The Multicultural Workplace Community as a Learning Environment

Abstract

Finnish educational and working life environments have become multicultural over the past few decades. In this article, I will discuss multicultural workplaces as learning environments from the perspective of interpersonal interaction, as well as the challenges and possibilities that increasing multiculturalism creates in the everyday of workplace communities. In this article I will consider concepts of cultural competence and intercultural competence. Cultural competence encompasses the idea of knowing a single culture well. In intercultural competence individual becomes able to detach from knowing a few cultural codes and shift to the kind of behavior required in intercultural interaction. William Howell’s and William B. Gudykunst’s ideas of cultural competence as well as Milton Bennett’s (1998) model of development of intercultural sensitivity suggests that cultural sensitivity is a gradual process of development. Theories mentioned above are directional when I discuss intercultural learning and intercultural competence through the working life experiences of three adult students of immigrant background, each studying a degree on social and health care in Finland. The interviewees have lived in Finland for more than five years, and they have accumulated extensive work experience in their countries of origin as well as in Finland. In terms of approach the study is a qualitative case study. Central research questions in this study is: How is intercultural competence constructed in the story told by the person of immigrant background? Is it possible to learn intercultural competence?