Culturally Competent Workforce

Culturally Competent Workforce Introduction Over the last few decades, rapid globalization and technological advancements have led to a culturally diverse society where there is constant interaction among people from different religions, beliefs, customs, races, and ethnicities. The background of an individual or groups of people determines how they perceive the world, how they interpret information and how they interact with people. Developing cultural competence is essential in the modern world because it enables people to understand each other and coexist harmoniously despite their difference. This paper examines the processes that educational institutions may use to help students become culturally competent.

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Importance of Cultural Competence As people migrate to different parts of the world in search of work and educational opportunities, leisure, and refuge among others, the world continues to have an ethnically diverse population. In a multicultural environment, people need to be able to communicate, work, build relationships and interact with people who may have different linguistic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Enhancing Cultural Competence, 2019). Developing cultural competence enables people to coexist harmoniously and beneficially despite being different from each other The Process of Developing Cultural Competence Cultural competence is a skill necessary for individuals to excel in their chosen profession. As a result, learning institutions should seek to develop graduates who are both culturally and linguistically competent. The first step in the process of a syllabus that is tailored towards building cultural competence is identifying the qualities that it would want the learners to develop. These qualities include; being able to interact and work successfully with people of different backgrounds, being able to speak more than one international language and learning to respect people whose cultures are different.

The second step in the process is to develop policies that facilitate cultural respect and inclusion, to provide an opportunity for students to interact with and learn cultures that are different from their own. This can be achieved through encouraging individuals from different cultures to apply for enrolment to the institutions and ensuring that the selection process is fair and geared towards creating a culturally diverse group of students (Reimann, 2013). To develop cultural competence successfully, the institution should ensure that people learn to respect different cultures at an individual level and institutional level.

Thirdly, the learning institution should perform a cultural audit to determine the present level of cultural awareness among the students and staff of the institution. This is done by identifying the number of cultures that are represented within the organization and also identifying people’s perception of these cultures. For instance, in the audit, the institution might find that it has been biased in its selection of students and as a result, lacks cultural diversity. During the audit, it is crucial to find out what the students think about other cultures and also to find out whether there are students who have encountered discrimination and exclusion due to negative cultural stereotypes.

The fourth step in the process is building a culturally competent institution based on the results of the cultural audit. This can be achieved by emphasizing the importance of cultural diversity and cultural competence in the modern world (Warner, 2011). To further instill cultural competence among the students, the institution should incorporate it in its mission statements and objectives. The institution should also develop a compulsory course to teach students about various cultures and how to eliminate stereotypical thinking in their interaction with these cultures. This step is crucial in enabling students to embrace different cultures and learn to interact appropriately with people and groups that are different from them.

The fifth step in developing culturally competent students is encouraging people to work together with people of different cultures in assignments, study groups, and other school activities. In the process of interacting with different cultures, students develop communication skills that they will transfer to a multicultural work environment.

Linguistic Competence

Attaining linguistic competence is a crucial aspect of developing cultural competence in individuals. To facilitate this, the learning institution should introduce various international languages in its curriculum such as; French, German, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic (Shalala, 2019). The institution should make it compulsory for students to learn at least one language for a semester in the course of their studies. Learning a different language is one of the key methods of teaching people to understand and develop an interest in different cultures. In addition to teaching foreign languages, it is also important for the school to ensure that international students develop their English language skills to enable them to express their opinions fluently, which is essential for professional success.

Conclusion Culturally competent people are able to respect different cultures, eliminate negative stereotypes and successfully build relationships with people of diverse cultural backgrounds.

In today’s fast-paced and globalized work environment, it is one of the key elements that enable individuals to develop successful careers. It is therefore essential for learning institutions to incorporate policies and strategies that will facilitate the achievement of cultural and linguistic competence among students.

Reference 9. Enhancing Cultural Competence | Community Tool Box. (2019). Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/enhancing-cultural-competence Reimann, A. (2013). Critical Incidents for Raising Cultural Awareness. Retrieved from http://hosted.jalt.org/lifelong/journal/2013c/2013c-5-reimann.pdf Shalala, D. (2019). A Clarion Call for Cross-Cultural Competence in Higher Education « The New York Times in Education. Retrieved from https://nytimesineducation.com/spotlight/a-clarion-call-for-cross-cultural-competencein-higher-education/

Warner, C. (2011). Rethinking The Role of Language Study In Internationalizing Higher Education. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/content/qt7188g4z0/qt7188g4z0.pdf