Centre for Cultural Competence

The Challenge
Currently, business people study languages for international trade but do not typically learn culturally appropriate business behaviors (except in diplomatic, social service, and military circles). So many executives talk about how traumatic their overseas assignments have been because they were unprepared for cultural operating differences. Doing business with and managing people whose point of view is different from your own can be very challenging and can make or break an executive or a deal. With the emerging economies becoming so critical to business success, cultural competence in business interactions has become vital.

The Solution
Knowledge Clinic proposes to create and operate an emerging markets cultural competence training center. The model will be that of a full emersion training center for thorough cultural competence development for business application.
Ireland is in a unique position of being a very educated English speaking country and a gateway between North America and ROW (rest of the world). In fact, the favourable business environment is attracting the likes of China, which has announced funding of a vast global trade showplace in Athlone. The initial effort will be focused on China, the world’s largest economy and a partner in Ireland. It will soon be expanded to include other BRICSA countries and so on.
The system of cultural competence training developed for the Peace Corps has been studied and refined to the point where it’s quite effective and consists of four stages:
1. Talking informally to people who have already experienced insertion into the foreign culture in question
2. Studying the language – either for minor phraseology or total emersion
3. Didactic learning in the students’ own language about the foreign culture
4. Emersion in the foreign country’s business and overall culture
This system can easily be adapted into a curriculum and institutionalized. The basic issue with Peace Corps training is that it focuses on social service not business acumen so it does not apply in its current form to business needs.
Taking China as the first example, the plan is to:
• Create an online learning center for introductory distance study to satisfy points 1-3 above
• Create a Chinese village on site at the Athlone commercial trade centre for total emersion.
• Provide exchange opportunities to visit China on internship assignments
Knowledge Clinic would create the plan for the business model and would hire people to conduct the actual in-culture training. Expansion into other languages and cultures would soon follow, although not all may follow the model of on-site emersion villages.
China is very cognizant of the need to develop cultural competence as their business ventures and trade expand globally. A study conducted in cooperation with Germany clearly outlined how the cultural differences between eastern and western ways can interfere with business success (see link below).