We live in an age of increased international understanding – or do we?

We live at a time when globalisation means that we can talk about world culture – but why then should national culture be suddenly so important?

We live in a world where everyone does business with everyone else – but why do some businesses in particular countries fail when systems are applied that work elsewhere?

This seminar explores some of these contradictions and examines how cultural questions can impact on the world of business. It is built around three key themes:

• The global and the local: the tension between global ideas and the power and authority of local cultures forms one strand for discussion with the objective of bridging these two contradictory positions.
• Cultural difference: cultural difference as an obstacle to communication provides the second strand, and the objective here is to examine ways in which difference is manifested – through language, behaviour, use of space, ideas of leadership, individuality and the team.
• Cultures and time: the third strand focuses on time across cultures, considering different roles of tradition and history versus ideas of modernity and looking also at how cultures construct their ideas about time and time management. Here the objective is to identify difference and, through that process, to begin the negotiations that lead to greater understanding.

Culture is understood as a set of systems. The seminar looks at differences between systems but also at ways in which systems can fuse together and become more interactive. One theme runs through each of the days and will be introduced by a keynote speaker. The final day of the seminar will pull together the different strands and help participants set out strategies for future work.

Participant profile
This seminar is of interest to communications and human resources managers, management trainers, and intercultural theorists.