INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS
European integration is not only a political process. It also has a strong sociocultural dimension. It involves interactions between actors, organizations and institutions from different countries and different cultures. It therefore has a strong intercultural dimension. This course aims to explore this dimension. It provides students with some basic knowledge about the concept of culture, and helps them understand how cultural differences can affect relations between people.
Course Description
Course aims
European integration is not only a political process. It also has a strong sociocultural dimension. It involves interactions between actors, organizations and institutions from different countries and different cultures. It therefore has a strong intercultural dimension. This course aims to explore this dimension. It provides students with some basic knowledge about the concept of culture, and helps them understand how cultural differences can affect relations between people.
Expected outcomes
On completion of this course, you will be able to define culture and to understand its influence. You will have developed a certain cultural openness and sensitivity. You will be able to identify the pitfalls of cross-cultural interactions.
Course overview
Unit One: The context of cross-cultural interactions
Unit Two: What is culture?
Unit Three: Intercultural situations
Unit Four: Cross-cultural issues
Unit Five: Intercultural learning and competence
Curriculum
- Student code
- Unit One: The context of cross-cultural interactions
- Step 1: Globalization
- Step 2: A multi-faceted phenomenon
- Step 3: Summary
- Unit Two: What is culture?
- Step One: The word “culture”
- Step Two: Some metaphors for culture
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- Step Three: from culture to cultural diversity
- Step Four: The different layers of culture
- Step five: Summary
- Unit Three: Intercultural situations
- Step 1: Definition and examples
- Step 2: Intercultural communication
- Step 3: Culture shock
- Step 4: Stereotypes and prejudices
- Step 5: Summary
- Unit Four: Cross-cultural issues
- Step 1 : Edward T. Hall
- Step 3: Monochronic vs polychronic cultures
- Step 4: Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
- Step 5: Focus on uncertainty avoidance
- Step 6: Summary
- Unit Five: Intercultural learning and competence
- Step One: Overview
- Step two: Dimensions of intercultural competence
- Step three: Cultural or Multicultural?
- Step four: Traits or process?
- Step five: Summary: Are you interculturally competent ?
- Unit Six: Final quiz
- Final quiz
About Author
François GOXE is Associate Professor in Strategy and International Business at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. His research interests include international business and entrepreneurship with an emphasis on emerging countries (incl. China), networks of international entrepreneurs and managers and critical perspectives on those issues. He has (co)authored several journal publications (European Management Review, IJCCM, etc.), conference articles and book chapters in the aforementioned topics, and has received several awards and grants from various funding agencies.
Michaël Viegas Pires is Associate Professor in Strategy and International Business at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. His research interests include the intercultural dimension of strategy and the discursive dimension of international management. His work about the intercultural dynamics of mergers and acquisitions and multinational corporations has been published in international publications such as the Journal of World Business and Thunderbird International Business Review.