The Business School BA (Hons) Business Studies (BABS) Welcome

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Changing Universities Through Internationalisation
From Strategy to Pedagogy
Cross-Cultural Capability
Mark Ridolfo Senior Lecturer in Cross-Cultural
Management International Exchanges
Coordinator The Business School, Bournemouth
University
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A little background . . .

• Degree in French and German (Aston University)
• Licence, Langues Étrangères Appliquées
  (Université dOrléans)
• Diploma in Management Studies (Bournemouth
  University)
• Have lived in France, Germany and Italy
• Visiting Lecturer to China Europe International
  Business School (Shanghai) for 9 years
• Some knowledge of Italian, Spanish, Japanese
  Chinese
• Have travelled extensively in Europe, Australasia
  S.E.Asia
• Responsible for international exchanges in the
  Business School
• Senior Lecturer / Subject Leader for
  Cross-Cultural Capability

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Bournemouth Universitys Vision

• We are committed to fostering a global outlook,
  which will
• encourage internationally significant research
• recruit students and staff with wide
  international experience
• develop opportunities for international
  engagement for all students and staff
• deliver a curriculum which prepares for global
  employability
• establish strategically significant international
  partnerships
• actively engage with appropriate networks and
  initiatives - within Europe and beyond.

Bournemouth University Corporate Plan (2006-2012)
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Agenda

• Cross-Cultural Capability in the Business School
• Lessons learned
• What and where next?
• Example assignments
• Q A / Discussion

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Employability in the 21st century . . .

• "Final-year students should be aware that nearly
  half of graduate recruiters expect to face
  difficulties in fulfilling recruitment objectives
  - with the largest factor being a lack of
  applicants with the right skills.
• Employers are looking for graduates who can
  demonstrate softer skills, such as team working,
  cultural awareness, leadership and communication
  skills, as well as academic achievement.

Chief executive of the AGR, Carl Gilleard (Ford,
The Guardian - 07.02.07)
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The World in 2020 . . .

• The likely emergence of the BRIC countries as new
  global players will transform economics and
  geo-politics. How we mentally map the world in
  2020 will change radically and render obsolete
  the old categories of East and West, North
  and South, developed and developing.
  Globalization will be a mega-trend.
  Multinationals will be increasingly outside the
  control of any single state and will be key
  agents of change in dispersing technology,
  further integrating the world economy and
  promoting economic progress. While North
  America, Japan, and Europe might collectively
  continue to dominate international political and
  financial institutions, globalization will take
  on an increasingly non-Western, rising Asia
  character.

Adapted from the Report of the National
Intelligence Council's 2020 Project
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The Impact of Culture on Business . . .

• Cultural differences affect every aspect of
  business life
• meetings, planning, control, teamwork,
  communication, recruiting, decision making . . .
• . . . and we all think that our way of doing
  things is the right way.
• But if we are to seize opportunities in the
  changing marketplace we have to learn to manage
  diversity, to understand and work with different
  ways of doing things.

Adapted from John Mole www.johnmole.com
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Cross-Cultural Capability in theBusiness School

• 3 units (all team-taught)
• International Awareness and Management Ethics
  (Level C)
• Working in an International Context (Level I)
• International Management (Level H)
• Cultural and linguistic sensitivity / fluency
• Ethical challenges in (international) management
• CSR, sustainability, international HRM
• Evolution of English as a lingua franca
• Culture-specific and culture-general approaches
  used
• Ethnocentrism and stereotyping highlighted
  throughout
• Focus on development of interpersonal /
  transferable skills
• Multi-dimensional, hybrid assessment

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Overview The International Jigsaw
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What makes an effective international manager
what we aim to develop and assess

• Ability to see the big picture
• Cultural sensitivity
• Curiosity
• Ethical management
• Language ability - English and foreign languages
• Empathy and respect for others
• Recognition of knowledge and educational gaps
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Tolerance of ambiguity, uncertainty and
  complexity
• Experience of having lived and worked abroad

Conceived and adapted by Ridolfo, M (03-10)
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What makes an effective international manager
what we aim to develop and assess

• A bility to see the big picture
• C ultural sensitivity
• C uriosity
• E thical management
• L anguage ability - English and foreign
  languages
• E mpathy and respect for others
• R ecognition of knowledge and educational gaps
• A daptability and flexibility
• T olerance of ambiguity, uncertainty and
  complexity
• E xperience of having lived and worked abroad

Conceived and adapted by Ridolfo, M (03-10)
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Cross-Cultural CapabilityExample ILOs

1. Understanding of, and ability to apply, the
   principles of effective communication in a
   cross-cultural context (C)
2. Appreciation of occasions where unethical
   behaviour might occur and the range of managerial
   practices possible to encourage ethical behaviour
   (C)
3. Understanding of the nature and complexity of
   social responsibility and ability to apply
   methodologies to critically examine moral,
   social, environmental and economic dilemmas (I)
4. Critical understanding of cultural differences in
   business protocol, organisational behaviour and
   management culture (I)
5. A critical appreciation of the nature and
   complexity of international organisations and
   management issues (H)
6. An ability to contribute effectively to the
   formulation, communication and implementation of
   management policy and practice in both national
   and international contexts (H)

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Cross-Cultural CapabilityLearning and
Assessment Philosophy

• Professional / real life focus - balancing
  theory and practice (hybrid model)
• Range of delivery methods, including E-Learning /
  Assessment
• Active and interactive learning environment
  role play, simulations etc
• Emphasis on critical reflection, through, for
  example, self and peer assessment
• Some engineering of assignment groups / pairs

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Cross-Cultural CapabilityExample assignments

1. Group presentation students play the role of
   business consultants / trainers, advising a UK
   audience on how to enter, and conduct everyday
   business interactions in, a specific foreign
   market (C)
2. Online group negotiation students negotiate
   virtually with representatives from an
   (initially undisclosed) Eastern culture, thus
   requiring them to adapt their persuasion skills
   and cultural expectations (I)
3. Report students write a (business) briefing
   report on the business and management culture in
   one of the N-11 countries, focusing on everyday
   business interactions and management practices
   (I)
4. Face-to-face negotiation (role play with tutor)
   a pair of students must explore and seek to
   resolve a complex cross-cultural business
   dilemma, by using appropriate communicative and
   suasive techniques (H)
5. Group presentation students prepare and deliver
   a cultural briefing, as well as a training
   programme, to a client, which will be sending a
   manager overseas (H)

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Lessons learned . . .

1. Students value and highly rate this subject when
   taught enthusiastically, knowledgeably and
   genuinely collaboratively (IAME and WiaIC are
   the highest-scoring units on C/I)
2. Recent feedback suggests that the embedding /
   dove-tailing of CCC with more mainstream
   subjects can add significant value to the student
   experience and enhance learning outcomes
3. Many students, particularly at Level H, have
   fascinating life and work experiences, which they
   are happy to discuss when prompted
4. Students increasingly struggle with the more
   complex material, due to a lack of wider reading
   (e.g. current affairs). Up-to-date and
   interesting case studies, to which they can
   relate, are key.
5. Putting the theory into practice remains a
   challenge, even for the more capable and empathic
   students. There remains a gap between students
   understanding the concepts and putting them into
   practice when actually working with students who
   are different from them.

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Lessons learned . . .

1. Some students have complained about being
   preached at. Tutors must be sensitive to
   delivering material passionately, but also
   objectively, enabling learners to form their own
   views, particularly in the areas of social
   responsibility, sustainability, global
   citizenship etc
2. Students engage particularly well with practical
   assignments. Such assignments need not be
   lightweight. The assignments we have developed
   are hybrids and must meet academically rigorous
   intending learning outcomes
3. For group-based work, students respond very
   positively to Self and Peer Assessment, provided
   the system is carefully explained, transparent
   and well-managed (8 years experience of using
   SPA)
4. Something must be working! Next year, 26 BABS
   students have opted for International
   Management, compared with 6 this year!

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Topics to explore . . .

• How might the pedagogy and assessment of
  cross-cultural capability impact more generally
  on HE strategy?
• What research potential is there in the pedagogy
  and assessment of cross-cultural capability?
• What are the challenges and opportunities that
  lie ahead for the pedagogy and assessment of
  cross-cultural capability?

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Questions? Comments?
Mark Ridolfo The Business School Bournemouth
University 01202 965525 mridolfo_at_bournemouth.ac.uk