This course is designed to stimulate the adult learner through lectures, readings, simulations, and cases as you explore what it means to do business across cultures. Successful interaction means that a person possesses intercultural competence, which is the ability to understand cultural norms and modes of communication and how this is the foundation for undertaking any successful international business venture. Having this strong foundation of intercultural awareness and understanding can lead to competence in doing business abroad, as well as interacting with a multicultural workforce at home.

Imagine being able to leverage the diversity of your workforce, stakeholders, and business partners for maximum performance and outcomes. Whether you are seeking to:

• collaborate with global colleagues

• relocate employees for adjustment to new cultures and work environments

• understand the impact of diversity in the workplace, or

• strive to increase productivity and satisfaction among your work teams

Learning the simple yet powerful tools of intercultural competence will help you and your colleagues develop understanding, engage in deep reflection, and then be able to perform with effective action.

Course Objectives

In this course you will:

• learn about the cultural iceberg metaphor to debunk the Four Culture Myths, so you won’t fall into the trap of assuming everyone is like you and thus thinks and acts the same as you do.

• understand how underlying values, beliefs, and attitudes guide the way people communicate, plan, and accomplish tasks.

• use the three-step model of cultural competence – creating awareness, building knowledge, and developing skills – so that you can monitor how you interact with others who are culturally different.

• reflect on how you, as a manager, can integrate expectations and work styles across age, ethnicity, gender, and group identity.

Course Learning Outcomes:

• As a result of taking this course, when interacting with people across cultures you will:

• Explain what is Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and why this matters.

• Highlight the difference between functional skills and interpersonal/intercultural skills.

• Understand the concept of cultural differences and commonalities.

• Understand the three-step process of developing cultural competence: awareness, understanding/reflection, and skills/behavior.

• Determine what are culturally responsive strategies for dealing with differences.

• Make use of several models to help you consciously work towards better interactions.