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Cooperation Across Cultures: an Analysis of Intercultural Competence in Development Organizations

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Cooperation Across Cultures: an Analysis of Intercultural Competence in Development Organizations Lisa Armbruster COOPERATION ACROSS CULTURES: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS WORKING PAPER VOLUME | 205 BOCHUM 2014 www.development-research.org | www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de IEE WORKING PAPERS 205 Lisa Armbruster COOPERATION ACROSS CULTURES: AN ANALYSIS OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS Copyright 2014 Herausgeber: © Institut für Entwicklungsforschung und Entwicklungspolitik der Ruhr-Universität Bochum Postfach 10 21 48, D-44780 Bochum E-Mail: [email protected] www.development-research.org ISSN 0934-6058 ISBN 978-3-927276-91-8 Abstract Behavior, attitudes, and values differ extremely throughout the world. Whenever two members of different groups such as cultures, nations, or societies interact, such differ- ences become a determining factor for the process of interaction. When thinking of such areas where interactions among members of different cultures constitute a crucial pre- condition, development cooperation comes to one’s mind right away. Development policy and cooperation take place in intercultural settings as members of so-called more devel- oped countries interfere in the development of so-called less developed countries, which always includes a cultural component. Hence, such international and intercultural inter- actions require a competent way of dealing with cultural differences. Consequently, this paper examines the extent to what intercultural competence is a determining factor for the success of organizations of development cooperation. It does so by analyzing the case of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Bolivia. Bolivia rep- resents a highly interesting context for studies dealing with interculturality as the country has passed a constitution in 2006 which explicitly includes concepts of interculturality (interculturalidad). Accordingly, the concept of intercultural competence is analyzed on (1) the individual lev- el of the employees of GIZ Bolivia, (2) the organizational-structural level, and (3) the level of the organization’s context. In a following step the same is done with the concept of success. This then allows linking both concepts which emphasizes that they are closely linked to each other. Thus, subsequently, the paper highlights some recommendations and presents the case study’s results in the light of theory by linking the empirical find- ings and the theoretical framework. i Acknowledgment I would like to show my gratitude to some persons who truly supported me in the process of conducting this paper which has originally been submitted as Master thesis. This is first of all my supervisor, Dr. Meik Nowak, whom I am deeply grateful for his support during the thesis process, his valuable inputs and his capability to always narrow down research problems in a way which already indicates the solution. Further, I would like to express my gratefulness to GIZ-Bolivia for their cooperation and support, especially to Julia Iversen and Dana de la Fontaine who have always put effort on providing the infor- mation I needed and who personally supported me during my field research period in Bolivia. The same holds true for every single staff member of GIZ-Bolivia that I could interview during my stay in Bolivia – without their cooperation and information this study would not be the same. Last but not least I would like to thank PROMOS of the Ruhr-University Bochum for the financial support which made my field research period possible in the first place. ii CONTENTS List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vi 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1 2 The Study’s Theoretical Approach ...................................................................................... 3 2.1 The Concepts of Culture and Intercultural Competence ........................................... 3 2.1.1 Culture – a Determining Factor for Human Interactions .............................. 3 2.1.2 Conceptualizing Intercultural Competence .................................................... 6 2.1.3 Culture and Intercultural Competence in Development Cooperation ......... 11 2.2 Realizing Development Cooperation: Organizations as Crucial Actors .................. 12 2.2.1 Theoretical Foundations regarding Organizations ........................................ 13 2.2.2 The Interplay between Individuals, Organizations and Society ................... 14 2.2.3 Organizations in Development Cooperation – Status Quo and Challenges ......................................................................................................... 15 3 The Study’s Empirical Approach ........................................................................................ 17 3.1 Linking the Theoretical Concepts to an Empirically Accessible Framework ........... 17 3.2 Methodological Approach ........................................................................................... 19 3.2.1 Data Collection ................................................................................................. 20 3.2.2 Data Analysis.................................................................................................... 22 3.3 The Case Study: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in Bolivia ...................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 The Field Research’s Conditions .................................................................... 27 3.3.2 Data Collection during Field Research .......................................................... 28 3.3.3 Limitations to the Study .................................................................................. 32 4 Analysis of the Case Study .................................................................................................. 35 4.1 The Understanding and Role of Intercultural Competence within GIZ- Bolivia ............................................................................................................................ 35 4.1.1 Intercultural Competence on the Individual Level ........................................ 35 4.1.2 Intercultural Competence on the Organizational-Structural Level .............. 43 4.1.3 Interculturality in the Organization’s Context .............................................. 47 4.1.4 Combining the Individual, Organizational-Structural and Contextual Level .................................................................................................................. 48 4.2 The Concept of Success within GIZ-Bolivia .............................................................. 50 4.2.1 The Understanding of Success on the Individual Level ................................ 51 4.2.2 The Concept of Success on the Organizational Level ................................... 52 4.2.3 The Individual and Organizational Concept of Success in the Country’s Context ........................................................................................... 55 4.3 Linking the Concepts of Intercultural Competence and Success ............................ 58 4.4 The Case Study’s Results in the Light of Theory – Linking Empirical Findings and the Theoretical Framework.................................................................. 61 iii 4.5 Recommendations for GIZ-Bolivia and GIZ Headquarters ................................... 68 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 71 References ................................................................................................................................ 73 iv LIST OF TABLES Tab. 1: Dimensions of intercultural competence, according to Bolten ............................... 8 Tab. 2: Organizational profile of GIZ .................................................................................. 24 Tab. 3: Profile of GIZ-Bolivia ................................................................................................ 25 Tab. 4: Country profile of Bolivia ........................................................................................ 26 Tab. 5: Overview on conducted interviews during field research ...................................... 30 Tab. 6: Challenges of intercultural settings perceived by staff members of GIZ- Bolivia ........................................................................................................................ 41 Tab. 7: The concept of intercultural competence by staff members of GIZ-Bolivia ......... 41 Tab. 8: Recommended steps of implementing an intercultural approach within GIZ ....70 v LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1: The interplay of individual, organizational-structural and contextual level regarding intercultural competence .......................................................................... 50 Fig. 2: GIZ-Bolivia’s concept of success ................................................................................. 57 Fig. 3: The influence of intercultural competence on GIZ-Bolivia’s success ..................... 60 vi 1 INTRODUCTION In Bolivia, direct eye contact indicates trustworthiness, whereas in South Korea eye con- tact is not considered
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