Leadership and performance in multicultural business environments a qualitative study in German-Colombian teams

Multicultural leadership is a topic a great interest in nowadays globalized work environment. Colombia emerges as an attractive marketplace with appealing business opportunities, especially for German enterprises. After presenting Colombia’s current political, social and economic situation, the thesis elaborates the complex subject of cultural differences while focusing on the peculiarities of German and Colombian national cultures. The resulting implications for a team’s collaboration and leader effectiveness are theoretically supported with reference to the landmark studies of Hofstede and GLOBE. By utilizing semi-structured interview techniques, a qualitative research enriches the previous findings and gives an all-encompassing insight in German-Colombian teamwork. The investigation identifies distinctive behavioral patterns and relations, which imply challenges and factors of success for multicultural team leaders. Finally, a categorical analysis examines the influence of cultural traits on team performance and evaluates the effectiveness of the applied leadership style.

The influence of parents' speech on the development of spoken language in German-speaking children with cochlear implants. 'La influencia del habla de los padres en el desarrollo del lenguaje en niños germanohablantes con implante coclear'.

Resumen en español

Luther and the german Reformation, 1517-55.

Su contenido se adapta a las especificaciones AS de 2008 para OCR y Edexcel. Se examinan los antecedentes de la Reforma alemana y los factores que condujeron a ella, también se analizan las ideas y la influencia de Lutero, la difusión de estas ideas dentro y fuera de Alemania y el contexto político y religioso que originó estos cambios. Se destacan fechas clave, términos y temas e incluye perfiles biográficos, resúmenes esquemáticos, fuentes literarias y síntesis de los principales debates historiográficos.

The German reformation, 1517-55.

Ofrece una guía práctica para enseñar el tema a los estudiantes del nivel AS para la especificación OCR. El objetivo de este recurso es explicar de forma completa todos los acontecimientos de la Reforma alemana y poner énfasis en el análisis histórico pero, para ello los estudiantes deben tener una comprensión completa de los sucesos, personajes, cuestiones y controversias más relevantes de la época.

Formative assessment in teacher education: the development of a diagnostic language test for trainee teachers of German

This article describes the development and validation of a diagnostic test of German and its integration in a programme of formative assessment during a one-year initial teacher-training course. The test focuses on linguistic aspects that cause difficulty for trainee teachers of German as a foreign language and assesses implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge as well as students' confidence in this knowledge. Administration of the test to 57 German speakers in four groups (first-year undergraduates, fourth-year undergraduates, postgraduate trainees, and native speakers) provided evidence of its reliability and validity.