Lecture Summary Managing Cultural Differences (MCD)

Managing Cultural Differences (MCD) Lectures

Contents
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE.................................................................................................................... 2
LECTURE 1 – CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND VIRTUAL TEAMS..........................................................................3
LECTURE 2 – CULTURE AND ITS DIMENSIONS.................................................................................................. 5
LECTURE 3 – LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION..........................................................................................7
LECTURE 4 – CULTURE AND CORPORATE STRATEGY......................................................................................10
LECTURE 5 – CULTURE AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT..................................................................................13
LECTURE 6 – WRAP-UP OF THE COURSE........................................................................................................ 15

,Introduction to the course
The course aims to prepare you for work in the culturally diverse environment that is
typical for international management.

Knowledge
- How do different cultural environments lead to different forms of behavior and
management/business activities in different societies?
- How do firms and managers deal with operating in various cultural contexts?
Application (which might be painful)
- How do you and how should you respond to cultural diversity?

Lecture overview
Lecture 1: Cultural Intelligence and Virtual Teams
Lecture 2: Culture and its Dimensions
Lecture 3: Leadership and Communication
Lecture 4: Culture and Corporate Strategy
Lecture 5: Culture and Conflict Management
Lecture 6: Wrap-Up
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, Lecture 1 – Cultural Intelligence and Virtual Teams
Cultural Intelligence (CQ) has three main definitions:
 A person’s ability to adapt as he/she interacts with others from different
cultural backgrounds.
 A measure of a person’s capacity to function effectively in a multi-cultural
environment.
 Knowledge or understanding of how a person from a particular country,
race, religion, etc. lives and behaves, and how this affects the way they do
business.

Comparing CQ with EQ - Emotional Intelligence
 A person with high EQ grasps what makes us human and at the same time
what makes each of us different from one another.
 A person with high CQ can tease out of a person’s or group’s behavior those
features that would be true for all people and all groups, those peculiar to this
person or this group, and those that are neither universal nor idiosyncratic.
 Culture is behavior that is neither universal nor idiosyncratic.

There are three sources of how to develop CQ:
1. Head  thinking/knowledge
Cognitive means: learning about your own and other cultures, and cultural
diversity.
Metacognitive means: learning about how you process and acquire cultural
knowledge.
Learning about the beliefs, customs, and taboos of foreign cultures is only the
first step. You need learning strategies for culture-general knowledge:
 Specific strategies for learning to learn (self-assessment).
 Cultural intuition (a sense).
2. Heart  energizing/personal attributes
Motivational means: emotions, gaining rewards and strength from
acceptance and success.
Adapting to a new culture involves overcoming obstacles and setbacks.
Therefore, you need to believe in your own efficacy:
 This is confidence-growing due to perseverance in past challenges.
 You’ll reengage instead of disengage.
Root of confidence: mastery of a particular task or et of circumstances
3. Body  action/personal skills
Behavioral means: using your senses and adapting your movements and
body language to blend in.
Knowing what to do is one thing, doing it is another. “Disarming” foreign
partners by learned gestures and behaviors is not enough. You need evidence
that you have already to some extent entered their world.
Social mimicry: a synchronized give and take of words and gestures that
creates a flow of goodwill between two people. One should balance social
mimicry and try to avoid caricatures.

The Global Mindset has three sources of capital:
1. Intellectual Capital: knowledge and capacity to learn.
- Global business savvy.

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