Lucien William Peter Lezar
Abstract
In wake of glabalisation and national transformation during the past two decades, South African workplaces has become increasingly diverse. Despite the rich multicultural fabric, historical limitations on cross-cultural interactions, particularly prior to 1994, have contributed to the lack in intercultural dialogue and cultural Intelligence (CQ) development within organisations. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of CQ in enhancing organisational performance, employee motivation and cultural cohesion in South Africa’s uniquely diverse, yet social-politically complex environment. While employing an exploratory qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were used across various multicultural organisations with the aim of gathering insights from employees in these diverse settings. A thematic analysis of data was used to identify how employees lived experiences at 12 multicultural organisations perceive and apply CQ in relation to motivation and behaviour. The findings indicate that CQ significantly impacts organisational culture and employee performance in diverse workplace settings. Particularly, motivational and behavioural dimensions of CQ and the contrast between Western individualistic values and Ubuntu, emerged as key antecedents of cross-cultural adaptability, trust building, shared humanity and workplace harmony. In conclusion, the study contributes to theory development and by fostering CQ through intercultural dialogue, rather than multicultural policy alone, is crucial for building inclusive, high-performance organisations. CQ coaching, mentoring and training are highly recommended for organisations to inclusion, retention and productivity. There is a need for future studies to concentrate on cross border geographic and generational cohorts to deepen understanding of CQ evolving role in workplace diversity management.