Teaching Management of Cultural Differences

Many studies examine culture differences and their impact on international business (IB) learning processes and outcomes. Culture is a very important factor in human interaction and it is critical to incorporate it in teaching IB. However, few studies have examined how to manage these cultural differences in IB classroom settings. We still have a lot to learn about the most effective means of imparting abilities to operate efficiently and effectively in unfamiliar cultural conditions.

Culture is often defined as the software of the mind. It is a set of instinctive responses reflective of our group’s way of thinking. Culture refers to the unwritten codes of conduct, i.e., the beliefs and values that groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation. Culture moderates our emotions and understanding of all input information in all our human interactions and it further influences the nature of all our responses. Culture affects business decisions through beliefs and values that condition individuals’ (outside stakeholders and managers) perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. Indeed, the informal constraints imposed by culture generally exhibit a stronger influence than formal laws in shaping most decision choices. Culture is not only a very important factor in human communication, it is also a critical factor in all decision-making.

There have been many attempts to measure culture and cultural differences (e.g., Schwartz Criteria, Hofstede Dimensions, World Values survey). The most common culture measures used in academic scholarship is the one by Hofstede. Hofstede (2010) introduces six dichotomous cultural dimensions that reflect a nation’s or a group’s culture: 1) individualism versus collectivism (IDV), 2) power distance (PDI), 3) uncertainty avoidance (UAI), 4) masculinity versus femininity (MAS), 5) long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO) and 6) indulgence versus restraint (IVR). Many scholars have investigated the impact of cultural differences on teaching methods and on student learning. Indeed, in his early work, Hofstede (1986) showed that cultural differences can have an important impact on the IB education experience.

Past issues of JTIB have included papers that focus on awareness of cultural differences of teaching IB. For example, a classroom of students with mixed cultural backgrounds may seem like a great opportunity for understanding and teaching cultural differences and helping students develop cross-culture competence. Nevertheless, in such settings, mixed results have been seen in the education literature. Ramburuth and Welch (2005), in their study “Educating the Global Manager”, focus on the development of students’ cultural competence and provides useful insights on how to incorporate elements of cross-cultural competence in the context of teaching IB. Furthermore, Koh (2004), in his study “Teaching Understanding Cultural Differences for Business in an Internet-Based Economy”, provides a detailed session-by-session guide as well as other resources on the pedagogy to popularize the learning of the origins of national culture and how culture impacts on business management practices as well as the business management system.

Understanding cultural difference is one of the important elements in IB education. Managing these cultural differences should also be one of the important elements. For example, Cox and Blake (1991) argue that people with various backgrounds in terms of gender, nationality and ethnic groups provide different perspectives on management issues. These cultural differences could help firms to increase creativities and inspire innovative activities. More importantly, these different perspectives improve the decision process and decision quality. They demonstrate that cultural diversity could be used by organizations to improve their competitive advantage. With the importance of managing cultural differences, it is unusual that the topic of how to manage these cultural differences seems to be missing from the main stream of IB education literature.

In developing tools in IB teaching for skills in cross-cultural management, it is important to understand the precise contribution of each teaching technique both by itself and as part of a portfolio of teaching techniques. An effective IB course designed to teach cross-cultural management must determine the sequence of each teaching technique and how each of the various teaching methods form a balanced portfolio. The goal of such a course would be to optimally enrich students’ IB learning and understanding and change their mindsets so that cross-cultural management becomes instinctive.

In addition to this brief review of the importance of awareness of cultural differences as well as on managing these differences in IB education, more work is needed for continuing improvement of IB education in term of teaching how to manage cultural differences.

1. Introducing this issue

This issue of JTIB focuses on teaching management of cultural differences. Papers published in the past issues of the Journal of Teaching in International Business reflect varied IB learning environments and learning outcomes. This issue highlights some new developments and course designs on teaching management cultural differences in IB education.

The first article in the issue, “Constructing Image-Based Culture Definitions Using Metaphors: Impact of a Cross-Cultural Immersive Experience” by Elizabeth A. Tuleja of the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, provides a new approach on teaching and learning culture in the IB classroom through metaphor. In her class, before the immersion trip to China, students were asked to contribute a tangible visual image as well as brief writings on Chinese culture. Upon their return from China, they were asked again to contribute another image as well as additional writings on Chinese culture. Through the comparison of students’ images and writings on Chinese culture before and after the trip, Dr. Tuleja finds, students changed their cultural metaphor before and after the trip, and guided learning on specific aspects of culture helps student break down stereotypes, foster curiosity on leaning and deeper the understanding of the cultural differences.

The second article in the issue, “Foreign Language Training in U.S. Undergraduate IB Programs: Are We Providing Students What They Need To Be Successful?”, by Jim Johnson of Rollins College, United States, surveys the foreign language requirements in the United States. Although many business schools requires foreign language training, he finds that there are discrepancies on the levels of proficiency requirements and inconsistencies in what is meant to be “competence” and “fluency”, as well as in the treatment of foreign native speakers and heritage speakers of foreign languages. His study not only provides an overview of current foreign language training requirements in IB education in the United States, but also raises important questions on whether or not students who satisfy the foreign language requirements in undergraduate IB programs are adequately prepared for the professional IB world.

In the third article, “Short-Term Field Study Programs: A Holistic and Experiential Approach to Learning”, Mary M. Long, Dennis M. Sandler and Martin T. Topol of Lubin School of Business, Pace University, United States, design a marketing course centered on short-term study abroad programs and incorporate the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to assess the student experience of the study tour. Their approach is in line with AACSB requirements for assessment and impact of learning opportunities and they illustrate an integrated approach to learning that fulfils all the key NNSE benchmarks.

The last article in the issue, “Student Cultural Interaction in a Short-Term Study Abroad Program”, by Bruce Niendorf and Heike Alberts of University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, United States, investigates the influence of a short-term study abroad program on students’ ability to adapt to a different culture. Prior literature provides mixed results on this issue and Dr. Niendorf and Dr. Alberts try to address these mixed results from three perspective: interaction with foreigners; differences in students’ characteristics; and activities in the trip. They find students’ personal autonomy is significantly increased after the short-term trip; however, this increase is mainly driven by Business major students, and the Letter and Science students did not show significant change in the four dimensions of the culture measures.

As this brief review of the papers in this issue shows, these papers all examine the importance of adding skills of managing cultural difference in the course design and learning activities, and how each of the various teaching methods form a balanced portfolio to optimally enrich students’ IB learning and understanding and change their mindsets so that cross-cultural management becomes instinctive.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue and that you find it thought-provoking, perhaps even providing ideas to further improve your own teaching. We would appreciate hearing your comments on any or all of the papers in this issue. We can be reached at [email protected].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raj Aggarwal

Raj Aggarwal, PhD, is the Sullivan Professor of International Business and Finance Emeritus and the former Business Dean at the University of Akron, USA. He is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and has won many awards for outstanding teaching and scholarship. He is also a Board Member of corporations, mutual funds, and nonprofit organizations. He is a past editor of Financial Practice and Education, a Finance and Accounting area editor of the Journal of International Business Studies, and the current Editor of the Journal of Teaching in International Business. Raj Aggarwal is the author of numerous publication and is in the top third of a percent among SSRN authors ranked by downloads and has over 5,800 Google Scholar citations with an h-index of 37, and an I-10 index of over 100 (see https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=y1hrzaAAAAAJ&hl=en&cstart=160&pagesize=20).

Feng Zhan

Feng Zhan, PhD, is the Assistant Professor of Finance and the Mulwick Scholar at the Boler School of Business, John Carroll University, USA. His recent publications include articles in Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, among others. He is the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Teaching in International Business.