Motivation of managers to engage multi-culturally

Abstract

Background and Aim Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is becoming one of the essential competencies for the modern manager who regularly functions in a multi-cultural environment. CQ in essence refers us to the concept of developing those skills, be it through self-development, knowledge gathering or experience, which allows managers to effectively develop strategies to deal with new environments and multi-cultural settings as well as work groups (Earley & Ng, 2006). The concept of CQ can also be divided into 4 specific dimensions identified by Earley and Ang (2003) as a Meta-Cognitive dimension, a Cognitive dimension, a Motivational dimension and a Behavioural dimension. Specifically when one looks at motivational cultural intelligence one can define it as the extent of an individual’s interest and drive to adapt to new cultural situations (Templer, Tay & Chandrasekar, 2006). This study aims to investigate the concept of motivational cultural intelligence in relation to managerial motivation to engage in multi-cultural situations, and specifically focuses on the South African manager. Method A cross-sectional survey research design was used in this study. The Managerial Cultural Intelligence measure developed (Du Plessis, O’Neil & Vermeulen, 2007) was administered amongst a purposive convenience sample of managers in various industries (N = 550). Results There was no statistically significant result between motivation and managerial engagement, however it was found that the middle management and supervisory level had: The highest overall level of motivation in terms of engaging in multi-cultural activities. The highest level of motivation to change their view points when gaining new information about other cultures. There was, however, not a very high level of motivation to plan in advance for multi-cultural engagements. Those on a senior managerial level on the other hand showed: The highest level of motivation in terms of learning more about people from other cultures. The highest level of motivation to learn more about how to deal with people from other cultures. The lowest level of motivation to change their views of other cultures when gaining new information about other cultures. They also showed the lowest level of motivation in terms of preparing in advance for multi-cultural engagements. Based on an ANOVA analysis of the data it was found that: There was no statistically significant result between the overall motivational levels of the managers and their willingness to engage in multi-cultural environment. There was, however, a statistically significant result in terms of managerial motivation to learn more about other cultures in their work groups. Practical Relevance It was clear from the literature review that there is little information available about managerial CQ and motivation to engage in multi-cultural settings, such as those within the South African environment. It was therefore deemed important to investigate this construct and especially the dimension of motivation in order to better understand the role it plays in the South African managerial environment. With a better understanding of how it impacts South African managers, future researchers can look at identifying the other drivers of multi-cultural engagement, as well as developing training and development programs that will be better suited to the South African manager in terms of developing CQ. Lastly this was also seen as an important study in order to advance and fill the gap in South African literature within this specific field.