Understanding Intercultural Competence for Business: Insights from the eChina-UK Programme
Helen Spencer-Oatey University of Warwick
Business is increasingly international in scope, and yet the consequences of this for the staff involved are frequently overlooked. As the business sector has found, the emergence of global companies is less easily matched by the development of “global people”.
In the first part of this talk, I focus on a review of existing frameworks and research findings. In the second part of the talk, I report a study that has tried to combine both perspectives: the Global People Project, which formed the final phase of the eChina-UK Programme (http://www.echinauk.org/ ). I conclude the presentation with some thoughts on the way ahead for improving our understanding of intercultural competence for business.
Peter Franklin HTWG Konstanz University of Applied Sciences
After a brief clarification of the terms “intercultural interaction competence” and “intercultural interaction competencies”, the presentation will examine the possible reasons for assessing people’s intercultural interaction competence and present examples of procedures and instruments for doing so. Particular attention will be paid to the use of assessment to develop intercultural interaction competence in international business. Insights into the competencies Chinese managers (in contrast to non-Chinese managers) appear to focus on when using one well-known assessment instrument will also be discussed.
Global Communication Challenges for Business and Corporations
Michael B. Goodman Baruch College City University of New York
Global corporations and businesses face unprecedented economic, social, and environmental challenges.
Professor Michael B. Goodman explores the critical success factors for corporate communication. He also explores the “top ten” ways communication brings value to businesses, the management responsibilities of successful corporate communication departments, and the role of leading chief communication officers in global corporations.
A Global Agenda for Intercultural Communication
Malcolm N. MacDonald University of Warwick
This paper will begin by reviewing the claims that have been made for the relationship between language and culture in language education.
Secondly, it will consider how more recent intercultural communication research has problematized the conceptualization of culture as residing solely in the nation state, and now conceives of “difference” as being not only central to the act of communication but also to being and becoming itself.
Thirdly, the paper will consider emerging areas of concern in the field such as transnational mobility, security and deradicalisation and their implications for citizenship education.
In conclusion, the paper will consider whether the agenda for intercultural communication can ever be truly global.
Multi-media Course Design for the Theoretical Construct of Intercultural Business Communication Skills
Wang Lifei University of International Business and Economics
This paper first explains the theoretical components of intercultural communication skills and notes that the theoretical framework consists of four core parts: business strategy, intercultural strategy, communication strategy, and intercultural communication strategy, among which intercultural communication strategy is the most essential.
Under this theoretical framework, the paper further explains that the criteria to grade intercultural communication skills required in China’s business English education should include intercultural thinking, intercultural adaptation, intercultural communication, business-related knowledge etc. Besides, this paper introduces a lively and vivid multi-media course “Intercultural Business Communication”, for the purpose of making up the present deficiency in China’s intercultural communication education and related textbooks.
Towards a Glocalization Perspective of Studying Media and Corporate Discourses in China
Doreen Wu The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The presentation will survey and critically review the multitude of theoretical and empirical research on transnational media and corporate discourses and propose a glocalization perspective for future/further studies of media and corporate discourses in China. Detailed elaboration in adopting this glocalization perspective for our future research will be given with illustrations from transnational branding and crisis discursive practice in China.
Learning to be: Construction of Professional Identities by Students of Business English
Zhang Zuocheng University of International Business and Economics
This presentation is based on an on-going project that explores the construction of professional identities in an academic setting. Professional identities are theorized largely by drawing on research in professional communication (Scollon & Scollon, 2001), professional expertise (Bhatia, 2008), and social theories of learning (Wenger, 1998).
Then the learning experiences of Business English students collected from narrative interviews are examined with a view to identifying the way(s) they perceive themselves as business professionals in the making.
