InterCultural EdgeŠ at Strategies for Teaching International Negotiations (October 16-19, 2003)

Faculty attending the workshop will have the opportunity to assess their own cultural communication styles using an exciting new on-line resource Cultureactive.com, (soon to be co-branded under the name InterCultural EdgeŠ) based on Richard Lewis' book When Cultures Collide.

InterCultural EdgeŠ (ICE)is a collaborative initiative with Richard Lewis Communications, begun at Fuqua by the Duke University Center for International Business and Education Research (CIBER). ICE is a web-based product that teaches cross-cultural awareness in business settings by focusing on individual assessments. This allows the student/executive to compare personal results with team results, and to compare these with other national cultural profiles with a focus on maximizing the effectiveness of diversity. A research project is currently being developed based on the collected data.

The primary goal of ICE is to integrate cross-cultural learning into the curriculum at Fuqua. ICE has been used as part of the daytime MBA program's Integrated Learning Experience, Communication Effectiveness, Managerial Effectiveness, and GATE study tours. Plans are underway to integrate ICE into other courses at Fuqua. In addition, we have used ICE in Fuqua's Global Executive and Weekend Executive MBA programs. There is also an outreach project underway to develop additional on-demand teaching modules based on Cultureactive.

InterCultural EdgeŠ -Online Cultural Assessment and National Cultural Profiles

Introduction to the modules
The National Cultural Profile series is a unique body of data furnishing the globe-trotting executive or academic cultural specialist with easy-to-access, compact guides to thinking patterns of all the world's major cultures.

Online cultural assessment
Do you know your personal cultural profile? Which are your dominant characteristics? How do your cultural traits compare with the norms for your own nationality? More importantly, how do they compare with German, Brazil, China, or Japan? It takes 30-45 minutes for you to have the answers to these questions by taking our Personal Cultural Assessment. With this valuable orientation you will be well placed to assess the impression you will make on a selection of other nationals and the impact they will make on you.

Group profiling
You can be provided with a synthesis or analysis of the cultural capital of a group or department under your supervision. Alternatively, you will be guided in selecting specific personnel for assignments in foreign cultures. Sending expatriates abroad is a costly investment, especially if they find the environment to which they are sent incompatible with their own characteristics. Our cultural assessment of the individual will give a clear warning of incompatibility as well as indications as to training measures to be taken to adapt him or her to the culture concerned.

Use at the Negotiations workshop
Before the workshop, registrants will be provided with a web link and detailed instructions on how to take the ICE Cultural Assessment surveys. Results will be discussed in a session on October 16th, and referenced throughout the workshop.