Identifying the most important competencies of cultural mediators and their interrelationships

108/01/2014 Final Conference

Identifying the most important competencies of cultural mediators and their

interrelationshipsDermot Coughlan – Morteza Rezaei-Zadeh

University of Limerick

Final Conference08/01/2014 2

- Why is Cultural Mediation important?- What are the features of a Cultural Mediator?- Research Question?- Research Methodology- Findings- Conclusion

Outline


- Levels of migration both legal and illegal have increased significantly- Our countries have become multi-cultural but the focus now is how to make our

society inter-cultural- If we do not address issues associated with integration levels of social unrest will

increase- We need to stabilise our society

Why is Cultural Mediation important?


• Ireland is the only territory whose population is smaller now than It was two centuries ago

• Following the famine of 1848/49 Ireland’s population went from 8million to 4 million

• According to the 2011 census one in eight or 12.5 % of those living in the country declared themselves not to be Irish

• 1990’s most homegeneous nation and by 2011 we were the most heterogeneous with 199 nationalities recorded



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What are the features of a cultural mediator?


- What are the most important competencies which should be possessed by cultural mediators in an European context?

- What are the interrelationships between the identified competencies of Cultural Mediators?

Research Question?


Methodology:

Interactive Management (IM) + Idea Writing

Participants:

Two groups of experts from a wide range of nationalities, including: Ireland, Iran, Brazil, Ghana, Spain, and Chili.

Research Methodology


Finding / The Enhancement Structure 1


An initial examination of the first enhancement structure (See Figure 1) suggests that “Cultural Awareness” is the critical driver of other competencies of cultural mediators and significantly enhances a package of competencies that are reciprocally interrelated: Empathy, Fairness, Openness, and Helpful Behaviour. Information Sharing is placed in the last cycle at stage 3 of the enhancement structure and thus, is viewed as interdependent competency of cultural mediators by the experts in the current study. Information Sharing is a characteristic of the cultural mediators that is driven by a Cultural Awareness, and the cluster of interdependent competencies: Empathy, Fairness, Openness, and Helpful Behaviour.



Facilitative Being totally free of judgment Proactivity Sympathy Tolerance Comprehensibility Accommodating Analytical approach Willingness to help Cultural awareness Active listening Understanding differences Non-prejudice Continuous learning

Finding / The generated competencies in the second IM session


Looking more closely at Figure 2, it can be seen that similarily to the previous enhancement structure, Cultural Awareness is identified as one of the most important competencies of cultural mediators. It is seen as both a highly valued characteristic (with 5 votes) and a key driver of many other skills and dispositions. Both Cultural Awareness and Active Listening significantly enhance two packages of competencies that are reciprocally interrelated: Proactivity and Understanding differences are located in the second circle of the structure and Non prejudice, Tolerance, and Continuous learning are located in the last circle of the structure. It means that the latter interrelated package is driven by the previous competencies in the first and second circles.



- The importance of exploring/identifying Cultural Mediators’ competencies in the different contexts

- The importance of identifying the interrelationships between the competencies

Conclusion

Identifying the most important competencies of cultural mediators and their interrelationships

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