Intercultural competence is a lifelong learning process. It is supported by specific skills and abilities such as through:
• Tolerance of ambiguity (the ability to handle contradictory situations)
• Empathy (the ability to feel compassion and understanding for others)
• Frustration tolerance (the ability to work well with personal frustration and self-criticism)
• Humour (the ability to look at oneself from a distance and laugh)
• Identity (recognizing and knowing one's individual cultural characteristics)
• Conflict management (the ability to deal well with problems and solve them)
• Curiosity (being open to learning new things).

In teamwork cultural specifics of people should be transparent and obvious to all its members. Multicultural fields of work must be transformed. Transitions must be learned and learning must be newly defined. The implementation of a new learning culture in training and education, professions and business could make the process of understanding each other easier for all of us. Experience with people who are on average under 40 years old and come from modern industrial societies shows that they prefer experimental learning. "Learning by doing" is very popular, therefore during this year's course, the focus will be on interactive presentations as well as moderated discussions, exercises, case studies, simulations and role plays that make up a large percentage of participative and process-oriented learning training programmes. This course will improve and increase student's knowledge, skills, and confidence in successfully representing themselves in English in formal and informal situations. Students will improve their abilities to work as a team, to cope with new cultures, and to manage diversity. Students will participate in a series of lectures and interactive activities that provide opportunities for experiencing, discussing, and exploring global management and intercultural issues.

The course will be conducted in English, and students will be starting their analysis after having watched films and television clips illustrating the kinds of issues that arise at work

Lesson programme:
Module 1 - DIVERSITY AND GENDER (weeks 1-6)
Module 2 - ORGANISATIONS AND HIERARCHY (weeks 7-8)
Module 3 - NEGOTIATIONS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTIONS (weeks 9-10)

Week 1: Gender
One of the key achievements of the twentieth century was the emancipation of women. However, in the twenty-first century, much remains to be done and different business communities, especially among more traditional communities, have different views not only about the rights of women but also their position in the household and at work. Some business communities believe in a clear separation between home and work and that a woman's prime responsibility is for the maintenance of the home and the family. This means that anything other than part-time work is unacceptable.
Gender discrimination is illegal in European law and the human resources position is clear on this, but managers need to understand and be sympathetic to the pressures the traditions of migrant cultures place on family members.

Week 2: Appearance
How people dress at work is a key issue, as migrant workers often wear particular items of dress as part of their religious or social practice. The best known example is that of the turban worn by Sikh men to cover their long hair but equally well known and much more controversial in Europe is the wearing of the niqab or head veil, which covers the head but leaves the face exposed, or the burka, which covers the whole face except the eyes and is a feature of women's dress in some Muslim societies. On the other hand, the wearing of jewellery, such as a crucifix, may be considered offensive. Both for health and safety reasons and for religious reasons these are live issues in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century.

Week 3: Food
One of the key issues causing disorientation in a new business environment is the unavailability of the food you are used to. There are huge cultural rituals surrounding the type of food people eat, how they serve it and how they eat it and what drink accompanies the food and how it is consumed. The provision of food staples in a company canteen, such as rice or pasta or noodles, can be an important if unrecognised ingredient in productivity and a contented migrant workforce. Once again food may also have religious significance, as in the prohibition on pork (for Muslims) or beef (for Hindus) or the provision of halal meat for Muslims.

Week 4: Religion
In strongly religious societies the provision of facilities for religious worship is often an important issue. However, in a society that separates the roles of religion and the workplace, making provision for prayer rooms or chapels may not be a priority. In particular, in Muslim societies where ‘good' Muslims will pray five times a day, the provision of a space to do so may be important, and denial of the opportunity may be seen as an infringement of rights. There is no clear answer to this issue but the provision or non-provision of prayer facilities at work is an important area of discussion where a significant religious minority forms part of the workforce.

Week 5: Time
Attitudes to time is a crucial differentiator between business communities, described as being ‘time tight' (punctuality is important) and ‘time loose' (getting the job done is important but doing it within precise time limits is not). Understanding that such differences are not indications of personal laziness or lack of commitment but simply a behaviour accepted by the host country or the migrant community is important. The key strategy is to sit down and discuss the differences and to agree a policy that works for both sides.

Week 6: Race
One of the most explosive of cultural issues, race considerations affect both international and intranational workforces. Although they may hold national citizenship, members of diverse ethnic minorities may feel discriminated against in the workplace. At the same time, members of overseas diverse minorities may also experience discrimination by the host community. Although racial discrimination is illegal in European law, it still happens and is often hard to spot from the outside, although it is immediately felt by those subject to it. In some cases employees may see something as racist although it is intended as a comment on or criticism of performance. It is necessary to be very sensitive to people's feelings in such situations. Occasionally, an employee may try to accuse people in authority of racism in order to avoid taking responsibility for non-performance. This is known as ‘playing the race card' and needs to be watched for.

Week 7: Authority
In many societies institutional respect is paid the boss because he or she is the boss. Such societies are often said to display high power distance, in other words a clear social separation between the boss and the employee. The employee owes a duty of respect and obedience. The boss in return owes a duty of care to the employee and his or her family. In a low power distance community respect is functional. In other words, respect is accorded for personal qualities and efficiency and not as of right. In such business communities the boss sees himself or herself as much more equal to colleagues and is open to having decisions discussed, criticized or even challenged by the team. In such a community, institutional respect and obedience to the boss may be seen as undue deference or an attempt to incur favours. It is important to recognize that these differences are not ones of personal courage or individualism but come from different cultural values.

Week 8: Work Ethic
Most business communities prefer to do business with those they know and trust. But in many business communities, forming a good relationship is a prerequisite of successful business. Gifts and hospitality are a crucial part of this process of building relationships that will lead to successful business opportunities. Other business communities see such things as irrelevant or even corrupt. Understanding the role of gift-giving and hospitality in international business communities is an important part of getting the relationship right.

Week 9: Conflict
All the case studies so far examined contain an element of conflict but it is important to realize that in cultural terms the conflict is often not task-related (i.e. what the job is or how to do it) but culture related (i.e. deep rooted cultural attitudes to the task, the business relationship, the outcome and payment). Most of the time people take these things for granted because the conventions are unconsciously accepted in their own community. But in cross-community dealings they can often become a source of conflict. There is no alternative here but to discuss the different attitudes in order to come to agreement and how to proceed and this takes up management and staff time. For many the hidden cost of migrant labour is the management time taken up in resolving disputes over performance. However, the payoff is greater understanding of the issues that need to be understood and resolved in a globalizing world. The first need is to make time to discuss what is required and to the different approaches to performance by the community. The second need is to make sure, in a task involving migrant workers, that the brief is absolutely clear and unambiguous. The third need is to ensure that it is clearly understood and agreed to.

Week 10: Qualifications
Different business communities have different views on the importance of qualifications in the workplace. Some communities place priority on experience and performance, others on having the right qualifications. It is important to discuss and appreciate the difference in background of different members of the workforce. Some may feel their qualifications are under-recognised at work while others may hide behind their qualifications to disguise anxieties about performance or integration with their new colleagues. It is important to appreciate the differences in approach of different communities and to give due respect to qualifications, which many migrant workers have sacrificed much to obtain.

Per la propedeuticità degli esami di lingua, si veda - anno per anno - la parte generale del vademecum.

Per quanto riguarda il lettorato, la prova scritta, l’accertamento linguistico orale e la relativa bibliografia, gli studenti sono pregati di mettersi in contatto direttamente con la Dott.ssa Elisabeth Ferguson (betsypontellini@yahoo.com)

Modalità didattiche

lezioni frontali ed esercitazioni

Testi di studio

Data la particolare natura del corso, è consigliata la partecipazione attiva degli studenti ai quali verranno fornite precise indicazioni bibliografiche a conclusione del corso. Tali indicazioni verranno lasciate a disposizione degli studenti presso la portineria del Collegio Raffaello; saranno inoltre pubblicate online sulla pagina del materiale didattico della docente, sul sito della Facoltà.

Modalità di
accertamento

Evaluation:

Evaluation of students' work is based on a number of factors. The structure of evaluation is as follows:

Student presentations 20%
Student participation 30 %
Oral exam 50%

This marking structure is indicative, but final results will be established at the final oral exam.

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.

Modalità didattiche

Testi di studio

Data la particolare natura del corso, è consigliata la partecipazione attiva degli studenti ai quali verranno fornite precise indicazioni bibliografiche a conclusione del corso. Tali indicazioni verranno lasciate a disposizione degli studenti presso la portineria del Collegio Raffaello; saranno inoltre pubblicate online sulla pagina del materiale didattico della docente, sul sito della Facoltà.

Modalità di
accertamento

Esame scritto e orale in lingua inglese

Disabilità e DSA

Le studentesse e gli studenti che hanno registrato la certificazione di disabilità o la certificazione di DSA presso l'Ufficio Inclusione e diritto allo studio, possono chiedere di utilizzare le mappe concettuali (per parole chiave) durante la prova di esame.

A tal fine, è necessario inviare le mappe, due settimane prima dell’appello di esame, alla o al docente del corso, che ne verificherà la coerenza con le indicazioni delle linee guida di ateneo e potrà chiederne la modifica.