Cultural Competencies: The Big Picture

Melynda HuskeyOffice of the Vice President for Equity and Diversity

What is Cultural Competency?

Behaviors A SystemAttitudes in An AgencyPolicies Professionals

that enable effective work in cross-cultural situations.

Having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within

the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs presented by participants and their communities.

Culturally Competent Programs and Services:

Extension programs and services which are respectful of and responsive to the cultural needs of partners.

Paradigms for Equity and Diversity Work

•Social Justice

•Intercultural Communication

•Organizational Development

WSU Extension: A Pluralistic and Developmental Model

• Recognizes that people have more than one paradigm

• Incorporates developmental approach

• Focuses on outcomes, not attitudes

The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

As experience of cultural difference becomes more sophisticated, intercultural competence increases.

The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

Experience of Difference

Development of Intercultural Sensitivity

ETHNOCENTRIC STAGES ETHNORELATIVE STAGES

Denial Defense Minimization

Acceptance Adaptation Integration

Our Competencies

• Cultural Awareness

• Cultural Understanding

• Cultural Knowledge

• Cultural Interaction

• Cultural Sensitivity

A culturally aware professional can:

•Recognize his/her own culture(s), including Extension culture.

•Explore personal and cultural values, biases, prejudices, views.

•Identify similarities and differences among cultures.

A professional with cultural understanding can:

•Identify ways in which culture shapes beliefs, practices, and values.

•Describe issues and concerns which arise when values, beliefs, and practices differ from those of the dominant culture.

•Recognize ways culture affects participation in extension programs and services.

A culturally knowledgeable professional can:

•Demonstrate familiarity with specific cultures, especially the ways in which they differ from one’s own.

•Use conceptual and theoretical models for understanding human culture.

•Identify appropriate cultural guides and build productive relationships with them.

A culturally interactive professional can:

•Recognize factors impacting successful intercultural communication.

•Use concepts and theories of intercultural communication.

•Manage intercultural conflicts effectively.

•Interact productively and seek input and guidance from cultural partners.

•Form new partnerships across intercultural difference.

A Culturally Sensitive Professional can:

•Recognize the impact of privilege, inequality, oppression, and socially-consequential difference in daily contexts.

•Identify historical and sociological influences on specific cultural interactions.

Measurable Outcomes

Culturally Competent Professionals:

•Practice strategies to overcome challenges to successful intercultural communication in professional settings.

•Integrate cultural competencies in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programming.

•Participate in culturally diverse settings, initiatives and programs.

Next Steps