FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Henri de JongsteEmil-Figge-Straße 44

44227 Dortmund henri.dejongste@fh-dortmund.de,

henri.dejongste@web.de

Business schools and Business schools and inter-cultural traininginter-cultural training

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

Requirements for intercultural communication skills (based on Knapp, 1992)

1. Cultural awareness

2. Cross-cultural awareness

3. Communicative awareness

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

What does that imply?

• Cultural awareness (requirement 1) is awareness of culture as a phenomenon

• Cross-cultural awareness (requirement 2) is sensitivity towards manifested differences

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

Communicative awareness (requirement 3) is

a. general sensitivity towards: • style differences in languages (e.g.

German conversation strategies vs. British conversation strategies),

• aspects of L2 use (e.g. limited vocabulary) and

• lingua franca communication (e.g. professional skills may not be conveyed adequately in lingua franca use, leading to underestimation of status, skills and/or talent, cf. Chinese students)

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

Communicative awareness (requirement 3) is

b. specific sensitivity towards occurrence and effects of such differences and limitations in the course of interaction

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

How can such awareness be taught?

Ideally training consists of at least three components:

• Cultural awareness courses (cf. requirements 1 and 2)

• Language courses (focusing on language proficiency and Knapp’s general communicative awareness, cf. requirement 3a)

• Inter-cultural project work (to develop specific sensitivity and negotiating skills, cf. requirements 2 and 3b)

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

1. Cultural awareness courses

Conventional content:• Theoretical background

knowledge based on etically oriented research (comparison of cultures, cf. Hofstede, Trompenaars, partly Globe project)

• Case studies• Games, roleplay, discussions

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

Personal assessment:

• Cultural awareness courses seem to be successful in raising interest in, and awareness of, culture

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

2. Language courses

Conventional content:• Skills training (grammar,

vocabulary training, training of writing, reading, speaking and listening skills)

• Implicit training of stylistic differences, if any offered at all

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

Personal assessment (1):

• Language courses seem still to be largely focused on, and successful in, training students in managing propositional contents (roughly, giving and receiving “factual” information)

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

Personal assessment (2):

• Language courses seem to be less successful in training students in managing social contents (roughly, giving and receiving “social” information, e.g. applying appropriate politeness strategies, relationship-management strategies etc.)

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

Personal assessment (3):

• Language courses seem to offer no training in detecting and managing effects of second-language or lingua-franca use

• In business education, language courses often seem to come under pressure to justify their position in the curriculum

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

3. Intercultural project work

Conventional content:• Team of students is given

assignment. They are supposed to arrange conflicting interests, communication and time management, role distribution, assessments of methods and outcomes etc. independently, in a “sink-or-swim” approach

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL Personal assessment (1):

• Intercultural project work often seems to be ineffective from a cultural-training perspective

• Students are rarely given training in negotiating differences before or during the project and end up frustrated, drawing the conclusion that the only effective team is a mono-cultural one

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

THE IDEAL AND THE REAL

Personal assessment (2):

• Business schools restrict themselves to a passive role, hoping a learning effect will occur more or less automatically

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

Points for discussion:

A. Language courses

1. How can language courses take the needs of intercultural communicators into account?

2. Is there a difference between teaching world languages (English, Spanish) and more local languages (Japanese)?

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

B. Training intercultural skills

3. Is my analysis right? 4. How can students be taught

to negotiate cultural and personal differences in intercultural project work?

5. What exactly should they learn to be able to do this effectively?

6. What could be the role of business schools in this learning process?

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

7. Are there other methods to teach students intercultural communication skills than project work?

8. Are communicative skills still an underestimated component in business curricula?

FachhochschuleDortmundUniversity of Applied Sciences

Business schools and inter-cultural trainingBusiness schools and inter-cultural training

I am looking forward to your comments!

Note:

Knapp (1992) refers to

Knapp, Karlfried (1992). „Interpersonale und interkulturelle Kommunikation“. In Bergemann, Niels und Andreas L.J. Sourisseaux (eds.), Interkulturelles Management. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, pp. 59-79. I used Knapp‘s framework but gave my own interpretation and examples.