Multicultural communication

All cultures have their own patterns, habits and customs, which are ingrained into the way they communicate, the way they behave and the way they make decisions.

Sometimes we think foreigners are strange. We may enjoy the differences they bring, although we also feel frustrated due to those differences in other situations. It may be difficult to accept their preferences and not to perceive them as a hindrance but as an opportunity to learn from them and build on them!

We regard intercultural competence as part of knowledge management and company-specific tacit knowledge. In our programme we enable the participants to understand this complex competence as a tool of strategic thinking and planning, as a source of competitive advantage and added value, and help them develop the related knowledge and skills during the training.

In this course participants will discover the fundamentals of cultural differences and the reasons behind them based on the Hofstede model. They will have an opportunity to compare their “home culture” to a “host culture” on various dimensions and they will receive hands-on practical tips on how to navigate in a multicultural environment.

Course objectives

• understand the nature and formation of a “culture”
• understand the reasons behind different cultural dimensions with help of the Hofstede model
• discover communication patterns and the thinking behind
• learn about plychronic and monochronic time perceptions and their impact on behaviour
• decode high-context and low-context messages
• better understand listening patterns of various cultures
• learn about business etiquette of selected cultures
• adapt communication to other cultures better

Topics

• what is culture – what shapes culture?
• The Hofstede dimensions
• the cultural applications of Hofstede at company
• low context and high context communication
• active listening patterns
• Monochronic and Polichronic time perceptions
• company specific situational exercises