Cross-Cultural Management

Among today's greatest impediments to the effective management of human resources in both the world of business and in governmental and non-government circles alike, is the complex set of culturally based assumptions and prejudices about human behavior that we unknowingly bring with us into the workplace. The management skills, motivational techniques, personal behavioral patterns and methods of communication that are valued as effective leadership characteristics in one cultural or national setting are very likely to be perceived quite differently, even negatively, in another. For all of us, an important learning process is recognizing that people's responses to, and effectiveness in, work environments are determined by cultural and historical forces.

Based upon these emerging realities, this course examines and analyzes what constitutes both real leadership and effective managerial technique in today's cross-cultural environment of global business. How should business be conducted or developmental programs be carried out in other lands? How can and should people be managed and organized in cultures very different from one's own? To what extent are various cultural practices from one country transferable to another? How, in short, do we factor the major determinant of effective cross-cultural management practice into our global business plans, human resource managerial strategies, and social business gatherings? Getting the answers right to these hard questions will determine who succeeds in solving tomorrow's global problems? Problems that are ipso facto cross-cultural ones.

To begin answering these questions, you will therefore study, analyze and debate a considerable number of subjects relevant to cross-cultural management: language and communication, cross-cultural conflict resolution and negotiation, culturally-biased managerial assumptions, national management cultures, intercultural sensitivity and competency, cross-cultural organizational behavior, global human resource management, training of international managers, the challenges of living and working within cultural diversity, the impact of culture on organization and leadership theory, multi-cultural team-working, cross-cultural, and the ethical dilemmas of cultural interaction and conflict.

The purpose of this course is to impress upon you the critical role culture plays in devising effective international management strategies and techniques. It aims to highlight those areas of cultural divergence, which always challenge communication, understanding, and meaningful teamwork between people of very different cultural backgrounds. It strives to instruct us to identify our own cultural assumptions, conditioning and practices impeding our ability to positively interact with those quite different from us. And it seeks to provide you with practical, down-to-earth knowledge and a mix of basic technical skills on how both to avoid the managerial pitfalls of cultural innocence and how to employ your cultural awareness and sensitivity for effective management and action in cross-cultural settings.

This course is taught in a virtual format by one of CEA's onsite instructors from across our 8 study center locations.