Cátia Sousa

Cultural intelligence and conflict management styles

Purpose Negotiating effectively in multicultural contexts or others is not only a very important skill for all organizational elements but also crucial to inter-organizational relations (Adler, 2008). If defined as a process that occurs when one party feels adversely affected by another (De Dreu, 1997). Conflict management styles can be analyzed as a function of personality variables. In this respect, cultural intelligence and self-monitoring appear to be relevant variables, as they are characterized by the demonstration of flexibility and interest in elements that are present in conflict management styles. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which variables such as cultural intelligence and self-monitoring can positively influence the ability to solve interpersonal conflicts more effectively. Design/methodology/approach This study, with a sample of 399 individuals, aimed to test a model that explores how cultural intelligence and self-monitoring are related as predictor variables in the styles of conflict resolution. Findings It was observed that cultural intelligence presents itself as a reasonable predictor of conflict management styles, whereas self-monitoring appeared as a dispositional and controversial measure in relation to those styles. Self-monitoring exhibited itself as an important predictor of conflict management, but on the other hand, it had an influence on the choice of the dominating style in conflict situations. Practical implications Understanding the predictors of conflict management style and, in particular, realizing the extent to which cultural intelligence promotes a more effective conflict management style can help in the development of selection processes and skill training programs. The development of these multicultural skills will contribute to individual, social and organizational well-being. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature of individual differences and conflict management, demonstrating that some individual differences that predict the styles of conflict management can lead to a certain ambiguity in understanding the behaviour that an individual may adopt in situations of conflict.

Evidências métricas da adaptação da escala de inteligência cultural numa amostra portuguesa

Este estudo teve como principal objetivo a validacao da Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) para a populacao portuguesa. A inteligencia cultural e uma competencia crucial na adaptacao a ambientes multiculturais. A escala multidimensional de inteligencia cultural e composta por 20 itens agrupados em quatro dimensoes e permite avaliar as caracteristicas individuais que predispoem um melhor desempenho em ambientes culturais nao familiares. Com uma amostra total de 275 participantes, com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 72 anos (M= 29,3; DP = 12,9), os resultados obtidos atraves da realizacao da analise de componentes principais replicaram os resultados originais, apresentando bons valores de validade e consistencia interna (alfa de Cronbach de 0,93), revelando a multidimensionalidade do construto avaliado. A analise exploratoria replicou o modelo testado pela analise confirmatoria. Assim, a aplicacao deste instrumento em contexto organizacional multicultural podera ser uma ferramenta fundamental para identificar competencias cruciais ao desempenho dos recursos humanos, equipas ou organizacoes, em ambientes caracterizados pela diversidade cultural, assim como, garantir o sucesso dos processos de integracao de expatriados e de imigrantes.

Organizational practices for the expatriates’ adjustment: a systematic review

Purpose The globalization of work has contributed to a great increment in cross-cultural interactions, contributing to a new impetus in the expatriates’ topic. The costs associated with the failed international missions are high, and the identification of effective adjustment strategies is of extreme importance, both for organizations and for individuals. The purpose of this paper is to identify the kind of practices that are developed by organizations and their impact on the adjustment of expatriates. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the proposed objective, a systematic review of literature (from the late 1980s to the present day) will be carried out. Findings Based on five articles on the topic, the results show that there are few studies that assess the impact of the types of adjustment to organizational practices, with the cross-cultural training and language training being the most common. These practices have shown a positive effect on performance and adjustment of expatriates. Originality/value The authors feel the lack of studies that have adequate indicators to measure the integration and effectiveness of the adjustment of expatriates.