CULTURAL AGILITY
Succeeding in today’s global economy requires organizations to acquire, develop, and retain professionals who can operate effectively around the world, irrespective of country or culture. More than ever before, organizations need a pipeline of professionals who possess cultural agility–the ability to quickly, comfortably, and successfully work in cross-cultural and international environments.
Filled with illustrative examples from a wide range of organizations, including the Peace Corps, the U.S. military, and many Fortune 500 companies, Cultural Agility offers business leaders and human resource professionals a step-by-step guide for creating and implementing highly effective, cutting-edge talent management practices to increase cross-cultural competence throughout their organizations. Validated through several years of her research and practice, Paula Caligiuri outlines the ‘Cultural Agility Competency Framework.’ This framework sets the foundation for the strategic talent management practices organizations need to effectively build a pipeline of culturally agile professionals, such as how to attract, recruit, and select professionals with cultural agility or those with the greatest propensity to readily develop cultural agility.
Cultural Agility also provides guidance for creating organizational cultures and HR systems to support the development of a workforce that is culturally agile. For example, international assignments are commonly enlisted as a means of developing global leaders, but these have proven to be only partially effective for building cultural agility. Caligiuri offers training and development practices that organizations can use in a learning system to continually build professionals’ cross-cultural competencies, including specific recommendations for designing truly developmental international assignments.
This book is a must-have resource for human resource professionals and all business leaders who know that the key to their organizations’ success in today’s complex global economy is their culturally agile human talent.
Table of Content
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Part 1: Introduction: The Basics of Cultural Agility 1
Chapter 1: What is Cultural Agility–And Why is It So Crucial Today? 3
Cultural Agility: A Mega-Competency with Three Levels 4
The Need for Speed in Building a Pipeline of Culturally Agile Professionals 7
Barriers to Creating a Pipeline of Culturally Agile Professionals 10
Take Action 18
Part 2: Who is Culturally Agile? 21
Chapter 2: Three Cross-Cultural Competencies Affecting Culturally Agile Responses 23
The Cultural Agility Competency Framework: Twelve Key Competencies 24
How the Competencies Affecting Behavioral Responses are Different 26
Competencies Affecting Behavioral Responses in Cross-Cultural Contexts 26
Take Action 46
Chapter 3: Nine Cross-Cultural Competencies Affecting Success of Culturally Agile Professionals 47
Three Competencies Affecting Psychological Ease in Cross-Cultural Situations 48
Three Competencies Affecting Cross-Cultural Interactions 53
Three Competencies Affecting Global Business Decisions 59
Take Action 64
Part 3: Attract and Select the Most Culturally Agile Talent 67
Chapter 4: Attracting and Recruiting for Cultural Agility 69
Finding Culturally Agile Professionals 74
Attracting Culturally Agile Professionals 82
Creating the Employee Value Proposition for Culturally Agile Professionals 89
Take Action 92
Chapter 5: Assessing and Selecting for Cultural Agility 95
Résumé Screening 98
Foreign Language Assessment 100
Knowledge Assessment 102
Personality Assessment 103
Interview 108
Self-Assessment 113
Take Action 115
Part 4: Train and Develop Culturally Agile Talent 117
Chapter 6: Building The Foundation for Cultural Agility with Cross-Cultural Training 119
What to Include in a Cross-Cultural Training Program 121
Delivery Methods for Cross-Cultural Training 128
Language Training 132
Timing and Sequencing of Cross-Cultural Training 133
Readiness for Cross-Cultural Training 134
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cross-Cultural Training 135
Take Action 140
Chapter 7: Crafting Developmental Cross-Cultural Experiences to Increase Cultural Agility 141
How Cross-Cultural Experiences Become Developmental 143
Suggestions for Developmental Cross-Cultural Experiences 150
Take Action 156
Chapter 8: Developing Cultural Agility Through International Assignments 157
International Assignment Goals and Cultural Agility 161
Using Strategic Global Mobility Practices to Build Cultural Agility 164
Take Action 182
Part 5: Conclusion: Leadership and Organizational Factors 183
Chapter 9: Managing and Leading to Build Cultural Agility in the Workforce 185
Your Organization’s Readiness for Cultural Agility Practices 187
Leadership Practices to Foster a Culturally Agile Organizational Culture 191
HR’s Role in Building the Culturally Agile Workforce 195
Your Cultural Agility 205
Take Action 205
Stay Connected to Learn More 206
Appendix: Lists to Assess Your Organization’s Global Employer Image 207
Notes 219
About the Author 231
Index 233
About the author
Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., is a professor of human resource management at Rutgers University, a work psychologist, and regularly appears as an expert guest on CNN. Listed among the top 50 most prolific authors in the field of international business, she is a frequent speaker and sought-out consultant for organizations in the United States, Asia, Australia, and Europe. She is the author of three books and the HR area editor for the top-ranked Journal of International Business Studies.
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