ClassInfo

Final student comments from the online Spring 2019 section of this course include the following:

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In terms of key take-away's from this course, I feel that I have strengthened my own cultural intelligence by developing a better understanding of the different facets intertwined in international communications. I've also learned a great deal about international business, particularly in terms of how to approach future opportunities which are more and more readily available due to advancing technologies. Finally, I feel this course has reiterated basics about general communication and human psychology, which are core concepts that can make international communication more successful. The resources related to Hofstede and the Lewis culture model are two resources that I think I will refer back to readily.

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A couple of experiences that I will remember and that will influence my future work:

• Interviewing someone from a multinational company was terrific, because so many of our class concepts were validated:
  




• English is truly the lingua Franca. In my interviewee's (Geoff's) words: "English is the worldwide language." That brought me back to "...internationally operating business professionals are able to accomplish their work by using BELF..." (Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaaranta, 2012)
  


• Cultural differences, rather than language differences, tend to be the most challenging, according to Geoff. Case in point and quoting Geoff: "The Latin culture writes flowery, long-winded memos, while Anglos place their conclusion in the very first paragraph." The examples in Varner and Beamer's Chapter 2 support these kinds of communication differences with their many examples of business letters.
  


• While conducting the in-person interview at home, I had my Varner and Beamer textbook open to Chapter 11, which describes the differences between import/export firms, multinational firms, and global companies. So, I threw out the question: "Which kind of company do you work for?" Geoff knew exactly what I was asking and expounded on the state of his company - a multinational company that want to be global...and the ensuing cultural changes that would be required for making such a shift. I said to myself, "Yes!" This is all so relevant.
  




• The project management assignment gave me a great opportunity to try out tools and methods of communicating with my team across the Atlantic, for example, Skype, email, Google shared drive and docs, and Weebly. Also, experiencing the "ambiguity" of not knowing how the work would flow, how the team would work together, how the deadlines would be met, and how the final deliverable would shake out gives me a realistic taste for how projects in my present and future employment will feel. "Ambiguity" is the exact word spoken by my manager in a recent conversation - related to a project in the works. The message to me is that you have to forge ahead without having all of the facts - and that is a way of life...
  

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It has been great getting to know all of you and discussing these intricate topics together. I want to start by saying that I appreciate the conversations we have had in this course forum and that I have valued your insights throughout the lessons. Of the several topics I could have selected that have impacted me, I think Hofstede's "Power Distance" examples stood out as particularly useful. (Granted, in my opinion, his idea at times teeters on what I would describe as "ethnographic fallacy" (citation possibly needed) in which his 'Western' notions of "power" may color his "objective" experience/empiricism.) But on the whole, by analyzing low-context and high-context relational power, one can learn a great deal about the intricacies of cross-cultural communication and the diversity of group cohesion.

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There were multiple parts of the course that I will take forward with me. The first is the Varner and Beamer text. Typically, I wouldn't necessary say a textbook has had a ton of influence, but the chapters provided so much insight on experiences I had already and expanded on what I didn't know. I feel that I'm more equipped in recognizing and being conscious of my own behavior as well as others. I also am grateful for the translation project as it was by far the most intimidating. I felt my mettle was being tested and it most likely needed it. When I saw the final version of our project, I felt such pride in my team members. It was a great learning experience in team building, trust, and working with others whose native language isn't English.