DISSERTATION APPROYED BY Therese Uri, Ed.D., Chair David Lees, Ed.D., Committee Mernber Moss Breen, Ph.D., Director Gail M. Jensen, Ph.D., Dean INTERPERSONAL CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN THE U.S. MILITARY ___________________________________ By KENNY W. DAILEY ___________________________________ A DISSERTATION IN PRACTICE Submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Interdisciplinary Leadership _________________________________ Omaha, NE (January 01, 2018) Copyright (2018), Kenny W. Dailey This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no part of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. The views expressed in this dissertation are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the United States government. iii Abstract This study examined the gap and inadequacy of current military foreign area training programs and their focus on overarching topics irrelevant to interpersonal skills development unique to individual cultures. A qualitative intrinsic explanatory single case study with subunits research called for interviews with Unit Deployment Program Mangers to describe the current deployment cross-cultural education program that prepares service members for interpersonal interactions while serving abroad. Inductive Reasoning was used to determine data patterns from the information gained from interviews for coding and analysis purposes resulting in the development of themes for pattern discerning and explanatory inference for theoretical application. iv Dedication To my two children. Their joy and happiness has always encouraged and pushed me to do my best and to make the best of life and of any hardships that come my way. I love you both. Mining and continuous crafting will overcome all road blocks. v Acknowledgements To my wife and best friend: because I owe it all to you. Thank you so much for your support and patience these past five years helping me to get through my dissertation journey. To my parents who always preached education and its importance. To my abuelita who was there when I was born and still here almost a century old. All of you made me who I am today and I thank you for that. Thank you to my committee chair and mentor, Dr. Uri. You helped me immensely throughout the dissertation process and you made my doctoral journey a memorable one and it will be an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. Your encouragement and guidance were crucial to me succeeding and I will always be grateful to you. The experience was rich and made me realize that what I have worked on could eventually benefit others in a similar career field. Thank you. Above all, I want to thank God. You have blessed me with a beautiful family and many great friends. I will forever be thankful to you for blessing my wife and me the day our son was born. You could have chosen to take him with you yet you chose to leave him with us. When all hope was lost, our newborn son never lost faith in you and overcame his illness. That was the day my faith in you was renewed and was ever made stronger. And lastly, I want to thank you for also blessing us with a healthy little girl who on a daily basis remind me of who is really in charge. Thank you. vi Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..v Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………..…..vi List of Tables…………………………………………………………………..................xi List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………....xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………......1 Introduction and Background……………………………………………………………..1 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………………...…..2 Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………………....3 Research Question(s) and Hypotheses…………………………………………………….4 Aim of the Study…………………………………………………………………………..4 Methodology Overview…………………………………………………………………...5 Definition of Relevant Terms……………………………………………………………..7 Delimitations, Limitations, and Personal Biases………………………………………….9 Leader’s Role and Responsibility to the Problem………………………………………..11 Significance of the Study………………………………………………………………...13 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………14 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………15 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………15 Cultural Misreads………………………………………………………………………...15 Cultural Imperative………………………………………………………………………16 vii Region-Specific…………………………………………………………………………..17 Culture-General…………………………………………………………………………..20 Cultural Awareness………………………………………………………………………22 Communication Theory………………………………………………………………….25 Individualism-Collectivism……………………………………………………………....27 High-, Low- Communication…………………………………………………………….31 Nonverbal Communication (NVC)………………………………………………….…...34 Multidimension…………………………………………………………………………..36 Function………………………………………………………………………….………39 Modality………………………………………………………………………………….43 Leadership Literature…………………………………………………………………….53 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………54 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY………………………………………………..56 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………56 Research Question(s) and Hypotheses…………………………………………………...56 Research Design………………………………………………………………………….57 Intrinsic Case Study……………………………………………………………...57 Case Selection……………………………………………………………………58 Participants/Data Sources………………………………………………………………..59 Data Collection Tools……………………………………………………………………62 Validity………………………………………………………..…………………64 Data Collection Procedures………………………………………………………………66 Ethical Considerations………………………………………………………………...…70 viii Summary…………………………………………………………………………………72 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND THE EVIDENCE-BASED SOLUTION…….….76 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………76 Data Organization and Analysis…………………………………………………………77 Results……………………………………………………………………………………81 Research Site Background……………………………………………………….81 In-Depth Open-Ended Interviews…..……………………………………………83 Description of Participants……………………………………………………….84 Deployment Requirements……………………………………………………….85 Inductive Reasoning……………………………………………………………...88 Presentation of the Research Findings…………………………………………...89 Research Question 1..............................................................................................90 Research Question 2..............................................................................................92 Research Question 3..............................................................................................94 Research Question 4..............................................................................................96 Cross-Coding/Themes…………………………………………………………....99 Generic/Not Specific……………………………………………………………100 Experiences……………………………………………………………………..107 Not informative………………………………………………………..………..110 Points of Differences………………………………………………………....................112 Saturation……………………………………………………………………………….112 Summary………………………………………………………………………………..115 ix CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………116 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..116 Purpose of the Study........................................................................................................117 Aim of the Study..............................................................................................................117 Proposed Solution............................................................................................................118 Transformational Leadership...........................................................................................119 Organizational Change.....................................................................................................119 Sense of Urgency.................................................................................................121 Coalition...............................................................................................................122 Vision...................................................................................................................122 Short-Term Wins/Goals.......................................................................................123 Sustain Acceleration/Institute Change.................................................................124 Factors and Stakeholders Related to the Implementation of the Solution.......................135 Policies Influenced/Influencing the Proposed Solution.......................................137 Potential Barriers and Obstacles to Proposed Solution........................................139 Financial/Budget Issues Related to Proposed Solution.......................................140 Legal Issues to Proposed Solution.......................................................................140 Other Issues or Stakeholders Related to Proposed Solution................................140 Change Theory.....................................................................................................141 Implementation of the Proposed Solution........................................................................142 Factors and Stakeholders Related to the Implementation of the Solution.......................142 Leader’s Role in Implementing Proposed Solution.............................................143 Building Support for the Proposed Solution........................................................144 x Additional Considerations for Implementation and Assessment.........................144