Research on the development trends of multicultural competency in Lithuania
ENSummarizing the results of the whole study, we see that the respondents have a positive attitude towards the importance of multicultural competency, respect for foreigners, their cultural values and tolerance for differences. Aspects of multicultural competency are vivid in Lithuanian organisations and enable them to participate in intercultural exchange, cooperate and adapt to other cultural environments with empathy and respect the values of other cultures. However, it is important to pay attention to the dimensions of multiculturalism, which enable us to act and be flexible in new situations in a multicultural work environment. These research results highlight the relatively low understanding of the peculiarities of communication and relations between foreigners in the work environment and a not very high evaluation of communication and cooperation skills with foreigners. At the same time, it is now apparent that although the respondents perceive the importance of developing the multicultural competency, tend to associate it with their career opportunities, and see an increase in the need to develop this competence, at the same time they acknowledge that the development of multicultural competency is reserved to self-learning. It should be noted that more attention should be paid to the development of multicultural competency in Lithuanian organisations by including it into professional development programs, with a focus on the development of problem-solving and conflict management skills in a multicultural environment. [Extract, p. 185-186]
