Journal of Teaching in International Business

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A Multimodal Course Design for Intercultural

Business Communication

Amily Dongshuo Wang Guénier

To cite this article: Amily Dongshuo Wang Guénier (2020) A Multimodal Course Design for
Intercultural Business Communication, Journal of Teaching in International Business, 31:3,
214-237, DOI: 10.1080/08975930.2020.1831422

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08975930.2020.1831422

Published online: 03 Nov 2020.

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JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
2020, VOL. 31, NO. 3, 214–237
https://doi.org/10.1080/08975930.2020.1831422

A Multimodal Course Design for Intercultural Business

Communication
Amily Dongshuo Wang Guénier
London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This study presents a course design that integrates multimodal IBC; unified knowing and
sounds, pictures, videos, student presentations, guest speakers, doing; intercultural empathy;
and group work into a multimodal course to enhance intercul­ multimodal pedagogy
tural communication competence into a high-profile business
training course. The course is tailor-made for 488 managers and
staff in one of the world's top 10 banks whose branch is based in
London. Innovative experiential techniques are embedded in the
course to meet their professional needs. The evaluation from the
participants suggested that the course was highly useful and
challenging, which produced a positive impact on the trainees’
intercultural awareness and empathy in terms of more affective
commitment, better behavioral performance and enhanced cog­
nitive curiosity in intercultural business communication (IBC). The
innovative ideas of the course design, examples of good practice
and integrated multimodal pedagogy have paved the way for
other colleagues designing and delivering similar courses.

1. Introduction
The UK–China relationship is of critical economic and commercial impor­
tance for both the UK and China, especially after Brexit. London’s position as
the leading western RMB (Chinese currency) hub reinforces the UK’s ever-
strengthening economic and financial relationship with China, presenting
exciting business opportunities. To form successful business relationships
with China, it is essential to know how to communicate with Chinese counter­
parts effectively. Various studies have focused on cultural diversity, opportu­
nities, and challenges in business (Martin 2015; Okoro and Washington 2012),
cultural impact on business strategy development and management practices
(Eggert et al. 2018; Weintraub and Pinkleton 2015). However, few studies have
investigated the impact of intercultural business Chinese communication.
This paper explores a course design for improving IBC based on a case
study with details of the course content, the procedures of course delivery and
the assessment for enhancing students’ intercultural communication aware­
ness and competence. This course is unique in that it is the cooperation

CONTACT Amily Dongshuo Wang Guénier d.wang38@lse.ac.uk London School of Economics and Political
Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 215

between educational institution and industry, in relation to curriculum design

and delivery, that caters for the real needs of IBC in organizations.

2. Literature review
2.1. Intercultural communication competence

There has been a worldwide burgeoning literature on the development of inter­

cultural communicative competence (ICC) (Byram 1997; Moeller and Nugent
2014; Nikmaram and Kousari 2017). In the late 1990s, ICC was proposed by Byram
(1997), which consists of five dimensions, namely: savoirs, savoir apprendre, savoir
comprendre, savoir etre, and savoir s’engager. ICC refers to the ability to mediate
across linguistic and cultural boundaries by using linguistic knowledge, cultural
awareness, and interpreting and negotiating skills, including: a) positive attitudes
(e.g. curiosity and openness); b) knowledge of one’s and others’ cultures; c) skills of
interpreting and relating; d) skills of discovery and interaction; and e) critical
cultural awareness (e.g. the ability to evaluate different cultural perspectives)
(Jackson 2012; Sinicrope, Norris, and Watanabe 2007). Lenartowicz and Johnson
(2007) perceived intercultural communication competence as “an individual’s
effectiveness in drawing upon a set of knowledge, skills, and personal attributes
in order to work successfully with people from different national cultural back­
grounds” (p.530). Based on this model of linguistic competences, dialectical
approach has gained popularity recently, emphasizing the ongoing processual
that allows for a complex, dynamic, historically- and contextually situated con­
ceptualization of intercultural communication competence (Martin 2015).
Leung, Ang, and Tan (2014), having reviewed a wide range of theoretical and
empirical research on intercultural communication competence, propose that
intercultural competencies can be classified based on traits, attitudes and world­
views, capabilities, etc. Taking a behavioral approach, Ruben (1989) defines
intercultural communication competence in seven dimensions: display of
respect, interaction posture (ability to respond to others in a non-judgmental
way), orientation to knowledge, empathy, self-oriented role behavior (one’s
ability to be flexible in requesting information and clarification for problem-
solving and in using mediation to regulate a group’s status quo), interaction
management and tolerance for ambiguity (Sinicrope, Norris, and Watanabe
2007). Fantini (2006) defines intercultural competence as “a complex set of
abilities needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with
others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself” (12) concep­
tualizing intercultural competence as consisting of several components, namely:
personal traits, abilities, and language proficiency. Drawing on effectiveness and
appropriateness, Deardorff’s (2008)defines intercultural competence as “the
ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations
based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (33).
216 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

Recently, IBC has gained much currency as multinational companies are set
up worldwide. It is argued that business professionals need to learn about the
national culture of their potential partners and develop expectations that they
should behave in a certain way or adjust their behavior so as to fit behavioral
expectations in their potential partners’ culture (Scollon and Scollon 2001).
An array of studies have investigated the effectiveness of cross-cultural
training for expatriate staff in terms of maintenance of self, interpersonal
skills, and cognitive skills as well as the relationship between the training
and the self-development (Hou et al. 2018; Kassar, Rouhana, and
Lythreatis 2015; Morley and Parkinson 2015; Okpara 2016; Okpara and
Kabongo 2017; Wang et al. 2017). According to Arasaratnam (2009), IBC
involves three dimensions: the affective dimension (emotions involved with
willingness to accommodate different cultural ways), the behavioral dimen­
sion (operational flexibility and resourcefulness in an intercultural inter­
action), and the cognitive dimension (discerning meaning). Specific cross-
cultural training has been tested for different aspects of adjustment, e.g.
affective (Horak and Yang 2016), behavioral (Hippler, Brewster, and
Haslberger 2015), and cognitive (Haslberger, Brewster, and Hippler 2013).
Intercultural training for expatriates has been categorized into 1)
Attribution training, focusing on the development of the attitude and skills
necessary for explanations of the host national behavior from the host culture’s
point of view; 2) Cultural awareness training, educating the individual about
one’s own culture so as to appreciate the differences in the host culture; 3)
Cognitive-behavior modification training, training expatriates to behave cul­
turally appropriately in the host culture; 4) Didactic training, providing
information regarding political, economic, working and living conditions
and cultural differences (Morris and Robie 2001); 5) Experiential training,
learning by doing, and participating in activities that are likely to be encoun­
tered in the foreign assignment (Littrell and Salas 2005).
It is reported that cross-cultural training has produced a significant positive
effect on expatriate managers’ self-development, perception, relationship,
adjustment, and performance (Lenartowicz, Johnson, and Konopaske 2014;
Santoso and Loosemore 2013). Morris and Robie (2001) provided support for
cross-cultural training effectiveness when significantly positive relationships
were observed between cross-cultural training and expatriate performance.
Okpara and Kabongo (2017) suggested that cross-cultural training effectively
increased expatriate’s satisfaction, performance, and willingness to take
another foreign assignment.

2.2. Chinese business communication

Many Western companies such as eBay, Google, Home Depot, Matte, NBA,
and Monster have failed to establish a strategic foothold in China, just because
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 217

they have failed to overcome cultural barriers and so have responded inade­
quately to the needs and wants of Chinese consumers (Liu 2017). Chinese
business culture is constantly changing at a fast pace. Considering the vastness
of its territory, any stereotype of Chinese business culture that portrays it as
static or homogenous will be misleading (Sebenius and Qian 2008). However,
some observation of commonly seen business behaviors might reveal core
Chinese values, which tend to be a more stable characteristic. Chinese business
communication style has been observed as indirect and ambiguous (Xing et al.
2016; Yang, Cremer, and Wang 2017). These interesting observations offer
a glimpse into the patterns of Chinese communication that are significantly
different from the Western. People’s business behavior is generally strategic,
and these strategies may be based on the culture. Scholars have explored the
impact of traditional Chinese philosophies on the style of Chinese commu­
nication (Lee and Tsui 2018; Rošker 2019). It is imperative to explore these
underpinnings as they may allow us to understand the fundamental ideologi­
cal concepts. “Harmony” is written with the character 和 (hé), which can be
interpreted as conscientiousness, concordance, peacefulness, and gentleness
(Zhang and Constantinovits 2018). The harmony thought is deeply rooted in
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Confucius states that “Harmony is
most prized in the practice of propriety 礼之用, 和为贵 lǐ zhī yòng, hé wéi
guì” (Analects, 13.23), (Wiley 2012) and suggests seeking harmony in diversity
rather than uniformity (和而不同 hé ér bù tóng). In line with Confucianism,
Daoism promotes harmony as a positive value. In the classic book of Daoism-
Dao De Jing, “Dao” involves the harmony with the natural world, and “De”
shows the concern of harmony between nature and human beings in the
universe (Lee, Yang, and Wang 2009). The philosophical concepts of
Confucius and Daoism are reflected in the business communication, negotia­
tion tactics and management behaviors of Chinese business people. In busi­
ness communication, great efforts are made to establish and maintain
a harmonious relationship, and the business etiquette is emphasized
(Andrulis, Huang, and Chen 2013).
Another angle to understand Chinese business practice is through the lens
of high context communication (Halford et al. 2018; Hiew et al. 2016; Wang
et al. 2017). High context communicators rely more on environmental cues to
convey meaning. The expectation is that listeners gain understanding from
interpreting the unsaid message by reading “between the lines.” These con­
textual differences are apparent in the ways in which Chinese people approach
situations, such as decision-making and negotiations. For example, negotia­
tors working on business deals in China may spend more time building
relationships instead of working out contractual agreements. The interpreta­
tion of context could also be a useful practice for holistic thinking rather than
assuming that the listener needs to take every cue in the environment for
interpreting the message.
218 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

In business negotiations, Western people are prone to analytical thinking,

e.g. breaking up complex negotiation tasks into a series of smaller issues: price,
quantity, warranty, delivery, and so forth, whereas Chinese negotiators tend to
practice holistic thinking (i.e., attending to the entire field, accepting contra­
diction and non-linear change) in processing information which emphasizes
the bigger picture over details, considering the part as the whole and paying
less attention to detail. In the same scenario above, a Chinese team could
spend the first 20 minutes or more introducing the good cooperation history
which builds up the foundation for today’s meeting, the main principle of the
cooperation, and a wish for a positive outcome of the day’s meeting rather
than the detail of the contact. It is evident that e-commerce has developed
much faster in China than in Western-developed economies. One reason for
this is that the development of e-commerce requires holistic thinking, afford­
ing Chinese companies some advantage (Liu 2017). One possible interpreta­
tion of Chinese holistic thinking is because Chinese characters are formed
based on pictographic, more like a picture rather than sequences of letters.
Another perspective on the discrepancies in cognition and philosophy
between Chinese and Western people is their respective medical systems.
Following the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach, a doctor would nor­
mally take a holistic view, generally employing four diagnostic methods:
interrogation, inspection, auscultation and olfaction, and pulse taking and
palpation. The condition is then often treated using methods such as herbal
medicine, acupuncture, and massage. A condition characterized by symptoms
affecting the head, will usually be treated though acupuncture on the arms or
foot, with no direct connection to the symptomatic area.
Most striking is the hierarchical structure in decision-making in Chinese
business communication. Chinese people are often seen to perform according
to the authority figures (Schilcher and Kasper 2019). Chinese social hierarchy
praises deference to authorities. It is generally accepted that subordinates
revere their superiors. Hence, senior officials or bosses are respected, and
their opinions carry more weight than those offered by junior staff, though
sometimes young people’s ideas are more innovative and closer to the cutting
edge of the current business situation.

3. Multimodal pedagogy
In this increasingly digitalized world, students are labeled as Millennials or
Digital Natives, who are increasingly engaged with the multimodal (Kress
2003). Multimodal was defined by Prain and Waldrip (2006) as using “differ­
ent modes to represent scientific reasoning and findings” (1844). In the
context of intercultural business communication, the term mode refers to
descriptive (verbal, graphic, tabular, written), figurative (pictorial, analogous,
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 219

symbolic, and metaphoric) and kinesthetic or embodied gestural representa­

tions including videos.
The two prominent frameworks within multimodal pedagogy are multi­
literacies (New London Group 1996) and multimodality (Kress 2003).
Multiliteracies pedagogy draws from a range of relationships between situated
practice, overt instruction, critical framing, and transformed practice.
Multimodality is rooted in social semiotics theory (Kustini and Musthafa
2019), based on the assumption that various modes are integral in meaning
making. A key tenet of theories of multimodality is that all communication is
multimodal, and any communicative event entails simultaneous use of multi­
ple modes which may realize meanings that complement extend and/or con­
tradict each other.
All communicative acts can be viewed as multimodal, and students are
resourceful, creative, and critical thinkers for communication entailing simul­
taneous use of multiple modes, e.g. word, image, sounds, gaze, gestures, and
movement which goes beyond a mere set of cognitive skills located in indivi­
dual minds because it is multiple, involving meaning making in different
modes (Hafner 2015).
A multimodal pedagogy is a new evolving educational concept and
practice (Laadem and Mallahi 2019). Most of the studies on multimodal
pedagogy available are from language education (Aghaei and Goulani 2016;
Jiang, Yu, and Zhao 2020) and science education (Gachago 2014; Murcia
2014). It seems the benefits of multimodal teaching methods which could
lend strength to the desire of business to employ people with the ability to
integrate an understanding of commerce and business with creative and
innovative ways of solving problems have been largely ignored. Multimodal
pedagogy has been found to be motivating and engaging for students
(Ganapathy 2016; Varaporn 2019), and to help to arouse learners’ curiosity,
motivation, and attention by decoding the meanings conveyed by the
multiple media, like sounds, videos, three digital animations as well as
words (Kress and van Leeuwen 2006). While applied in cultural teaching
and learning, language and multimodal literacy skills are deemed to be
improved (Kaminski 2019). Students benefit from more general learning
skills, e.g. critical literacy and critical thinking skills (Huang 2017;
Varaporn 2019) as well as autonomy and creativity (Freyn 2017; Lirola
2018) too.
Interactive practices in digital learning environments include accessing
a range of multimodal representation and creating opportunities to demon­
strate what they know in an increasing range of modes (Murcia and Sheffield
2010; Twiner et al. 2010).
As is widely recognized, multimodal approach tends to maximize learning
opportunities and build engaging learning experiences from an ecological
perspective (Diep et al. 2017). Business studies have long used case studies
220 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

as a method of giving students real-life business stories to analyze in the

context of theories and concepts presented in formal classroom situations to
elicit their own prior knowledge and to generate new understandings thereof.
From this perspective, intentional teaching strategies and thoughtfully crafted
learning journeys within intercultural business communication education
would provide opportunities for students to meaningfully engage and con­
struct deep understanding through multimodal resources and substantive
discourse (Murcia 2014).
As can be seen from the discussion above, IBC training matters in relation
to cross-culture adjustment and performance. To date, much is written about
cultural diversity, opportunities, and challenges in business (Martin and
Nakayama 2015; Okoro and Washington 2012); however, little research has
been conducted to investigate intercultural business communication courses
on Chinese and the effectiveness of enhancing intercultural communication
competence for expatriate staff training courses through multimodality. Most
existing training on Chinese business communication has been conducted
from a Western perspective, applying Western strategic or analytical frame­
works to business in China. This course is intended to provide Western people
with an in-depth understanding of the nature of Chinese business: that is, its
strategic, managerial, and organizational logic. This knowledge may grant
foreign firms an improved chance of success in working with Chinese because
a better understanding of their Chinese counterparts will facilitate their
market entry and enhance their operational strategies with Chinese people.
As China’s growing economic influence is increasingly reshaping the config­
uration of the global economy, more and more books have addressed aspects
of doing business in China and with Chinese companies. This one is designed
to help Western readers to perceive businesses in China from a Chinese
perspective and through the lens of Chinese logic, giving a better understand­
ing of the behavior of Chinese companies and particularly of Chinese execu­
tives and consumers, allowing them to formulate a more adaptive strategy for
their dealings with Chinese business.

4. Course design
Course design for intercultural business communication is a complex multi­
disciplinary task (Aggarwal and Feng 2018). To design the training course and
meet the bank’s training needs, we started with the need analysis of the
business executives and professionals, and set up the objectives with reference
to the course content, course objectives, teaching procedure, and dynamic
assessment. CIBL was approached by the CEO of the bank branch based in
London, who was appointed by the Headquarters in China. Chinese senior
expatriates, including the CEO, are sent to London on a rolling basis, with 4
years appointment.
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 221

The initial stage of the course design involves substantial communication

with the bank’s HR department, and interviews with senior executives includ­
ing the CEO of the London branch. The interviews with executives and the
follow-up communication with course participants suggest that the course
should be an oriented course with examples and cases studies.
The focus groups and open dialogue sessions with our previous students
have provided some fresh insights into the design of the course, especially
regarding the need for case studies from real life and practical experiences. The
course design process is presented in Figure 1.
Based on the interviews and round-table meetings as well as open group
discussions with the course participants, this course was designed to include
case studies, project-based learning, in-class exercises, inquiry-based learning,
guest speakers, video cases, and cooperative learning.
The case studies include Google and Barbie’s first failure in China, IKEA
and Apple’s success in China, Hua Wei, JD and Alibaba’s different leadership
styles, Lenovo-IBMPC acquisition. For example, Mattel’s Barbie doll has been
described as a symbol of American culture. But Barbie’s first flagship store in
Shanghai did not work well, and which was finally closed in March 2009.
Mattel’s first entry into China is certainly not unprepared and poorly under­
stood. To adapt to the best performance of the local market, Mattel has
developed a doll with Asian characteristics, named “Ling”. However, the
company’s market researchers did not predict that Chinese girls prefer

Round table
meetings with HR

Interviews with Interviews with

senior executives academics

1-1 feedback from

Literature review
students

Figure 1. Course design process.

222 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

blond Barbie dolls. When returning to the Chinese market, Mattel launched
a “violinist” blonde Barbie doll. “This time, Mattel has at least two things done
correctly,“ Mattel began to realize that Chinese parents want their children to
be educated, instead of highlighting Barbie as a brand representative of the
forefront of fashion. In contrast, iPhone 7 “product red” (2017) was a success
in China market as “this color makes a difference” strategy did work well for
China market. Red is Chinese people’s favorite color and is used in all cheerful
occasions, e.g. wedding, New Year, etc. After the release of this new series of
products, the stock price rose 1% on Monday and closed at US 141,46 USD.
Another example is Huawei, a Chinese multinational and a leading player in
world markets for telecom equipment and smartphones. With regards to
strategy development, the company founder Ren Zhengfei, strongly accent­
uates “Chinese characteristics” calling for strategic inputs from ancient
Chinese wisdom, including military and historical literature (Liu, 2017) and
de-emphasize the role of Western strategic theories, models, or frameworks.
Worthy of note is that the course involves multimodal experiential and
interactive learning activities. Experiential learning, with the strategic, active
engagement of students, provides opportunities to learn by doing.
Furthermore, experiential learning, may enable the trainees to reflect on
their learning activities, and empower them to apply their theoretical knowl­
edge to practical endeavors in a multitude of settings inside and outside of the
classroom.

(1) Needs of the business executives and professionals

To cater to the client's needs and priorities for the training, a team from CIBL
interviewed the business executives. They were asked to identify the knowl­
edge and skills that they would like to see in the people they hired in the
London branch. The key knowledge and skills are outlined, ranging from
global mind-set to intercultural business communication skills. The business
executives and professionals who have an interest in Chinese business com­
munication and culture expect to gain sufficient knowledge about Chinese
business culture, familiarize themselves with the culture-specific approaches to
business, and thus expand their global business. When we were conducting the
interviews with the senior executives on their learning needs, I was asked “why
should we study Chinese ways of doing business? Why shouldn’t Chinese
executives learn our Western culture and practices?” This reflects the mental­
ity apparently typical of many Western senior executives, as well as policy­
makers (Liu 2017). It is necessary for Chinse executives to make their
communications and intentions understood by Western counterparts to
engage in fair competition and for forge cooperation on a win-win basis.
Any Western senior executives who suffered from failing to understand
Chinese strategies or behavior would simply avoid doing business with
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 223

Chinese companies resulting in losses on both sides. Thus, the course design
moves from simply teaching about Chinese business communication to
enhancing mutual business communication and intercultural communication
competence.

2. Course contents

With respect to course contents, main themes were outlined in the syllabus
(please see Table 1). The course was designed to be a year-long program
focusing on eight main themes, with each session lasting 90 minutes. For
logistic arrangement, each topic is repeated 4 times for 4 different groups to
enable more participation. Based on the staff ratio of middle and senior
managers, 3 groups are organized for Local London staff and 1 group is for
Chinese expatriate staff. Considering the cultural differences between the local
London staff and Chinese expatriates, the course was delivered separately for
the two.
The themes are arranged based on the following considerations: the CEO
and nearly half of the senior executives in this branch are appointed at the
headquarters in China. Business etiquette between Chinese and British culture
needs to be considered: for example, executives are addressed by their first
name by local employees in the London branch, yet they would be addressed
in a much more respectful way with the title being put before the surname in
a branch in China. The subtle differences concerning basic business etiquette
as such would cause a mismatch of expectations and discomfort at work. For
this reason, the business etiquette which reflects the cultural difference is
selected to be the first session. For Local London staff, Chinese business
etiquette of name card giving, and business dinner etiquette, etc., were briefed.
For Chinese expatriates, British are seen to be polite yet unfriendly (Financial
Times 2020). The first session is to prevent the Chinese expatriate staff from
making any grievous etiquette errors. Making appropriate greetings, starting
meetings promptly, socializing with wine and coffee, gala dinners, dress codes,
correspondence, etc., were addressed.
Effective business communication is placed as the second theme due to the
fact that some London local senior executives disclosed their worries about
inefficient meetings with their Chinese line managers as in the case of lacking
a meeting agenda or with unclear objectives. Additionally, long opening lines
for the start of the meeting and vague meanings conveyed at the meeting
seemed to be a waste of time and energy. Below is a sample of illustration of
different communication styles for a typical Chinese and local London staffs.
Following is workplace behavior which becomes a serious concern of the
local senior executives and staff. As widely recognized among people on China
that Chinese staff would rest their heads on the desk for a nap after lunch, not
just one but the whole office Chinese employees would do so in front of their
Table 1. Intercultural business communication syllabus course content.
224

1. Business et quette
a. the concept of culture, cultural onion/iceberg
b. self-awareness and culture
c. Chinese/British business etiquette
d. politeness and expression of emotion
e prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes
Activities Group discussion on the expectation of language, personality and behavior in
individualist and collectivist cultures
Activities HSBC cultural videos – Area studies
2. Effective intercultural communication
A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

a. communication as a process
b. communication: direct and indirect
c. high context and low context Critical incident
d. Building a cultural profile, looking for cultural clues and cultural orientation
Activities Role play: communication in a critical incident
Activities Cultural assimilation
3. Workplace behavior
a. managing diversity at workplace
b. ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, age, religion, culture, sexual orientation, perspectives, thinking styles, job level, skills, experiences, physical abilities,
language
c. managing culturally diverse teams
d. work ethics in intercultural environment
e. changing cultural lenses
Activities Discussion on the cultural differences based on gender and the resulting
expectations in the professional environment
Activities Case study: Huawei and Alibaba
4. Negotiation
a. understanding basics of negotiation
b. intercultural communication specifics in international business negotiations
c. country-specific case studies on intercultural business negotiations
d. changing cultural lenses
e. cultural humility
Activities Role play: uncertainty avoidance: impact on negotiations
Activities Debate on long or short-term cultural orientation impact on economic growth
and politics
(Continued)
Table 1. (Continued).
1. Business et quette
5. Decision making
a. corporate culture and philosophy
b. strategies
c. business principles and values
d. governance
e. intercultural management
Activities Business-driven case study analyzed in class (US vs China)
6. Nonverbal communication
a. non-verbal communication
b. space: private/public
c. intercultural negotiations and non-verbal behaviors
d. written communication pattern
Activities Films on intercultural training (www.americanenglish.state.gov)
Activities Comparing and contrasting an original production with its foreign remark or adaptation
7. Leadership and motivation
a. rules of engagement
b. Chinese/Western leadership styles
c. conflict resolution
d. Integrity and ethical ambiguities
e. cross cultural savvy
Activities Master talk – guest speaker
Activities Discussion on national-specific, culturally driven organizational models and structures impact on leadership, decision making process and negotiation
practices
(1) Young generation at work
a. motivating across different cultures
b. intercultural conflict resolution
c. building intercultural competency
d. cultural humility
e. developing competencies
Activities Framing and debating on the issue of multiculturalism from an educational and
Western socio-political perspective
JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Activities Presentations
225
226 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

computers, because they come to the office very early and leave late. It is also
normal for the Chinese employees to work on weekends. The culture-specific
work ethic tends to produce some pressure on the Local London staff who
come and leave work on time. For them, efficiency during the office hour is
highly valued. Stereotypes regarding work-related behaviors are compared,
discussed, and analyzed through role-playing and videos on culture.
Negotiation matters and decision-making count in intercultural business
communication. They go hand in hand for a successful global business com­
munication. Considering the fact that Chinese senior executives are more used
to the Chinese style of obedience, the local London staff and expatriate staff need
to prepare themselves for negotiating with the senior managers or reacting
smartly to the requirements and decisions from the headquarter in China.
The importance of nonverbal communication is recognized. Chinese cul­
ture is regarded as a “high context” culture whereas Western culture including
UK and USA is taken as “low context” culture. For Chinese people, important
information can be conveyed without speaking, and silence could imply a lot.
It is the listener’s responsibility to think about the intended or implied
message. For westerners, an explicit message is required instead of implicit
meaning. It is the speaker’s responsibility to convey the information accurately
and completely for intercultural business communication. Hence, the non­
verbal communication session is considered in the course at this stage.
To achieve success in the corporate world, leadership and motivation are
seen as vital factors. Everyone has their own strength and maintaining good
leadership is to make full use of everyone’s strength in a well-developed
supporting system. Leadership will motivate everyone to play to their own
strengths. Business people need a kind of far-sighted vision to develop their
leadership and motivate their staff to work together to win in the global
context.
Regarding the last theme – young generation at work, the program attempts
to develop intercultural sensitivity to the new generation from China. To meet
like-minded people and expand their global business, both local London staff
and expatriate staff need to recognize that the Chinese millennials in this bank
branch are exposed to western culture. At the same time, most of them are the
only child in the family due to the “One Child Policy” in mainland China, and
thus they tend to display their work ethic differently from the mind-set of the
last generation. They are the first generation to grow up using digital technol­
ogies such as computer games, smartphones, and instant messaging, and
therefore, they are called digital natives who can demonstrate adequate abil­
ities to use technology, exhibit high self-efficacy, and thus possess a high level
of digital fluency. Viewed thus, how to motivate, manage, and communicate
with this young generation proves to be challenging in the years ahead. The
eight themes are delivered separately for the local London staff and Chinese
expatriate staff to enhance their intercultural communicative competence.
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 227

At the beginning of the course, the sessions include didactic activities such
as area studies, informal briefings, and cultural assimilators, e.g. the geopoli­
tical difference in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, Cooperative groups,
Large and small group discussion, lecture, group discussion on the expectation
of language, personality and behavior in individualist and collectivist cultures;
role-play for communication in critical incident and cultural assimilation. In
the middle of the training course, each session contains more experiential
activities including business-driven case study analyses, modeling, role-
playing/simulation/dramatizations, games, videos on culture, gestures, and
nonverbal communication, and on -the- job training because the individual
would have many opportunities to practice the lessons learned in the training
activities in actual situations. In the leadership session, we invited a CEO who
was the first Brit to set up law firms in China to share his experience of leading
international teams and work with Chinese people. Finally, in the last two
sessions of the course, both didactic and experiential activities are offered.
Didactic activities would be necessary to inform the individual of organiza­
tional, economic, and political changes that may occur while on the foreign
assignment, and experiential activities would provide the expatriate with the
opportunity to relearn and practice behaviors that are appropriate to the home
country. For example, framing and debating on the issue of multiculturalism
from an educational and Western/Eastern socio-political perspective. In the
last session, all students were given opportunities to do research and essays on
unfamiliar cultural groups and give a final presentation. This design reflected
the time period in which training is offered with specific training activities
(Littrell et al. 2006).
The sequence is decided based on the needs of the bank and expatriates, and
thus the content on intercultural business communication is more culture
specific (UK and China) rather than cultural general. This list reflects the skills
and knowledge covered in this course as well as what is required to succeed in
today’s workplace. The HR department played a major role in planning and
implementing the intercultural business communication intervention in terms
of goals and needs analysis, planning and customized design and systematic
evaluation. This course combines a theoretical understanding of intercultural
communication with reflections and evaluations of participants’ own inter­
cultural experiences and applications of this to pedagogic and other practical
settings.

3. Course objectives

The local London staff and the expatriate staff could expect to develop their
IBC skills, enhance their cross-cultural communicative competence, and cul­
tivate their potentials in relation to intercultural awareness and critical think­
ing skills, it is important to note that China is constantly changing at a fast
228 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

pace, and any stereotype of Chinese business culture that portrays it as static or
homogenous will be misleading (Sebenius and Qian 2008). To be successful in
business, they need to become intercultural mediators in the first place. Hence,
the course objectives are formulated as follows:

(1) Recognizing the complexity of IBC in relation to etiquette and business

practices;
(2) Cultivating sensitivity to their own cultural background’s impact upon
IBC, and reducing cultural bias;
(3) Reflecting on intercultural exchanges and developing their intercultural
empathy.
(4) Enhancing participants’ intercultural communication competence and
confidence in extended activities set in business and professional con­
texts in a culturally appropriate way;
(5) Updating knowledge and preparing well for global business
communication.
4. Teaching procedure/implementation

The teaching procedure for the course is described as 1) Announcing the

learning task and motivating the trainees to play an active part in the learning
process; 2) Organizing class discussion about the topic given to reduce cultural
stereotypes, e.g. as in the case of business negotiations where Westerners like
to break up complex negotiation tasks into a series of smaller issues: price,
quantity, warranty, delivery, and so forth, whereas Chinese negotiators tend to
talk about those issues all as a whole; 3) Encouraging students to voice their
different opinions about culture-specific approaches to broaden their inter­
cultural business horizons; 4) Asking the students to prepare for group pre­
sentations for seeking critical and constructive views; 5) Evaluating learning
outcomes via teacher and peer assessment.

5. Dynamic assessment/evaluation

In the learning process, these local London staff and the expatriate staff are
expected to formulate dynamic and comprehensive assessments about their
learning outcomes with reference to the joint efforts of the teacher–student
and the student–student interactions. For example, they are asked to reflect on
their progress and problems before the class, during the class, and after the class.
Eventually, the dynamic assessment is used for in-depth learning purposes.

6.Teaching philosophy: Unified “knowing and doing”

To ensure that these local London staff and the expatriate staff develop their
intercultural business communication skills and achieve business success in
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 229

the years ahead, our teaching philosophy is therefore as follows: unified

knowing and doing [教学理念: 知行合一]. To be successful in global busi­
ness, these local and expatriate staff should be prepared to learn from any
culture. They need to update their knowledge, learn by doing, and rely on
personal creativity instead of cultural stereotypes.

5. Feedback on the course

Participants’ feedback was collected straight after each session of the IBC
course with 488 evaluation forms collected and an overall satisfaction rate of
84%. The participants listed the benefits they had gained in the course.
Exposure to case studies from real-world business practices was highlighted
by all respondents in the survey. To make the course more operational,
accessible, and achievable, all participants had their views heard, focusing on
the affective dimension (emotions involved with willingness to accommodate
different cultural ways), the behavioral dimension (operational flexibility and
resourcefulness in an intercultural interaction) and the cognitive dimension
(discerning meaning). The recurring themes emerged in the feedback ranging
from a positive attitude to affective commitment and behavioral engagement
were reported as follows: 1) Affective commitment to learn intercultural
business communication, 2) Cognitive curiosity to explore IBC, and 3)
Active involvement in IBC.

(1) Affective commitment to learn IBC

The feedback from Local London staff and the expatriate staff showed that the
course of intercultural business communication tends to develop their inter­
cultural sensitivity and intercultural empathy. Gamache remarked that “I
highly appreciate the opportunity to meet people from diverse cultures
because it gives me the best return for my efforts though with intellectual
challenge.” He continued, “I’ve gained some insights into the intercultural
business world through unique hands-on experiences. We are working
together to explore how to negotiate directly, communicate politely, and end
smartly. In this way, we learn to overcome cultural barriers in intercultural
business communication.”
Like Gamache, Diana loves the discourse community of international staff.
She recalled, “The teamwork familiarizes me with the style of intercultural
business communication. More significantly, each presentation heeds
a message: keep open-minded and then you will experience growth in inter­
cultural business communication.”
In response to the question, “What sessions or aspects of the course did you
find most useful?” Bianca claimed that “The case studies of workplace behavior
bring teaching and learning to life.” Chinese firms displayed a variety of
230 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

leadership styles such as Alibaba Jack Ma Style [Democratic Community

Style], WanDa Style [Big firm and Small me Style], Geli Style [Equally
Respected Style], and Huawei` Style [Military Army Style]. The different
leadership style mirrors the rapid development and transformation of China
in the past forty years.
Abel admired Jack Ma (the wealthiest man in China) most since he uses
Alibaba, the open digital marketplace/platform in unexpected and innovative
ways to empower local and global economic development and enable small
business to reach an ever-expanding pool of customers. As a global ambassa­
dor for Chinese business, “he encourages us to move forward with confidence.
We are always stronger when we have Jack Ma’s success clearly in mind.”
Alipay in China’s business impressed Alexander deeply. He was happy to
learn that “In China, smartphones have increasingly become the tool to do
business everywhere. Fantastic. I love that kind of lifestyle.” Cyprien admitted
that he relies heavily on a mobile phone to complete basic tasks and fulfill
important needs such as, “keeping our calendars, getting directions, and
communicating instantly with others,” and helping him answer any questions
he might possibly have about the state of our world or the people in it. He
revealed that he has made a travel plan to experience Alipay in China.

2. Cognitive curiosity to explore IBC

Intercultural business communication is concerned with not only communi­

cative abilities (understand, speak, read, and write English), but sociolinguistic
competence, discourse competence and nonverbal competence. Some partici­
pants showed their intellectual curiosity and criticality with regards to Chinese
business culture. For Robin, “the course of intercultural business communica­
tion enlightened me that there is no dominant culture in the global business
communication. It makes no difference whether American culture, British
culture or Chinese culture. Business negotiation matters. Quite often, perspec­
tive taking is needed for the common good of the parties involved.”
James put an emphasis on intercultural awareness. For him, Chinese culture
is predominantly a reach-in culture whereas Western culture is a reach-out
culture. As such, business communication problems may arise, and business
conflicts should be settled with a “win-win solution” instead of “zero-sum
game”.
Freya reported developing some intercultural curiosity about Chinese busi­
ness culture. “I feel that business success comes from a combination of things.
I discovered early that I could ‘cut and paste it’ cognitively in any kind of
environment. I have an insatiable appetite for discovery that feeds and drives
my love of intercultural business communication.”
A couple of participants displayed their critical thinking or criticality on
Chinese business culture. Simon did his presentation on the contrast between
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 231

Chinese leadership style and Japanese leadership style. He was a bit disappointed
about the hierarchical structure in decision-making in Chinese business com­
munication. To be specific, Chinese people are often seen to perform according
to the authority figures. Hence, senior officials or bosses are respected, and their
opinions carry more weight than those offered by junior staff.
Laura was fascinated by the fundamental concept of “harmony” in Chinese
culture, which has produced considerable impact on the style of Chinese
communication. “Harmony” is deeply rooted in Confucianism, Taoism, and
Buddhism, and is emphasized in the business communication process, nego­
tiation tactics and management behaviors of Chinese businessmen. Yet, over-
emphasis on harmony in the global business world is deemed to be unneces­
sary. For Laura, confrontation of the problem may lead to a better solution.
Viewed thus, business people need to negotiate on an equal footing for mutual
benefits, and “harmony in diversity” should be prized in the global context.

3. Active involvement in IBC (intercultural business communication)

The intercultural business communication course is perceived as an exhilarat­

ing learning experience. Ruben from China said that “what brings us together
is intercultural business communication. Luckily, the course creates an ad hoc
community for us from different cultures to exchange ideas and learn from
each other. It is a platform to communicate with young professionals with
different cultural backgrounds.”
Yu said that, “What motivated me to take the course is that I am ready to learn
from any culture, especially the brightest minds.” Yu was fascinated about the
business tactics borrowed from Master Sun’s Art of War [孙子兵法]. Due to the
shortage of learning resources, he was eager to improve his Mandarin Chinese
language, and expected to read the original work of Master Sun’s Art of War.
Some local staff and expatriate staff put high value on learning approaches.
Julia said, “I become interested in intercultural business communication,
together with Mandarin Chinese language.” She planned to take private
lessons for a Mandarin Chinese Course to make a quick process in intercul­
tural business communication. She believes that “Daily practice is needed to
hone the strengths necessary to break into a field. It’s also the norm for
successful businesspeople.” She feels that she made the right decision.
As becomes obvious, most of the London local and expatriate staff held
positive attitudes toward the course Intercultural Business Communication
(IBC). Self-reflective, most of them came to recognize that the ad hoc com­
munity opened the door for fresh ideas and made them become more pro­
ductive in intercultural business communication. More importantly, they
experienced some growth from language learners to intercultural mediators.
To varying degrees, they have developed their intercultural communicative
competence.
232 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

Evaluation from 488 managers and professionals suggests that the course
was highly significant and challenging and has produced a positive impact on
participants’ intercultural awareness and empathy in terms of affective com­
mitment, behavioral improvements and cognitive achievements. More speci­
fically, they showed their motivation, willingness and agency to accommodate
different cultural business communication approaches.
The IBC course linking educational institutions and banking industry are
one of the innovative options of supplementing existing teaching/learning
approaches and formats. They fulfill modern society’s need for knowledge
sharing, integration, and networking. The success of collaborative educational
course designs rests on mutual interest in a common, achievable goal; constant
communication about expectations, timelines and rewards; and transparency
throughout the project.

6. Conclusion
The contribution of this research has in three aspects crossed boundaries
between academia and business industry: firstly, it crossed the boundary of
academic teaching and real-life business practice by using the case-studies
that encourage participants to discuss their everyday encounters at work, and
the enriched learning experience from the course can be fed back to their
work with enhanced IBC and better performance. Secondly, this research has
crossed the boundary of educational institutions and business organizations
by involving business professionals in order to offer critical insights into
custom-tailored curriculum design as part of an overall higher education
engagement with business, catering to both academic and business interests.
Thirdly, the course has crossed academic discipline boundaries by integrat­
ing intercultural communication, business negotiation, management, leader­
ship, language, marketing, and strategy to meet the needs of the global
market. The curriculum design and course delivery are based on the coop­
eration between educational institution and industry, catering to the true-
world need for IBC in these organizations and beyond. Drawing on inter­
cultural communication theory, business negotiation, management, leader­
ship, and marketing strategy, this study has helped the participants to meet
the ever changing and challenging intercultural communication needs, and
to a certain extent filled the dearth of research on the design and delivery of
IBC course. The IBC course is a great opportunity to blend theory and
practice. With the details of course contents, objectives, teaching procedures,
dynamic assessments and real-life case studies, focusing on the teaching
philosophy – unified knowing and doing – this study makes it accessible
for colleagues to provide IBC courses in universities in general and for
professionals in particular.
 JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 233

Future research may concentrate on the integration of online and digital

resources to create a new ecology, where an inclusive and diverse community
for IBC can be fostered. In view of this, more pedagogical efforts are needed to
build an online intercultural community-which encourages self-directed
learning outside the classroom and facilitates staff wanting to experience
intellectual progression from language learners to intercultural mediators, as
“A community of shared future – small or large, temporary or permanent,
experienced or imagined – is so important that it is regarded as the way that
human beings must take” (Jia et al. 2019, 248). In the era of integrating high-
tech into higher education, online IBC can be viewed as having innovative
potential to change the current educational landscape, and hopefully create the
best learning environment locally and globally.

Acknowledgments
My special thanks to Dr Neil McLean and Dr Hong Lu for many chats and helping me gained
a renewed appreciation for the value of intercultural business communication skills, and for
our earlier collaborations.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor
Dr Amily Wang Guenier lectures Intercultural Communication in the London School of
Economics and Political Science. Her research interests are Chinese medicine, philosophy
and communication in business and health context. She specialises in the metaphorical
thinking in language, and Chinese medicine.She has published widely and her new book
“Traditional Chinese Medicine in Modern Era” has just been published, and her next new
book is “Chinese international students’ health and well-being in UK universities”. Before
joining LSE, Amily lectured in the University of Manchester. She also acted as the Study China
Programme Supervisor, which is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
in the British, Scottish, Welsh and Irish governments with 2 million funding. With this fund,
over 5000 English students were able to spend three weeks in China for an intensive course and
intercultural activities.

ORCID
Amily Dongshuo Wang Guénier http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5583-9442
234 A.D. WANG GUÉNIER

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