MGP 2278 Cross CultureCommunications & Management

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw

FacilitatorDr Chan Cheah - http://www.linkedin.com/in/chancheah

Contact emailsChan.cheah@monash.edu

Or chancheah@gmail.com

Name GameMeanings in your name

Chan Cheah

CherishPrecious

The descendants of Yuyang, son of the Yellow Emperor.

“To thank”

YOUR TURNGiving Value Add in Life

What is Culture? (1.16m)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KW6RO8Rcs

What is Culture?

“... the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another. Culture, in this sense, includes systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture”

(Geert Hofstede, 1984)

“Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun”

Clifford Geert, quoting Max Weber in The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, 1977, Basic Books Classics, USA

Culture – an information gap

We live … in an INFORMATION GAP. Between what our body tells us and what we have to know to function, there is a vacuum and we must fill it ourselves. We fill it with information (or misinformation) provided by our culture … our ideas, our values, our acts, even our emotions, are … cultural products

Clifford Geertz, 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, Basic Books, NY p.55)

Beliefs info

Culture in terms of Orientalism(It’s not about being Asian)

• Described by Edward Said as seeing people from “other” cultures as “foreign”, even as exotic objects to be studied by the “West”

• Said argued that this attitude promotes a fundamental Western “us” and Oriental “them” which hampers understanding across all cultures not simply oriental

• Similar to “Ethnocentrism” Said, Edward W., 1995, Orientalism, Penguin, London (first published in 1978)

Culture in terms of Ethnocentrism

One's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it

Cultural Intelligence … seeing below the surface of the iceberg

• Understanding culture• Thinking drivers• Motivation drivers• Behavioural drivers

• Edward T Hall (1959)• Harvard Magazine, 2004: http://hbr.org/2004/10/cultural-intelligence/ar/1

Why learn culture?

UNESCO - Cultural Diversity 1.14mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8GDUIh_Tis

Australia's new and changing face 4.23 mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnH6PnVugQo

Because of globalisation the world has become culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)

We need cross culture skills:

Communicating across culturesManaging across cultures

Governing across culturesLeading across cultures

Changing across culturesCoordinating across cultures

Integrating across cultureshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUO59Emi3eo

How?Building Cultural Intelligence Capacity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2C7Mfft9OY

Building Cultural Intelligence capacity First by describing / understanding Culture as:

Metaphors

ComparingWest and the Rest

Worldviews

Political Ideology

History

Colonization Art & Customs

Technology

Measure of Worth Law

Religion

Geography & Population

SocioculturalWorldview perspectives

Culture Existence Forms

History of China in 3½ Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCH7B9m4A4M

Culture & Diversity - its Existence forms

Source: The Cultural Web - Aligning Your Organization's Culture with Strategy

Movie Time

The Last Samurai

Film Critique1. Many indicators of Japanese (Samurai) and non-Japanese cultural

practice and diversity can be seen in this movie. Identify 5 you consider the most significant in understanding cultural diversity.

2. What sociocultural factors that determine culture were used in this movie?

3. To what extent do the major actors demonstrate or not demonstrate cultural intelligence?

4. Include other interpretations of this movie in your presentation. (Including references to the web, “The Last Samurai” in the Monash Library, and the “true story”)

For a criticism of the movie: http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/LastSamurai.htm

Apply the PBL approach to guide your learning and documentation.Your group presentation will be expected to take 10 minutes.

Debrief

Key Questions1. What did you learn about culture?

2. Did the movie demonstrate cultural differences between the samurai and others? How?

3. What examples can you cite to demonstrate cultural intelligence?

4. Can you give examples to explain Orientalism or ethnocentrism from the movie?

5. What did “The Last Samurai” reveal about the cultural worldview and determinants of the culture of the Samurai at that time? What did it reveal about the United States at that time?

6. What additional learning do alternative interpretations of the movie suggest?

We will debrief at (time) MGP2278 session.

Learning Goals Topics

1. Define the concept of culture & its major determinants

Topic 1: Intro to culture & diversity

2. Examine the link between culture economic processes & organisations

Topic 2: Cross culture mgt theories

3. Identify the impact of culture on organisational communication processes

Topic 3: Cross culture communications

4. Analyse the influence of culture in business management practices in different cultural settings

Topic 4: Negotiations across culturesTopic 5: Leadership & MotivationTopic 6: Decision MakingTopic 7: Conflict ManagementTopic 8 & 9 : Governance & Social ResponsibilityTopic 10: International HRMTopic 11: International Strategy Planning

5. Apply cross culture knowledge to improve management & team performance

Topic 12 : Global Issues