The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats Necessities and Lacks

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei2 Structure 1. Intercultural Competence and Diplomacy  Intercultural Competence (IC)  International Diplomatic Culture 2. Needs Analysis for IC Development for Indonesian Diplomats  Background  Methodology  Limitations and Recommendations

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei3 Intercultural Competence  “Intercultural competence is the ability to interact effectively and appropriately with members of other cultures in fulfilling certain objectives.” (freely adapted from Gelbrich 2004)  Worldwork’s international competences  10 key competences  22 dimensions  The International Profiler

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei4 Types of Intercultural Encounters Length of Contact Tourists ShortLong Forced/ Involuntary Happy/ Voluntary Students Diplomats Businesspeople Refugees Foreign Workers Immigrants (adapted from Furnham and Bochner (1986:56), as cited in Lustig and Koester (1993:13)

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei5  “Relationships between different cultural and linguistic groups are at the heart of diplomacy (…).” Byram (1991:1)  Reasons for neglect:  Soft skill  Concept of an International Diplomatic Culture IC and Diplomacy

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei6 Needs Analysis for ICD  Background  1,500 Indonesian diplomats  Relations with 190 countries  Elected member to 9 important international organisations  Are Indonesian diplomats interculturally competent enough to do their job?

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei7 Methodology L PIOQ What does intercultural competence include? x What competencies do diplomats need? > NEEDS xxx Are Indonesian diplomats interculturally competent enough? xx What intercultural competencies do Indonesian diplomats need to develop? > LACKS xx What is the preferred design of a development programme? xxx

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei8 Methodology  Defining intercultural competence  Literature review  Pre-interviews  10 diplomats (5 male, 5 female)  4 Junior diplomats  3 Mid-career diplomats  3 Senior diplomats  Main study  online questionnaire

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei9 Main Study  Obtaining valid and reliable data for the development of content and design of an intercultural competence development programme  Sample  40 respondents  29 complete responses  65.5%= Junior diplomats  17.2%= Mid-career diplomats  13.8%= Senior diplomats  24% have existing knowledge

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei10 Main Study  Instrument = SurveyMonkey  Structure  Introduction  Important intercultural competencies for diplomats  Need for intercultural competence development  Preferred design of a possible intercultural competence development programme  Personal data

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei11 Limitations of Main Study  Choice of instrument  Stamina of respondents  Lack of practical support on the part of CET  Small number of participants  Dominance of the Junior diplomats’ answers

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei12 Recommendations  Selection procedure that takes into consideration all components of intercultural competence important in diplomacy  Develop a training module for the diplomats’ spouses  Conduct the training in a multicultural environment  Platform for Indonesian diplomats to seek advice  on-site help, online assistance

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei13 Next steps  Needs analysis serves as basis for further research or  Needs analysis serves as starting point for pilot devlopment programme

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei14 Developing People Internationally Thank you for your attention! Terima kasih atas perhatian Anda!

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei15 Annex

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei16 The International Profiler 1. Openness 2. Flexibility 3. Personal autonomy 4. Emotional strength 5. Perceptiveness 6. Listening orientation 7. Transparency 8. Cultural knowledge 9. Influencing 10. Synergy

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei17 International Diplomatic Culture  Common language and behaviour  “They are able to communicate across different languages, different cultures, and perhaps different sets of psychological assumptions and get to the heart of complicated issues. Rarely, if ever, are wars fought over misunder­standings between diplomats.” Langholtz (2004: 14)

The Intercultural Competences of Diplomats - DPI Konstanz - September Stephanie Frei18 International Diplomatic Culture  Relevance of this concept?  Increase in number of states  Changing role of non-governmental actors  New big players in world politics  Non-diplomats conducting diplomacy  Homogeneity?  Impact compared to national culture  Changing role of a diplomat (Hofstede 2004)