Beyond cultural competence : Working across cultures in a globalized world

Cultures increasingly interact with each other through the process of globalization, and organizations and individuals resort to different models of crosscultural practice to manage their interactions constructively. Of these models, cultural competence is arguably the most widely used model in countries of the “Western” world. It is undoubtedly a very attractive model from an organizational perspective, in that it premises competence as something that can be achieved and measured objectively. However, the conceptual base of the model raises some very critical questions concerning the achievability and desirability of competence, and whether it reflects a colonial approach (with the inherent power relationships), and assumes that cultures are static rather than constantly evolving and modified through interaction.