Methods to Improve Cultural Communication Skills in Special Operations Forces

摘要

This report describes the development and application of methodologies to identify cultural communication skills training requirements for Special Forces. Cultures (187) of operational relevance were identified and grouped into ten regions. A 'generic cultural communication skills template' was developed to provide a structured taxonomy of the cultural information domain and the basis for culture-specific templates. Three culture-specific templates were developed, each describing a culture and identifying culture-specific behaviors that were prioritized through focus groups of cultural informants and clustering analysis. Mission templates were developed that identified and organized the elements of two missions. The mission elements were weighted by subject-matter experts using paired comparisons and ranking. A crosswalk related each cultural behavior to each mission element for three pairs of cultures and missions (Arabs of West Asia/Foreign Internal Defense, Russian/ Unconventional Warfare, Cuban/Foreign Internal Defense) to generate a 'preliminary prioritization of cultural communication skill training requirements' for each pairing. The report also describes the development and delivery of two programs of instruction based on the methodologies. The methodologies should improve the commanders' and training managers' ability to determine training requirements and to develop training specifically linked to mission requirements.