Intercultural

Competence in
Business
MAR013-1
 The Best Course?

• Work with people from different backgrounds

• Apply what you learn directly to your life
• Understand people better (or will it?)
• Contribute to the content
 How?

• Class activities
• Case studies
• Group presentations
• Pre-session activities
• Post session activities
Traditional Way?

Photo Credit: Art People

Gallery at https://
www.facebook.com/artpe
ople1?fref=photo
(Accessed 29 Sep 2020)
 A Better Way?

• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P_375Y8M3M

(Courtesy of the University of Vienna and Oxford University.

From the publication Social transmission of tool use and tool
manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini) 2014.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 20140972.)
 Areas to Cover

• The Challenge of Communicating in an Intercultural World

• Culture and Intercultural communication
• Cultural Universals
• Defining Culture
• Cultural Differences in Communication
• Cultural Identity, Cultural Biases and Intercultural Contact
• Cultural Taxonomies
• Verbal/non-verbal communication
• Communication in Intercultural Relationships
• Episodes, Contexts and Intercultural Interactions
• The Potential for Intercultural Competence
• Ethical considerations in Intercultural Competence
• Business Considerations in Intercultural Interactions
 Assessments

1. Case study (40%)

 Intercultural incidents
 Apply theories, frameworks… and propose solutions
 Submission: week 8

2. Individual report (60%) (2000 words)

 Two cultural biographies (from your interviews)
 Compare, contrast, and analyse (using intercultural frameworks)
 Submission: week 13
 To Pass:

• Awareness of self
• Awareness of different cultures
• Compare and contrast two biographies
• Use cultural frameworks to evaluate similarities and
differences
• Compare and contrast cultural frameworks
• Apply frameworks to understand interactions in business
• Apply intercultural communication theories to practice
 Set Reading

Lustig, M. W. and Koester, J., (2013) Intercultural

Competence, Interpersonal Communication Across
Cultures, 7th Edition, Boston, Allyn and Bacon
 A few Things to Agree on

• Attendance?
• Phones?
• Mutual respect?
• ID scanning (attendance)
• Breaks
• Pre-reading
• Synchronous activities
• Asynchronous activities