Interculturality (en)
Topic outline
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Cultural diversity can be defined as "the existence of two or more persons from different cultural groups in any single group or organisation". Cultural backgrounds are important considerations in assembling and managing work groups because they affect the way that people interact and deal with conflict. Both organisations and team members must be able to accommodate individual differences and possess the ability to work as a team to meet organisational targets. Much of the research in the area of diverse teams has found that diversity can be a ‘double-edged sword’.
Culturally diverse teams are proposed to present a number of benefits for teams such as increased innovation, creativity and problem solving capabilities. At the same time, however, they also provide opportunity for greater miscommunication and misunderstanding which can impact the social and task-related functions of the team, resulting in process losses. Consequently, cultural diversity itself will not generate the proposed benefits of cultural heterogeneous teams, rather it is learning to work with cultural diversity effectively that will allow a team to realise these benefits which are stated in the
EU’s economic strategies. In this regard , by “Interculturality” the project team will recognise skills of the introvert as well the extroverts who more naturally promote themselves. The project team will develop not only the soft skills and intercultural competence of business; but also adults’ individual ‘soft skills’ and collective intercultural competences such as entrepreneurship, civic skills, personal, social and learning cultural awareness and expression. Thus, “Interculturality” aims to meet the Europe 2020 targets which state that high quality education and training are needed to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth including key competences of adults.
“Interculturality” project specifically aims to address the above issues throughout a pedagogical approach designed to maximize impact through the production and sharing of OERs based on practical classroom and work based training activities and a mobile app to assess and develop personal intercultural competences of adults who are interested in improving their chances of securing employment, starting their own businesses or developing their skills.
Also the “Interculturality” project targets the adult educators and trainers who are not only the key actors to be engaged in the main activities of the project, but also being upskilled and empowered as facilitators, through a continuous professional development course (CPD), to improve skills and understanding of the importance of intercultural skills in adult learners. Since CPD is a holistic
commitment of professionals towards the enhancement of personal skills and proficiency throughout their careers, “Interculturality” project embarks the CDP approach for the target groups and beneficiaries of the project. The objectives of the “Interculturality” project:
1. To enable adult educators through a CPD course to develop intercultural competences in adult learners,
2. To provide a methodological framework to boost the key competences and intercultural skills of adults,
3. To minimize cultural disconnections which impact performance, by helping target groups and beneficiaries in international business environment.
4. To foster target group and beneficiaries for intercultural development continuum which involves the view of the business world realizing with intercultural lands.
5. To develop a multilingual learning platform providing open and instant access to the full suite of project’s outputs, including the eLearning space, the mobile app to support the access to the CPD course.
In line with the above mentioned objectives the nature of the business sector itself suggests that ICT may help support intercultural competence training. Therefore, “Interculturality” project will use the ICT which is also used facilitate the acquisition, assessment and ultimately accreditation of intercultural competence related knowledge and skills within a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme. To ensure the success of such an initiative, it is important to determine the fundamental knowledge and skills making up intercultural competence and devise a pedagogical setting which is appropriate, for the targeted beneficiaries of the “Interculturality”. Changes in technology, globalization and communication have made the cultural competencies necessary to study internationally and transnationally. Through the above mentioned explanations the “Interculturality” project will develop European Communities of Practice, central to the sustainability of the project after the funding period. The interdependence of the European economy and the increasing international and transnational acting of companies need more and more European tools to improve human resources skills and in particular develop professional competencies in individuals.
This is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, with University of Deusto (Spain), Mugla Sitki Kocman University (Turkey), Training 2000 psc (Italy) and Łukasiewicz Research Network - Instytute for Sustainable Technologies (Poland) as partners.
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Forum
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Welcome to Module 2
Cross-Cultural Management
Overview
Cultural differences can be a serious barrier to international business. More and more companies and organisations not only cooperate with people from other countries or with different cultural backgrounds but also employ such people. To ensure the greatest possible efficiency of work it is necessary to skillfully manage a multicultural team. Module 2 will present the theory, tools and strategies related to cross-cultural management.
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Glossary
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Welcome to Module 3
Global Leadership
Overview
Global leadership is defined as "the processes and actions through which an individual influences a range of internal and external constituents from multiple national cultures and jurisdictions in a context characterized by significant levels of task and relationship complexity" (Reiche, Bird, Mendenhall, & Osland, 2017, p. 553). Global leadership focuses on cross-cultural interaction with those from diverse countries, and influencing across cultures and borders requires a complex set of skills and knowledge.
International differences in leadership styles and their effectiveness have been extensively examined. However, another issue probably matters more for most organizations: How can we develop leaders who are effective across cultural boundaries? Is it possible to create a truly global leadership style that will extend across cultures?
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The table above shows country specific examples of scores on each leadership dimension. Scores above 4 indicate the leadership dimension contributes to outstanding leadership.
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Welcome to Module 4
E-leadership and multicultural teams
Overview
Today, new complex dynamics involve a higher degree of complexity to be managed, this is the reason why companies urge the need for effective global leadership. By defining the concept of interculturality, Module 4 will guide you through different aspects related to company organization, approaching the following topics: matrix management across borders, virtual global leadership, leadership models of excellence and personal action planning.
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4.1.1 Seven Aspects of Organizational Culture
A complex system
As we have previously seen, organizational culture involves values, beliefs and norms. Put together, these aspects form a complex system characterised by 7 aspects.
Every organisation gives different priority to these aspects. Consequently, judgements of the insiders and behaviours are dictated and regulated by the different importance given to each aspects
In the following lesson you will find out more about them. Then, complete the case study.
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Effective global leadership involves many unprecedented aspects. Technology and new hybrids lead to the creation of new scenarios which constantly require adaptation. In this presentation, you will get to know more about challenges and opportunities involved in virtual teams.
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This workbook contains a series of additional resources to support your learning experience. Here you will find a brief summary of the topics shown in Module 4 and a series of case studies and suggested activities. Feel free to complete the exercises and share your comments, results and opinions with other participants in the Forum: Module 4 below.
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Forum
This is a shared space in which you can share ideas and results about the main topics, activities and case studies suggested in Module 4.
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Glossary
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Quiz
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