Table of content:

I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
II. Intercultural development……………………………………………………………………………………………….3
II.1 DMIS model……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
II.2 10 Key Etic Dimension………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
II.3 Meyer’s Business Dimensions…………………………………………………………………………………….5
III. Professional development……………………………………………………………………………………………….6
III.1 Employability: Course skills &
competencies……………………………………………………………..6
III.2 Group work
collaboration………………………………………………………………………………………….8
IV. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
V. References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10

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 I. Introduction

Multicultural people are increasingly becoming part of organisations thus, acquiring cross-
cultural skills is becoming primordial to ensure their management and business performance
(Thomas, 2008). Furthermore, cultural differences will be the main sources of clashes
between nations (Huntington, 1993). Therefore, the more cultural ideas are adopted, the
more they are normalised (Sebree, 2020). I am from Algeria and this assignment will
highlight my intercultural and professional development while studying and living in the
United Kingdom. This is through the reflection of three models which will be applied to some
of my personal experiences to support my intercultural development. In addition to that, I
will highlight how the modules and skills learned so far impacted my professional and self-
development plans. Moreover, my experience working in a multicultural group will be
discussed. Then, in the end, a conclusion that englobes the key outcomes achieved on my
intercultural journey will be provided.

II. Intercultural development.

II.1 DMIS model:

Constantly traveling across Europe and North Africa since the age of 18 years old made me
acknowledge that some of my personal experiences and other basic standards and beliefs
will exceed cultural boundaries (Bennett, 2017). Therefore, when applying the DMIS
(Bennett, 2004) to my intercultural sensitivity development, I would have positioned myself
on the minimisation stage (ethnocentrism) when coming to the UK. However, I will never
forget my first internal reaction at the university which was pure defence when encountering
a behaviour that was outside of my cultural boundaries. To explain further, while having a
cappuccino in the canteen, I noticed that some nations speak loudly and act like no one is
surrounding them. I know this seems to not be a major issue but believe me that this really
upset me.

To be fair, this feeling of being revolted left me to reconsider if I am truly in the

minimisation stage…

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In my country, usually, communicating or laughing noisily at university is seen as
inappropriate. Initially, I was unaware that my culture is influencing my perception (Lu &
Wan, 2018). Therefore, I had a flight feeling regarding this cultural difference, presuming
that we all need to share the same behaviour in an educational institution. Furthermore, I
started avoiding speaking with these people as I felt they are trying to intimidate me by
talking loudly; and even when talking with them, most of the time I was in a defensive state,
feeling like I need to be ready for clashes. Nevertheless, I decided to move from my personal
beliefs acquired in my primary socialisation (Bennett, 2004) and started fathoming with
them. Each interaction steadily decreased my negative perception and fear of being involved
in a fight that still did not happen. After a while, I realised that speaking loudly in an
educational organisation does not necessarily mean that these people are disrespectful. It is
just a common behaviour developed in their home country that could be considered an act
of confidence (British council, 2015). As cultural knowledge could not be reached
automatically or easily (Hall; cited in Shaules, 2019) I kept flexing with other cultures.
Superficial behaviour changes such as speaking loudly, keeping eye contact while
communicating, and so on were not bothering me, my curiosity shifted more to know about
others’ religions, beliefs, rituals, etc. Overall, after this long cultural development, I can
confidentially say that I am now in the high level of the minimisation stage. Nonetheless, I
am still uncertain if moving to acceptance will be in the closest time or not as there is still a
slight layer of unconscious bias floating in my complex thoughts’ ocean.

II.2 10 Key Etic Dimensions model:

Starting with power distance (Hofstede, cited in Spencer-Oatey & Franklin, 2009), the
process of moving from a teacher-centred educational system to a student-centred learning
approach was full of confusion and reflection at the same time. I remember in my first
course, our tutor introduced herself and said please call me by my first name. This was
extremely weird for me as back in my country we always call our tutors by their titles, and
we will be blamed if we do the opposite; our power is low and its unequal distribution is
usually accepted (Hofstede, cited in Spencer-Oatey & Franklin, 2009). Furthermore,
throughout my university experience in my country, the interaction and debate openness
with our scholars is rare as we believe that the flow of knowledge could be provided only by
the teacher to the students. Thus, in my first days of university here in the UK, before asking

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a question I was always experiencing a significant increase in my heartbeat which made me
feel hesitant. However, I knew that this was because I was standing out of my comfort zone.
After a few weeks, I did my first debate with a tutor which will never be forgotten. Honestly,
he was so much concerned about what I wanted to say that I felt like I am the one who is
explaining the course. Regarding the Individualism-collectivism dimension, an experience
that I had at work left me thinking about how British employers reward their employees
could be different from ours. On a Sunday night, after closing the leisure centre, a person
came to reception asking for a defibrillator as his brother was experiencing palpitation and
the NHS advised him to attend the centre while the ambulance is on its way. I was the
person in charge of the reception with a team leader and some lifeguards. The lifeguards
qualified with first aid skills accompanied him to assist his brother while I and the team
leader were supervising from reception. After getting back to my room, I called my mother
and told her the story. She said, “I am proud of you and your team; that’s what we call one
team”. The day after we all received Kirklees’ Active Leisure star nomination for being
community supportive. Nevertheless, this reward was given individually without mentioning
the group work at all. This shows the concern for individual accomplishment and
independence (Bhagat, 2009). This was relatively strange for me as back home organisations
highly promote and reward collective actions (House et al, cited in Spencer-Oatey & Franklin,
2009).

II.3 Meyer’s Business Dimension model.

High and Low context (Meyer, 2014) is a concept proposed to make cultural differences
easier to understand (Hall, Cited in Kim et al, 1998). Although Algeria is an Arab country that
is considered high-context (Peng and Meyer, 2019), I see myself as a Low-context
communicator, especially when communicating in an educational context such as at the
university. For this reason, I faced various misunderstandings when communicating with my
colleagues, whether from my country or other nations considered high context. To illustrate,
in the Project Management course, me and three Nigerians had to present a sustainable
campaign, I was the team leader. Thus, I was responsible for leading by constantly
interacting with them. In our first days, my messages on WhatsApp were direct and accurate
(Meyer, 2014). Even when meeting them face to face, I rarely involved emotion and non-
verbal expression which people from high contexts rely on (Reimer & Jansen, 2003). I just

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felt like the group is not motivated and to some extent, we were just in a frozen state. I knew
that Nigerians have a high score when it comes to collectivism (Hofstede, 2022) and I noticed
that they tend to be more emotional than others. Therefore, I said to myself, “try to change
your way of communication and adapt it to theirs and see what the results will be”. The day
after, I sent a message saying, “Hey guys, I hope you and your family are feeling well and had
a nice weekend”, then I highlighted the work that needs to be done. Trust me, I get a reply
from them within the following minutes which usually took days to get it. Regarding
scheduling (Meyer, 2014), my colleague, our tutor, and I have planned an intercultural
exchange session with students from Milan. They have cancelled this meeting at the last
minute due to being busy with work placements. This resulted in a sense of demotivation
and to a certain point, I saw it as a lack of respect as this situation is considered rude in my
home country. Nonetheless, after a certain period of constant interaction with different
nationalities and with the knowledge acquired from the global professional module, I
released that, changing decisions unexpectedly, punctuality could be seen as a cultural
behaviour and not as an impolite act. Moreover, as explained by Thomas (2022a) in
Brightspace some cultures are flexible with tasks changing as opportunities appear. If the
event with the Italians is considered a task and the work placement an opportunity, I would
argue that Italians adopt a more flexible approach in their scheduling.

III. Professional development:

III.1 Employability: Course skills & competencies

Cliffe (2015) in her magazine argued that “companies don’t go global, people do”. In other
words, people are responsible for discussing contracts, managing meetings, and developing
relationships (Cliffe, 2015). This shows the importance of understanding people including
their behaviour, cultures, and vision. Through the TGP module, I have acquired various
multicultural skills and models to reflect on and develop self-awareness regarding these
three aspects. Regarding employability, due to this module, I am now more conscious of
intercultural skills’ impact on work environment performance and my professional
development.

I am an engineer in Industrial Automation and Process. One of my goals is to launch a

venture offering industrial automation solutions in the UK and then expand it to foreign

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countries. The outcome from the modules learned in my course “MSc in international
business with project management” all have enhanced my skills to achieve this goal. To
illustrate, the module “Context of International business” made me aware of the varied
factors (cultural, political, economic, and social) that I need to consider when expanding my
business abroad. I find this module supportive to the TGP assignment as Hofstede dimension
and High-Low context have been discussed with the course tutor “Lianghui Lei”. Moreover,
through the “Strategy of International Business,” I have learned that there are various
strategies and strategic operations to consider when operating a multinational company.

I will not launch my business straight after graduation as I need to gather money first. Thus,
I am aiming to start working as a Project Manager in a multinational company then after
making some savings, I will start my venture. “Project Management” was extremely useful in
terms of widening my knowledge about Project Management approaches that I as a future
Project Manager need to acquire and implement.

After carefully reflecting on the CIPD (2022a) professional map (core behaviour), I am more
concerned about valuing people and working inclusively (CIPD, 2022a). Regarding valuing
people, I am now more aware that as a future Manager, I need to develop an environment
that highly encourages employees’ self-expression without feeling the pressure or rules
enforced on them (CIPD, 2017). Furthermore, I acknowledged that building relationships
with employees will increase their honesty, and this could impact positively the
organisation’s capability for issue-solving (CIPD, 2017). I strongly believe now that culture
does affect how individuals listen and what they listen to (Gudykunst, cited in Janusik &
Imhof, 2017). Therefore, being a good listener equipped with intercultural knowledge is
primordial. My motivation towards creating an inclusive workplace has increased
dramatically as equality, diversity, and inclusion all have contributed to the well-being of
people and businesses (CIPD, 2022b). Considering that, I have acquired several techniques to
manage equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. For example, I know that to react
appropriately to diversity needs, understanding guidelines and delivering training for line
managers is crucial (CIPD,2022b). Another strategy that I am conscious of it now is, looking
constantly for peoples’ opinions and implementing actions according to the feedback
(CIPD,2022b).

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Regarding my self-development plans, I am aiming to develop first, the two basic skills as
identified by Pedler & Boydell (2013) which are situational facts and professional knowledge
and skills. This means constantly being aware of what is happening in the organisation, the
different connections with the business unit, and all the technical knowledge (Pedler &
Boydell, 2013). This could be achieved by observing and interacting regularly with the daily
operations of the management team at my current work. Moreover, I am extremely
concerned to develop my empathy skills. In other words, as explained by Thomas (2022b) in
Brightspace, being able to understand others’ points of view, feeling others’ emotions, and
giving importance to their concern. To be honest, adapting these skills could be challenging
for me as I come from a background that gives high empathise for task-oriented approaches
rather than people-focused ones. However, I strongly believe now that empathy affects
positively business operations. This is due to the experience that I had at work where my
colleagues’ outcomes who were experiencing a taught period changed positively after
discussing their issue with the manager who was highly engaging in their experience as if she
were trying to access their head and heart (Bennett, 1979). Besides that, as I am aiming to
work in a multinational company, I need to acquire leadership skills that will help me to
create an environment of respect for cultural diversity (Bennet, 2016); and to foster equality
and mutuality in the global community by respecting others’ cultures while valuing my owns
as well (Miike, 2019).

III.2 Group work collaboration:

Regarding the workgroup, our group consisted of three Nigerians, one from Vietnam and
another from Burma. I will say that each member of the group had his/her unique way of
interpreting questions. Although three of them were from Nigeria, I was impressed by how
people from the same country but from different regions could differ significantly. To
illustrate, in a specific topic of how to manage employees being late to a work meeting due
to prayer time. Two of them took a feminine approach (Hofstede, 2011), they argued that
the meeting time needs to be revised to meet the employees’ prayer time. On the other
hand, the third one from Nigeria as well, took a masculine approach (Hofstede, 2011)
arguing that “working time needs to be respected by everyone”. Regarding communication
with each other, at every workshop in the first 5 minutes, everyone was quiet pretending to
try to understand the topic. I will not be lying, although I see myself as a talkative person, in

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these first minutes I had a slight flight feeling, or I would say I was afraid that they will
understand me wrongly. After that, I took a deep breath and started communicating by
giving a brief opinion about the topic, and the Nigerians followed me by giving their opinion
in more depth. I noticed that their communication was “sophisticated, nuanced and layered”
(Meyer, 2014) compared to mine. The two girls from Vietnam and Burma contributed to the
conversation only if they were asked by a member of the group. I noticed that how they
express themselves was relatively similar.

IV. Conclusion:

In conclusion, The TGP module changed my perception of various aspects of life. This was
through reflecting on the models and theories discussed. The DMIS model enhanced my
intercultural skills by making me aware that being a global professional requires continuous
intercultural development. Through the 10 key etic and Meyers’ dimensions, I realised that
the behaviours and beliefs of some international students are not necessarily inappropriate
as they are considered norms and standards in their home countries. Thus, judging other
cultures from my perspective is ineffective. As far as professional and self-development are
concerned, I have long and short-term ambitions, and to reach them I strongly believe that I
need to constantly develop my multicultural, empathy, listening, and management skills. In
the end, in addition to understanding that societies had a justifiable world perception and
important wisdom, it is also crucial to acknowledge that it would require a specific way of
attention to understand this different worldview (DeTurk, 2001).

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 V. References:
1) Bennett, M. J. (1979). Overcoming the golden rule: Sympathy and empathy. Annals
of the - International Communication Association, 3(1), 407-422.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.1979.11 923774
2) Bennett, M. J. (2004). Becoming interculturally competent. Toward
multiculturalism: A reader in multicultural education, 2, 62-77.
3) Bennett, M. J. (2016). The value of cultural diversity: rhetoric and reality.
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4) Bennett, M. J. (2017). A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. The
international encyclopedia of intercultural communication, 1(10). shorturl.at/ikqu4
5) British Council. (2015). Cultural Top Tips for uk Businesses working with Nigeria.
https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/intercultural_fluency_nigeria_top
_tips_0.pdf
6) Bhagat, R. S. (2009). In Bhagat R. S., Bhagat R. S. and Steers R. M.(Eds.), Cambridge
handbook of culture, organizations, and work. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581151
7) CIPD. (2017). Have your say: alternative forms of workplace voice.
shorturl.at/bQ259

8) CIPD. (2022a). Explore the Profession Map.

https://peopleprofession.cipd.org/profession-map#gref.
9) CIPD. (2022b). Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace.
Shorturl.at/gDQR7

10) Cliffe, S. (2015). "companies don't go global, people do": An interview with andy
molinsky. Harvard Business Review, 93(10), 82.
11) DeTurk, S. (2001). Intercultural empathy: Myth, competency, or possibility for
alliance building?. Communication Education, 50(4), 374-384.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520109379262
12) Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context.
Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), 2307-0919. Click here to enter
text.http://mchmielecki.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/64591689/hofstede_dobre.pdf

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13) Hofstede. (2022). Country Comparison.
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/
14) Huntington, S. P. (1993). The Clash of Civilizations?. JSTOR, 72(3), 22-49.
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with the LCI-R. International Journal of Listening, 31(2), 80-97.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10904018.2016.1151620
https://doi.org/10.1080/10904018.2016.1151620
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of Chinese, Korean, and American cultures. Psychology & Marketing, 15(6), 507-
521., https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6793(199809)15:6<507::AID-
17) Lu, C., & Wan, C. (2018). Cultural self-awareness as awareness of culture’s influence
on the self: Implications for cultural identification and well-being. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(6), 823-837.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217752117
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18) Meyer, E. (2014). Navigating the cultural minefield. Harvard Business Review, 92(5),
119-123. https://hbr.org/2014/05/navigating-the-cultural-minefield
19) Miike, Y. (2019). Intercultural communication ethics: an Asiacentric perspective. The
Journal of International Communication, 25(2), 159-192.,
https://doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2019.1609542

20) Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J., & Boydell, T. (2013). A manager's guide to self-
development (Sixth ed.). McGraw-Hill Education Professional.
https://www.vlebooks.com/Product/Index/419851?page=0

21) Peng, M. W., & Meyer, K. (2019). International business (Third ed.). Cengage
Learning. https://www.vlebooks.com/Product/Index/1229155?page=0
22) Riemer, M. J., & Jansen, D. E. (2003). Non-verbal intercultural communication
awareness for the modern engineer. World Transactions on Engineering and
Technology Education, 2(3), 373-378.
http://www.wiete.com.au/journals/WTE&TE/Pages/Vol.2,%20No.3%20(2003)/
RiemerJansen24.pdf
23) Sebree, C. (2020;2019;). Understanding globalization. Cavendish Square.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/HUD/detail.action?docID=5795216 &pq-
origsite=summon
24) Shaules, J. (2019). Edward Hall Ahead of His Time: Deep Culture, Intercultural
Understanding, and Embodied Cognition. Intercultural Communication Education,
2(1), 1-19. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1338979
25) Thomas, D. C. (2008). Cultural intelligence: People skills for global business.
shorturl.at/ptxS8

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26) Thomas, J. University of Huddersfield. (2022a). Working across borders Business
school.
https://brightspace.hud.ac.uk/d2l/le/content/229370/viewContent/1945078/View
27) Thomas, J. University of Huddersfield. (2022b). Session 5_My Professional
Intercultural Self Business school.
https://brightspace.hud.ac.uk/d2l/le/content/229370/viewContent/1973986/View

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