
(Tomas Frey, Futurist Speaker, 2020)
Introduction
In today's fast-paced world, where technology advances rapidly, and business environments evolve, the consulting industry has experienced significant global growth. Once limited by geography, consultants now operate in a digitally connected and internationally interdependent landscape. Namely, all the big players in consulting, such as Mckinsey & Company or Big 4's, have expanded, with local offices, into almost every corner of the globe. However, problems arise with these firms expanding into new markets, primarily with consultants from other branches unfamiliar with cultural context. This essay will preface by stating that consulting is fundamentally a service relationship where the clients consume strategic business advice after a series of interactions with the consultants. In this sense, this essay argues that Cultural Intelligence is essential for consultants to establish a strong service relationship by facilitating positive interactions with clients.
Scope of Issue
Patrick Zanas, former IBM consultant and co-founder of Zanas Mackenzie, illustrates how a lack of cultural awareness could cause challenges for consultants. In his article, he claims that in his experience, foreign consultants in Thailand unfamiliar with Thai customs often have issues gaining trust from locals and the heart of situations, given "the level of respect for hierarchy" (Zanas, 2020) in Thai society. From Zana's account, we can see that a lack of cultural awareness could pose challenges for consultants in establishing trust relationships and communicating with local clients, thus making any consulting services inefficient; as a result, consultants fail to achieve their original purpose of entering a project. In this sense, it is easy to understand how cultural awareness and knowledge are essential for consultant navigation in international markets with foreign clients.
What is Cultural Intelligence, and Why is it Helpful?
So, how can consultants become culturally aware through cultural intelligence? First, define "Cultural Intelligence" (refer as CQ for the rest of the essay). Professor Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowsk's co-authored article in Harvard Business Review," Cultural Intelligence," proposes that cultural intelligence essentially means "the ability to make sense of unfamiliar contexts and then blend in." (Earley and Mosakowski, 2004) In the same article, Professor Christopher and Elaine also use the cultural habits of Germans that are often straight and direct to depict the idea that individuals without CQ might find Germans rude or aggressive. Professor Christopher and Elaine then claim that: "A modicum of cultural intelligence would have helped the American realise he was mistakenly equating the merit of an idea with the merit of the person presenting it and that the Germans were able to make a sharp distinction between the two." (Earley and Mosakowski, 2004) depicting how sufficient CQ could mitigate the potential conflict or misunderstanding arise during the collaboration of individuals from different cultural backgrounds, for consultants that means initiating a smooth relationship with clients or counterparts.
How can one develop Cultural Intelligence?
Professor Christopher and Elaine said that CQ can simply be divided into three components.
1. Head: Head signifies the cognitive part of CQ. This component emphasises knowledge of cultures, customs or taboos. The article "Cultural Intelligence" claims that instead of role-learning a culture, a learner needs to devise a personal learning strategy based on an entry point into a foreign culture. A great example could be learning Japanese customs through watching their TV shows; if you notice any scenes depicting Japanese greetings, you will see bowing. In Japan's cultural context, bowing is an essential step of greetings and a sign of respect. For the Japanese, there are even greater details in the bowing, for instance, different bowing angles would be used in various situations. In this case, finding a personalised strategy to approach a foreign culture decreases the barrier of entry, thus ensuring better learning outcomes.
2. Body: The body signifies the behavioural component of CQ. " Cultural Intelligence" explains that quote: "You will not disarm your foreign hosts simply by showing you understand their culture; your actions must prove that you have entered their world." (Earley and Mosakowski, 2004) suggesting how after learning foreign culture, actions upon the knowledge need to be taken to adapt into the environment fully, therefore, demonstrating a high CQ. Using the previous example of Japanese culture, learning different bows by heart and utilising them in a suitable context could show your Japanese counterpart or clients that you not only respect them but also make the effort to understand their culture to present yourself politely, thus giving you a headstart to establish a trusted relationship.
3. Heart: Heart signifies the Motivational CQ, which represents an individual's drive, confidence and interest to adapt to a multicultural environment. As you probably have experienced, raising a high CQ often has setbacks and obstacles. As "Cultural Intelligence" explained: "A person with high motivation will, upon confronting obstacles, setbacks, or even failure, re-engage with greater vigour." (Earley and Mosakowski, 2004) This sense of unyielding determination is also an essential factor to account for when developing a high CQ.
So Does It Work In Real Life?
As this essay was written, there appears to be a need for more sufficient study of CQ's practical impact on consultants or consulting businesses. However, earlier, this essay has defined consulting as a "service relationship where the clients consumed strategic business advice after a series of interactions with the consultant". Therefore, we can utilise a comparable industry that also relies heavily on client interaction on an international basis to see whether CQ leads to better interactions, thus building positive relationships. Hospitality is an industry comparable to consulting in that both of them establish relationships to provide service to clients. In the journal "Examining cultural intelligence, heritage responsibility, and entrepreneurship performance of migrant homestay inn entrepreneurs: A case study of Hongcun village in China", co-authored by Fajian Liu, Xiaoyu Wu, Jinyan Xu, and Dongdong Chen, conclusions using hotels, home stays in Hongcun Village as a sample, the authors found that entrepreneurs with higher CQ handle much better in cross-cultural affair that consequently lead to a better customer satisfaction proving how CQ could lead to a solid and trusted relationship. With this rationale, it is also adequate to conclude that consultants with high CQ could more efficiently consult and generate greater satisfaction through an enhanced positive relationship with customers in a cross-cultural setting.
Conclusion
In the landscape of consulting, firms face both challenges and opportunities. As globalisation reshapes the industry, consultants must adapt to better navigate the dynamic nature of the international market. This essay first defined consulting as a relationship-based service that only produces results after numerous interactions. In this sense, this essay used experienced consultant Patrick Zana's first-hand account of how foreign consultants can only build trust with Thai clients with sufficient cultural awareness of Thai society, where they emphasise hierarchies. This essay then provides an academic definition of Cultural Intelligence and explains how it could help you navigate foreign cultures. A trusted and stable service relationship could be established by leveraging your expertise to guide organisations toward success while employing strategies that enhance your Cultural Intelligence. This essay was able to provide unique strategies by breaking Cultural Intelligence into three key components. To illustrate the real-world implications, this essay examines how cultural intelligence helped entrepreneurs in tourism, which is also a relationship-based service, to navigate cross-cultural affairs better, thus building positive relationships to drive client satisfaction. As a result, we believe Cultural Intelligence drives impact, such as but not limited to effective communication that enhances your ability to foster strong client relationships. Ultimately, as a consultant, your impact lies in solving problems and driving positive feedback from your client.
References
Cute And Fluffy. (2022). TALAERA. [online] Available at: https://www.talaera.com/blog/cultural-intelligence/.
Earley, P.C. and Mosakowski, E. (2004). Cultural Intelligence. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence.
Helene Laffitte (2024). Global Consulting Industry: Understanding Regional Specificities. [online] Consulting Quest. Available at: https://consultingquest.com/insights/global-consulting-industry-regional-specificities/#:~:text=S uccessful%20consulting%20engagements%20in%20the [Accessed 3 Aug. 2024].
Liu, F., Wu, X., Xu, J. and Chen, D. (2021). Examining cultural intelligence, heritage responsibility, and entrepreneurship performance of migrant homestay inn entrepreneurs: A case study of Hongcun village in China. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, pp.538–550. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.08.007.
Saunders, M. and Al, E. (2010). Organizational trust : a cultural perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Soni, S. (2024). The Role of Cultural Intelligence in Global Business Success. [online] LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-cultural-intelligence-global-business-success-saakshi-soni-d clhc [Accessed 3 Aug. 2024]. Zanas, P. (2020). Why Traditional Consulting Fails Thai Firms–
Zanas MacKenzie. [online] Zanas Mackenzie. Available at: https://zanasmackenzie.com/why-traditional-consulting-fails-thai-firms/
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