Attitude of Military Personnel to the Challenge of Culture: Initial Findings J.L. Szalma & P.A. Hancock University of Central Florida D.P. McDonald Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI)

Change in Warfare Kinetic Akinetic

Not an Entirely New Idea “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting” “To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting ” “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you victory will not stand in doubt.” -Sun Tzu

Understanding my own culture is important for mission effectiveness Frequency 65% agree or strongly agree 29% neither agree nor disagree 6% disagree or strongly disagree Totally Disagree Totally Agree

Cultural awareness is important for mission effectiveness. Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree 76% agree or strongly agree 20% neither agree nor disagree 4% disagree or strongly disagree

Training in language is enough to prepare military personnel for an international deployment. Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Air Force 20% agree or strongly agree 47% neutral 33% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Army 23% agree or strongly agree 28% neutral 49% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Navy 17% agree or strongly agree 23% neutral 60% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Marines 26% agree or strongly agree 37% neutral 37% disagree or strongly disagree

Class-room training for development of cultural awareness/competency would be helpful in preparing me for an international deployment Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Air Force 59% agree or strongly agree 12% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Army 65% agree or strongly agree 8% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Navy 69% agree or strongly agree 7% disagree or strongly disagree Frequency Totally Disagree Totally Agree Marines 56% agree or strongly agree 10% disagree or strongly disagree

Cultural Readiness Cultural competency Cultural Awareness Skills –Language –Social interaction (e.g., rules) –Perception of cultural cues –Selection of appropriate response

Assessment of Attitudes, Perceptions, and Needs Assess general attitudes regarding: –Importance of culture for deployment –Importance and Quality of Training –Gaps in training –Prior cross-cultural experience –Perceptions regarding chain of command with respect to cultural issues –Attitudes toward culture & the military Apply assessment data to: – identify learning objectives for cultural readiness/awareness –Develop definitions of cultural readiness for DoD

Empirical Approach Develop survey questions for administration with the DEOMI Organizational Climate Survey (DEOCS) items per administration Identify: –latent factors for needs, attitudes, and cultural awareness –similarities and differences across services and ranks

Importance of Culture Attitudes regarding importance of culture emerged as a factor in each dataset Sample Questions: –How important do you believe cultural understanding is in your military service? –How important do you believe it is for military personnel in general to have cultural training? –How important do you believe it is for military personnel to be trained to understand cross-cultural differences?

Importance of Culture as a Function of Branch (1 st Dataset)

Interest in Cultural Understanding as a Function of Branch (4th Dataset)

Importance of Culture by Rank (1 st Dataset)

Interest in Cultural Understanding by Rank (4 th Dataset)

Perceived Readiness Perceptions of readiness for deployment to foreign countries Aspects of foreign culture for which personnel believed they were: –Well prepared –Poorly prepared

Sample Questions Do you believe you have been sufficiently prepared for deployment with respect to cultural training? Do you believe your chain of command values your training in: –cultural awareness –attitudes toward culture –language training

Perceived Readiness as a Function of Branch (Dataset 1)

Perceived Readiness as a Function of Rank (Dataset 1)

Perceived Need for Training Gaps in preparedness Value of cultural training Language “do’s/don’ts”

Sample Questions How important you believe it is for personnel to receive training in cultural awareness? How important do you believe it is for personnel receive training in awareness of their own attitudes toward other cultures? To what extent do you believe that an increased emphasis on cultural training will result in greater mission success?

Importance of Understanding & Training as a Function of Branch (Dataset 2)

Importance of Understanding & Training as a Function of Rank (Dataset 2)

Importance of Understanding & Training for Culture: Junior Enlisted (2 nd Dataset)

Importance of Understanding & Training for Culture: Senior Enlisted (2 nd Dataset)

Importance of Understanding & Training for Culture: Junior Officer (2 nd Dataset)

Importance of Understanding & Training for Culture: Senior Officer (2 nd Dataset)

Prior Cultural Experience and Attitudes Toward Culture Prior Cultural Experience Perceived importance r=.32

Summary of Results Forces Themselves Overwhelmingly recognize: The importance of culture for mission success The need for more formal training in cross- cultural interaction Buy-in (Importance of the study of culture for the military) Awareness of One’s own cultural biases is an important concern

Summary of Results Know thyself –Military should facilitate the understanding by recruits of their own culture Deployment Experience Changes the perception of need for cultural readiness –Intrinsic cultural lessons learned should be made explicit in pre-deployment training Training needs must be tempered by rank and branch of service

Summary of Results Prior experience in multi-cultural situations (before military entry) provides insight into cultural readiness requirements –Pre-military cultural experience is an important dimension of military recruiting

Toward A Measure of Cultural Competency Defining the Construct Cultural Intelligence –Cognitive –Motivational –Emotional Cultural Awareness –Understanding cultural: Self Other Facets of Culture

Cultural Intelligence

Attitudes Perceived importance of culture Attitudes toward other cultures Attitudes toward own culture Attitudes regarding the value of cultural training by: –Self –Chain of command Attitude change pre-post deployment

A Valid Measure of Cultural Attitudes Based on initial baseline, select items for administration to a single large sample of personnel Establish underlying factor structure Conduct studies to validate attitude measure Examine role of individual differences Longitudinal studies

Validation Studies Cognitive and affective correlates of attitudes toward culture Personality –Openness to Experience –Extraversion –Stress appraisal and coping Attribution Style Cognitive Flexibility Tolerance for Ambiguity

Cultural Competency: A Force Multiplier Ultimate goals: –A clear definition of cultural competency –A reliable and valid measure of cultural competency –Development of Training procedures