Building Effective Intercultural Relationships

Overview/Description
 In a shrinking world, businesses operate across borders, whether they are borders between neighborhoods or borders between countries. All of these bordered areas, large and small, represent differing cultures. Whether at home or abroad, chances are, your business deals with people of varying cultures on a daily basis. In today's expansive work environment, employees, co-workers, customers, vendors, and business partners can all have a different cultural background from yours. The most obvious cultural differences you encounter are language and dress. But there are a multitude of subtler ways in which people from different cultures vary in their behavior. If you don't understand the ways in which they might differ, you're risking your business communication and relationships being misunderstood. When operating interculturally, mistakes are easily made when you take appearances and meaning for granted. This course lends significance to the term "multiculturalism." In this course, you will learn about the many ways in which mini- to macro-cultural behavior and attitude can vary, around the corner and around the world. This course will prepare you to understand and relate better to people with different cultural backgrounds, thus making your business deals with them easier and helping you avoid costly misunderstandings.

Target Audience
 Any employee at any level who deals with cultural diversity in the workplace, whether at home or abroad

Expected Duration
2.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Embracing Cultural Differences

  • recognize the importance of embracing cultural differences.
  • identify ways in which cultural behaviors can vary.
  • match types of discrimination that occur in the workplace with examples.
  • identify inclusivity techniques.
  • apply inclusivity techniques in an intercultural business relationship scenario.

    • Meaning in Context

  • recognize the importance of understanding how cultural communication styles can vary.
  • match components of perceptual variations in cultural norms with examples.
  • match modes of nonverbal communication to corresponding examples.
  • assess the correct use of nonverbal expression with different cultures in a business scenario.
  • select characteristics of the communications style associated with content cultures.
  • identify communication styles associated with context cultures.
  • determine the styles associated with context cultures in a business scenario.

    • Customs and Etiquette

  • recognize the importance of understanding cultural variations in customs and etiquette.
  • match ways in which status is conferred with corresponding definitions.
  • identify guidelines for showing good manners in different cultures.
  • analyze whether guidelines for appropriate cultural manners are being followed in an intercultural scenario.

    • Course Number: COMM0192