Increase your intercultural competence

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Increase your intercultural competence

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In my International Education class, we have learned many topics about global education and intercultural communication. In this post I’m going to discuss two of these topics: individualism v.s. collectivism and IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory).

The concept of individualism V.S. collectivism has greatly helped me in understanding people’s behaviors, both Chinese and American. After learning this concept, I have to come to understand that in America, people focus on their personal achievements; therefore, American people tend to weigh tasks over relationships, value time as money, and be vocal about their competences and success.

In comparison, Chinese people more are concerned about achieving group harmony instead of personal success. Therefore, a Chinese person can spend hours after hours with friends without getting anything done; if a Chinese person is late to an appointment because he/she was talking to his/her friends, that’s a reasonable excuse; modesty is expected virtue in Chinese society, and even if you are an achiever, don’t brag about your success since a nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

However, I can see my behaviors change with this individualism V.S. collectivism concept in mind. I become more aware that people have different behavioral rules in the United States. It’s okay to speak up my opinions no matter how different they seem to be. It’s fine to be unique and to have strong a personality. Actually, these values are not only accepted, but also embraced in America.

With this realization in mind, I have become more and more confident with who I am, do what I want to do, and say what I want to say. I no longer want to settle with mediocre just because it’s safe (again, a nail that sticks out gets hammered down); rather, I want to be an awesome girl! J

Moreover, with this concept in mind, I have become more tolerant and understanding with both Chinese and American friends. Comparing to Chinese, I’m more individualistic; comparing to American, I’m more collectivist. But I was not aware of where I stand on the scale of individualism and collectivism before.

I used to get annoyed when a Chinese friend spent an entire day with me that took away my time to do work; I got upset when an American friend said she had to go for a meeting after only 45 minutes of eating together. But now, I can handle these situations better by understanding where their behaviors come from. I have come to appreciate my Chinese friends’ wiliness to enhance relationship with me; and I understand that getting things done is more important to my American friends.

In this class we’ve learned many concepts about global education, among which IDI has the greatest influence on me. IDI is a test that scales one’s intercultural development from 1 to 5. The data of IDI scores collected from tens of thousands of participants is surprising and very informative.

I found three findings especially interesting: most people overestimate their intercultural development; most people score between 2-3 on a 1-5 basis; students who have studied abroad mostly score between 2-3, too. It tells us that intercultural competence in this country is in great need of development. More importantly, it is first and foremost to raise people’s awareness of such need because most people actually think they are doing well, especially students who have oversea experience.

After learning about IDI in class, my mission now is to help both Chinese students and American students to increase IDI score. I am planning on a lot of ways to accomplish this mission. First, I “preach” this idea to my friends. Second, I am building Creative Academy with in China this summer to discuss cross-cultural communication and differences between American and Chinese education. Third, Creative Academy will turn into a monthly event next semester under the affiliation with Carolina China Network.

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