Spring 2008 IMQ

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Integrating Culture and Management in Global Organizations

In This Issue...

Winter 2008 Vol. 9, No. 1

Professional Exchanges, Citizen Diplomacy and Credibility ............................................................................ 3

by Sherry Lee Mueller Challenges of Leadership ..................................................... 8

by Harriet Mayor Fulbright Understanding the Impact of Study Abroad ............. 11

by Richard A. Detweiler and Derek Vaughan Back to Basics in Diversity Training ............................... 15

by Ben Alexander Challenges of a Multicultural Workforce ..................... 19

by Ursula Leitzmann Managing Cosmological Space ........................................ 21

by Richard Harris

From the Editor As we go to press, the Intercultural Management Institute is busily preparing for its ninth annual conference. As in the past, we are pleased to offer IMQ as a venue in which to deepen and extend the presentations of conference panelists and speakers.

This edition reflects an interest in gauging the results and impact of intercultural management and exchange. How does citizen diplomacy affect visitors’ perception of America and its citizens?

Can leadership, even in circumstances that appear modest, create cross-cultural learning? What do we learn when we apply rigorous research methods to understand the impact of study abroad programs for university students? What are the factors that stand in the way of “meaningful, measurable and achievable” progress in diversity training?

Evaluation and accountability are essential to the process of creating change in any organization—good intentions are not enough. It is encouraging to see some of the leading voices in intercultural affairs exploring these themes (among others) in the pages that follow.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the conference on March 13-14 on the campus of American University. As always, I welcome your feedback on all aspects of IMQ. Please send your message to imqeditor@american.edu.

IMQ STAFF

Publisher: Dr. Gary R. Weaver Managing Editor: Chris Saenger

Editorial Review Board

David Bachner, Annmarie McGillicuddy, Adam Mendelson, Darrel Onizuka, Karen Santiago, Gary Weaver, Sherry Zarabi Intercultural Management Quarterly (IMQ) is published by the Intercultural Management Institute at American University. IMQ combines original research conducted in the field of interculutral management with the applied perspectives of industry experts, professors and students.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Professionals, scholars, and students are invited to submit articles of 1,000-2,000 words on issues related to the study and practice of intercultural management. Articles must be innovative and contribute to the knowledge in the field but should avoid overly academic jargon. Footnotes or endnotes are discouraged except for direct quotes or citations.

Each submission is refereed by the members of the IMQ editorial review board. Accepted pieces are subject to editing.

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Intercultural Management Quarterly © 2008 Intercultural Management Quarterly

Professional Exchanges, Citizen Diplomacy and Credibility

by Sherry Lee Mueller

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illiam Lederer and Eugene Burdick, authors of the landmark book The Ugly American, articulated bluntly a conclusion that many—including U.S. presidents and secretaries of state—have echoed often in the six decades since their novel was first published: “Average Americans, in their natural state, are the best ambassadors a country can have.”

Citizen diplomacy is the concept that the individual has the right, even the responsibility, to help shape U.S. foreign relations, ‘one handshake at a time.’ Citizen diplomats are unofficial ambassadors who either participate in exchange programs overseas or host and interact with international exchange program participants in the United States. With unheralded generosity, they give time, leadership skills, professional expertise, and their own money and other resources to sustain the local nonprofit organizations that comprise the infrastructure of U.S. citizen diplomacy.

To the extent that some of these exchange programs are funded, at least in part, by the U.S. government, citizen diplomacy is a fundamental part of U.S. public diplomacy. Polls indicate a deep and pervasive mistrust of official messages, yet most people distinguish between the policies of a government and the people of a country. Therefore, whatever administration is in power, it is in the long-term best interest of the United States to maximize the firsthand exposure foreigners have to U.S. citizens. It is critical that we strengthen the infrastructure already in place to make this possible. To win hearts and minds, we must make our differences with others understandable while underscoring our common human aspirations. America’s citizen diplomats excel at this.

Reliance on private-sector partners and citizen diplomats as the foundation of many U.S. government-

Sherry Lee Mueller is President of the National Council for International Visitors. Her book, Careers in International Education, Exchange, and Development, originally published in 1998, is being revised for re-publication with Georgetown University Press.

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sponsored exchanges gives these programs credibility. It distances participants from the U.S. government and enables a broader range of foreign leaders and scholars to accept invitations to participate. It demonstrates who we are and what we value, and it models the primacy of the private sector in the United States. The power of example is paramount: exchange program participants learn much more from the way we treat them and the way we organize their programs than they do from what any expert might tell them in a lecture or briefing. To the extent that free access to the diversity of the United States is an inherent part of a particular exchange program, the foreign participants will perceive how much we truly value freedom, openness, and our democratic institutions.

The Broad Scope of International Exchange There are many categories of exchange programs. Some exchange programs are regionally oriented, country focused, or based on linkages between two or more communities.1 Most are privately funded. Some are integral parts of official U.S. public diplomacy. For much of the general public, the mention of international exchange brings to mind images of well- known youth exchange programs such as the Experiment in International Living, AFS Intercultural Programs, the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship Program, or other vibrant youth exchanges. The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State periodically places renewed emphasis on youth exchange, and with good reason. Given the world’s changing demographics, reaching young audiences is essential.

However, the primary focus of this essay is professional exchanges, those programs that move adults across national borders for relatively short periods of time. Often these nonacademic programs are designed to link counterparts in a particular professional field.

The International Visitor Leadership Program The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), sponsored by the Department of State’s Office of International Visitors in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the flagship professional exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. In repeated

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Citizen Diplomacy… surveys, U.S. ambassadors rank this professional program first among sixty-four tools of public diplomacy available to them.2 In addition, the IVLP offers an excellent illustration of citizen diplomacy at work.

Inevitably, the program mirrors major cultural shifts and foreign policy preoccupations over time. The IVLP’s roots date to 1940, when the Department of State established the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, headed by Nelson Rockefeller, to counter Nazi propaganda in Latin America. Journalists from South America traveled by train throughout the United States to get firsthand exposure to U.S. citizens. After World War II, approximately 12,000 Germans were brought to the United States for relatively short-term programs described as “democratic reorientation.” In the 1960s, the process of inviting leaders of newly independent African nations to participate in the IVLP actually hastened our own progress toward integration and civil rights. Whatever nomenclature was used (for years the IVLP was

The IVLP is sustained and supported by a public-private partnership between the Department of State and the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV).

NCIV is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1961 by leaders of community organizations already working with the IVLP. NCIV estimates that each year approximately 80,000 volunteers are involved in the activities of the 90 community organization members that comprise the NCIV network. These volunteer citizen diplomats serve as local programmers, professional resources, home hosts, board members, drivers, and financial supporters of their organization’s work with the IVLP and other exchanges. Very early in the program, the Department of State wisely decided to place responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the program in the hands of private nonprofit organizations for four primary reasons.

First, expertise in the area of exchanges was historically rooted in the private sector. To illustrate, the Institute of International Education was founded as a nonprofit orgaExchange participants learn much more from the way we nization in 1919, whereas the Department of State first estreat them than they do from any expert or lecture tablished an Division of Cultural Relations in 1938. called the Foreign Leaders and Specialists Program), the goals of this premier professional exchange program have Second, philosophically, the United States embraced remained remarkably consistent: the Jeffersonian principle that the government is best which governs least. If the private sector has the capabil1. Link the foreign leaders with their U.S. counterparts, ity to do a job, the private sector should be utilized. providing a solid professional experience and in-depth, substantive exploration of key issues and diverse, balThird, economic factors played a role: it is less expenanced approaches to these issues. sive for a nonprofit organization to administer the program than for the U.S. government to do so. Nonprofits 2. Enable the visitors to gain a better understanding have the economic agility to hire staff on a seasonal basis of the history and heritage of the United States, a bet- and to adapt more readily to the shifting volume of visiter sense of who we are as a people and what we value. tor flows. Furthermore, their overall operating costs are Whether the visitor is a promising member of parlia- lower. They recruit and utilize volunteers effectively. ment (Margaret Thatcher, 1967) or an inquiring journalist (Hamid Karzai, 1987), the objective is to help him or Finally, by far the most important reason for involvher develop a nuanced appreciation of who we are and ing the private sector was to preserve the credibility of why we behave the way we do. It is “PR for Uncle Sam” the participants and of the program itself. Because the in the best sense of that term. It is a long-term invest- private sector partner organizations serve as a buffer ment in education—the visitors’ and our own. between the participant and the U.S. government, the

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IVLP has generally been considered untainted by propa- it. As Secretary of State Dean Rusk pointed out at a ganda, unlike comparable programs of some other coun- COSERV (former name of NCIV) conference in 1965, tries. The following excerpt from a U.S. embassy report “The government simply can’t do what you are doing. We captures this phenomenon: can’t render that kind of individual, sensitive, and personalized service such as you can and do render in your The visitor, while mentioning the excellent manner own communities. This voluntary spirit is of course a in which the program was organized, stressed espekeystone in the understanding which other people may cially his appreciation of the associations and friendhave of us ...” Decades later, Secretary of State Colin ships he was able to form ... Given the usually heavy Powell echoed these sentiments in his remarks at the hand of officialdom in the Turkish educational es2002 NCIV National Meeting: tablishment, the key sentence in the visitor’s letter is perhaps this one: “The arrangements for my visit were made entirely by private individuals and organizations to facilitate open and direct contacts with the many Americans and teaching staff I wished to meet.”

He seems to have been especially impressed by the freedom of movement implicit in the program’s organization and management…3

Similarly, in a 2003 report from an African post, two journalists comment favorably on the freedom of expression they observed in the United States. They note that during an anti-war demonstration they witnessed on the National Mall, the police were protecting and assisting the protesters, something unthinkable in their home country.

Your work leverages us in such an important way.

When you open your homes, when you open your communities, when you open your hearts to visitors from around the world, you give your guests a chance to see America at our best, to see our warmth and our base for diversity… Not only do you help acquaint visitors with what is in American hearts and on our minds, you also help to educate members of our own communities about hopes, fears and dreams of your visitors. As citizen diplomats, you bring world issues home to the American people in the most direct way possible.

Ambassador Howard Baker described the powerful impact of this public sector–private sector partnership in Tokyo at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the International Visitor Program hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Japan in 2004:

When alumni of the Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program reflect on their U.S. experiences, they seem most impressed by their encounters with the citizen diplomats they met during their travels. In a 2004 NCIV National Meeting address, Nadia Hashem Aloul, president of the National Society for the Enhancement of Freedom and Democracy in Amman, Jordan, and a 1999 alumna of the IVLP, observed:

Although the IVP is sponsored by our government, it is actually implemented in the United States by a great network of private citizens, ordinary Americans who volunteer their time and open their homes and hearts to Visitors from places like Japan. It is precisely this kind of people-to-people linkage that has allowed us to advance our relationship beyond mutual understanding to mutual trust.

Most importantly… I got personally attached to the country and to the friendly American citizens to the extent that I was filled with admiration for the vast continent and friendly population when I returned home. You will be surprised to hear that the whole group felt homesick for America, which proves that people are more or less the same though they are separated by natural or man-made barriers.

Secretaries of State have long recognized the value of the International Visitor Leadership Program and the network of citizen diplomats who support and sustain

Similarly, at the same event Jeremy Dwyer, president of Sister Cities New Zealand, former mayor of Hast-

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Citizen Diplomacy… ings, New Zealand, and a 1996 alumnus of the IVLP, declared: It wasn’t just the palpable elements of my programme: your magnificent hospitality, friendship, obvious pride, humour, volunteerism, professionalism, planning and focus, openness, advice, listening and discussion that pieced and sewed the tapestry so successfully together. There was another thread that at the same time was drawn from many of these facets and wove another dimension into the experience.

This was the real interface—the real impact—the opportunity—the understanding that was provided and energized by those who “people” such programmes… in every locality visited.

cational and cultural exchange; to strengthen the ties which unite us with other nations by demonstrating the educational and cultural interests, developments, and achievements of the people of the United States and other nations, and the contributions being made toward a peaceful and more fruitful life for people throughout the world; to promote international cooperation for educational and cultural advancement; and thus to assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic, and peaceful relations between the United States and the other countries of the world.

[Emphasis added.]

Thanks to a travel-study grant provided by the Institute of International Education, I was able to research the motivation of citizen diplomats through questionnaires and discussions with volunteers in seven cities throughout the United States. Subsequent travels have provided many opportunities to validate and elaborate

Perhaps the most telling summation of the impact of the program was provided by IVLP alumna Madhura M. Chatrapathy, trustee director of the Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives in “You welcomed a stranger and sent home a friend.”

Bangalore, India, to a Boston audience: “You welcomed a stranger and sent home a friend.” on the initial findings. The focus of the inquiry has been on citizen diplomats affiliated with the NCIV network.

The Impact on U.S. Hosts However, in comparing notes with leaders of sister orMost research on the impact of exchange programs fo- ganizations, it is possible to generalize about the reasons cuses on the impact of participation on the foreign visi- individuals engage in citizen diplomacy. tors—a critical outcome to be sure. If the exchanges were not turning strangers into friends, there would be no rea- 1. People volunteer and become involved in exchange proson to allocate scarce tax dollars to them. In comparison, grams to improve the education of their children relatively little attention is given to assessing the impact Aware of the abysmally poor record too many of our on U.S. hosts. The reasons citizen diplomats are drawn schools have in teaching geography, parents seek to develto work with exchanges reflect the impact of these same op their children’s global literacy. To fully appreciate this exchanges on U.S. communities and reveal other ben- reason, one may look at the results of the National Geoefits derived from investing in these programs. Focusing graphic polls that show a majority of American young on these reasons also harks back to the basic purpose of people has difficulty locating Iraq—or even Ohio.4 As a U.S. official exchanges articulated in the preamble of the volunteer in Freeport, Illinois, whose family frequently Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961: hosted international visitors for homestays or dinner hospitality phrased it, “My daughter can discuss intelThe purpose of this chapter is to enable the governligently places her classmates can’t find on a map!” ment of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of edu-

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Intercultural Management Quarterly

2. People opt to serve as citizen diplomats to counter the negative image of the United States abroad Even before the virulent anti-Americanism that has mushroomed in recent years, Americans have wanted to counter the image of the “ugly American” that has been all too prevalent. Aware that too many foreigners form their perceptions of who we are and what we value through our less than stellar television and film exports and other secondary sources, citizen diplomats want to add luster to Uncle Sam’s tarnished image.

vis Presley, he clearly grasped the concept that each American who interacts with foreigners, whether a business representative, NGO leader, government official, student, athlete, or rock star, has an obligation to consider how his or her actions reflect on our country and whether those actions project the best of who we are and what we value. There is a plaque in a Washington, D.C., park dedicated to Edward R. Murrow, former director of the U.S. Information Agency and a staunch champion of public diplomacy. It reads, “He helped the world know what America at its honest best could be.” It is imperative that we devote more resources to professional exchange—the public diplomacy programs that leverage so many private dollars and so much volunteer effort. It is this integral involvement of private citizens that lends credibility to the urgent enterprise of “winning hearts and minds.” Each of us needs to embrace our responsibility as individual citizen diplomats to help the world know what America at its honest best can be. i

3. Some citizen diplomats are motivated by a desire to contribute to the economic development of their communities In this time of relentless globalization, they want foreign decision-makers to know about their communities and the resources they offer. They understand that a productive and pleasant initial visit inspires future encounters, whether that translates into forming a business arrangement down the road, encouraging a niece to attend a university in that community, or returning 1. For an excellent overview of the variety of programs availas a tourist. For instance, the citizen diplomats in Charable and the structure of the organizations that run them, see lotte, North Carolina, want their foreign guests to know that Charlotte is the second largest financial center in The International Exchange Locator: A Resource Directory for the United States; the volunteers in Santa Fe hope that Educational and Cultural Exchange (Washington, D.C.: Altheir international guests return home appreciating the liance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange, fact that Santa Fe is the second largest arts center in 2005). the United States. Volunteers get involved in citizen di2. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Under Secretary plomacy because they want to make a difference in our for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Field Survey of Pubturbulent world. Horrified by the enormity and loomlic Diplomacy Programs (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2000). ing urgency of global problems requiring international solutions, these citizen diplomats are conscious of their 3. U.S. Embassy/Ankara to USIA/Washington, “Report responsibility to effect positive change. The common de- on FY ‘86 Individual Grantees: Dr. Ozcan Demirel and Kenominator among citizen diplomats—whether a Lakota malettin Yigiter,” June 10, 1986. youth leader in South Dakota or the owner of a CPA 4. Roper Public Affairs/National Geographic Education firm in Florida, who views his volunteer work as a way of “paying back”—is the idealistic intent to contribute Foundation, 2006 Geographic Literacy Study (New York: Roper Public Affairs, May 2006). to improved international relations.

222 In a retrospective film on his life, Elvis Presley is pictured in his army uniform having just arrived in Germany. He remarks, “What we do here will reflect on America and our way of life.” While the label “citizen diplomat” does not leap to mind when we picture El-

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© 2006 Public Diplomacy Council

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Challenges of Leadership

by Harriet Mayor Fulbright

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eadership is more than a prescribed behavior. It is more than an idea, the intelligence to express it clearly, and the power to carry it through. A leader must also have a high degree of self awareness, or the ability to see oneself accurately—and the ability to motivate others. In this global village we now live in a leader must also have empathy and understanding of other people and respect for their cultures, or the ability to see situations and feelings through another’s eyes; and the ability to make and maintain human connections through reaching out and through careful listening.

laptop computer during her leisure time, he asked her to show his teachers how to teach art. He explained to her that teachers did not want to come to his school because the village was so poor. Teacher housing was in terrible shape, and his school had no supplies. He was sure, however, that art could improve the look of the village. In his mind he could imagine brightly painted murals on his buildings and gardens of flowers with stepping stones.

Luckily, she had brought along a small case of art supplies and knew how to create art out of found objects, so she agreed and started with the teachers.

We are all called upon to lead, often in small but significant ways that have an impact on our families and circle of friends, our immediate communities and local organizations. The ripple effect of our actions can spread farther than we originally intended, and this makes our leadership important. For this reason I wish to call attention to examples of leadership that can be applied to us—to students and teachers, parents and children, and to members of small and large communities.

That afternoon she showed them how to make clay out dirt, flour, salt and water, and she taught the teachers the basic clay techniques, from the coil bowl and pinch pot to the slab tray. The next day the teachers gathered twigs and grass, and she taught them how to create small frames to be used for the self-portraits they had drawn.

Inspired, they cleared out an old storage room to use for art, and the program began. It went so well that when she returned home, she gave talks about her experience and persuaded local schools and businesses in the USA to send 250 pounds of art supplies to the school in Zimbabwe. Through this experience the students and local townspeople learned about another culture an ocean away, and they realized how valuable their help was in enriching other lives.

The Impact of the Arts The first is the story of a leader who used her training to expand the life and highlight the culture of a small village a continent away. Paula Taylor, an American artist and graphic designer who had been working with children in remote and destitute areas of Zimbabwe and South Africa for two months each year was given the opportunity to explore areas among the Luo and Maasai tribes in Kenya. Her objective was to repair leaking roofs in dilapidated classrooms and teachers’ houses at a rural school in Zimbabwe.

However, when the headmaster, who was a visionary, saw her helping the children draw simple graphics on her Harriet Mayor Fulbright is President of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, a non-profit organization which serves to advance the work of Ms. Fulbright’s late husband, Senator J. William Fulbright, and to continue her own life’s work.

The Fulbright Center promotes world peace and nonviolent means of resolving conflicts through international collaborations and education.

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“Since our first visit, three years ago,’ she wrote, “Sidakeni Primary School has progressed and is now known for its art program. The school is so popular that it cannot provide jobs for all the teachers who request positions there. The whole community has a new sense of pride in their school and in their village. Village craftsmen give classes regularly at the school and help students sell their crafts. In addition, a new well was dug on the school grounds and provides good water for the entire village. Sidakeni village is achieving its vision to make the world a better place for their children.”

Paula Taylor is a perfect example of the truth of Edmund Burke’s Statement: “No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”

Intercultural Management Quarterly

The Power of Collaboration Another example of creative leadership is more personal and has made a huge difference in my life as well as many thousands of others. In the year 2000, after being told for several years that I had a tendency toward anemia, one doctor realized that the problem lay elsewhere, and after more extensive tests, found that I had a rare form of blood cancer called Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia or WM. It was both fatal and incurable.

I conducted a thorough search of the world of oncology through the internet and uncovered a doctor who was focusing on just this disease at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Dr. Steve Treon is a caring, hard-working hematological oncologist who was feeling frustrated in his research on this form of cancer because there were so few of us patients in the US that he found it difficult to make progress in his efforts to find an effective response, much less a cure. We talked about the level of knowledge of WM in general, of my case in particular, about the benefits of international collaboration, and about how to improve the treatment available. I left feeling that I was getting the best possible medical attention and started the regimen he suggested—with great success. Soon after, Dr. Treon sent me an announcement of the first international conference on WM, to be held in Boston, and I was invited to attend and speak.

At this first meeting there were doctors from nine different foreign institutions and patients from around the country. There were the expected presentations of research in progress and unexpected interactions between patients and the attending physicians—conversations which were more leisurely and wide ranging than is possible in a hospital and were enlightening to both doctor and patient. There was also a pervasive enthusiasm about the potential for progress as a result of this interaction.

Today, five years later, the outcomes of this first international conference have exceeded everyone’s hopes and dreams. The cohesive community built around this rare disease has been able to conduct far more effective research than any one individual doctor or institute could perform because of the coordination and interaction,

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and the resulting knowledge of what causes WM and how to deal with it is growing exponentially. I am particularly pleased to report that they have among their number Fulbright scholars who are fulfilling their scholarship obligations as researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

As of the beginning of 2008 there are 25 research centers focusing on WM in Australia, Canada, the United States and throughout Europe, and Dr. Treon expects that number to double within 12 months. The conference’s ability to bring patients and doctors together has not only increased the understanding of the issues but has turned the patients into advocates of the work, thereby facilitating the fundraising necessary for continuing the research. The doctors involved are sharing their findings in a collaborative manner and planning trials in consultation with each other to maximize the knowledge gained.

Steve Treon understood the power of collaboration. He knew that if he shared the results of his research freely, he could attract like-minded physicians around the world.

The resulting knowledge about Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia is expanding rapidly, and—who knows?— there might even be a cure in sight soon.

The Fulbright Exchange Program My final example is also close to home, in a very different way. Weeks after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Senator J. William Fulbright held hearings in the Senate to gather information on the long-term effects of the effects of the blasts and the subsequent radiation. Because he was a professor before he became a politician, used to doing broad and intensive research, those he called upon to testify before him came from a wide variety of relevant fields—biologists, medical experts, psychiatrists—and what he heard so horrified him that he spent the next several months talking with friends, relatives and colleagues about how to help prevent World War III. Slowly it became clear to him that his experience as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford could show him the way. He had long realized that not only did he learn to write and

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Fulbright… reason, thanks to his superb tutor, but his view of the world had expanded, and he understood that there were valid ways of interacting with people other than those he had been taught at home. Bill Fulbright concluded that the experience he was given, multiplied among future potential leaders the world over, might encourage a greater willingness to interact with those of another culture. If outstanding students could be persuaded to study in another country for long enough to confront and appreciate its differences, they might, when they became leaders, prefer the exchange of ideas instead of bullets to settle conflicts.

The formulation of plans for an international education program was only the beginning of his struggle.

The prevailing outlook among his Senate colleagues was isolationist, and Fulbright knew he had to find funding outside the normal annual appropriations. That proved to be a real headache until the Surplus Military Goods Act began to wend its way through Congress. This bill was designed to allow for the sale of the U.S. military supplies left all over the world at the end of World War II, not for cash, which no war-torn country had, but for credit, and it was just what the junior Senator from Arkansas needed. Once it passed through his office, added to the bill’s language was one more sentence: “these credits shall only be used for the purposes of international educational exchange.”

Two years later small boatloads of college graduates began to make their way across both oceans to spend an academic year immersed in the culture of another country. They returned exhilarated, with a deeper more profound understanding of not only a different part of the world but of their own country. Within a decade and a half, the benefits of the program became evident, and in 1961 Congress passed the Fulbright-Hayes Act to allow for annual government appropriations to support the program.

Today the Fulbright Program boasts well over a quarter of a million alumni from 140 countries and active support from nations on all five major continents. It has not only changed attitudes but created vibrant networks among academics, businesses and professions of all types.

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No one can prove that it has prevented another world war, but I have been told by several ambassadors who were Fulbright scholars that the knowledge of another country, gained through study abroad, has significantly eased the normal tensions among countries.

Senator Fulbright developed a vision out of his own experience and translated it into a program that has exerted profound changes in attitudes and our manner of dealing with each other. As he said, Creative leadership and liberal education, which in fact go together, are the first requirements for a hopeful future for mankind. Fostering these—leadership, learning, and empathy between cultures—was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program that I was privileged to sponsor in the U.S. Senate... It is a modest program with an immodest aim—the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty system of power of the past. I believed in that possibility when I began. I still do.

As you can see, leadership is about listening and interacting with those around you, knowing how to use your skills and equipment to benefit others. It is about conducting an examination of a problem, careful enough to understand the core of that problem, and knowing how to arrive at a truly effective solution. It is a willingness to reach out and collaborate freely with others on a problem of common interest, no matter how daunting. It always takes hard work and perseverance With these attributes a leader can engage the hearts and loyalty of a friend, a community, a nation, or any group so that all its members can together engage in meaningful work leading to satisfying improvements and accomplishments. Like Paula Taylor, Dr. Steve Treon, and Senator J. William Fulbright, we can all give real meaning to the words of Margaret Meade: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has.” i

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Understanding the Impact of Study Abroad1

by Richard A. Detweiler and Derek Vaughan

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tudy abroad programs differ not only in location, but also in length, curricular focus, language of instruction, extra-curricular involvement, academic setting, student accommodations, and in many other ways. In addition, there are many types of experiences available: foreign institutions offering direct enrollment to U.S. students, one-to-one exchange programs between U.S. and foreign institutions, programs run by individual institutions solely for their own students, large institutionally managed programs open to students from any institution, and hundreds of professionally managed programs run by for-profit study-abroad organizations.

Indeed, the ways in which programs differ have become so numerous and varied that it has become difficult for administrators and students to know which programs best suit particular academic or personal goals.

There is relatively little high-quality, objective information available on the impact of the various program types. Although organizations routinely administer poststudy-abroad evaluation instruments, the methods used are typically student reports of satisfaction with the experience. Little attention is paid to program design and specific learning outcomes; in particular, the relationship between program design and learning outcome is virtually unexplored. In fact, what learning outcome is sought—whether technical proficiency, mastery of a body of knowledge, or cultural insight—is frequently undefined. As such, assessing which program types accomplish which learning outcomes is a substantially unexplored question.

Answering the “which program is best for which purpose” question requires an understanding of three topics. First, what are the reasons why we want students to enroll, and what are the reasons why they do enroll, in study-abroad programs? The reasons are legion: from a

Richard A. Detweiler is president of the Great Lakes College Association and former president of Hartwick College. Derek Vaughan is Vice President for Finance and Administration at the Great Lakes College Association.

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public policy perspective the rationale can be to better prepare people to compete in a global economy; from an educational perspective it can be to develop particular knowledge (e.g., language competence) or expertise (e.g., regional political dynamics); and from a student perspective it can be to prepare for life after college, develop new knowledge and expertise, and/or have an interesting adventure and break from regular college classes.

Second, what measurement methodologies are most appropriate to assess various outcomes: attitudes, knowledge, opinions, intentions, expectations, or behavior?

Attitudinal measures—those used in most study abroad research—may be important but the social psychological research literature indicates that they are usually weak predictors of actual behavior, knowledge, or understanding.

Third, what type of research design gives results in which we can have the greatest confidence? The typical study abroad research asks students after they return to report on the nature and impact of their experience.

While this post-test-only design may give useful feedback on ways to improve a particular program, it cannot give persuasive information about the impact of a particular study abroad experience. To know whether the program itself had impact, one must have a way of comparing responses, whether that be through the use of before-and-after measures, the use of a similar comparison group that did not have a study abroad experience, or, preferably, both.

The purpose of this project was to develop a scale that would allow an understanding of the impact of study abroad on liberal arts learning outcomes—the defining characteristic, and underlying structure, of virtually all American undergraduate education. In our research we sought to 1) identify educational outcomes associated with liberal arts education in particular (as opposed to technical or content knowledge); 2) develop a way of measuring liberal arts learning in study-abroad context; and 3) develop a taxonomy of study abroad program characteristics. While our work to date reports only on the development of the scale, the instruments are de-

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Impact of Study Abroad… signed to be used in a longitudinal (pre- and post-test) design with a non-study-abroad comparison group.

Outcomes Definition and Instrument Development 1. Liberal Arts Learning Associated With Study Abroad.

Identifying liberal arts learning goals proved to be a challenging task: many of the goals identified by institutions are vague, unclear, or in some cases non-existent.

Through a process of analyzing and compiling institutional statements, discussions among faculty and study abroad advisors, and further work by a team of educators,2 a set of learning goals was developed: Students should attain I. The ability to reason by developing an understanding that: A. Culture influences how one thinks and reasons.

B. There are differences between cultures that influence norms.

C. Without being judgmental, cultural similarities and differences can be analytically compared and contrasted.

D. Certain universals of human existence transcend cultural differences.

II. Self-reflective insights that: A. Allow one to understand that one’s culture has shaped his/her values or beliefs.

B. Allow one to continue the development of his/her personal identity (values, beliefs, goals, etc.) based on a multicultural perspective.

III. A capacity for effective action, which includes: A. The skills to operate effectively in multicultural and intercultural situations.

B. The motivation to address issues of contemporary global concern.

2. A Scale to Measure Liberal Arts Learning Outcomes After having reviewed a number of instruments used to assess student learning for study abroad, we decided that our instrument would have two different types of items: choice alternatives and scenarios. The “choice alterna-

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tives” items are similar to those in most study-abroad research—they consist of a student self-report about the program and its impact on their thinking and behavior.

The “scenarios” items require students to actually make intercultural or international judgments by reading a brief story about a situation and then choosing the best response from among a number of alternatives.

These scales, consisting of 24 scenarios and 24 choice alternatives (three for each of the components of our three liberal arts goals) were developed through an expert feedback process involving three expert review panels (with feedback and revisions after each) as well as two pilot administrations of the instruments.

3. Typology of Key Characteristics of Study-abroad Programs Difficulties arise in attempting to assess outcomes when there is “no precise language to differentiate or categorize the types of study-abroad experiences” that students are having.3 Though much literature exists on the history and increased popularity of study abroad, there is a scarcity of literature that addresses categorization or standardized language with regard to program types that might assist in the effort to evaluate data about studyabroad outcomes. Thus an “apples and oranges” problem exists in attempts to evaluate the outcomes of the various study-abroad programs in which our students take part.

In order to provide a more consistent framework for comparing study-abroad programs, a review of the literature analyzed discussions, descriptions, and characteristics of current and past study-abroad programs. The review examined proposed typologies and the associated program characteristics for the various program types.

The literature review revealed a number of program characteristics that can be associated with most studyabroad programs.4 While some of these characteristics might be better assessed by institutional administrators (e.g., aspects of the program management), for this instrument only the student-evaluated characteristics have been included.

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Pilot Test A total of 270 students from four different institutions completed the instrument: 128 pre-study abroad and 142 who had recently completed a study abroad experience.

Forty-one percent of the participants reported participating in a program run by their own school, 11% in another college’s program, 11% by direct enrollment in a university abroad, and 31% in a program run by a study-abroad organization. The overwhelming majority (79%) participated in a semester long program; most (66%) had no language requirement though 43% of the programs used some or a lot of foreign language in instruction.

Course instruction was most often characterized as including disciplinary content (78%), country-specific information (63%), and intercultural information (57%). The average percentage of time spent on each of the following activities was: personal/recreational/sightseeing (35%), classroom (31%), and course related visits/travel (15%).

Sixty-one percent of the classes comprised mostly American students, and the majority (52%) of classes were held at a local university. Fifty percent reported a high level of interaction with native citizens outside of class time.

The following parts of the study-abroad experience were judged most important (on a seven point scale, with 1 meaning “not very worthwhile” and 7 meaning “very worthwhile”): immersion (6.8), excursions to various parts of the country (6.8), and independent travel (6.8). The least important were reported to be: living in a dorm (5.3) and coursework (5.1).

Winter 2008

Finally, study abroad was seen to contribute most to: personal development (6.7) and a more positive view of the host country (5.7). Students report that they now most often: have improved global awareness (6.4), increased plans to travel (6.3), and that they think often about their study-abroad experiences (6.3). Finally, seventy-two percent have communicated with someone from the host country since returning.

Students’ ability to actually demonstrate the achievement of liberal arts learning goals through the judgments they make was generally low. This pattern can be seen in the accompanying graph, in which the tall bars represent the pre- and post-measures on the choice-alternative self report items and the lower bars the pre- and post-measures on the scenario judgments (in both cases, the results are expressed as a percentage of a “perfect” score, whether that be a rating of 7 on a seven point scale or choosing the best intercultural response).

Since most research on study abroad’s impacts to date has been self-report data, this is a particularly significant observation based on this pilot data. Whether these two different approaches to assessing liberal arts learning are measuring the same or different concepts cannot be concluded until a full, longitudinal-design, study involving a larger sample of students is completed.5 Discussion The pilot implementation of these instruments and the results of the data analyses indicate that the instruments developed have potential value when used to assess the impact of study-abroad program characteristics on liberal arts learning outcomes. As described above, conclusions about program design can only be confidently made when the instruments are applied in a longitudinal de-

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Impact of Study Abroad… sign with an appropriate comparison group of students who do not have a study-abroad experience. By measuring gains—more specifically the degree of gains—for students participating in various programs (as compared to those who don’t study abroad), relative gains can then be statistically related to characteristics of the study-abroad program. With a large enough data set, and the addition of a non-study-abroad comparison group, it will be possible to identify the characteristics best suited for certain types of gains, especially those related to liberal arts learning. Conclusions in this regard await a large-scale data collection project. i Notes 1 The work reported here was supported by a grant from the Teagle Foundation of New York. It is a collaborative effort of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and the Associated Colleges of the South. We are grateful to the involvement of faculty and study abroad directors from many of our 42 colleges.

2 David Burrows, Provost, Lawrence University spearheaded this effort.

Intercultural Management Institute

Skills Institutes and

Symposia

3 Engle, L. and Engle, J. (2003), Study Abroad Levels: Toward a Classification of Program Types. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, Volume IX, 1-20.

4 This effort was spearheaded by Derek Vaughan of GLCA. 5 Two of the more noteworthy findings reported here are that there is little difference between the answers students give before going and after returning from study abroad, and that the cultural scenarios offer a much less auspicious portrait of what students have gained than do the self-report questions.

These findings are both interesting and troubling. If a full study supports these findings—which it may not—it is possible that the explanation could lie in something as simple as the nature of post-experience debriefings which should focus on cultural learning or on the integration of study abroad insights into other courses after students return.

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www.imi.american.edu for schedule and registration

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Back to Basics in Diversity Training

by Ben Alexander

“What I want is a workshop that will build upon the EEO and fair employment practice training that you have done for us and take us to a place of improving relationships across all of the differences that sometimes keep us from achieving our potential for effectiveness.

Basically, I want a workforce where interactions are driven by respect for the other person. So, what can you offer us? And, by the way, the gumbo they serve here is the best in town.”

I

t was a wonderful New Orleans afternoon in the fall of 1984. My client had suggested lunch at a nearby cafe to talk about next steps around equal employment opportunity (EEO) training in his organization.

The challenge that he had placed before me felt both exciting and timely. As I gave him my plans for a workshop that would meet his needs I had no idea that I was about to enter an obscure and emerging zone of awareness that would, within ten years, become a global business issue.

At that time workforce diversity was not a well recognized term in most corporate and academic settings. My search efforts took me to McGill University in Montreal where Dr. Nancy Adler, then Chair of the Department of Diversity Studies, was breaking new ground in this area. She helped me to understand how many of the differences that my client wanted to address were based in cultural experiences that gave individuals an almost unconscious sense of what should be valued, how things should be done and the where and when of drawing lines of appropriateness. Her work supported the premise that organizations capable of recognizing and responding to these differences in an appropriate manner could be more effective in their business relationships than those

Ben Alexander is Senior Partner at Alexander Consulting & Training, Inc. He has designed and presented workshops in human resources management, workforce diversity and dispute resolution to thousands of participants in over two-hundred private and public organizations.

Winter 2008

that could not. Whatever this thing called “diversity” was, it seemed to be right on target with what I (and my client) needed.

Equipped with the client’s business case and a working definition of diversity, I was able to identify the various cultures within my client’s organization and how the dynamics created by different cultural expressions impacted important relationships. This was done through focus group assessments and interviews with individual employees. The data from these assessment efforts were used to design a workshop that enabled the participants to have hands on experiences in expressing, engaging and resolving problems and conflicts that represented recurring themes around these dynamics.

Exploring their own differences for the purpose of improving organizational effectiveness was the job of the workshop participants. We tried to stay out of their way as they told us what was important to them. Sometimes conflicts that appeared to be based upon occupational differences were expressed as gender issues; sometimes assumptions of racial issues were inextricably interwoven with the regional cultural differences (e.g., north and south) that were thematic within the organization.

Our job was to provide a safe environment for discussing these differences and ensuring that appropriate links were made with the non-negotiable legal and regulatory requirements and organizational goals for effectiveness.

The presence of our client and his top management staff was felt throughout the workshop as well as in the post-workshop commitments around follow-up actions.

Feedback from all levels convinced us that the training intervention had been successful.

Almost 25 years that have passed since that inspirational bowl of gumbo on the New Orleans waterfront.

During that time I have seen diversity move from relative obscurity in the mid-1980s to a widely recognized, sometimes controversial issue 10 years later and now to something that “everyone is doing.” Despite this apparent progress, I often wonder how much real progress we have made in developing cultural competency—that is, understanding the how, when, and where aspects of ap-

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Diversity Training… plying this learning to actual situations that are important to organizational effectiveness.

are not able to explain their organization’s desire to do this training beyond the fact that they have not done it or they see it as a “quick fix” because they have had a few complaints of discrimination. My second thought was about the influence of top management upon the success of diversity initiatives. There is no question in my mind that our most successful training experiences have been linked to the strong presence of top managers at every phase of development, implementation and follow-up.

Typically these were managers who were able and willing to communicate personally the specific reasons for the training based upon data specific to the organization.

They could articulate their expectations for success along with how they will recognize it when it occurs. These managers also made a commitment to the steps that they will take to achieve the goals behind the training. From that point it was a simple, but not always easy, matter of “walking their talk” as they monitored and responded to

I’m not the only one with this question. A few weeks ago a colleague sent me an article describing a survey conducted by the Washington Post newspaper entitled “Why Diversity Training Is Not Effective.” As a diversity trainer, I found the title disturbing, but not surprising.

The article was based upon assessments of top managers in companies that had done diversity training who felt that the training had not resulted in changes that were beneficial to the organization. Although I was willing to agree with some of their conclusions, there was a flaw in their analysis. First, it assumed “diversity training” is a specific training course or approach. There is much diversity among diversity training and diversity trainers. Everything from a two-hour briefing to a week-long cultural sensitivity course and everything in between is delivered under the heading of “diversity training.” As I continDiversity does not mean “color blindness.” The idea is not ued to read the article to eliminate points of difference but rather to use these difit became apparent ferences to the organization’s advantage. that an absence of clear goals and measures made it difficult to determine what constitutes success. In fact, vague measures the progress of the organization. These attributes, demof success, when they even existed, appeared to be based onstrated by my client in New Orleans are still a practiupon reductions in the number of complaints filed by cal blueprint for success. employees and increased hiring of minorities and women along with decreases in attrition for both groups. These So, how do we get back to the basics of effective diverEEO and affirmative action/affirmative goals are actually sity training? After 25 years in the field, I can share some unrealistic and inappropriate measures of the impact of best practices and lessons learned. The following “top diversity training. Finally, employees’ “happiness” with ten” list gives you some proven don’ts in terms of what mandated training, while a useful indicator of course often causes diversity programs to fail (the items are content and trainer skill, is not an indicator of individual listed in reverse numerical order to demonstrate the imor organizational learning. portance of the critical bottom line of leadership, which certainly impacts all of the other items). Use these items As I continued reading two thoughts began to form. as a checklist for getting off to a good start. Chances are The first was my own awareness of how the general ac- that you will have a number of things to add to your list ceptance of diversity training as something that “every- but these ten items may offer useful guidance for stickone should do” seemed to be leading to a “magic wand” ing to the basics. mind-set that once diversity training happens everything should be better. I was seeing this in the number of calls we receive from Human Resources or EEO officials who

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Intercultural Management Quarterly

Ten Reasons Why Diversity Programs Fail 10. Using the term “diversity” in lieu of race, gender, ethnicity and other specific categories Diversity is the all-inclusive end result of the many cultures and categories that make up the organization.

It is more than race, gender and ethnicity. When we say “diversity,” but really mean “race” or “ethnicity,” it is a source of confusion, miscommunication and misunderstanding. Diversity is not a specific group of individuals.

For example, while it would be appropriate to say, “our organization is lacking racial or gender diversity in terms of its overall makeup,” statements along the lines of, “we need more diverse people” come off as meaningless and confusing.

9. Confusing diversity with EEO and Affirmative Action/ Affirmative Employment Equal employment opportunity has to do with eliminating discrimination in the workplace. Affirmative action/affirmative employment efforts are focused specifically on hiring from specific categories for the purpose of eliminating imbalances caused by past discrimination and removing barriers created by current practices. Diversity, on the other hand, is about recognizing and responding to culturally-based differences that may impact working relationships and organizational effectiveness.

These are different terms with different requirements and outcomes. They are highly interactive in terms of overlapping issues, but they are not interchangeable.

8. Using diversity training to prevent complaints As discussed above, diversity transcends legal and regulatory concerns. The prevention and resolution of discrimination complaints is basically an equal employment opportunity objective that can be assisted through awareness and responsiveness to diversity dynamics. Rather than prevent complaints, diversity awareness may actually increase complaints as the message to employees is often one of open communications. Instead of expecting it to prevent complaints, you can use diversity awareness to resolve complaint issues, correct situations known to cause complaints and improve relationships.

Winter 2008

7. Paying too much or too little attention to issues involving differences It is not unusual for organizations to ask for diversity training based upon an event or complaint that creates a high level of concern. They often request the training before determining the magnitude of the problem as it relates to the organization’s diversity objectives. At the same time organizations often fail to respond to important diversity issues because they are not packaged or presented in a manner that generates concern around complaints or legal issues. Diversity dynamics that are frequently missed are those involving administrative/ non-exempt employees, working parents, and generational diversity.

6. Mistaking silence for satisfaction A sure sign that the thinking of the organization is being driven by the avoidance of complaints is when it views employee silence as desirable. When organizations fail to elicit or encourage employee feedback, the silence that is mistaken as satisfaction can actually be caused by fear of retribution, resignation or resentful acceptance of negative conditions. The front page of the local newspaper is not how you want to learn about unspoken expressions of dissatisfaction. Don’t assume. Create opportunities for representative groups of employees to have safe conversation about things that are facilitating and hindering their success.

5. Substituting “color blindness” for diversity awareness We regard this expression as a sure sign that the point and meaning of diversity has been misunderstood. Basically, diversity is about recognizing the differences that exist among groups, when it is appropriate to do so, for purposes of inclusion, respect and cross-cultural understanding. The idea is not to eliminate or subordinate the points of difference that may define the cultural groups that make up the organization. Rather, it is to use these differences to the organization’s advantage.

4. Expecting organizations to be immune to society’s issues The fact is that organizations are a cross-section of our society. For example, if sexual orientation is a challenging issue for our society (it is), it will also be a challenging issue when it surfaces in our organization. The only true

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Diversity Training… difference is how the unique cultures of the organization may impact the expression of the values, beliefs, sensitivities and preferences that are expressed in the larger society.

3. Viewing diversity awareness as something that is optional Diversity is. We have diversity no matter who is in our workforce by virtue of the fact that we are all unique individuals with similarities and differences. How well we understand the cultural differences that exist among the people who do the work, as well as those that exist among our customers and stakeholders, affects our working relationships as well as our organization’s performance, productivity and profitability.

2. Actual or perceived exclusion of white men as part of the organization’s diversity Diversity is about recognizing and responding to all of the groups that make up the organization for the purpose of inclusion. A failure to include any recognizable group takes the initiative away from diversity and to gives it to something else, which could turn out to be a definition of illegal discrimination.

1. A lack of leadership presence and commitment There is no question that the number one reason diversity programs and initiatives fail is lack of management support and commitment. There is a direct correlation between an effective diversity program and the visibility of organizational leadership.

There is no trainer out there who is good enough to take the place of this leadership presence. Nor are there any games, ice-breakers or “fun exercises” capable of generating more attention and interest than sincere and forthright expressions of purpose, expectations and personal commitment from organizational leaders.

2. What do we already do well? In other words, recognize past and current success.

3. How can attending to diversity dynamics enhance teamwork, productivity and/or profitability?

With the answers to these questions, you can establish training objectives that are meaningful, measurable and achievable.

In conclusion, my personal belief is that there is a lot of good diversity training going on out there that is benefiting organizations in ways that may not be as immediately apparent as the outcomes of, let’s say, an effective report-writing workshop. After all, diversity awareness is about cultural competency—developing increasingly higher levels of the capability to recognize and respond to human differences in a manner that supports the relationships needed for organizational effectiveness. This is not a learning task that can be evaluated within a few days of completing the training. In fact, it is a task that requires an evaluation of the total organization in terms of policies, programs and practices designed to support the individual learning that was to have taken place during the training.

Diversity training is no different from any other type of training; it is important to have realistic outcomes and clear measures of success. I think that my client in New Orleans understood this very well. I am also sure that this is how we were able to put on a great diversity workshop long before we knew that we were “doing diversity.” i

So what must you do to be successful? It pretty basic. I work with organizations to answer these three questions: 1. What is the business case for diversity? In other words, what is the link to your vision, values and mission?

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Intercultural Management Quarterly

Challenges of a Multicultural Workforce

by Ursula Leitzmann

B

uilding a multicultural workforce is one of the fastest routes to global competitiveness. It is also the best way to promote and facilitate cross-cultural understanding and collaboration. The challenges, though, are multi-faceted. The sine qua non of managing a culturally diverse workforce is cultural competence, which is built on three principles: 1) awareness that our cultural “programming” is responsible for our perception of reality and determines our default assumptions about proper workplace behavior; 2) curiosity and openness toward “otherness” in order to recognize, develop and manage talent in a diverse workforce; and 3) conscious knowledge of culture-specific behavior patterns, attitudes and worldviews that are different from ours including the ability to switch between different cultural perspectives (empathy).

In other words, we need to understand the different cultural perceptions that drive people’s behavior, employ empathy to communicate effectively across these differences and acquire the ability to manage the differences.

The latter is crucial to the success of a culturally diverse workforce. Many organizations with a culturally diverse workforce do not go beyond the first step. They recognize superficial cultural differences and encourage the workforce to celebrate them. However, the unstated assumption remains that members of minority cultures are expected to adopt the dominant company behaviors as the path to success.

The challenge is to make the adaptation process transparent, to bring hidden assumptions to the foreground and acknowledge them as an important part of the visible company culture. In any multicultural interaction, someone has to adapt. Understanding this dynamic is a good starting point but it does not answer the key question of accountability for managing cultural differences: “who adapts to whom?” Significantly, there is no one-

Ursula Leitzmann serves as manager for Training and Development at IOR Global Services in Northbrook, Illinois.

Winter 2008

size-fits-all answer. Who adapts to whom depends on the situation (whose “turf ” are we on?), the objectives of a task or project, as well as on the individual cultural sensitivity and cultural competence of the manager in charge.

Often, based on the notion of fairness (a strong American value) seeking the middle ground seems appropriate.

Yet, from a cultural competence perspective, this might not be the best choice. Compromise waters down the strengths that each cultural representative brings to the workplace. Ideally, in a multicultural work environment, the manager builds on all perspectives present, thus allowing for synergies to emerge instead of suppressing them in the name of fairness.

Consider the example of the on-boarding process of culturally diverse newcomers to a to an American organization. A good starting point is to map cultural behaviors to different business functions and traditional expectations in the organization. Regarding the performance management process, motivation and rewards: how do the newcomers feel about featuring “the employee of the month”? Is this something that makes them feel appreciated or embarrassed? What is an effective way to receive feedback from their superior: directly and individually, or indirectly through a member of his/her in-group to save face? How do the new employees best respond to tasks and assignments: do they prefer close guidance with step-by-step directions where the leader must tell what needs to happen next and it is disrespectful to assume otherwise? In a typical U.S. organization, such practice would likely be perceived as “micro-management” and an insult to a worker’s competence. Instead, employees generally prefer to know the expected outcome and then “take the ball and run with it” to prove their ability to take initiative, another strong work-related value in the U.S. In general, if employees do not show initiative they are often perceived as incapable or unwilling to contribute.

Once we have mapped the cultural differences, the next step is to bridge them through mindful communication. Although English is the default language used in global business, we often mistakenly conclude that our language conveys the same meanings. Being fluent in English as a second language does not ensure that accu-

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Multicultural Workforce… rate communication transpires between native and nonnative speakers. Non-native speakers commonly translate words literally or maintain the meaning that the same word has in their native language.

For example, imagine an American supervisor who reads a draft report written by a new hire from Germany and comments that “it’s a good start.” Literally translated into German, the phrase means that one is in a good position (that is, at the start) and if one continues in the same direction (that is, towards the goal), one will succeed. What a disappointment when this employee finds out that “a good start” is nothing but a nice way of saying that the report needs a more or less complete overhaul. It is the newcomer’s challenge here to interpret the meaning of the message from the U.S. colleague’s perspective.

Likewise, it is the American’s responsibility to be cogni-

work relationships, it is indispensable to apply the attributes described earlier. Taking a perspective of empathy, we hone our ability to understand the other’s point of view—cognitively and emotionally—without negative attributions to the different viewpoints. Having empathy, however, does not mean that we must adopt the other’s perspective, rather we remain open to how it best serves the whole. This attitude places us in a position of conscious choice when it comes to attracting, selecting, motivating and retaining a talented, multicultural work force.

Mapping and bridging the cultural divide is followed by the creation of a cultural work charter, which is developed against the backdrop of a particular work context and its work objectives. A new set of criteria to determine employee qualification and evaluate competence is developed, thus re-defining the organizational Who adapts to whom? Whose “turf ” are we on? culture and making it explicit and known to all involved. This culzant of his or her idiomatic speech patterns (“slang”) and tural work charter, in which every member has a stake, to be aware of a potential conflict that might arise out of ideally integrates cultural differences, looking at the ada different understanding on the part of the newcomer. vantages of multiple perspectives. Once we abandon the The U.S. colleague might be perceived as deceptive or dualistic approach that says, “if I am right and you think dishonest, for example, because she did say what she re- or behave differently, then you must be wrong” and really meant. Because it is so difficult to become self-aware place it with an approach that says, “you have different around this issue, a more sensitive and effective approach talents than I do; how can we use our talents to make to this scenario would be to ask the newcomer to para- our workforce successful?”, then we are well on our way phrase or explain the message conveyed to ensure a com- to creating value out of difference in today’s multiculturmon comprehension. al workforce. i “Don’t beat around the bush,” or, “let’s put the cards on the table,” both of which are common statements in the American workplace, reflect the American preference for a direct communication style and a task oriented mindset. Given these preferences, a new employee who comes from a different cultural background and who has difficulty saying “no” or is incapable of addressing certain issues directly, particularly to his superior, could be easily interpreted or labeled as indecisive, insecure or even weak. In order to identify and utilize the values this person brings to the workplace, which might be a great ability to create and maintain harmonious and loyal

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Intercultural Management Quarterly

Managing Cosmological Space

by Richard Harris

Part 2 of a Series

The universe is not alien; it influences or determines the fate of human beings and is yet responsive to their needs and initiatives. –YI-FU TUAN

T

he U.S. Department of the Interior has responsibility for, among other matters, the management of the National Park system. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan nominated as its head James Watt, a political crony with a dubious record of environmental sensitivity. Asked at his confirmation hearing about his credentials for a job that involved preserving for future generations the magnificent wilderness areas of the U.S., Watt blithely replied that he was not sure “how many generations we can count on before the Lord returns.”

His appointment was confirmed.

An extreme example, perhaps, but all views as to the relevance of planning for the future are ultimately dependent on inner convictions, religious or secular, of what that future will be and how much influence humans can have over it. Such convictions, consciously or unconsciously held, are part of what I mean by the cosmological perspective, a concept I introduced in the Fall 2007 issue of IMQ. In this article I shall consider three related aspects or manifestations of difference in cosmological outlook which are of particular concern to managers in multicultural situations: religious beliefs, environmental concepts, and views regarding human rights and relations. In this era of globalization, corporate social responsibility, environmental awareness, and business ethics, cultural differences in these aspects of metaphysical worldview assume a new and vital imporDr Richard Harris is a tenured professor in the Faculty of Management at Chukyo University, Japan, where he has lived for over 25 years. He teaches intercultural communication in Japanese at undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the author of Paradise: A Cultural Guide, a study of cross-cultural concepts of the ideal.

Winter 2008

tance. Our cosmological outlook is fundamental to every facet of our lives, influencing our behavior, our attitudes, our communication, and our deepest beliefs.

A basic value of human culture is belief regarding the extent to which human beings are in control of, or subject to, forces in the world around them. There is a continuum that features, at one extreme, the post-Enlightment confidence that reason and science will eventually enable humans to understand and manipulate every aspect of the world. At the other end of this scale is the cultural belief that the universe is inherently unpredictable and dangerous, at best indifferent to humanity, at worst malevolent, inhabited by spirits to be propitiated by rituals and observances. Closer to the middle of the continuum these value differences are subtler, often exhibiting both scientific and supernatural features, but may still powerfully impede communication and understanding. Most of the major religious systems, albeit with a more or less benign deity, have developed from the belief in some kind of supernatural control over the cosmos. Dependent on position on the continuum is the interpretation of such events as comets, eclipses, floods and earthquakes: natural events, portents or divine punishments. Many of our culturally-conditioned assumptions about the world, its inhabitants, and the existence or nature of the transcendent are so deeply ingrained they are unreflectively seen as ‘the way things are,’ not subject to examination or debate. In some contexts, in fact, debate can equate to betrayal or sacrilege.

Cultural value systems can of course change, a process that Thomas Kuhn termed a paradigm shift. The Copernican revolution of the late middle ages was to move Western cultural values decisively toward the rational end of the continuum. Consequent to the acceptance that the earth was not the center of the universe were a number of developments with enduring social implications: the decay of ecclesiastical authority and the liberation of independent thought; the emphasis on rigorous observation and scientific measurement as the source of truth; the loss of spiritual connection to the earth. Catholic churches, including the great mediaeval cathedrals, had been erected on pagan sacred sites, preserving the idea that there was something special about that partic-

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Cosmological Space… ular patch of ground. In a more rationalist worldview, including the Protestant one presumably espoused by James Watt, the earth is devoid of inherent spiritual quality, being seen as more temporarily useful than eternally numinous, to be exploited rather than exalted.

Cultures in other parts of the world perceive the earth differently. Companies building a new factory in mainland Southeast Asia should expect to see reflected in the budget the cost of erecting an elaborate little house for the displaced spirits of the land to inhabit after construction. A new office in Japan may require the services of a Shinto priest to conduct a ceremony asking permission of the local deity. Many western architects building in east Asia have had to alter their initial designs after consulting with local Feng Shui experts. Even the mighty Disney Corporation was obliged to remodel the previously unalterable entrance layout of its globalized theme park for its new Hong Kong location. Employees from other cultures in a Western work situation may have strong, visceral reactions to, say, the placement of desks or plants relative to other physical features, and these reactions may be incomprehensible to local managers. Rationalist discourse, however, is but one mindset among many.

The contemporary environmental movement represents another paradigm shift in the West, this time away from both traditional religious doctrine and secular scientific explicability, toward a shared perspective. The stunning photographs of the earth taken from space by the Apollo astronauts from 1968 to 1972 have been epiphanic to many people, and have arguably inspired such developments as the annual Earth Day celebration, the widely favorable reception of James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis, and the dramatic increase in membership of environmental groups. The photograph of the earth taken from space in 1972 has become the most widely reproduced image in history; the delicacy and beauty of this blue orb, seen against the backdrop of limitless black, engendered an awareness of both its fragility and its unity.

Many people, both secular and religious, have thus been able to identify with the whole planet as home, a place to be shared, loved and protected.

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Conflict of course persists. Religious groups in the Middle East, India, and other places are far from reaching agreement on the correct way to commemorate sites held by all to be especially worthy of veneration; proponents of intelligent design or creationism in the U.S. are passionately opposed to the teaching of biological and geological evolution as scientific fact, and secularists everywhere are in bitter dispute over approaches to land development or preservation. In the main, however, the causes of such antagonism are fairly clear and the arguments are in the open. More difficult for managers to recognise and deal with are conflicts stemming from hidden differences in cosmological perception, differences of which the participants may not even be consciously aware but which have significant consequences for their attitude toward other humans—including co-workers, customers, and suppliers.

Concepts of social justice and human rights, at least in explicit, universal form, are of relatively recent vintage in the west, and may not be apparent in many areas of the world. When such areas constitute markets, resource locations, or manufacturing bases, managers are likely to encounter situations where notions of rights and responsibilities vis-a-vis other people of (for instance) different age, caste, status, race, or gender create at best tension, if not actual conflict. Devout Hindus may balk at performing tasks they see as inappropriate to their caste, and younger managers or women in societies with a Confucian tradition may have trouble exerting authority over older male employees. Indentured and underage labour are still common in many countries. Human life, for many cultural groups, is preordained and unalterable, concepts of social mobility or improvement being literally unthinkable. Such convictions present managers from a different tradition with severe ethical dilemmas: to what extent should they adapt and accommodate to practices and attitudes perceived from their own cosmological standpoint as wrong? There is a fine line between positive intervention and cultural imperialism, and the situation is further complicated by shifts in public opinion with regard to business dealings with countries such as China or Burma/Myanmar, Nigeria or Mexico.

Intercultural Management Quarterly

Disparities in cosmological conception are reflected in language, especially symbolic language and metaphor. One of the most prevalent metaphors in English is the equation of ‘up’ with ‘good’, as in moving up in the world, feeling down, high class and low tricks. Possibly related to a conception of heaven as in the sky, this mental model is culturally specific. Again, in English the future is metaphorically ahead of us, while in some languages such as Hausa it is behind since, unlike the past, it cannot be seen. Even the phrase ‘to table an issue’ has directly opposing meanings in British and U.S. English; two countries divided by a common language indeed. Such examples hint at the difficulties of communicating across cultural boundaries, since the expressions used will be interpreted differently according to the underlying worldview. When President Bush vowed to lead a “crusade” against terrorism, his choice of words sparked a furious outcry in the Muslim world, where the term evokes cultural memories of unprovoked Christian aggression and colonization.

And yet it is mainly through language and communication that cosmological differences can be managed.

Constant dialogue on these difficult issues of religious belief, environmental awareness, and human relations, with goodwill on all sides, employing ‘positive questions built on a positive core,’ as the appreciative inquiry approach advocates, can constitute a collaborative process of meaning-making, leading to shared definitions and enhanced understanding. The first, and most difficult step, however, is to analyze one’s own cosmological worldview, an endeavour requiring managers to examine their own culturally-conditioned assumptions and biases in a spirit of openness, honesty, and willingness to compromise. i

References and Further Reading Aveni, A. (1992). Conversing With the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos. New York: Times Books.

Cosgrove, D. (2001). Apollo’s Eye: A Cartographic Genealogy of the Earth in the Western Imagination. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Danielson, D. R. (Ed.). (2000). The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universe from Heraclitus to Hawking. Cambridge, Mass.: Helix Books.

Gore, A. (2006). An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.

Kuhn, T. S. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Third ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lewis, S., Passmore, J., & Cantore, S. (2008). Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management: Using AI to Facilitate Organizational Development. London, U.K.: Kogan Page.

Lovelock, J. (2006). The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back — And How We Can Still Save Humanity. London, UK: Allen Lane.

Molyneaux, B. L. (1995). The Sacred Earth. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Ortiz, A. (1969). The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being, and Becoming in a Pueblo Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Thomas, K. (1971). Religion and the Decline of Magic. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Tuan, Y.-F. (1977). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Wong, E. (1996). Feng-shui: The Ancient Wisdom of Harmonious Living for Modern Times. Boston: Shambhala.

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