Modulbeschreibung

In today's global environment, there is a continuous increase in social and intercultural interactions.
Cooperating with people who are different than oneself is daily business,
Fostering empathy, social intelligence and intercultural competence are core competences to
handle the challenges of a complex and diverse world. To manage intercultural work situations
productively is key in this context and an important task of business administrators.
In this module students learn to integrate their feelings into their decision processes as well as the
way of conscious thinking. How to deal with negative and how to foster positive emotions? Which
thoughts help to gain success and which are counterproductive? In addition the students monitor
and train their strengths.
Additionally, business success requires intercultural comptence, i.e. the ability to position one's own
culture within the context of other cultures, and to utilise this together with the resulting
synergies.This module provides the foundations for recognising, respecting, and integrating cultural
differences and communalities. Students are provided with tools to be able to thrive across cultures.
Furthermore, potential barriers and how to deal with them are addressed.
Based on an outdoor environment, every student will reflect his or her role in dynamic teamdevelopment
exercises. With experimental and action guided learning everybody should be capable
to supervise strengths and weaknesses as well as the intercultural implications arising if working
together in multicultural teams.

• Schriftliche Einzelarbeit

• Reflection report:
  Individual assignment to reflect one’s life circumstances, emotional state, character strenghts,
  thinking patterns, behaviour, and personal growth regarding to the framework of the content of the
  teaching lessons.
  A substantial part of the report has to cover the implications arising out of intercultural differences
  regarding working in an international, multicultrual team as well as in private situations.
  More details in the written framework of the reflection report on moodle platform.
• Further comments
  In this course, it will be expected and regarded as a matter of course that students participate in class
  and show initiatives. Also, it is strongly recommended to continuously repeat the discussed topics
  from week to week and to verify open questions.

Professional competences:

Participants

• know modern techniques and trends in the area of personality development.
• are able to fetch emotional and social components into decision making processes.
• develop cultural-general knowledge and by that their intercultural competencies.
• apply the foundations of intercultural communication and theories to intercultural situation.
• demonstrate knowledge of various models of cultural dimensions and communication
  styles.
• find multiple solutions to intercultural challenges by using the 4-step method.
• recognise and overcome intercultural challenges in everyday business.
• transfer knowledge of Emotional Intelligence and Positive Psychology into models of Intercultural
  Communication.
  
  

Methodological competences:

Participants

• independently analyse and integrate values, feelings and tenors in their personal
  development.
• independentlyapplies the taught instruments in intercultural communication and personal
  development to practical business situation
• are able to apply the 4 steps on intercultural situations

Self-competences:

Participants

• become more open to a holistic view of human beings in their working world and in their
  socio-cultural environment.
• demonstrate awareness of their own culture; in particular, they can reflect on their own
  culture and the behaviours and attitudes that are based on it.
• Strengthen their intercultural sensitivity based on Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
• examine a situation from different perspectives.
• respect various working styles and attitudes and work with them in an open and respectful
  way.
• understand that self-reflection and self-awareness essentially contribute to a long term
  increase in efficiency and effectiveness on both, the intrapersonal and the interpersonal
  view.
• are aware that the emotional component of our being is not to be isolated of the everyday
  working life but rather to be fully integrated.
• take care of their way of thinking due to the fact that affirmatively mental energy leads to
  more success in life.
• know their strengths and weaknesses and are able to foster strengths.

Social competences:

Participants

• further develop their personal and intercultural skills.
• work across cultural boundaries in a culturally sensitive manner.
• change stereotypes into generalisations and treat preconceptions with sensitivity.
• can convey their findings to different target groups.
• interact in groups coherently to the emotional status of the team members.
• are able to recognize peoples strengths during mutual tasks.
• reflect themselves on the role as a team member or leader.

Topic area: Course Introduction and Mindfulness

• Module overview, assignments
• Mindfulness as a basic for development in your thinking, attitudes and behaviour regarding
  personal development and fostering intercultural understanding.
• Stay present, be in the here and now with all your senses.
• Cultivate inner silence, relaxing techniques and calming done

Topic area: Positive Psychology & the Way of thinking

• How can we strengthen ourselves and make us more resilient to the unstabilities of life?
  The theory of Positive Psychology after Martin Selgiman would be the students framework.
  As an integrated part students also learn to take care of our „emotional household“
  according to the five levels of emotional intelligence after Daniel Goleman.
• Furthermore students learn to hold a focus on the way we are thinking. How does positive
  thinking affect our actions and lead to more success? What are the rules of positive and
  realistic thinking? Students learn techniques of auto-suggestion to guide our inner dialogue
  in daily life.
  
  

Topic area: Personal strengths training

• Every student got the result from a personalized character strengths test. Next to the basics
  of strengths students learn about the importance of acting in cohesion with their strengths.
• Several exercises are conducting to let students integrate the thinking in strengths into their
  daily life.

Topic area: The own culture

• Culture and concepts of culture
• Definition of main intercultural terms
• Discovering one's own culture and how it influences one’s behaviour and thinking
• How culture influences business
• The reaction of individuals to the foreign: stereotypes, acculturation, and culture shock
• What's required in global business: intercultural competence

Topic area: The foreign culture

• When cultures collide: Critical incident (CI)
• Learn to understand why:
  Tool 1: Cultural dimension according to Hall, Hofstede, and Trompenaars/Hampden-Turner
• How culture influences communication: Basic model of communication
• Communication styles according to Hall and Ting-Toomey

Topic area: The Intercultural

• How to find solutions: apply 4 steps.
• 4 steps to solve a CI
• Possible options in intercultural situations

Topic area: ICPD Summary

• Wrapping.up the semester
• Connecting everything: Integration of all knowledge gathered for students personal
  development and their integrationa into a multicultural teamOutlook exam

Topic area: Experimental Learning Day (off campus)

• This block takes part as a one day seminar in the nearby region. With the help of an
  external trainer there will be a focus on experimental and action guided learning. By the end
  of the workshop one should have explored topics like the reflection on personal
  development within a team or the individual impact on a team’s performance.
• Furthermore everybody will have explored how to analyse and guide one’s emotions in
  unusual team situations.
• A special focus will be held on the reflection about culturally mixed teams solving together
  tasks.

Classroom discussions, case studies, experience-based learning, guest lectures, interactive
methods such as simulations and role-playing, films, working alone as well as in pairs and in
groups, guided self study, independent study and self-reflection.

Mandatory – everything on Moodle learning platform such as:

• Scriptum
• Articles provided
• Case studies
• Submitted documents
  
  

Optional:

• Book: Petersen Christopher, A Primer in Positive Psychology, Oxford University Press,
  2006
• Book: Character Strengths Interventions, A Field Guide for Practiconers; Ryan M. Niemiec,
  Hogrefe, 2018
• Hofstede, G./Hofstede, G.J./Minkov, M. (2010): Cultures and Organizations: Software of the
  Mind. 3rd edition, New York
• Meyer, E (2016) The culture map, New York
• Ting-Toomey, St./Chung, L.C. (2012): Understanding Intercultural Communication, 2nd edition,
  New York
• Trompenaars, F./Hampden-Turner, Ch. (2012): Riding the waves of cultures, Understanding
  Cultural Diversity in Global Business, 3rd edition, London
• And others