ORGL-506: Leadership and Diversity

Expected Competencies

  1. Dialogue and Interpersonal Interaction: Mastery of strategies to learn through dialogue with diverse perspectives. This includes applying intercultural communication theory to better understand how social identities—such as race, class, and gender—shape experience and communication.

  2. Identifying Dysfunction and Bias: Proficiency in recognizing systemic inequities and biases that influence interpersonal and organizational behavior. This includes the ability to evaluate how social constructions of identity—particularly race, ethnicity, and gender—impact leadership roles and communication.

  3. Integrated Problem Solving: Ability to apply intercultural communication frameworks, such as Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, to address issues of diversity and inclusion in organizational life.

  4. Reflective Leadership Development: Skill in examining one’s own role in sustaining or dismantling inequitable systems. This entails identifying internalized bias and practicing perspective-taking to enhance empathy and intercultural effectiveness.

  5. Promoting Future-Oriented Leadership: Ability to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies into leadership development. This involves fostering empathetic, culturally aware, and socially responsive communication in a multicultural world.

Achieved Competencies

  1. Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC): Gained understanding of ICC as “the ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors that negotiate each other’s cultural identity in a culturally diverse environment” (Chen & Starosta, 1996).

  2. Deepened Self-Awareness: Recognized personal role in perpetuating exclusion or ignorance through unexamined privilege or silence.

  3. Critical Reflection on Social Identity: Examined how race, gender, and socioeconomic status shape life chances and communication norms.

  4. Collaborative Learning: Participated in group-based analysis of Bennett’s Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, fostering shared understanding and peer-to-peer learning.

  5. Literature Review on Empathy and ICC: Conducted a scholarly review exploring the relationship between empathy and intercultural communication competence, emphasizing developmental and non-rote approaches to learning empathy.

Applied Competencies

  1. Application of Bennett’s Model: Used Bennett’s developmental model to explore growth from ethnocentric to ethnorelative worldviews in real-time interactions and reflections.

  2. Developmental Self-Check: Practiced interrupting internal bias through reflection and self-questioning in daily cross-cultural encounters.

  3. Empathy as a Leadership Skill: Integrated multiple modalities of empathy—including subjective, interpersonal, and objective empathy—into leadership practice, especially in work related to disability advocacy.

  4. Intercultural Growth Mindset: Committed to lifelong learning in the area of diversity and inclusion, grounded in humility, introspection, and social responsibility.

  5. Contextualizing Difference: Applied theoretical frameworks to better understand and engage with diverse cultural narratives and perspectives.

Artifact Inclusion

Title: Learning Empathy as Part of Intercultural Communication Competence

Artifact: Literature Review
This literature review explores how empathy can be learned and applied as a core element of intercultural communication competence. Drawing on multiple models—including Chen & Starosta, Bennett’s Developmental Model, and Mahoney & Schamber—the paper offers strategies for integrating empathy into personal and professional leadership. The review centers disability advocacy as a key context for application.

References

  1. Allen, B. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

  2. Bordas, J. (2007). Salsa, soul, and spirit: Leadership for a multicultural age. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

  3. Broome, B. J. (1991). Building shared meaning: Implications of a relational approach to empathy for teaching intercultural communication. Communication Education, 40(3), 235.

  4. Chen, G. (1989). Relationships of the dimensions of intercultural communication competence. Communication Quarterly, 37(2), 118–133.

  5. Chen, G. M., & Starosta, W. J. (2005). Intercultural listening: Collected reflections, collated refractions. International and Intercultural Communication Annual, 28, 274–285.

  6. Clark, A. J. (2010). Empathy: An integral model in the counseling process. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88(3), 348–356.

  7. Fennimore, B. S. (2007). Know where you stand and stand there: Everyday advocacy for children of diversity. Childhood Education, 83(5), 294–298.

  8. Haggis, P. (Director). (2004). Crash [Motion picture]. USA.

  9. Hooks, B. (2000). Where we stand: Class matters. New York, NY: Routledge.

  10. Jeffcoat, J. (Director). (2006). Outsourced [Motion picture]. Israel.

  11. Lussier, D. (2007). Theoretical bases of a conceptual framework with reference to intercultural communicative competence. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(3), 309–332.

  12. Mahoney, S. L., & Schamber, J. F. (2004). Exploring the application of a developmental model of intercultural sensitivity to a general education curriculum on diversity. The Journal of General Education, 53(3), 311–334.

  13. Muccino, G. (Director), Black, T., Blumenthal, J., Tisch, S., Lassiter, J., & Smith, W. (Producers), & Conrad, S. (Writer). (2006). The pursuit of happyness [Motion picture]. USA: Sony Pictures Entertainment.

  14. Paronnaud, V., & Satrapi, M. (Directors). (2008). Persepolis [Motion picture]. USA: 01 Distribution.

  15. Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., & McDaniel, E. R. (2009). Intercultural communication: A reader.

Key Words

Diversity, intercultural communication, empathy, Bennett’s Model, social identity, equity, inclusion, intercultural sensitivity, servant-leadership, developmental models, empathy in leadership, communication competence