Introduction

This course aims to explore the meaning and psychology of culture; to understand the impact of culture on management and leadership; to identify the areas in which cultural differences present a challenge in managing and leading employees in a multi-cultural workplace; and finally to become more self-aware in cultural understanding, individual biases and assumptions and to understand the implications these have on our work. This is a vital course for any manager or leader working in a multi-cultural workplace.

This course will feature:

• Develop your multi-cultural leadership & management skills in a fun & informative learning environment
• Discover best-practice in diversity management & multi-cultural communication
• Appreciate current business issues related to managing & leading in a multi-cultural workplace
• Strategies for improving your cross-cultural communication
• Ways to ensure success and limit failure with international assignments.

 objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• List Hofstede’s five value dimensions
• Explain the meaning of each of the five value dimensions
• Illustrate examples of stereotypes and stereotyping
• Differentiate between transformational & transactional management
• Formulate a business case for cultural diversity in their workplace

Contents

Day One

The Meaning of Culture

• Our world today - the importance of demographics
• What is culture?
• Dimensions of culture
• Hofstede’s five value dimensions
• Understanding globalisation
• Workplace and organisational culture

Day Two

The Psychology of Culture

• Understanding personality
• Stereotypes and stereotyping
• Motivation and culture
• Multi-cultural communication
• Body-language and culture
• Multi-cultural negotiation

Day Three

Leadership & Management

• Theories of leadership & management
• Transformational & transactional management
• Developing a global mindset
• Culture and strategy
• Managing in multi-national companies
• Multi-cultural teams and teamwork

Day Four

Managing diverse employees in a multi-cultural workplace

• The business case for cultural diversity
• Managerial roles in diversity
• Discovering cultural advantage
• Diversity and teams
• Nationalisation programmes
• Providing feedback and performance appraisal in a multi-cultural workplace

Day Five

Current issues in international business

• International assignments and global career development
• Culture shock and global working
• International Human Resource issues
• Culture and decision-making
• Personal action planning