Learning to Negotiate Reality: A theory of action approach to intercultural competence more

In an increasingly global business environment, managers must interact effectively with culturally complex people in culturally complex situations. The dominant stream of thought in international management literature frames this situation as a problem of conflict and offers generalized models of cultural difference as guides to “adaptation” for avoiding conflict. This paper offers an alternative approach to intercultural competence, “negotiating reality”, that engages cultural conflict as a resource for learning. Negotiating reality draws on concepts from action science and identity-based conflict to take a new look at the meaning of competence in intercultural interactions. This paper analyzes and critiques the approach to culture implicit in the dominant international management literature and the adaptation model. It then describes negotiating reality and the kinds of thinking and behavior that must be adopted in order to put this approach to intercultural competence into practice.