Gaining Intercultural Competence of Japanese and German Managers in Negotiations

First in the following chapter the term intercultural competence will be defined and after that, components as well as requirements of intercultural competence will be analyzed.

Intercultural competence can be defined differently according to the context the term is utilized. But first the term “intercultural” needs to be explained before defining what intercultural competence is. According to Rothlauf (1999; pp. 8-9) the term “intercultural” focus on relations and contacts which originate from encounters of people from different countries. Intercultural encounters extend over cultural hurdles and borders. Hence it is necessary to be intercultural competent to communicate in a proper way and to have an understanding for the foreign culture. Thus in this term paper the definition for intercultural competence of Lustig and Koester is used who stated that “The trait approach to intercultural competence attempts to identify the kinds of personality characteristics and individual traits that allow a person to avoid failure and achieve success in intercultural encounters.” (Lustig and Koester 1999; p. 64). Intercultural competence is affected by various components and influences people’s behaviors and understandings when people of different cultures meet. Perception, behavior and culture add to the understanding of intercultural competence. Therefore individual characteristics and attitudes must be taken into account when trying to understand intercultural competence (Lustig and Koester 1999; pp. 64-65).

Dealing well with situations like negotiations of managers from different countries, understandings and qualifications are needed. Especially people of different cultures have very dissimilar beliefs, attitudes and behaviors which make understandings more complicated. Loiselle (2000; p. 130) explained that competence is not equal with qualifications. Qualifications can be learned but competence is something subjective and personal. Moreover it is not the actual application of skills but a regulation of disposals. Consequently competence can be perceived through the quality of visible actions when actions of a person are realized. Hence it is important to achieve intercultural competence to be profitable especially when managers of different countries meet to negotiate and try to achieve the best solutions. In brief, Rothlauf (1999; p. 66) summarized intercultural competence as the ability and authority to interact efficiently and effectively with the environment of people from diverse cultures.