The impact of cultural intelligence on organizational effectiveness in a global environment
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
With increasing globalization, growing diversity in organization demography, and the popular use of team-based organizational structures (Friedman, 2006), multicultural teams are a central feature in today’s organizations. It is increasingly likely that employees will be required to work interdependently with team members who have different and culturally significant affiliations (Knight, 2007). Cultural differences often cause uncertainty and miscommunication, and cultural intelligence (CQ) has recently been used to address these issues (Lin, Chen & Ye-Chen, 2012). Cultural intelligence is a specific form of intelligence that focuses on the capability of an individual to function effectively in situations in which they are presented with cultural diversity (Earley & Ang, 2003). Ang et al. (2007) further suggested that CQ is a complementary form of intelligence that can explain variability in coping with diversity and functioning in new cultural settings. Research has not yet examined how CQ affects organizational effectiveness.
The purpose of this investigation is to examine, through the analysis of three empirical studies, the impact that CQ has on organizational effectiveness (OE). This study draws upon literature on CQ and OE to explain a model by which leaders in a cross-cultural context can find a balance between the tension of their own deeply held values, and those of their culturally different counterparts. An extensive literature review was conducted to address the research question: What is the impact of CQ on organizational effectiveness? Three empirical studies were examined to identify patterns of CQ and leadership in the workplace. The process consists of identifying patterns among the study results, as well as potential similarities and inconsistencies among those results. The analysis conducted for this research provides extensive information on whether CQ has an impact on organizational effectiveness by analyzing three empirical studies.