Alissa Barnes

April 2, 2017

Organizational Communication

Intercultural Communication Paper

The Intercultural Competency Assessment or (INCA) is a survey used to examine

intercultural awareness and assess cultural sensitivity. The survey consists of six

cultural dimensions which are Tolerance for ambiguity, Behavioral flexibility,

Communicative awareness, Knowledge discovery, Respect for others, and Empathy

(www.incaproject.org). This paper will analyze three culturally critical incidents

scenarios and describe how they relate to the dimensions of The Intercultural

Competency.

The first incident is scenario number nine. It describes a student that tends to be

late for class, as well as, takes a long time to answer the teachers question. It has

been stated that he has no conception of time. It appears that the student and teacher

are both having a lack of understanding for each others communication, knowledge and

respect for others (www.incaproject.org). In the INCA survey, communications to others

refers to the differences in gestures, tone, terms and content. Therefore, as the student

goes on and on when asked a question, it appears that it is a part of his culture to

continue talking until he has arrived at his point. In addition, the teacher will have to

gain some back group knowledge on the students culture in order to understand why

he exercises such a behavior of time flexibility. The students culture must be one of a
polychromic communication style (study.com/academy/lesson/monochronic-vs-

ploychronic). Learning and knowing how people communicate allows us to challenge

our assumptions about the right way of doing things and consider a variety of other

approaches. Gaining the respect of other cultures will in fact allow us the collaboration

across cultural lines needed to hash out our difference

(www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html).

The second incident is scenario number ten. It describes students at break time

having a conversation and when called back to class by the teacher, they feel as though

she is rudely interrupting them. According to the INCA, this scenario falls directly in

Respect for others. The Respect for others dimension, is the ability for people to

successfully communicate by mutual respecting each others culture. It does not mean

that they need to agree with each other, however that they agree to understand each

others way of doing things( www.incaproject.org). Janet the teacher must understand

also that respect is earned and not freely given. Therefore, she needs to be sure to

display good leadership characteristic by having the conversation with the group and

establish the environment for that class and keep everyone conducive to the rules for

that class to be successful (respectandleadership.net).

The last incident is scenario number twelve. It describes a young man who is walking

home and a group of young ladies are laughing at him. As a result, the young man

became very angry reflecting on the fact that if this was his country, the girls would be

taken to their fathers and punished immediately. This scenario falls in Behavior

flexibility, which is the ability to adapt ones own behavior to the different requirements

(www.incaproject.org). This means that because the young man is in a country other
than his country, he must understand that the behavior that the girls are exhibiting isnt

meant to be offensive. The second dimension that this scenario falls into would be

knowledge discovery. This dimension allows for others to gain insight about other

cultures in order to have some cultural awareness of one another (www.incaproject.org).

According to The Global Journal, it states that Knowledge of cross-cultures creates an

appreciation for our richly diverse backgrounds and fosters cultural awareness through

shared reflections. Therefore, if this was happening inside the school. The students

would be more applicable to understand the feelings of the young man and vice versa

Inconclusion, having a clear understanding of the six dimension and applying them

though an organization is only make everyone feel as if they are a part of the

organization. To add, that making business deal with those of other cultural will involve

people taking the time to gain background knowledge of each others culture in order to

deplete negative feelings.

Alissa Barnes
April 2, 2017
Organizational Communication

Intercultural Competency Assessment

After taking the Intercultural Competency Survey, my scores reflected as a 66%. The

survey has revealed that I am a 6/9 in the areas of behavior flexibility, knowledge

discovery and communication awareness. On the other hand, my highest catorgies are

respect for others with a 7/9 and empathy 8/9. The area that I score the lowest in was

tolerance for ambiguity. In that area I scored 5/9 and after reviewing the scores, I totally

agree with all of the areas.

According to the Intercultural Competency Survey, it states that the Tolerance for

ambiguity is the ability to accept ambiguity and lack of clarity and be able to deal with

this constructively (www.incaproject.org). This however, would be a complete disaster

for me to try and complete a project without having some idea of how its supposed to

turn out. While I can respect those peoples personalities who are flexible enough to

perform at this level, this is an area that I am still working on. I do however, understand
that being able to work in this fashion lends itself to a more relaxed and creativity

environment but for me I find it to very difficult.

In conclusion, the Intercultural Competency Survey revealed information about my

cultural awareness that was right on target. I really feel that I have embraced the

respect for others and empathy but still I understand the need for openness to work in

ambiguity.