TWO CULTURALLY DIVERSE WAYS OF THINKING: PERSPECTIVES FOR REFRESHING TRANSCULTURAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PRAXIS WITH COGNITIVE INTEGRITY
TWO CULTURALLY DIVERSE WAYS OF THINKING: PERSPECTIVES FOR REFRESHING TRANSCULTURAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PRAXIS WITH COGNITIVE INTEGRITY

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the challenge of updating intercultural research, theory and practice in order to allow it to benefit from the currently available knowledge stemming from the growing discoveries of neuro-biological sciences. It suggests not that we abandon previous approaches and activities created to foster intercultural learning, but recommends that such elements be re-examined and updated in the light of the new scientific definition of holistic human nature and cognitive integrity. It offers one example of an attempt at updating an exercise involving the concepts of high and low context, common in intercultural theory and discourse. It positions these earlier-recognized diverse dynamics in the context of the framing function of the mind. It then suggests that we not start by automatically learning and practicing new communicative behaviors, supposedly (and often stereotypically) attributed to a specific culture, but rather that we begin our exploration with the awareness of how we automatically frame both our own communication patterns and those of others. Thus, we can use mindful attention to reframe them and choose behaviors as required by the objectives of the communication and the context in which it occurs.

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