Cultural Competence for Public Managers

Book excerpt: Our increasingly globalized society demands a higher level of sophistication when working cross-culturally and internationally in local, state, and federal governments; tribal corporations; and nonprofit organizations. Cultural Competence for Public Managers offers guidance on how to become a leader in developing cultural competence in your organization. It provides a conceptual foundation and successful examples for developing cultural competence, including competencies for international collaborations. The authors clearly define terms and provide their own cultural competence model that will add significantly to the current field. They describe the rapidly changing worldwide demographics that are bringing new cultures into many countries and societies. They also examine the issues that culturally diverse landscapes create in the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America, highlighting the differences between assimilationist and the multicultural viewpoints. Drawing on a wide range of examples from universities; local, state, and federal governments; health care service providers; and nonprofit organizations, the book illustrates management practices that are then extended into the relevant cultural context. It also includes examples of cultural missteps and cultural competencies that have worked in practice. Written in an accessible format and style, the book provides practical and useful standards and performance measures, proven coaching and mentoring guides, as well as templates, checklists, exercises, and guidelines. It includes downloadable resources with coaching guides, checklists. Organized thematically, the book defines the scope of cultural competencies, highlights best practices, and describes variations in responsibility for administering cultural competence for executives, managers, supervisors, and employees.