Overview of some sessions on Intercultural Management

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15th Annual IMI Conference on Intercultural Relations March 13-14, 2014

Washington, D.C. Twitter coverage: @kovalmolod #IMI2014 Thursday, March 13, 2014

Session 1

Global Consulting: Insights on Bridging Cultures, Influencing and Use of Power, Suzanne Zaldivar Track: Business

The session was a good start of the conference learning for me. It mainly

focused on the power dynamics. I was familiar with most of the theories and

frameworks mentioned, such as Ethnocentric - Ethnorelative continuum, but it was

interesting to apply it to the idea of building consulting/helping relationship.

The most useful part of the

session was an exercise on mapping

contextual power dynamics. It

corresponded with what I previously

learned in my Communication for Social

and Economic Development and

International Communications courses

about power distribution, and network

theory. The scenario focused on

international entities providing

consultant support to the government

representatives in Afghanistan. It

included both individual and partner

work, which was valuable in regards to

the in-session networking.

It would be valuable to learn more about hands-on experience of the trainer,

some challenging situations or a real-life case study. Overall, this session helped me

to refresh my knowledge about power networks and reconsider some of the

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approaches in application to consultancy. Insight: consulting literally means

discussing (translated from Latin)!

Session 2 Flipping the Cross-Cultural Training Program: Promoting Participant Pre-Training Learning, Neal Goodman & Jennifer Horowitz

Track: Education, Training and Exchanges / Media and Technology

This session primarily focused on pre-training online activities. One of the most

useful takeaways for me was a presentation of a self-assessment tool that includes

11 cultural dimensions: http://www.global-dynamics.com/culture-wise/cultural-

tendencies-diagnostic-assessment. It helps to determine one’s own position on the

cultural scale and compare it to other cultures in the world. This is especially valuable

for people going abroad to a different culture. I’m currently taking a Social

Documentary class and my documentary project is devoted to cross-cultural

understanding. I’m planning to refer to this tool in my project description as one of the

ways to enhance experiences abroad.

The session also included

group discussions by area of

primary focus or topic of interest.

According to my previous

experience of e-teaching and e-

learning I joined the group who

discussed the ways to better

engage corporate employees and

leaders into a flipped cross-cultural

learning. We had a productive conversation and came up with several main

principles of approaching corporate employees: videos, preliminary interviews of top

managers in regards to their learning expectations, and including more digital and

real-time simulations and interactive learning scenarios.

Keynote Speaker, Rosiland Jordan, Al Jazeera http://blogs.aljazeera.com/profile/rosiland-jordan

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This was an inspiring and valuable speech for me as an International Media

graduate student with the experience of working in the Russian bureau of the British

newspaper The Guardian. For instance, the keynote speaker described what

international media should be about – “understanding, respecting, describing,

reaching across cultural differences.” She also mentioned a burning subject of U.S.-

Russia relations around Ukraine crisis, speaking about how people need to hear

different perspectives on political news. She gave an example of the human story

related to the crisis that they covered showing a wider view on how political situation

affects families, business, human relations.

R. Jordan also talked

about engaging global youth in

reporting and holding them

accountable at the same time. It

was interesting to learn that

Aljazeera gets a lot of news and

story leads from social media

users.

Some of the other ideas

that resonated with me: “We have

an obligation to explain as much as we report,” (confronting biases through a detailed

narrative) “ We have to stop assuming that the world in which we were born is the

world we live in now,” "When under a deadline we have be careful not to stereotype

the communities on which we report."

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Session 3 Enlivening Cross-Cultural Training: Three Activities to Encourage Engagement

and Skill Building, Pamela Ex Track: Topics in Intercultural Relations

This was one of the most applied,

interactive and useful sessions. I learned a lot of

ideas, and look forward to applying new activities

in my own work. First, we learned about six ways

to enliven and shorten introductions at the

trainings.

Then, we focused on how to engage

participants into discussing multiple

perspectives. We were invited to split into

groups and do an exercise on cross-cultural

interactions and stereotypes. I’ve realized

that this exercise would be applicable not

only for cross-cultural setting, but for any

training that involves multiple perspectives.

For example, it could be used when talking

about differences between genders. In fact,

I’ve used a similar exercise when working

on public health awareness with a mixed

group of teenage boys and girls.

The trainer provided a detailed

handout and invited all the participants to

share their experiences. The session

closed down with another exercise on many

faces of “yes”, which looked at the meaning of “yes” and “no” in direct and indirect

cultures. This exercise corresponded with everything I learned in my intercultural

communication classes and provided me with a practical tool that can be easily

applied in my future work.

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Session 4 Contrast-Culture Simulation, Mr. Khan & Gary Weaver

Track: Topics in Intercultural Relations Everyone should meet Mr. Khan at least once! I’ve heard a lot about this

exercise in Prof. Weaver’s classes and finally got a chance to see it. I didn’t get to

participate, because I’m not an American, but it was very interesting to observe the

interaction. I was working out scenarios and behaviors that I would apply in a similar

situation. It was important to be reminded that when we are doing a simulation

exercise like that, we should give enough time to the volunteer role-player to debrief

and get out of the role.

Interestingly, while observing and analyzing this exercise, I remembered a

number of similar interactions, in which I

was involved. Some of them didn’t

happen on the international level, but it

was definitely a cross-cultural

experience, because of different values,

education, and communication

principles. This session helped me to

analyze these experiences and come up

with the tips for future interactions.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Session 5 The Function of Storytelling on Facebook and Twitter, Paige Arthur &

Alexandra Botti Track: Media and Technology

This session was of special interest to me as I’m doing my independent study

on online commenting behaviors in social media, and also update several social

media groups and pages for work. The session focused on sociolinguistic aspects of

social media storytelling, which was also relevant to my undergraduate research in

linguistics. It provided a lot of interesting insights and ideas, such as, "Identity is

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strongly shaped by narrative" (David Matsumoto) or "Consistency is crucial to avoid

being considered fake" (Goffman)

The speakers talked about bigger

and smaller narratives, narrative strategies

to enhance our digital relationships and

understanding of others. They also draw an

important distinction between Twitter and

Facebook: Twitter is mostly content based,

while Facebook focuses on affective text. In

short, our use of Twitter can be largely

described as "my expertise" vs. Facebook –

"my best day".

I had a fruitful conversation with the

session leaders at the end, and we

exchanged resources, contacts and agreed

to be in touch on the possible research

cooperation.

Session 6

Leading through Conflict: Cross-Cultural Analysis and Skill Building for Third

Party Intervention, Gururaj Kumar, Julian Portilla & Jared Ordway Track: Business

This session also

included a simulation, which

corresponded with the Khan

exercise. It focused on the idea

of preliminary data analysis,

which is critical for a leader in a

conflict situation. More

specifically, it explored a space

that exists on the intersection of

conflict, leadership and cultures.

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While the simulation was interesting, I gained more from the theoretical part of

this session. There was some valuable advice on how to observe emerging patterns

through the data analysis, as well as on 21st century leadership. Such features as

reflection, diversity and ingenuity were reconsidered in regards to the new

approaches to leadership. For example, in regards to ingenuity, instead of preserving

status quo it is now more important to be able to rethink core assumptions and

respond to new threats and opportunities.

Keynote Speaker, Moisés Naím, an internationally-syndicated columnist and best-

selling author of influential books, http://moisesnaim.com/

This was an extremely powerful speech

by a renowned expert on power distribution,

which included a presentation of his recently

published book The End of Power. He started

by asking, “Who can immediately give me a

name of the top person in The Washington

Post today?” Nobody could come up with a

quick answer, while everybody working in the

field of international relations knew such facts

10-15 years ago. Thus, he demonstrated that

distribution of power and powerful individuals

has changed. "Being a dictator is not a stable

secure job anymore," he noted. In fact,

individuals we wouldn’t think of before, such as a Brazilian clown Tiririca, can gain

more power these days and make it to the top government. Some other powerful

facts: "For every dollar that the Taliban spent on 9/11, the US has spent 7 million."

An important takeaway/insight: "The power to control is being replaced by the

power to block" (this is especially relevant in regards to the internet surveillance

programs in different countries). Also, large-scale concentrations of power are

becoming harder to sustain. But power over modern telecommunications is becoming

more and more valuable. At the same, social media and modern technologies are just

tools, but they need users and drivers who have their agenda, intentions and

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motivations. One of the most repeated, re-tweeted and powerful ideas discussed by

the speaker was that now “power is easier to acquire, harder to use and easier to

lose.” It was great that all the participants received the book, which develops many of

the ideas mentioned by the speaker.

Session 7

Our Five Senses at Work in Our Cross Cultural Interactions, Patricia M Coleman Track: Topics in Intercultural Relations

This session was interactive and raised consciousness about our five senses.

It provided interesting exercises focusing and reflecting on one or several senses.

The trainer involved a variety of techniques and props – videos, sounds, even a

touch-and-taste exercise. The session was very popular among the conference

participants. I was more interested in observing the trainer facilitating discussions and

exercises. I also provided detailed photo coverage of the session.

Some of the takeaways: what matters with our senses is a frame of reference.

Also, being cross-cultural is about asking questions, not making assumptions (which

was well demonstrated in the exercise when participants were invited to drink water

that could as well be acid or vinegar). There were many interesting techniques on

breaking stereotypes that we create while trusting our senses, without applying

thinking and interaction skills.

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Session 8 D-I-V-E the Digital Intercultural Virtual Edge: Using Technology to Enhance

Intercultural Learning, Collaboration, Innovation and Relationship Building, Lobna Ismail & Shelley Morrison

Track: Media and Technology

Some of the outstanding moments of this session were a series of powerful

videos on breaking Islam stereotypes. Again, I realized how such videos can be

relevant in any other field that involves breaking stigma, finding new angles and

approaches to cross-cultural problems. I had a chance to communicate with both

presenters throughout the conference and learned a lot about their experience. This

session summarized their expertise and provided specific tools and ideas of using

technology for collaboration and learning.

We were briefly introduced to the Second Life game, which was called “a

must-do” for intercultural professionals interested in global virtual projects. One other

valuable web site is “Visual speaks” – it has resources for conducting a cross-cultural

comparison. It provides a variety of pictures that can be used for analyzing

differences in perceptions.

All the participants contributed to

the session by sharing names of the

films that may create cross-cultural

learning experience, valuable web-

resources. This session helped me to

organize my knowledge of the subject

and set new goals for development and

exploring new digital resources. It was a

good way to finish my learning

experience at the conference. Session

facilitators provided all the participants

with a useful handout on digital

resources.