La construction du sens des expériences interculturelles au sein d’une organisation multinationale : une étude de cas.

Avec une mondialisation omniprésente, les études sur l’aspect interculturel des organisations deviennent de plus en plus d’actualité et fascinent les chercheurs comme les praticiens. Notre étude suit donc cette voie et porte sur la construction du sens de l’expérience interculturelle au sein d’une entreprise multinationale. Nous avons cherché à comprendre, d’un point de vue interprétatif, comment les acteurs construisent le sens des caractères multinationaux et interculturels de l’entreprise, à travers leurs expériences au sein d’une multinationale québécoise. La recherche existante discute les aspects culturels et communicatifs tels que le contexte, la langue et le flux de message, identifiés par E.T. Hall (Hall, 1976, 1990) comme centraux dans la problématique générale de la communication interculturelle. Nous avons cependant abordé ces mêmes aspects depuis la perspective de la théorie du sensemaking (Weick, 1995) en nous centrant sur les points de vue des acteurs et de leurs expériences. Sur la base d’entrevues en profondeur, la recherche montre que, bien qu’il soit fortement valorisé par tous les interviewés, l’aspect interculturel n’a pas été profondément intégré dans les pratiques communicatives de tous les jours, comme nous aurions pu le croire. Néanmoins, cet aspect exerce une influence réelle et considérable pour certains employés, comme les gestionnaires des ressources humaines et des relations publiques, due essentiellement à la nature même de leurs fonctions. Les résultats suggèrent également que l’aspect interculturel est vécu de manière fort différente selon l’identité qui est attachée à l’organisation. Cette dernière est en effet parfois considérée comme (1) une organisation « locale », c’est-à-dire en référence à son origine québécoise, comme (2) une organisation multinationale, en référence aux interactions entre les parties de l’organisation dispersées dans le monde entier, et enfin (3) comme une firme étrangère du point de vue des acteurs des pays hôtes. Dans les trois cas les enjeux interculturels pour les acteurs varient considérablement tout comme, en conséquence, le sens qui est accordé à cet aspect de l’organisation. Mots-clés : Expérience interculturelle, organisation multinationale, théorie du sensemaking, communication interculturelle.

Students’ Perspectives on Extensive Literature : Using Literature to Enhance Communicative Competence and Cultural Understanding in the EFL-Classroom

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of literature within the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL-classroom from the students’ perspective. How do the students in the study relate to literature and its use to enhance and enable their communicative competence and cultural understanding? Also, how do their answers compare with their teacher’s and the adult perspectives and findings from previous international research? The empirical data obtained from the study has been analysed from the perspectives of sociocultural and motivational theory, and the findings show that the participating students believe literature to be a good didactic tool to apply in the EFL-classroom, both in order to enhance their communicative competence and their cultural understanding. The students prefer to have a sociocultural approach to their literature-learning, with group-discussions of various sizes. The key for the students in this respect is interesting, relevant and engaging subject-matter, as well as a positive and motivational teacher. The responses given by the students correlate with those given by their teacher as well as previous international research. The students regard literature as a way of gaining new perspectives, as well as experiencing language in use. Where they diverge somewhat from the international research is in regard to literature’s use for enhancing their competence to speak in class, and that some students seem to think that communication and cultural understanding are separable. Future studies within this field might include the conducting of a larger and more in-depth survey regarding the students’ ideas about literature, culture and communication. Why do so many of the student respondents neither agree nor disagree with the statement concerning communication and cultural understanding being inseparable? This can be an important issue to investigate in today’s global climate of cross-cultural and intercultural experiences, especially in view of the political climate of diverse attitudes towards refugees, immigrants and emigration

Processos de adaptação e vivências profissionais interculturais no futebol globalizado: profissionais brasileiros da bola

O presente trabalho tem como tema central as vivências interculturais dos atores do mundo do futebol que, a cada dia mais, perpassam diversas culturas como caminho ascensional das suas carreiras. O objeto dos Estudos Organizacionais Interculturais dá ênfase às interações entre pessoas de diferentes culturas, e esta é a problemática proposta nesta discussão, que enseja debates, convida à discussões interdisciplinares e evoca uma temática que instiga novos olhares sobres questões transculturais. Embora a literatura do campo aborde em sua maioria a adaptação e vivência de executivos expatriados, o presente trabalho pretende investigar a vivência e adaptação de jogadores e técnicos de futebol que trabalham em diferentes contextos. O referencial teórico é formado por áreas do conhecimento, promovendo uma conversa interdisciplinar, particularmente oriundas da Administração e Sociologia, bem como a literatura sobre futebol, que é o objeto empírico da tese. Metodologicamente a pesquisa adota uma abordagem qualitativa e interpretativista. A coleta de dados foi feita através de entrevistas com profissionais reconhecidos, que exerceram ou ainda estão exercendo suas atividades no exterior. Notadamente, e de forma prática, identificam-se questões de adaptação cultural que podem interferir no sucesso profissional da pessoa que se desloca para territórios estrangeiros, podendo influenciar na sua vida pessoal, dificultando o seu sucesso, por variados fatores, tais como: o idioma em si, a dificuldade de compreensão das figuras de linguagem e expressões inerentes a cada idioma, a mecânica laboral de cada cultura, o contraste no estilo de vida, os códigos culturais, linguagem corporal, hábitos cotidianos, estranhamento ao universo do outro, hábitos alimentares. Pretende-se que este estudo possa contribuir para ampliar e incitar o arcabouço teórico dos estudos de administração intercultural, através das vivências e proposições para uma melhor adaptação e vivência de jogadores e técnicos de futebol no exterior.

The journey towards cultural competence: first interventions

Graduates worldwide are increasingly entering a global workplace which will require them to operate across national and cultural boundaries. This paper discusses the need to ensure that all students are equipped to work within this increasingly complex multi-cultural environment. It examines the issues which occur in preparing students within a UK Higher Education environment so that they are able to operate effectively within the international work situations in which they find themselves. This research builds on earlier research, which found that the effectiveness of an individual to work across cultural boundaries, in terms of work and communication, was increased by the number of international or intercultural experiences that a person has. Using this as a premise, an intervention was designed which aimed to increase students’ awareness of intercultural differences and their ability to function effectively in multicultural groups. This paper analyses the effectiveness of this highly innovative training intervention. It concludes that it was an effective way of making students aware of some of the issues around cultural competence is groups. In fact, the training was seen as most effective by students in addressing issues round group dynamics. The training obviously changed the outlook of a number students who took part it. There are, however, a number of issues which need to be addressed the re-running the training. These are notably, at what time in a student’s academic career such intervention is given, its integration into the curriculum and managing of student expectations.

International Experiences – is there an effect on intercultural sensitivity? : An explorative study conducted at Stockholm University

The presented research is an explorative study, aimed to identify differences in intercultural sensitivity of Swedish students with international experience, Swedish students with no international experiences and international students studying at Stockholm University. The research is placed within the field of higher education. International experiences are seen to be a key to intercultural competences and it is universities who need to prepare students for the demands of the globalized job market. The research is of qualitative nature and relevant data was collected by the means of semi- structured interviews. The data was coded according to qualitative thematic analysis and then analyzed and discussed in accordance to the researcher questions and existing literature in this field. The study revealed that there is no general difference in intercultural sensitivity between the three groups analyzed. However, international students show higher sensitivity in terms of respect of cultural differences and open-mindedness, while students with no international experiences show less sensitivity in terms of interaction involvement and suspending judgment. The identified themes offer valuable information on individual perceptions of cultural differences. This information can be used to improve measures and actions to increase intercultural sensitivity at Stockholm University.

Kultúraközi szolgáltatásélmények vizsgálata a megalapozott elmélet módszerével (Examination of the intercultural service experiences with grounded theory method)

A cikk fókuszában az interkulturális szolgáltatással való találkozás áll. A téma jelentősége kétségen kívül áll, hiszen a szolgáltatások egyre növekvő térhódítása, valamint a globalizáció terjedése fontossá teszi annak ismeretét, hogy a különböző nemzeti kultúrából érkező szolgáltató és fogyasztó számára hogyan érhető el a legfőbb cél, az elégedettség. A szerzők jelen kutatásukban annak megértését helyezték a középpontba, hogy melyek azok a tényezők, amelyek befolyásolják a felek erőfeszítéseit a találkozás során fellépő problémák megoldásában. Kutatásuk során mélyinterjúkat folytattak mind a szolgáltatói, mind a fogyasztói oldallal, majd a megalapozott elmélet (grounded theory) konstruktivista irányzatának segítségével elemezték ezen interjúkat, és azonosították azokat a tényezőket, amelyek fontossá válhatnak egy kultúraközi szolgáltatásélmény során. A kutatás eredményei rámutatnak, hogy melyek azok a kommunikációs és kulturális korlátok, amelyek problémát okozhatnak, s hogy az e problémák megoldására tett erőfeszítések visszavezethetők az interakció résztvevőinek személyes jellemzőire, tapasztalataira, kulturális nyitottságára és ismereteire. A kutatás eredményeinek egyik fontos menedzseri következtetése, hogy a szállodákban a probléma jelentősége ellenére nem helyeznek elegendő hangsúlyt a kommunikációs és kulturális korlátok leküzdésére irányuló képzésekre, tréningekre. _____ This paper presents an attempt to analyse the possible solutions to problems that can occur during intercultural service encounters (ICSE). Using grounded theory the authors provide a theoretical framework that identifies the factors that lead to ICSE barriers. Based on in-depth interviews with service providers and clients they have defined the relevant characteristics that influence intercultural competence. Intercultural competence with communication and cultural differences lead to problems during ICSE that can be handled by both parties: the service provider and the client, as well. An important finding is that service companies should provide adequate training that concentrates not only on the cultural knowledge but it should create capability in understanding and adapting to cultural differences.

La educación intercultural en los centros escolares españoles

Son muchas las iniciativas que sobre educación intercultural se están llevando a cabo en las escuelas de nuestro país. El panorama es variado y adaptado a las decisiones y a las necesidades que cada autonomía ha considerando relevantes. Consideramos interesante visibilizar las prácticas escolares que sobre interculturalidad se han realizado en los centros educativos españoles en las últimas décadas. Empezamos este escrito a través de un repaso de las políticas educativas que han dado cobertura a tales actuaciones para describir posteriormente las características concretas de la práctica escolar. Las líneas de análisis que vertebran estas acciones las hemos sintetizado en: I. Los planes de acogida, II. La atención a la diversidad lingüística y cultural, III. Las estructuras escolares cooperativas, IV. La participación de la comunidad educativa, V. La mediación intercultural y la resolución de conflictos, VI. La Formación de Profesorado, VII. Los observatorios de las diferentes comunidades. Podemos entender todas estas actuaciones desde dos enfoques diferenciados; uno más relacionado con la educación inclusiva y otro que actúa desde la educación compensatoria. Relacionamos al final las acciones de la interculturalidad educativa con los principios básicos de las comunidades de aprendizaje, considerándolas un soporte desde el que dar cobertura a las acciones educativas previamente descritas.

'L’escriptura del jo', una proposta d’educació intercultural i tractament de la diversitat per a l’ensenyament secundari obligatori = The writing of I, an intercultural educational proposal and treatment of diversity for Compulsory Secondary Education

The writing of I is a project that starts an itinerary through past, present and future experiences of each of our students based on following research activities. Reading, creation and recreation of text and other items that turn essentially around autobiographical writing and culminate with the elaboration of a free autobiography

Intercultural bridges in teenagers' theatrical events : performing self and constructing cultural identity through a creative drama process

The overriding aim of this drama educational case study is to deepen the understanding of meaning making in a creative intercultural youth theatre process and to examine it in the context of the 10th European Children's TheatreEncounter. The research task is to give a theoretical description of some key features of a creative drama process as the basis for theory about meaning makingin physical theatre. The first task is to illuminate the culture-historical connections of the multilayered practice of the EDERED-association. The second taskis to analyse and interpret theatrical meaning making. The ethnographical research site is regarded as a theatrical event. The analysis of the theatrical eventis divided into four segments: cultural contexts, contextual theatricality, theatrical playing and playing culture. These segments are connected with four research questions: What are the cultural contexts of a creative drama process? How can the organisation of the Encounter, genres, aesthetic codes and perception ofcodes be seen to influence the lived experiences of the participants? What are some of the key phases and characteristics in a creative practice? What kind of cultural learning can be interpreted from the performance texts? The interpretative question concerns identity and community (re)construction. How are the categories, `community´ and `child´ constructed in the Encounter culture? In this drama educational case study the research material (transcribed interviews, coded questionnaire answers, participant drawings, videotaped process text and performance texts) are examined in a multi-method analysis in the meta-theoretical framework of Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism. A three-dimensional research interest through a combination of lived experiences, social contexts and cultural-aesthetical practices compared with drama-educational practices required the methodological project of cultural studies. Furthermore, the critical interpretation of cultural texts is divided into three levels of analyses which are called description, structural analysis and theoretical interpretation. Dialogic validity (truthfulness, self-reflexivity and polyvocality) is combined with contextual validity (sensitivity to social context and awareness of historicity) and with deconstructive validity (awareness of the social discourses). My research suggests that itis possible, by means of physical theatre, to construct symbolic worlds where questions about intercultural identity and multilingual community are examined and where provisional answers are constructed in social interaction.

El docente (de hoy) en el contexto de la escuela inclusiva e intercultural: formaci??n permanente, dedicaci??n y compromiso

T??tulo, resumen y palabras clave tambi??n en ingl??s

The Key Role of the School Principal’s Leadership in the Schooling of Newly Arrived Immigrant Pupils in Sweden : Experiences from an Interactive Action Research Project

When newly immigrated children and young people begin school in Sweden, certain challengesarise. These may result from weak Swedish-language skills and different schooling backgrounds,as well as organizational and pedagogical limitations in the schools. This generates demands onschool leaders to lead and develop the organization and teachers competences to meet these pupils’needs. This situation was behind the initiation of the project “New Immigrants and Learning—Competence Development for Teachers and School Principals.” The project ran in schools infour Swedish municipalities, its aim was to develop leadership, organizational and pedagogicalskills that would facilitate the schooling and integration of newly arrived pupils. This article aimsto describe and discuss a Participant Action Research (PAR) based on a think tank and researchcircles, drawing special attention to the role of the school leaders. It will also examine whether theresearch circles and the project overall served to develop educational and intercultural leadership,organizational conditions, collegial learning, pedagogical methods and competence in terms ofschooling for this pupil group.

A universidade no contexto internacional: o relações públicas como mediador intercultural no projeto Brasil de Todo Mundo

The following dissertation aims to propose an institutional and intercultural projecy of reception and integration of foreign students from academic mobility programs for the campus unit of Bauru. Such action is necessary because of the absence of a reception program of these students, the reception and integration into the social and cultural reality of the place in which they live is a fundamental part of international experience. As an example for this institutional proposal, we discuss the extension of project experience Brasil de Todo Mundo, which aims to deepen the reflections on the Brazilian cultural universe for foreign students who are in Brazil over a period, while taking academic mobility in the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Bauru campus. Student leadership project, Brasil de Todo Mundo emerged from the international experience in mobility programs offered by UNESP, from students of campus Bauru, when in the back of their experiences, they realized that they could continue being tourists your own country with the reception of foreign students. In addition, the identification of expectations in social and intercultural skills, in addition to reasons connected with the increase academic and language skills are a form of very strong approach, which helps in creating intercultural dialogue spaces between the students, the main objective of the project

Valorization of agrobiodiversity products and strengthening of local identities in the Peruvian Andes: Experiences from the BioAndes Programme

In the Peruvian Andes, a long history of interaction between the local populations and their natural environment has led to extraordinary levels of agrobiodiversity. However, in sharp contrast with this biological wealth, Andean indigenous populations live under most precarious conditions. Moreover, natural resources are undergoing severe degradation processes and local knowledge about biodiversity management is under serious pressure. Against this background, the BioAndes Programme is developing initiatives based on a biocultural approach that aim at fostering biodiversity through the enhancement of cultural processes. On the basis of intercultural dialogue, joint learning and capacity development, and transdisciplinary action-research, indigenous communities, development practitioners, and researchers strive for the creation of innovative ways to contribute to more sustainable economic, socio-cultural, and political valorization of Andean biodiversity. Project activities are diverse and range from the cultivation, transformation, and commercialization of organic Andean fruits in San Marcos, Cajamarca Department, to the recuperation of natural dying techniques for alpaca wool and traditional weaving in Pitumarca, Cusco Department, and the promotion of responsible ecotourism in both regions. Based on the projects’ first two-years of experience, the following lessons learnt will be presented and discussed: 1. The economic valorization and commercialization of local products can be a powerful tool for the revival and innovation of eroded know-how; at the same time it contributes to the strengthening of local identities, in parallel with the empowerment of marginalized groups such as smallholders and women. 2. Such initiatives are only successful when they are embedded within activities that go beyond the focus on local products and seek the valorization of the entire natural and cultural landscape (e.g. through the promotion of agrotourism and local gastronomy, more sustainable management of local resources including the restoration of ecosystems, and the realization of inventories of local agrobiodiversity and the knowledge related to it). 3. The sustainability of these initiatives, which are often externally induced, is conditioned by the ability of local actors to acquire ownership of projects and access to the knowledge required to carry them out, which also means developing the personal and institutional capacities for handling the whole chain from production to commercialization. 4. The confrontation of different economic rationalities and their underlying worldviews that occur when local or indigenous people integrate into the market economy implies the need for a dialogical co-production of knowledge and collective action by local people, experts from NGOs, and political authorities in order to better control the conditions relating to the market economy. The valorization of local agrobiodiversity shows much potential for enhancing natural and cultural diversity in Southern countries, but only when local communities can participate in the shaping of the conditions under which this happens. Such activities should be designed in the mid- to long-term as part of social learning processes that are carefully embedded in the local context. Supporting institutions play a crucial role in these processes, but should see themselves only as facilitators, while ensuring that control and ownership remain with the local actors.

Some considerations on the potential contributions of intercultural social work...

Social work at global levels, and across international and intercultural divides, is probably more important now than ever before in our history. It may be that the very form our ideas about intercultural work take need to be re-examined in the light of recent global changes and uncertainties. In this short position paper I wish to offer some considerations about how we might approach the field of intercultural social work in order to gain new insights about how we practise at both local and global levels. For me, much of the promise of an intercultural social work (and for the purposes of this paper I see aspects of international social work in much the same light) lies in its focus on the way we categorise ourselves, our ideas and experiences in relation to others. The very notion of intercultural or international social work is based on assumptions about boundaries, differences, ways of differentiating and defining sets of experiences. Whether these are deemed "cultural" or "national" is of less importance. Once we are forced to examine these assumptions, about how and why we categorise ourselves in relation to other people in particular ways, the way is opened up for us to be much more critical about the bases of our own, often very deep-seated, thinking. This understanding, about how and why notions of "difference" operate in the way they do, can potentially open our understanding to all the other ways, besides cultural or national labelling, in which we categorise and create differences between ourselves and others. Intercultural social work, taken as a potential site for understanding the creation of difference then, has the potential to help us critically examine the bases of much of our practice in any setting, since most practice involves some kind of categorisation of phenomena.

Learning about Self Far From Home: A Pre-service Teacher’s Intercultural Development During an International Program

Preparing teachers to effectively teach culturally diverse students, teacher educators advocate for the use of cross-cultural field experiences, including international study abroad programs. This paper reports on a qualitative case study of two pre-service teachers’ intercultural development during a semester-long teacher education study abroad program in London, England. Findings indicate that international experiences provide a catalyst to move pre-service teachers forward in their intercultural development. Implications include the need for multicultural teacher educators to take a developmental approach to pre-service teacher education informed by theories of intercultural development and cultural learning developed within intercultural communications.