Jun22009

Diversity of Ideas…THAT’s the Hard One

cross-cultural communication, Cultural Agility/Training, Individual Responsibility, intercultural communications

Notice anything different between me and Tracie? Geert Hofstede’s work serves as the basis for much of intercultural communications theory, particularly as relates to communication between individuals of different nationalities.  Hofstede originally identified four dimensions of cultural difference:  individualism (versus collectivism), masculinity (versus femininity); power distance, and uncertainty avoidance, studying 70 countries by these dimensions…

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May252009

Targeted Marketing: Stereotype or Just Your Personality?

cross-cultural communication, intercultural communications, Marketing, Media, Popular Culture, stereotypes

As soon as this June, if you don’t like how ads are representing you, it may be time for a personality overhaul.  NPR reports today about new technologies that will allow for smart advertising…TV ads that are targeted to you, your buying habits and individual tastes. What would your ads look like?  To which spectrum…

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Talk About Cultural Differences: Engineer Meet Marketer

"Intra"national Exchange, cultural identity, Ideas for the workplace, intercultural communications, International Business

I was reminded of the Human Genone Project during a conference session today looking at “intra-disciplinary” and “inter-disciplinary” approaches to “advancing service science with cultural considerations.”  The conference, funded by the National Science Foundation and presented by the International Services System Engineering Research Lab (ISSER) at the University of Puerto Rico, looks at how “the outcome…

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May182009

Jewish vs. Hindu and the Familiarity/Assumption Continuum

Being the "Other", cross-cultural communication, intercultural communications, stereotypes, Unconscious Stereotypes

In setting up a web-presence for your company via social media, there’s an obvious time money continuum:  Either you’ll spend oodles of time creating profiles, links, etc. at low or no cost to you, or you can save time and pay someone else to do it.  Basically, when one goes up, the other goes down. …

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May162009

Intercultural Communications: Where do Objective and Subjective Meet?

"Intra"national Exchange, Cultural Agility/Training, intercultural communications, Prejudice, Racism, White privilege

  In field of Diversity and Intercultural Communications it’s all about action.  What is your company’s recruitment strategy?  Do you have a Supplier Diversity Program?  What about mentoring?  Internships?  What faces are featured in your internal and external communications?  Take a look at this photo (by Charlie Gesell, AP) from MSNBC of students this week…

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