Cultural Intelligence and Mindfulness: Teaching MBAs in Iran (original) (raw)
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Developing Cultural Intelligence for Global Leadership Through Mindfulness
Understanding how businesses function in relation to cultural and societal influences is critical for today's business leader who wants to interact competently across borders. However, developing and evaluating such competence is a challenge. One concept that provides a holistic conceptualization of intercultural competence is the notion of "mindfulness" or the ability to use reflection as a connection between knowledge and action. To facilitate the intercultural learning of a group of MBA students studying global leadership during a cross-cultural immersion experience in China, a model of cultural competence was introduced during their predeparture sessions. In order to demonstrate their understanding of intercultural competence, student papers were analyzed using a coding scheme for reflection. Data show that, overall, students increased their level of "mindfulness" and became more reflective, and in our hopes, more culturally sensitive as a result of this cross-cultural immersion program. Implications of this study can be used for teaching international business and improving study abroad assignments through reflection.
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Realizing the increased demand and need for equipping graduates with cross-cultural competencies, universities have been offering a growing array of academic courses aimed at increasing students’ cultural competence. This research review chapter addresses the question of what do empirical studies tell us about the impact of academic educational interventions on students’ cultural competence. Among the various competences, this review pays special attention to cultural intelligence (CQ). Covering diverse educational interventions, ranging from short intensive training-like courses to full-term courses to study abroad visits, the chapter concludes that several academic interventions, both traditional and virtual, were effective in increasing cultural competencies. This chapter would be of interest for academics contemplating course design in international management, for business school program directors who wish to promote students’ cultural competencies, and for university staff inv...
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Preparing students to able to face the globalization when they enter business world is one of business school responsibility. One way to do that is by increasing their cultural intelligence (CQ) so they can adapt and perform effectively in multi cultural environment. This experimental research tried to find how a business school course can improve students' CQ. This research was done by measuring CQ of students who attend cross-cultural management course at the beginning and at the end of the course. In this course, the students got four treatments to improve their CQ (lecturing, reading literature, sharing session, and field trip). From those four treatments, field trip is the most effective method to learn and understanding about different culture based on students' perception where lecturing is the least effective. Despite that, the combination of these four method in teaching crossculture result in the improvement of students' CQ and all of its components.
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Preparing students to able to face the globalization when they enter business world is one of business school responsibility. One way to do that is by increasing their cultural intelligence (CQ) so they can adapt and perform effectively in multi cultural environment. This experimental research tried to find how a business school course can improve students’ CQ. This research was done by measuring CQ of students who attend cross-cultural management course at the beginning and at the end of the course. In this course, the students got four treatments to improve their CQ (lecturing, reading literature, sharing session, and field trip). From those four treatments, field trip is the most effective method to learn and understanding about different culture based on students’ perception where lecturing is the least effective. Despite that, the combination of these four method in teaching cross-culture result in the improvement of students’ CQ and all of its components.
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Purpose Graduates of cross-cultural management (CCM) courses should be capable of both tackling international and cross-cultural situations and creating positive value from the diversity inherent in these situations. Such value creation is challenging because these situations are typically complex due to differences in cultural values, traditions, social practices, and institutions, such as legal rules, coupled with variation in, for example, wealth and civil rights among stakeholders. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors argue that a scientific mindfulness approach to teaching CCM can help students identify and leverage positive aspects of differences and thereby contribute to positive change in cross-cultural situations. Findings Scientific mindfulness combines mindfulness and scientific thinking with the explicit goal to drive positive change in the world. Originality/value The authors explain how the action principles of scientific mind...
Unpacking Cultural Intelligence: Cultivating Ethnorelativism in International Business Education
Journal of Teaching in International Business, 2021
In light of diverse designs of the international business (IB) curriculum, this study investigates how the IB curriculum that requires students to major in a functional area enhances students' cultural intelligence as well as differentiates the effect of students' study abroad experience above and beyond various functional IB courses. By conducting qualitative focus groups and a quantitative survey in the United States, we find that although students' past study abroad experiences improved their cultural intelligence (CQ), the IB education curriculum, even without a study abroad component, plays a pivotal role in improving students' ethnorelativism, which leads to increased CQ. The finding of the current study supports that IB programs focusing on curriculum that enhances students' ethnorelativism will help students develop CQ despite lacking study-abroad opportunities due to various travel restrictions, such as the ones caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, ethnorelativism in its own right has become a salient issue in the current climate of rising intolerance against minorities of different cultural backgrounds. We offer suggestions in the IB curriculum to further foster students' ethnorelativism and CQ.