Becoming Culturally Competent : The Learning Journey of Four Bicultural Chinese Women

Anne Gaybrick

George Washington University Doctoral Candidate

agaybrick@gmail.com

Submission: Stream 5 - Comparative and Cross-Cultural Dimensions of HRD

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Abstract

International organizations with an Asian connection seek to attract, retain, and

develop professionals with bi-lingual and bi-cultural competence as a competitive

advantage for staffing offices at home and abroad. In China women constitute the

majority of university graduates, and many of them are bi-lingual and bi-cultural. Little is

known, however about how do bi-lingual, bi-cultural women learn to be culturally

competent. The purpose of this pilot study is to understand the lived experience of the

development of cultural competence of bi-lingual, bi-cultural Chinese women. The

research is qualitative, and the selected research methodology is phenomenology. The

four study participants were professional Chinese women varying in ages from thirty-two

to fifty-five, and at various stages in their careers. Content analysis was used to analyze

the data from in-depth interviews. Findings suggest that early learning of cultural

competence is fostered by others, and that later as adults both formal and informal

learning shapes cultural competence. The learning journey of these professional women

has implications for the HRD professional who seeks to foster cultural competence in the

workplace. Implications for research include a more in-depth study of a larger number of

participants to investigate more clearly the learning of bi-cultural competence in Chinese

women.

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Problem Statement

In an increasingly globalized business environment, many international organizations

with a strong Asian connection employ Chinese professionals in their China and home offices.

Bi-cultural Chinese professionals navigate two cultures effectively and interact with people from

different cultural backgrounds in two languages. Given the increased number of academic

graduates in China, there is a growing tread of employing women in these organizations.

Statistics show that urban women are graduating from college at a higher rate and outperforming

men academically in China. According to the 2010 Third Survey on Social Status of Women,

urban women in China outnumber men in undergraduate and master’s programs, and women

outpace men in achieving an “excellent academic performance.” They are considered the most

educated women in China’s history (Fincher 2014). Mao Zedong famously said “women hold

up half the sky,” and he viewed women in the workforce as a resource to be developed. Today,

international organizations view Chinese professional women as a competitive advantage. There

is a need for organizations to attract, retain and develop these women in order to maintain a

competitive advantage. Little is known, however, about how do these bi-lingual, bi-cultural

women learn to be culturally competent.

Purpose of the Study and Research Question

The purpose of this pilot study is to understand the lived experience of the development

of global competence of bilingual, bicultural Chinese women. The selected methodology for the

study is phenomenology. In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, the following research

question will be investigated: How do bicultural Chinese professional women learn their cultural

competence?

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Theoretical Frame

Cultural competence is a construct that fits the contemporary international organization’s

desire to foster a workforce that can learn quickly, adapts to change, and can communicate

effectively. For the purposes of this study, cultural competence is defined as “ an individual’s

effectiveness in drawing on a set of knowledge, skills, and personal attributes in order to work

successfully with people from different national backgrounds at home or abroad” (Johnson,

Lenartowiez & Apud 2006). Since learning is integral to becoming culturally competent, the

theoretical frame is grounded in learning theories such as social learning theory (Bandura 1976),

experiential learning (Kolb 1984), and adult learning theory (Knowles 1984). Social learning

theory suggests that learning is a process of observation, imitation, and modeling, and people

learn even when their behavior appears unchanged (Bandura 1976). Experiential learning theory

defines learning as a dynamic and holistic process, present in all human activity. The learning

process involves experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting, and reflection is key for learning

to take place (Kolb 1984). Knowles posits that adult learners are self-directed, learn because they

have a need to know something, learn by doing, and learn in order to solve problems in their

lives, especially when the learning can be of immediate use (1984).

Methodology:

The selected methodology for this pilot study is phenomenology. As described by

Husserl (1982), phenomenology focuses on participant experiences in order to allow the

researcher to obtain a nuanced understanding of the learning episodes by drawing on the

participants’ personal recollections and insight to construct and portray a picture of the learning

phenomenon.

The participants of the study were selected based on the following selection criteria:

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1. Bilingual, by which is meant a demonstrable fluency in both Mandarin and U.S. or U.K.

English.

2. The participants have lived abroad in the U.S. or other Western culture where they were

employed and have worked for at least one year.

3. Currently the participants hold a full-time position in a knowledge profession (i.e., law,

finance, journalism, education, public relations) for at least three years.

4. The participants in their current positions regularly use their language as both English

and Mandarin speakers, and their bicultural skills and understanding in the workplace.

Personal emails were sent to professional women known to the researcher with an

invitation to participate in the study, and a request that they share the invitation with women they

know who may fit the criteria. A flyer describing the study and the sample selection criteria

study accompanied the email.

The primary data collection was through interviews, which were recorded with the

permission of the participants and then transcribed verbatim. Participants chose an alias for

themselves before the interview and that name was used throughout the study.

Four participants of varying age from thirty-two to fifty-five, and at various stages in

their careers volunteered to participate in the study. Since this is a pilot study, the sample size

was deemed to be adequate in informing future studies on the topic

The data collection consisted of in-depth interviews, which were recorded, with the

permission of the participants, and the interviews were transcribed verbatim. Participants were

interviewed for approximately 60-75 minutes. Two interviews were conducted face-to-face, and

two interviews were conducted over Skype. The participants were asked to respond to the

following two open ended statements:

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1. Please tell me about situations in your life that you recall were crucial for you to learn about your own culture, and other Western cultures.

.2. Please tell me about a situation in which you had to communicate across

cultures (that is, both Chinese and Western) and which was an important learning experience for you. What activated the learning, and what kind of lesson did you take away from this experience?

The interviews were conducted over a ten-day period and transcribed within twenty-four hours

of the interview. Transcription was done by the researcher, and biographical data was altered to

protect the privacy of the participants. Content analysis was used to analyze the data.

Findings

This section includes two parts. In the first section, a brief biographical sketch of the

study participants is provided in order to better inform the findings. In the second part, the three

themes that emerged from the study are described.

Sophie: Sophie is thirty-six years old, and a native of Beijing where she was born and raised

until she moved with her family to the U.S. when she was thirteen. Sophie attended a private

girl’s school, took a gap year to work as a waitress and a babysitter, while living with an

American family until she was accepted for college. Upon graduation, she worked for two years

in finance before going to law school. Although on the partnership tract for her litigation skills,

Sophie left the U.S., and moved back to China, changing both careers and countries. She

currently works in China as a marketing director for a U.S. based international organization.

Jackie: Jackie is thirty-five years old, and was born and raised in Hong Kong until she moved

with her family to the U.S. when she was nineteen. She attended a community college, then a

four-year university, earning money by tutoring math to adults. She left her first job in

journalism to work as a legal assistant, first in Hong Kong and then in the U.S. She started her

travel business as a part time sideline position, then quit her job to pursue it full time. Two years

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ago, she left the U.S. and combined travel with work. She spent extended periods of time living

in South America, Europe and Asia. She is currently living in the U.S. running her own travel

business, and assisting in the small family handicraft business based out of Hong Kong. Recently

she hired more staff to keep up with her growing business.

Marilyn: Marilyn is fifty-five years old and was born and raised in a northeastern port city in

China. China. After 1978 and the opening of China’s economy and resumption of high

educational standards, Marilyn attended a private foreign language high school. She later

majored in English at a local university. Upon graduation she became a simultaneous translator,

working for an international consortium. She moved to Canada for family reasons a decade ago,

and accepted a job as a legal secretary, a position for which she had no prior experience. Upon

returning to China five years ago, she changed careers to marketing, and is currently working as

managing director of an international corporation in with offices throughout China and Europe.

Wendy: Wendy is 32 years old and moved to the U.S. from China right after college graduation

where she majored in chemistry. She lived in the U.S. for a year before earning an M.A. degree

in education. While attending graduate school, Wendy also worked as an associate professor

teaching Mandarin at a large urban college. Currently, Wendy is a successful educator who

teaches Mandarin and is department head of the Chinese Language Program for pre-

Kindergarten through 12th grade at a large urban school in the U.S. Two years ago she began a

part-time consulting business advising consortia of Chinese and U.S. businesses seeking to

develop joint educational programs. This work takes her back and forth to China frequently.

In this section the three major themes that emerged from the study will be

described.

The following three major themes emerged from the data:

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Beginning the journey: learning cultural competence at an early age

All four participants indicated that their learning about Western culture was

ignited by early life circumstances, and this introduction was a catalyst for learning that

was informal and directed by others. In the case of Wendy and Marilyn, the impetus for

learning about Western culture was childhood life experiences and a family pattern of

business encounters with the West. Jackie’s experience in her missionary-run high school

ignited her interest in missionary work, and Christian religions. Sophie was thrust into

another culture and learned from everyday life experiences and from interacting with

classmates at her private girls’ school about the cultural differences and similarities

between her home and host people and cultures.

Marilyn described her father, an autodidact who was prevented from going to the

university “because his father was a capitalist” as exhorting her to learn English, because

“everyone should have an expertise.” Starting at age eight he forced her to listen to the

only radio broadcast in China at the time that offered English instruction for thirty

minutes every night. “The only way I learned my English was just from hearing, it was

very simple English, but my father was happy if I could only speak two sentences.” An

English major in college, Marilyn discovered that her grandfather had encouraged

Marilyn’s father to have her learn English and live abroad. Before his business was

nationalized, her grandfather had spent time in Europe, and spoke three languages “…so

he had encounters with Westerners in his past.”

Wendy recalls being a four year old when her grandmother took her to a Western

type restaurant to learn to use cutlery, her first recollection of learning about different

cultural norms. She grew up knowing that her maternal great-grandfather was a

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successful international businessman who imported goods into China, traveled to Europe,

and encountered Westerners in the course of his business dealings. Wendy’s mother

worked in an international export firm, and would bring Western visitors home for

dinner. Wendy, then nine years old, recalls a pivotal learning experience when an

Australian guest began to teach her English:

He taught me ‘stand up’ and ‘sit down’ through TPR (total physical response) and made me keep standing up and sitting down. I thought it so weird, but I learned and remembered…I use TPR in my own teaching methods.”

Wendy “always knew” that she would live abroad, and practiced her English by escorting

visitors to mother’s company while in college.

Jackie was nineteen and ready to enter college when she moved to the U.S., but

she was aware for a few years beforehand that her family was waiting for a visa to

emigrate. While her missionary school taught English, she refused to do the classroom

reading assignments, “if you ask me to read the South China Monitor – ugh – I never

would!” While turned off by formal instruction, her everyday encounters with English

speaking foreign missionaries prompted her to learn English in order to know more about

their work and spiritual guidance.

“So we would go to lunch and just start talking, so that was manageable, and when I came to the U.S. I could talk to people, people are friendly, especially the older generation, they will talk with you. I think that when you like to do something, you do it – I prefer to talk.”

Sophie received no advance warning of her family’s relocation to the U.S. at

thirteen, and she did not speak English. She had experienced little cultural and

socioeconomic variety in her early childhood.

“I wasn’t exposed to a lot of class differences…I went to a local school, Everybody was Chinese, we were all considered middle class. Anyone I knew, they didn’t have money because China did not have an open economy back in the

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‘70’s and ‘80’s and everything was owned by the government, it was a very Communist country.”

She was overwhelmed by the selection of goods available, in the U.S. even at the grocery

store. Sophie reports being “completely confused because there were so many choices for

a simple thing like milk, skim, 1%, 2%, lactose, free, chocolate.” Culturally, Sophie

lacked any concept of ethnic and racial diversity.

“I really didn’t have any concept of the differences between people. Everyone I knew was Chinese. We had China TV and one or two cartoons from Japan translated into Chinese, so nothing.”

The first African American person she met was after she was in the U.S. An

incident that occurred when she was a fourteen and a freshman in high school made her

realize her misperceptions about race and ethnicity. Sophie was shocked by the reaction

from her two African American classmates to her making remarks of a disparaging nature

about African Americans.

“One of the girls started screaming and yelling, ‘Did you hear what she said?’ And I had no idea it was going to cause such a big thing and I was completely embarrassed….and so I learned.”

Sustaining the journey: adapting to a new culture in adulthood.

All four participants related that in order to adapt to Western culture, they had to

understand the differences in attitude, manners, and philosophy, beyond mere language

acquisition. Each participant shared supporting data of how they had learned from

interactions with Western colleagues, classmates, mentors, or friends.

Marilyn described an incident that highlighted for her a key difference between

East and West. As a college student in China an important visitor to her school

complimented her dress, a special “dream dress” that she loved and her mother had made

for her, but she demurred.

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“ I answered no, no, no My immediate response is what I have been educated all the time in China, they you can’t compliment yourself, you have to be modest. We were taught that modesty is the best quality, not honesty. Whenever people praise you your immediate response is to say ‘no.’ ”

Later, at her translation position, Marilyn thanked a Western colleague for “criticizing

her” when he corrected her English, and it took time for her to understand why her

colleague felt offended. Self-criticism and criticism of friends is in accordance with the

teachings of Mao Zedong so, “I didn’t get it until later, that we have a different

understanding of the word. To us, it is not a strong word.”

When Wendy first moved to the U.S. she was isolated in an exurban area with

traditional families and few young couples. She plunged herself into what she dubbed her

“year of cultural learning” to adapt to her new culture. Her learning strategies included

watching U.S. television programs, befriending elderly neighbors who were “patient with

my English,” and joining stay-at-home moms to learn to cook and bake western style

dishes. The TV programs about teenagers and families helped her learn about U.S. family

relationships, so different from her Confucian tradition of respect for elders.

“In China, family relations are very different. Children are very respectful to their parents, and do not speak back. I saw by watching these TV programs that teenagers here were very outspoken, and that parents shared feelings with their children. In China, parents have to be strong for their children and they don’t express their fears, it would be a lack of strength to do so.”

Once she entered her Masters’ program in education Sophie noted that unlike in China

where grades are based purely on assessments, she was expected to contribute in class.

When she told her professor that she had nothing to contribute to these experienced

teachers, he helped her see that as the only Asian student she had a valuable perspective.

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Jackie realizes as an adult looking back that even though she was raised in a

vibrant, multiethnic society, she did not have many encounters with Westerners or other

nationalities until she came to the U.S.

“My family background is working class, and we were very, very local. Now when I am back in Hong Kong, I instantly find a group that speaks English or is from other places so I can be in a group that is mixed with everyone. Back then I stayed with my Chinese group.”

Sophie as a young adult realized that her parents could not correct her English or

help with applications, a career path, or anything else, and she relied on the help of

“many mentors.” Her learning continued to be triggered by the necessity of immersing

herself in her new culture in order to survive. Sophie credits these experiences with

helping her make her decision to relocate back to China and change careers.

“When I came to America I had nothing, as a family we had nothing. I started with not even speaking English, so yeah, you know it can’t get any worse that that, so I’m not afraid to start all over again. I’m a self-starter, I just try to survive.”

When confronted with a new opportunity or challenge, the participants showed

that as adult learners they sought in their environment what they needed to know to get

the job done. Marilyn, with no experience as a legal secretary spent the weekend before

her first day looking up and memorizing all the legal terms she could find on the Internet.

Sophie left her lucrative position as an attorney to pursue a career in marketing, directing

her own learning path. Wendy and Jackie created their own businesses, supplementing

their acquired knowledge with what they need to know in their new endeavors. All four

women relied on relationships, networking with contacts from both cultures to learn and

chart their own path. What began as a forced need to learn about another culture, evolved

in adulthood to a self-directed process as all four participants continued to participate,

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communicate, question and engage in activities to make the most of their learning

opportunities.

The Continuation of the Journey: Learning and using cultural competence

Each woman participant found their voice in their new culture, while remaining

involved with their Chinese family, friends, and professional colleagues. They all

directed their own learning, through formal educational degree programs, and informal

learning opportunities by actively seeking experiences that had meaning for them. Each

participant created for herself a career choice that allows her to express through her work

her understanding of both cultures. Sophie and Jackie left high paying professional

positions that were primarily U.S.-based, to start new careers where they must

accommodate both cultures. Jackie is busy learning Spanish and living for extended stays

in South American countries because “I love Latino culture,” a culture she says she

would never have explored if she had stayed in China. This time she uses all the forms of

learning to improve her Spanish that she rejected when learning English as an adolescent:

“I read the books, I watch TV in Spanish, I talk to everyone who speaks, even at

McDonalds.

Wendy’s consulting venture allows her to learn entrepreneurial skills, while she

acts as a “cultural ambassador” explaining the Chinese view to the Americans, and the

American perspective to the Chinese in a way that they can both understand. On a recent

trip to China accompanying a U.S. delegation she experienced a “disastrous” first day,

and spent the night preparing charts in Mandarin and English. The next day she took over

the meeting and negotiated the agreement using her knowledge of both positions.

“I explained to the U.S. attorneys that the Chinese are very practical and, problem orientated, they do not have the complex regulations found in the U.S.…and to

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the Chinese that U.S. attorneys protect clients by anticipating future issues, that it is their fault if they do not protect the client by pointing out potential problems.”

Marilyn views her role as and the intermediary among colleagues, and as a

problem solver for the firm on sensitive political matters. For instance, one senior

manager likes to include his Cultural Revolution experience in every meeting

with clients and visitors. When Marillyn reviewed the packet of writings sent to

her corporation before the visit an important Western political figure, she

removed from the file papers that were highly critical of Communism, and then

informed the Western dignitary of her manager’s pride in his Communist heritage.

“He thanked me for his consideration, especially when the Chinese manager said

in his speech, ‘When you were ascending in Parliament, I was going down to the

countryside, to answer Mao’s call.’“

Sophie is learning from her experience “how complex doing business in China

is.” For instance, Chinese clients do not trust professionals because the as a young

country it is still developing professional standards and oversight. Sophie spends much of

her time “talking with potential Chinese clients, connecting with them, and educating

them…you have to bridge the gaps between Chinese and Western professionals.”

All the women expressed the view that knowing the language is not enough to

succeed in working across cultures. Marilyn stated that despite excellent educations,

many Chinese today are not culturally literate:

“I witness a lot of culture conflicts in my work. And a lot of Chinese professionals, like lawyers and partners, even though they have received a very high education, either in the U.K. or the U.S., they never really paid attention to the social part. If they haven’t paid attention to the culture, they just learned the language and not the people knowledge….this will have a very negative impact on their career.”

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Implications for research and practice:

The analysis of the findings of this pilot study shows that the development of

cultural competence in the four women participants is related to learning that in early life

is fostered by others, and later is shaped by their engagement with formal and informal

approaches to learning. The learning journey of these professional women has

implications for the HRD professional who seeks to foster cultural competence in the

workplace. Since early life experiences are important catalysts for these women, enabling

organizational opportunities for employees to discuss their cultural backgrounds and

reflect on experiences in order to increase their personal cultural knowledge and

understanding can encourage cultural competence. Cultural competence is a process, and

accessing the cultural diversity represented by the cultural, ethnic and racial diversity

among the staff could aid in building cultural competency throughout the organization.

In order to attract and retain professionals who, like these participants,

demonstrate strong bi-cultural capacities and enthusiasm for continuous life long

learning, organizations must offer them the flexibility, the support, and the learning

opportunities to continue to engage their head, heart, and minds (Glastra, Hake &

Schedler 2004). All four women value doing what they love, and while a good income

matters, it does not account for their career choices. Implications for research include a

more in-depth study of a larger number of participants to investigate more clearly the

learning of bi-cultural competence in Chinese women.

References:1. Bandura, A 1977, Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.

2. Fincher, LH 2014, Leftover Women: the resurgence of gender inequality in China, Zed Books Ltd., London.

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3. Glaska, FJ, Hake, BJ, & Schedler, PE 2004, ‘Lifelong learning as transitional learning’, Adult Education Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 291-307.

4. Husserl, E 1982, Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philospophy, trans. F Kersten , The Hague-Nihoff.

5. Johnson JP, Lenartowicz T, & Apud S 2006, ‘Cross-cultural competence in international business: toward a definition and a model’, Journal of International Business Studies, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 525-543.

6. Kolb, DA. 1984, Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

7. Knowles, MS. 1984, Andragogy in Action, Jossey-Bass, San Fransicso.

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