Introduction - Nadine & Regina

Why intercultural business communication matters in the age of globalisation, digitalisation, and migration & what will this course be about?

Tree of Life - learning about each other / team building activity

practical information

• course design & methods
• teaching materials & readings
• assignments & attendance

What is intercultural communication? - Navigating the VUCA-world

An intercultural simulation - Experiencing intercultural situations

• adaptation / acculturation strategies
• intercultural competence

Conceptualizing Culture - Regina

What is culture?

• Key characteristics
• Concepts

Open and closed concepts of culture

• Cultural dimensions
• Poly-collectivity and multi-collectivity
• Cultural Identity: Multiple identities and intercultural individuals
• Interculturality - multiculturality - transculturality
• Identity and Society: Intersectionality, Diversity & Inclusion

Tools, Resources and Activities

• “Wertehandel” 
• Working with Critical Incidents
  
• Inclusion Nudges and Nudge Management
• Boundary Spanning & boundary spanners
• Analysing intercultural cases

Multicultural teams (Nadine)

Intercultural teams

• The impact of cultural diversity on teams - risks & benefits
• Leadership models & Managing culturally diverse teams
• The MBI-Model - A cross-cultural interaction tool

Case study - group work - kick off

Organisational culture (Regina)

What is organisational culture?

Practices to foster organizational identity

Organizational culture in MNEs and JVs, post-merger syndrom

Dealing with interculturality in organizations

• Dilemma Theory

Case study - group work

Consulting & Feedback - groups work towards their case studies 

In preparation for this first meeting, you should have met at least twice within your team. The first step should be to agree on a team charter or identity, as this tool will help you independently solve potential problems you may encounter during your teamwork. Once you have agreed on a working mode, you should study the task description and review the recommended readings. At this stage, it is important to develop a common understanding of the task and the project. It is not advisable to split the task into subtasks and assign them to team members too early, as this often results in fragmented and incoherent presentations.

During the first consultation session, we would like to learn how you understand the task and how you plan to approach it. This includes your ideas about the essential content to be covered, the readings you intend to draw on, and ideally an initial idea of the overall structure.

Consulting & Feedback - groups work towards their case studies (asynchronous & virtual)

The purpose of the second consultation session is to discuss any questions, problems, or challenges you encounter while working on the project. Since pace and progress may vary across teams, we leave the scheduling up to you. However, our expectation is that you proactively contact us—at least for a brief check-in—about how your work is progressing.

discussion of case study videos & general feedback

In preparation for this session, you should watch the videos of the other groups and take notes that will enable you to initiate and contribute to a discussion of these case presentations. A thorough review of each presentation is key to doing so—and, naturally, it also shows appreciation for your peers’ work. The session will begin with a discussion of the case videos; there will be no joint viewing of all videos during the session.