultural awareness helps o ne to better understand peoples background and in doing so attain cultural intelligence. Developing an understanding of individual uniqueness plays a significant role in the attainment of cultural self awareness. Each and every person has his/her own way of approaching and dealing with situations. This is influenced by their background, their home country, the food they consume, the people they interact with on a daily basis, and the conversation he/she has with friends, relatives and partner. Other factors that influence how a person approaches a situation include the level of education he/she has attained, the co curricular and sorting activities he/she engages in, the environment he/she grew up in and many other factors. An individual who has attained cultural self awareness is capable of understanding that people are unique. Each person has his/her own back story and reasons that influence his idea and or conclusion formulation. Through the use of his/her cultural intelligence an individual can reach the realization that he/she should not make judgments or assumptions about other people who are different from them. For example, a school cricket competition provides Rock and Jock two novices who have never played cricket an opportunity to do so. The two are from different backgrounds and each has his own approach towards preparing for their first ever match which will be in one week. Rocks father is an exceptional cricket player and Rock has observed him prepare for matches since his early years. Based on what he had observed his father do, Rock approached the cricket net and started to practice his batting, fielding and bowling for one hour each on day 1. Through the practice he realized that he was good at batting and thus for the next six days of practice he focused more on batting and less on bowling and fielding. Jack on the other hand does not have a family member or friends with interest in sports. In conducting his practice, he tried bowling for two days, fielding for two days and batting for two days. Through the practice, he had a realization that he was good at batting but the realization only come three days to the match giving him little time to practice further. Rocks batting in the match was exemplary because he had realized what he was good at earlier on than Jack and as a result he had sufficient time to practice and perfect his batting. The practice approach that he utilized came from observing his father and thus was influenced by his background. Based on the example it is evident that every person has a unique approach to attaining a particular goal which is based on the persons cultural self awareness. Individuals should first venture to understand their own culture. A person needs to understand his or her behaviour and how they express their cultural experience and knowledge. The person also needs to develop an understanding of the reasons that compel him/her to make certain conclusions on different topics. One of the major factors that shape a persons behaviour is how they are impacted on different instances by radio, news channels, social media, the internet or various other forms of media. The impact that an individual has on different people and countries is based in the experiences the person has obtained through the course of his life and lessons learnt from forms of literature that helped the individual in forming an opinion about the people. The opinion is usually formed absent of personal interaction with the different from the different cultures or countries. By understanding oneself and cultural self awareness, one can have the opportunity to understand how they are uni que from others. Once a person understands how he or she is different from other people, he/she can be able to adjust his/her behaviour as it is required utilizing cultural intelligence. Based on the arguments and examples presented above, it is evident that understanding ones own culture and realizing our cultural self awareness involves cultural intelligence. This is essential in the realization that people are unique and have different perspectives based on their cultural background. This has been clearly demonstrated in the example of Rock and Jack where their approach towards practice was influenced by their background. It has also been demonstrated in the example of my friend Muhammad where through the use of cultural intelligence, I was able to effectively understand his culture and the fact they my earlier perceptions regarding Muslims was misplaced. This insight was obtained through my interactions with him which were quite positive. Therefore it is my string belief that cultural self awareness is integral in devaluing cultural intelligence.c References Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012).What is Culture?A compilation of quotations,GlobalPADCore Concepts.pages1 2 and 16-17 Russell, K.M. (2011).Growing up a third culture kid: A sociological self-exploration,Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, 9(1), 29-42. 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