Cultural Competence and Customer Service

Task: This assessment is comprised of two parts. The first will be a self-analysis of your current state of cultural competence. The second will require you to respond to scenarios. You are required to justify your responses or actions by directly relating them to readings and materials presented in this section.

Part 1. Self-Analysis

Step 1: Evaluate your relationship to the three components of cultural competence seen in the chart below.

In particular, ask yourself:

• What are my strengths?
  • Example (cultural knowledge): My frequent interactions with Chinese students have helped me understand the culture's archetypical concept of education.
• In which of these areas have I been challenged?
  • Example (self-awareness): I recognize that in the past I've been frustrated with students who do not follow instructions
• Are there opportunities for growth?
  • Example (cultural skills): I'd like to work on my empathy.

Cultural Competence	Strengths	Challenges	Growth Opportunities
Awareness
Knowledge
Skills

 

Step 2: What steps do you commit to taking in order to develop your culturally competent customer care?

 

Part 2: Scenarios

Considering cultural competence, state what you think went wrong in each of the scenarios and what the administrative assistant could have done differently. Include:

• What should the administrative assistant known about his culture?
• How would have self awareness helped?
• Cultural skills that could have been incorporated to de-escalate the problem.

Scenario 1:

A customer from Eastern Europe has come into the office and started making demands about a refund, saying things like "give me a refund", "this product is terrible", and "I need the refund now". The administrative assistant feels like the customer is being very rude and asks them to calm down and speak respectfully. This seems to agitate the customer and he walks out saying he is going to call head office to report the ineffective service of the customer service department.

Scenario 2:

A middle eastern woman comes in with her husband to inquire about receiving a copy of a government document. The husband does most of the talking. When the administrative assistant tries to address the woman directly, the husband steps in and starts talking over her. In order to process the request, the administrative assistant needs to verify information directly with the applicant. When the administrative assistant asks the husband to step aside so she can talk to the woman privately, the husband gets angry and they both leave.

Scenario 3:

A customer calls asking to make an appointment with the manager. She is speaking with a heavy accent and the administrative assistant is having trouble understanding her request. The administrative assistant tells the customer that her accent is unintelligible and to learn how to speak English better before making requests on the phone. The assistant tells her to get a friend that can speak English and call back, then hangs up.