Resource Library: Culture

What is Cultural Competence?

Cultural competence can and should occur in both individuals and organizations.
Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, structures, and policies that come together to work effectively in intercultural situations. That set of behaviors can be adopted and practiced by a solitary professional or an entire organization.

The culturally competent organization:

• values diversity,
• conducts cultural self assessments,
• is conscious of and manages the dynamics of difference,
• institutionalized cultural knowledge, and
• adapts services to fit the cultural diversity of the community served.

Historically, [the family support] field has approached cultural competence as if it were primarily the responsibility of individual practitioners. Both development and delivery of culturally competent services were thought to hinge on the "sensitivity" of the providers. However, it is impossible for individuals to function successfully in isolation. Cultural competence depends on social institutions, organizations, agencies, and working groups, as well as individual professionals. Together, they equal a system that fosters effective work in cross-cultural situations. Cultural competence is the responsibility of the total system. This means our discussion must include the rules, regulations, infrastructure, and policies of agencies and institutions as well as the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and attitudes of individuals.

In short, cultural competence for the individual entails the state of being capable of functioning effectively in the context of cultural difference. Cultural competence for the organization entails a set of congruent practice skills, attitudes, politics, and structures, that come together in a system or agency or among professionals and enable that system, that agency, or those professionals to work effectively in the context of cultural differences.

WHAT IS CULTURE?

Culture is the combination of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, material traits, and behaviors of a group of people. Each of these characteristics is manifested and shared by the group through symbols, communication, and social patterns.

Webster's (1975) defines culture as "...the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action;...the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group."

Each culture's conventions satisfy basic human needs, from the perspective shared by that group of people. Some believe that people are "all the same underneath," yet a paradox exists: we are the same in our basic human needs, yet different in the ways in which we meet those needs. Culture is a complex system of learned and conditioned responses to our needs, and thus culture is one of the greatest resources for helping human service providers understand family needs and strengths.

(Compiled from the Fall/Winter 1995-1996 issue of the Family Resource Coalition's Report on culture and family-centered practice)

For more information on cultural competency, contact:
Family Resource Coalition
Attn: Shay Riley

200 South Michigan Avenue, 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604

312/341-0900 (phone
312/341-9361 (fax)