Cross Cultural Management

Introduction

This course develops students’ skills in intercultural communication, gained in our foundation course: SPÅ 2901 Intercultural Communication and Ethical Awareness. During this Cross Cultural Management course, students will further develop skills needed to manage and lead across cultures and borders in an international business setting,. Management tasks such as decoding cultural differences, cultural profiling and management framing within a business setting will be the focus of the course. Hence, developing skills in cultural due diligence for organizational strategies will be a key element of this course

Cross cultural management uses an interdisciplinary approach with perspectives from cultural studies combined with key international business and leadership issues. Classroom sessions will be based on international research discussions, group work simulations, video-taped exercises and case studies. Empirical cross cultural research and cases used in discussions will focus on issues related to international companies operating both in Norway and abroad. This course will help prepare students to meet the challenges of international assignments within multi-national business operations where different national contexts can impact the way we lead and co-operate in everyday business dealings. In this way, participants will develop skills needed to manage cross cultural teams in both face-to-face settings and in virtual teams.

Course content

• Understanding empirical studies of national and organizational cultures
• Managing cultural and ethical dilemmas in industry: case studies
• Norwegian and Scandinavian management in an international perspective
• Cross cultural management in the emerging BRIC economies: case studies