Current Issues of the Development of Employee Intercultural Competency in Work Environment (analysis of the experience of Lithuanian Organizations)

Abstract

During the past decade the interest of scientists in multiculturalism has increased significantly, as the need for the development of intercultural competency has become more explicitly manifested in the work environment of organizations. In Lithuania the analysis of intercultural competency is still quite a new research area and is conducted intermittently, i.e. only certain aspects related to intercultural competency are analysed. This article analyses various scientific approaches to the phenomenon of interculturalism and tendencies of its manifestation in the organizational environment. The authors present an empirical research which involved nearly half a thousand respondents (N=464) from the capital public institutions and small municipalities of Lithuania employees who work primarily in the public sector. The survey questionnaire allows to assess skills of intercultural competency, the geography and frequency of intercultural communication, dimensions of competencies of employees in Lithuanian organizations, etc. and to establish the problems characteristic of the competency development. Based on the obtained data the authors of the article establish the problems characteristic of the development of intercultural competence in Lithuanian organizations and provide an overview of future perspectives.