IL1100 Intercultural Competences

·        To define culture and explore various metaphors used to represent it.

·        To learn and practise the skills of observing, describing and interpreting the behavior of people who are culturally different from ourselves.

·        To practise communication techniques that allow us  to overcome the barriers involved in intercultural communication, including:       

Ø  suspension of judgment

Ø  managing stereotypes

Ø  reflecting on and interpreting behavior

Ø  development of empathy and perspective taking

·        To increase self-cultural awareness and awareness of other cultures by learning a framework of cultural difference.

·        To study the effect of culture on international negotiation and team work

·        To analyze your own intercultural experience using the framework of cultural difference and the other concepts learned during the semester.

Module I: The Basics of Intercultural Communication

-       Define the concept of culture; learn basic definitions and terms.

-       Start keeping an analytical notebook of your experience during the semester in order to develop the skills of observation, description, reflection and analysis.

-         Participate in exercises designed to explore the concepts of perception, stereotyping and suspension of judgement.

Block 2 Assignment:

-         Research one aspect of cultural difference in teams, prepare and deliver a presentation

Module II: Understanding cultural differences

-         Learn a Framework of Cultural Difference with the goal of knowing yourself and others and being able to interpret behaviour in intercultural interactions.

-         Map the cultures in the classroom in order to identify the key differences and also similarities that exist.

-         Apply the Framework of Cultural Difference to an intercultural case to practise identifying the values that underlie the behaviour.

Block 2/3 Assignment:

-         Read article on Sympathy and Empathy.

\        Module III:

-         Explore the concept of empathy and practise seeing situations from more than one cultural perspective.

-         Explore how culture influences the specific business activity of negotiation

-         Explore the concept of trust as a culturally relative construct: understand why it is more difficult to establish trust across cultures and how this impacts international business interactions.

-         Learn how to write a critical incident based on your personal experience and analyse it using the frameworks we have studied in class.