Introduction
The Critical Incident Analysis (CIA) technique for responding to cultural variances provides a robust, subjective view of life. It eases the understanding of problems in any serious adventure, hence enabling managers to exemplify empathy concerning different cultural views. It fits occurrences that are important and have the propensity to cause a person to reflect on the quality of the outcome caused by their reaction (Krietner & Kinicki, 2012). The CIA offers a deep comprehension of issues that may not be noticeable through only quantitative instruments of data collection.
CIA at the Organization
Critical experiences occur almost every day and come to pass anywhere in society, including religious assemblies, families, and predominantly in organizations. CIA can be performed deliberately or unconsciously at an individual or intuitional level. I am reminded of an incident that ensured at my place of work. My duties at work involve managing operations at the Company’s Games Centre. At one point we were engaged in an annual championships event for the chess tournament. I requested the senior management to facilitate the procurement of additional air conditioners to enhance the friendliness of the venue. Despite making several appeals through email communication, there was no noticeable action to my request. The complaints from the participants kept increasing so I resorted to inquiring to understand why there was no response. I discovered that the title sponsors were Chinese while the tournament involved many participants from different regions that predominantly communicated in English.
It emerged that there could have been a problem of miscommunication. I learned that they were not pleased with additional requests due to budget constraints. Imploring Schein’s cultural iceberg analogy, I came to understand that what may appear to be a small issue can be complicated because of other underlying factors. This is an indication of the CIA denoted by underlying trends and motives. Therefore, to better understand a situation it is good to go beyond the usual questioning process based on Who? What? When? Where? How?. Kilianska – Przybylo, (2009) states that the CIA calls for an in-depth understanding of a challenge. The example reveals that to prevent such an occurrence in the future, it is best to have better communication in the organization. It is also important to build a better relationship with the management team.
Acting as an Informed Manager
The situation expanded my understanding of incidents that can occur in everyday activities. My handling of the incident could have been better. The preferable approach would have been to understand the sponsors of the event and develop a connection with them. Afterward, it could have been easier to approach them and communicate whatever challenges were being encountered and find solutions. It is important to adapt to different cultures and appreciate the differences in approach to issues.
Conclusion
Incidents are part of everyday living affecting different aspects at the individual and organizational levels. Managers encounter different occurrences at the place of work that need to be attended to in cognizant of different cultural connotations. The different encounters at an organization present opportunities for becoming more culturally intelligent. An individual develops skills to adapt to different cultures leading to the cultural competence needed to avoid mistakes while interacting with different people. The CIA provides a tool for managers to better react to incidents at an organization by enabling an in-depth understanding of a situation.
References
Kilianska – Przybylo, G. (2009). The analysis of “critical incidents” as a way to enhance intercultural competence. Humanizing Language Teaching, 11(3). Web.
Krietner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2012). Chapter 4. International OB: Managing across cultures. In the world of organizational behaviour, pp.84 – 113. McGraw Hill