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that assist the leader in perceiving why and
how significant differences exist.
The first objective is to examine and understand
that a person’s worldview is a strong
determinant of their communication patterns.
Worldview is a broad concept that generalises
how a cultural group orients to the world
(Aldefer and Smith, 1982). ‘Worldview refers
to the philosophical ideas of being’ (Jandt,
1995: 214). Typically those orienting factors
may be most of the following: How human
nature is viewed as either good or evil. Are
humans considered to be in control of their
destiny, or do the forces of nature determine
destiny How do humans differ from animals
and what role does spiritual belief play in life
Managers are not surprised by the Sapir–
Whorf hypothesis that indicates the worldview
of a particular speech community is
reflected in the linguistic patterns they employ.
They have repeatedly been told that
learning another language is vitally important.
But the sense that different language groups
have different cultural patterns is only a starting
point for an initial awareness. As Jay
(1968) argues: ‘Bilingualism is not in itself the
answer to cultural understanding among
people. An indispensable asset, it must be fortified
by the strongest possible sensitivity
education. With knowledge of the language
must exist a similar knowledge of the social,
religious and economic attitudes of a people’
(pp. 85–6). The context of an individual’s life
is provided by a rich array of cultural factors
that shape the individual perception of the
world. ‘Context is a powerful organizer of
experience’ (Seelye, 1993: 8).
The second objective is to examine the
managers’ mindset. Although the term ‘mindset’
does not seem to be very precise from a
social science perspective, it does have a
common sense understanding typified by
Webster’s (1988) definition: ‘a fixed mental
attitude formed by experience, education,
prejudice, etc.’ (p. 862). Fisher (1988) selected
this term to headline his approach to
improving cross-cultural relations because:
‘Diagnosing mindsets as they relate to
immediate problems is a more manageable
objective’ (p. 2). People are predisposed to
perceive an issue that is at hand in a particular
way because of a pattern of attitudes that
has developed from their experience and
development of social reality. That powerful
attitude set may emanate from personal
history that is influenced by culture. For example
assuming that a person values and
employs highly rational decision making over
personal relationships and loyalty, may not be
an appropriate assumption. Many managers
are unaware of the mindsets of their subordinates
nor of their own personal mindset
as it relates to other cultures.
The third objective is to consider skills of
intercultural communication competence. This
multifaceted concept conveys a pragmatic
sense that an individual’s personal communication
characteristics will be assessed by
those they interact with in diverse settings.
Interpersonal communication scholars (Lustig
and Koester, 1999; Wiseman and Koester,
1993; Spitzburg and Cupach, 1984) agree
and focus on the concept that competent persons
must practise effective interaction skills,
but they must also interact appropriately with
the people and the cultural environment,
while striving to attain the goals of the communication.
The injection of the concept of
competence into the awareness of the learner
seems to indicate that some behavioural elements
of appropriate adaptation can be
learned along with effective behaviours.
The skill of appropriate interpersonal and
intercultural sensitivity and adaptation is what
all managers should be expected to do. One
of the key elements that some managers
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors