Interested in actually experiencing other cultures abroad? The 4 part series of blogposts ‘Xperience new worlds’ helps you to identify what type of educational travel would suit you best, in relation to what you would like to get out of the experience in terms of personal development, cross-cultural competencies and professional competencies. This is part 3: What competencies can you master by studying abroad?
Competence framework
Figure 1 Competence framework
The competence framework emphasizes, in particular for cross-cultural competencies and personal development, the distinction between more easy to acquire behavioral related knowledge and skills (upper parts in the framework) and more difficult to acquire perceptual competencies (lower parts of the framework). Both teachers and company mentors should make sure that the learning experience doesn’t exclude these more challenging aspects of competence development. Such an approach encourages students to be true ‘global citizens’ who can navigate the pitfalls of cultural myopia and contribute to diplomacy in political conflicts and successful negotiations in complex international business deals.
Cross-cultural competences
I position foreign language skills under the dimension relationship competencies. Students often refer to the improvement of their foreign language oral and written proficiency in order to hone their cross-cultural competencies in general. Students also refer to the importance of using local language as ‘small talk’ to gain the trust of the local people. Some students also state the need for interpreters in order to communicate successfully with local business people within certain countries, such as Brazil, China and Vietnam. Students sometimes also refer to factual cultural knowledge as a means to gain the trust of local business people. As a result I put this variable also in the “relationship competencies” dimension which denotes more the behavioral and superficial component of cross-cultural competencies. Finally, students also came to understand and apply appropriate business etiquette (e.g. the use of titles, precedence, proper attire, table manners, appropriate small talk, and so on).
In contrast, the perceptual competency dimension refers to the understanding of underlying cultural values (conceptual cultural knowledge) and interacting value spheres (attributional cultural knowledge: e.g. interaction between company-, regional- and national culture) which can help explain better the behavior and attitude of people.
Professional competencies
International business knowledge refers to international legal and political issues (including corruption, political uncertainty, government bureaucracy), international marketing strategy, and market entry strategy (e.g. setting up business, finding local partners and skilled management personnel). Functional knowledge refers to sector knowledge (e.g. construction, pharmaceutical) and disciplinary knowledge such as marketing, logistics, and finance. Quantitative skills refer to analytical statistical skills.
Intrapersonal professional competencies refer to problem solving skills, such as project management, knowledge management, time and crisis management. Interpersonal professional competencies mainly refers to communication (e.g. empathy) and collaboration, with conflict management perceived to be an essential part of collaboration.
Personal development
Independence is closely related to self-efficacy which refers to a person’s belief in his or her ability to accomplish a task. By learning to adapt to a strange environment students come to appreciate their ability to deal with uncertainties and stresses.
Following the research by Tucker, Bonial and Lahti (2004) flexibility can be identified as a behavioral approach to situations and can be grouped together with other concepts such as patience, sense of humor, initiative and risk taking.
Self-assurance refers to the idea held by many educators that overseas study leads to a crystallization of the self (e.g. strengths and weaknesses) and life goals. Second, the overseas experience gives an expanded view of the self in that it has a liberating effect which can lead the student to feel free to act in a more autonomous way. If self-conceptions reflect the nature of one’s environment, the overseas student, who must function in two cultures, may well develop a more expanded or differentiated sense of self. As such, the intercultural experiences and the new environment provides the student with an opportunity to examine his or own personality and characteristics from a different perspective and their effects upon others.
Awareness of the state of the world refers to a better understanding of prevailing world trends, issues, social and political views, global interdependencies, sustainability and how this understanding can be distorted by selective information gathering and provision. Furthermore, awareness of the state of the world involves identifying and intelligently comparing experiences from other societies, and possibly adopting best practices for the benefit of the society, related to quality of life (e.g. public life, cultural values, and the environment).
Perceptual questioning skills include self-monitoring and an understanding of how bias, emotions, motives and prejudice influence decision making. Several students noted that the overseas experience made them recognize biases in their perception, and, as a consequence, prompted them to change their world view.
Go to part 4: An overview of study abroad organizations
Related books (which include all references)
