Global Leadership "Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence"

What does the DYCI test tell me about my competencies? There are some interesting responses one can make, for example: a) I agree that when "unexpected" things happen while meeting a person from another culture that experience should be chalked up as a learning moment; b) I strongly disagree that I can change my "body language" to "suit people from a different culture; c) I disagree with asking myself what I hope to achieve when meeting a person from another culture and I disagree that I can alter my expression in a new cultural context; and d) I agree I can deal with unfamiliar cultural situations and I disagree that I need to (or can) adapt to the "…lifestyle of a different culture with relative ease" (Earley / Mosakowski).

Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence / Multicultural Personality Questionnaire

The differences between the Earley and Mosakowski's test ("Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence" - DYCI) (Abele, 2009) and Mendenhall's "Multicultural Personality Questionnaire" (MPQ) (Tamas Consultants) are very obvious in terms of the structure and theory.

The theoretical underpinnings of several questions in the DYCI relate directly to Mendenhall's MPQ. In particular, "Cultural Empathy" -- the #1 personality factor on Mendenhall's Multicultural Personality Questionnaire -- relates to several (if not all) of the questions on the DYCI. For example, theoretically the way to function in a cultural diverse context is to "…acquire some understanding of those cultures" prior to engaging in conversation or any interaction.

In fact, after closer scrutiny,...

Cultural Empathy doesn't mean knowing everything about another culture, and "empathy" should never be misunderstood as "sympathy" at all. But empathy is really about a human relating to another human in an honest, open-minded way. Empathy is not a theory; it is a way of thinking and relating to other without prejudging or applying old stereotypes to an individual of another culture. A person that has the capacity for Cultural Empathy would never ask what he or she hopes to achieve by meeting a person of another culture, and would never attempt to change speech patterns, or expressions, and would never attempt to alter body language because those are all superficial physical acts that are shallow and meaningless.
The #2 assessment on the MPQ is "Open-mindedness" and it suggests a total lack of bias on the part of the person meeting another person from a different culture. Several of the DYCI questions are the exact opposite of being open-minded. For example, an open-minded person wouldn't "plan" how to respond to person of another culture; and a person wouldn't modify speech or body language but instead would keep an open mind.

"Social Initiative" (#3 on the MPQ) is really a sub-head under Cultural Empathy and "Emotional Stability" relates to how comfortable a person is in new cultural situations. If the person is emotionally unstable he or she should not be in a position to be engaging in interactions with cultural situations in the first place. #5 on the MPQ is "Flexibility" which is another sub-head under Cultural Empathy; you "go with the flow" because you are open-minded, you have…