Promoting intercultural competences in intercultural engineering

Interkulturelle Kompetenzen sind Schlüsselkompetenzen in internationalen Unternehmen. Der Artikel basiert auf den empirischen Forschungsergebnissen aus einer multi-methodischen Forschungsstudie. Er fokussiert Intercultural Engineering in einem speziellen Unternehmen in Südafrika. Es wird den Fragen nachgegangen, wie Manager in diesem kulturell diversen Umfeld interkulturelle Kompetenz definieren, wie sie mit interkulturellen Herausforderungen umgehen und wie interkulturelle Kompetenz in solch einem Umfeld gefördert werden könnte.Intercultural competences are key competences in international engineering organisations. This article is based on selected empirical findings from a multi-method research study. It focuses on cultural engineering in a specific engineering organisation in South Africa. Thereby, it investigates how managers in an international and culturally diverse engineering environment define intercultural competence, how they cope with intercultural challenges in their daily work routine and how intercultural competence could be promoted within cultural engineering contexts

A \u27Derailed\u27 Agenda?: Black Women’s Voices on Workplace Transformation

This study assesses the experiences of workplace transformation of eleven Black women leaders working in South African higher education institutions (HEIs). The theoretical background is based in intersectional theories, also providing contextual information. The study uses a research paradigm based in Dilthey\u27s modern hermeneutics, using qualitative methods, such as semi-structured interviews, as well as observations within HEIs. Interviews were analysed through content analysis. Findings show a strong commitment of women leaders to transforming their workplaces. Their testimonies point in to the prevalence of gendered and racially biased experiences of Black women leaders in past and present. Their narratives include an account of their transformative vision including consciousness, awareness and positive attitudes, and transformative practices, such as networking and social support

Towards a collaborative understanding of Intercultural Engineering

Die Artikel in dieser Sonderausgabe beschäftigen sich mit dem Thema Intercultural Engineering in verschiedenen Kontexten und aus verschiedenen Perspektiven und bringen so Interkulturalisten, Manager und IngenieurInnen auf praktischer und theoretischer Ebene zusammen.Claude-Hélène Mayer betont in ihrem Artikel, dass interkulturelle Kompetenzen Schlüsselkompetenzen für international technische Organisationen sind.Der Beitrag von Kirsten Nazarkiewicz konzentriert sich auf die Wichtigkeit von Gesprächen als ein Lerninstrument zum Erwerb von interkulturellen Kompetenzen.Henning Hinderer beleuchtet die kulturelle Komplexität von interkulturellen technischen Projekten jenseits organisationaler Grenzen.Jasmin Mahadevan und Christian Klinke analysieren Erfolgs- und Misserfolgsgeschichten in technischem Projektmanagement.Was diese Artikel eint, ist der interpretative Blick auf spezifische kulturelle Felder zwischen sozialer Wirklichkeit und Technologie.Ein Ziel dieser Artikel ist es, essentialisierte Vorstellungen von Nationalkultur als Container zu dekonstruieren und den Dialog zwischen so unterschiedlichen Feldern wie Ingenieurwesen, Management und Interkultureller Kommunikation zu ermöglichen. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels beschäftigt sich ein Artikel mit der Ausbildung interkultureller IngenieurInnen, ein anderer fokussiert sich auf die interkulturelle Trainingspraxis. Ein Artikel beleuchtet die Konstruktion von Kultur im technischen Management, zwei weitere konzeptionieren die Komplexitäten von Intercultural Engineering in organisations- und gesellschaftskultur-übergreifenden Projekten.Zusammenfassend stecken die Artikel dieser Sonderausgabe das Feld Intercultural Engineering ab. Sie vermitteln neuartige Gedanken und Ideen für empirische Forschung und theoretische Herangehensweisen an dieses Feld und möchten zukünftige Debatten, Forschung und Diskussionen anregen. Daher möchten wir zum Lesen dieser Beiträge anregen, so dass die diese Diskussion auf konstruktive, interkulturelle und kontroverse Art und Weise weiterfortgeführt werden kann.The articles in this special issue deal with the topic of cultural engineering in various contexts and from different perspectives, bringing together interculturalists, management scholars and engineering academics and professionals.Claude-Hélène Mayer emphasizes that intercultural competences are key competences in international engineering organisations. Her article is based on selected empirical findings from a multi-method research study. It focuses on cultural engineering in a specific Engineering organisation in South Africa and investigates how managers in an international and culturally diverse engineering environment define intercultural competence, how they cope with intercultural challenges in their daily work routine and how intercultural competence could be promoted within cultural engineering contexts.The contribution by Kirsten Nazarkiewicz focuses on the relevance of conversation as a learning tool to gain intercultural competence. Her paper reflects on communication as a crucial dimension of intercultural learning processes while focusing in particular on the target group of engineers. She presents three significant findings on the characteristics of communication in educational settings. The author argues that the unconscious reproduction of this pedagogical structure is not helpful for intercultural learning and shows how to use these orientations for a collective intercultural learning process that involves experts of different subcultures (technical and intercultural expert) interacting on equal terms. Finally, four approaches for trainers’ conduct of talk are introduced to foster intercultural competences.Henning Hinderer highlights the cultural complexities of intercultural technical projects across organizations. He shows how the incorporation of external consultants into a technical project multiplies cultural complexity and suggests a model of how to conceptualize this condition. The author identifies processes of identity-making and othering as crucial constituting factors of intercultural engineering across organizations. He suggests strengthening the position of hybrid individuals who are between professional or organizational cultures to utilize their integrative potential as intercultural boundary-spanners. Project managers are encouraged to incorporate cultural complexity into their activities.Adding to the interpretative understanding of intercultural engineering, Jasmin Mahadevan and Christian Klinke propose analyzing failure and success stories in technical project management. Based on a long-term interpretative study, they show that project reality does not exist as such but is constantly created through stories of project success and failure. They identify three, interrelated types of stories and show when and how intercultural conflict and culturalized interpretations impact the development of intercultural competencies and neglect the complexities of project reality. To overcome these obstacles, they give recommendations to academics and practitioners from various fields.What these articles have in common, is an interpretative approach to specific intercultural settings between social reality and technology. One of their aims is to deconstruct reified national cultural containers and to facilitate a dialogue between such diverse fields as engineering, management and intercultural communication. For doing so, one article concerns the education of future intercultural engineers, another focuses upon intercultural training practice. One article highlights the construction of culture amongst technical management while two other articles conceptualize the complexities of intercultural engineering in technical projects across societal cultures and organizations.The articles presented in this Special Issue outline the field of Intercultural Engineering, this being an academic first. They bring about new thoughts and ideas to empirical research and theoretical approaches in this field and intend to stimulate further debates, research and discussion. You are now welcomed to read on and be stimulated to move the discussion forward, in a constructive, intercultural and controversial way.Jasmin Mahadevan (Pforzheim) and Claude-Hélène Mayer (Göttingen), October 201

Editorial: towards a collaborative understanding of intercultural engineering

The articles in this special issue deal with the topic of cultural engineering in various contexts and from different perspectives, bringing together interculturalists, management scholars and engineering academics and professionals. Claude-Hélène Mayer emphasizes that intercultural competences are key competences in international engineering organisations. Her article is based on selected empirical findings from a multi-method research study. It focuses on cultural engineering in a specific Engineering organisation in South Africa and investigates how managers in an international and culturally diverse engineering environment define intercultural competence, how they cope with intercultural challenges in their daily work routine and how intercultural competence could be promoted within cultural engineering contexts. The contribution by Kirsten Nazarkiewicz focuses on the relevance of conversation as a learning tool to gain intercultural competence. Her paper reflects on communication as a crucial dimension of intercultural learning processes while focusing in particular on the target group of engineers. She presents three significant findings on the characteristics of communication in educational settings. The author argues that the unconscious reproduction of this pedagogical structure is not helpful for intercultural learning and shows how to use these orientations for a collective intercultural learning process that involves experts of different subcultures (technical and intercultural expert) interacting on equal terms. Finally, four approaches for trainers' conduct of talk are introduced to foster intercultural competences. Henning Hinderer highlights the cultural complexities of intercultural technical projects across organizations. He shows how the incorporation of external consultants into a technical project multiplies cultural complexity and suggests a model of how to conceptualize this condition. The author identifies processes of identity-making and othering as crucial constituting factors of intercultural engineering across organizations. He suggests strengthening the position of hybrid individuals who are between professional or organizational cultures to utilize their integrative potential as intercultural boundary-spanners. Project managers are encouraged to incorporate cultural complexity into their activities.Adding to the interpretative understanding of intercultural engineering, Jasmin Mahadevan and Christian Klinke propose analyzing failure and success stories in technical project management. Based on a long-term interpretative study, they show that project reality does not exist as such but is constantly created through stories of project success and failure. They identify three, interrelated types of stories and show when and how intercultural conflict and culturalized interpretations impact the development of intercultural competencies and neglect the complexities of project reality. To overcome these obstacles, they give recommendations to academics and practitioners from various fields.What these articles have in common, is an interpretative approach to specific intercultural settings between social reality and technology. One of their aims is to deconstruct reified national cultural containers and to facilitate a dialogue between such diverse fields as engineering, management and intercultural communication. For doing so, one article concerns the education of future intercultural engineers, another focuses upon intercultural training practice. One article highlights the construction of culture amongst technical management while two other articles conceptualize the complexities of intercultural engineering in technical projects across societal cultures and organizations.The articles presented in this Special Issue outline the field of Intercultural Engineering, this being an academic first. They bring about new thoughts and ideas to empirical research and theoretical approaches in this field and intend to stimulate further debates, research and discussion. You are now welcomed to read on and be stimulated to move the discussion forward, in a constructive, intercultural and controversial way.Die Artikel in dieser Sonderausgabe beschäftigen sich mit dem Thema Intercultural Engineering in verschiedenen Kontexten und aus verschiedenen Perspektiven und bringen so Interkulturalisten, Manager und IngenieurInnen auf praktischer und theoretischer Ebene zusammen. Claude-Hélène Mayer betont in ihrem Artikel, dass interkulturelle Kompetenzen Schlüsselkompetenzen für international technische Organisationen sind. Der Beitrag von Kirsten Nazarkiewicz konzentriert sich auf die Wichtigkeit von Gesprächen als ein Lerninstrument zum Erwerb von interkulturellen Kompetenzen.Henning Hinderer beleuchtet die kulturelle Komplexität von interkulturellen technischen Projekten jenseits organisationaler Grenzen. Jasmin Mahadevan und Christian Klinke analysieren Erfolgs- und Misserfolgsgeschichten in technischem Projektmanagement. Was diese Artikel eint, ist der interpretative Blick auf spezifische kulturelle Felder zwischen sozialer Wirklichkeit und Technologie. Ein Ziel dieser Artikel ist es, essentialisierte Vorstellungen von Nationalkultur als Container zu dekonstruieren und den Dialog zwischen so unterschiedlichen Feldern wie Ingenieurwesen, Management und Interkultureller Kommunikation zu ermöglichen. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels beschäftigt sich ein Artikel mit der Ausbildung interkultureller IngenieurInnen, ein anderer fokussiert sich auf die interkulturelle Trainingspraxis. Ein Artikel beleuchtet die Konstruktion von Kultur im technischen Management, zwei weitere konzeptionieren die Komplexitäten von Intercultural Engineering in organisations- und gesellschaftskultur-übergreifenden Projekten. Zusammenfassend stecken die Artikel dieser Sonderausgabe das Feld Intercultural Engineering ab. Sie vermitteln neuartige Gedanken und Ideen für empirische Forschung und theoretische Herangehensweisen an dieses Feld und möchten zukünftige Debatten, Forschung und Diskussionen anregen. Daher möchten wir zum Lesen dieser Beiträge anregen, so dass die diese Diskussion auf konstruktive, interkulturelle und kontroverse Art und Weise weiterfortgeführt werden kann

The Magical Life and Creative Works of Paulo Coelho: A Psychobiographical Investigation

Based on a psychobiographical approach, this study addresses magical thinking across the life span of Paulo Coelho. Paulo Coelho, who was born in Brazil in the 1940s, has become one of the most sold and famous contemporary authors in the world. In his life, as well as in his books, which are mainly autobiographical accounts, magic and magical thinking, spirituality, meaningfulness, and the living of one’s dream, are key themes. The aim of this study was to explore magic and magical thinking in Paulo Coelho’s life and creative works. The study uses a psychobiographical single case study approach within the methodological frame of Husserl’s phenomenology. The author, Paulo Coelho, was chosen as the subject of research. Documents providing both first person and third person perspectives were subjected to content analysis. The findings show that magical thinking played an important role in Coelho’s creative works and in his life, in the form, for example, of ascriptions of magic to key situations in his life, the performance of daily rituals, mystic interpretations of life events, and his deep religious faith. Magical thinking is usually regarded as indicative of pathological and inappropriate cognitive and psychological behaviour, especially when found in adults in a westernised culture. However, the analysis of Coelho’s life and works shows that magical thinking can be utilised creatively and be integrated into one’s life to enable personal development and growth while simultaneously providing fertile ground for creative production. In Paulo Coelho’s case, the intertwining of religion and magical thinking provided deep meaning that guided his personal development

Managing conflict across cultures, values and identities: a case study in the South African automotive industry

Over the past fifty years, interest in the field of conflict management and peacekeeping has developed worldwide. During the same time, the potential for trans-ultural) conflict has escalated. This can mainly be attributed to the trend towards globalisation, as well as the growing complexity of societies increasingly experiencing more intercultural encounters or cultural transition situations and work-related or organisational conflicts. Cultural transition situations occur in the South African international automotive industry where the emergence of international co-operation, such as joint ventures (driven by globalisation) and new diversity management trends, have changed the way business is conducted. Due to these changes, employees of diverse origins with different cultures, values and identities work together, experiencing work-related conflicts. The purpose of this study was to assess managerial perspectives on conflict, identity and values, as well as on how (trans-cultural) conflict is managed in a selected international organisation in the South African automotive industry. The contribution of this study is twofold, namely to increase the understanding of the complexities of conflict in organisations; and to provide recommendations for conflict resolution strategies to manage (trans-cultural) conflict constructively by considering the values and identity aspects of those individuals involved. This study comprises a single explanatory case study which made use of qualitative data collection and analysis to investigate managerial perspectives on conflict, identity and values, as well as the management thereof, in the selected international organisation in the South African automotive context. Based on the main findings from this case study, it could be concluded that managers with diverse backgrounds experience work-related conflicts which are related to value and identity concepts in the selected organisation. The conflicts experienced fell into the categories of Communication and Treatment, Position and Competition, Organisation and Race and Gender.An overview of the occurrence frequency of value statements revealed that equality, communication and respect were the most commonly indicated values in conflicts. These value concepts include sub-concepts such as: · for equality: race, gender and human equality; · for communication: open, personal, free, decent, calm and proactive communication; and · for respect: mutual respect for self and others. With regard to value concepts and according to value domains of Schwartz (1994) and Schwartz and Bilsky (1987), the value dimensions of selftranscendence comprised the highest number of value statements. This dimension included the value domains of universalism and benevolence. Conflict in the data material was interlinked with identity. The extracts, based on the key words of the identity factors, demonstrated that the identity factors were related to either a weakening or strengthening effect on identities. Social and identity multiplicity in managers provides creativity spaces and flexibility in cases of strong identity patterns. Particularly with weak identities, the existence of conflict potentials could lead to complex conflicts and challenges in conflict management. Communication was most often mentioned as important to successful conflict resolution management and included examples such as round-table talks, smooth communication, face-to-face communication and room meetings. Communication was followed in frequency by strategies of internal intervention, which included the use of the formal structure of the organisation to resolve conflicts

Fehler, Fehlerkultur und Fehlermanagement im medizinischen Kontext

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Managerial worlds: Konstruktionen kultureller Differenz und Gleichheit in Südafrika

Die Konstruktion kultureller Differenz und Gleichheit ist in Theorie und Praxis zu einem Modethema avanciert, das auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen Beachtung findet. Dieser Beitrag nähert sich dem Thema im Kontext einer ausgewählten internationalen Organisation an. Unter Berücksichtigung relevanter aktueller Literatur und der Forschungsmethodologie steht die Konstruktion kultureller Differenz und Gleichheit bei Managern in Südafrika zu Konflikt, Identitäten und Werte im Fokus. Das Ziel dieses Beitrags ist, Perspektiven aus dem Mittel- und Topmanagement zum Thema vorzustellen und diesbezüglich Untersuchungsfragen zu beantworten. Dies geschieht über den methodologischen Zugang der qualitativen Fallstudie mit phänomenologischem und interpretativem Untersuchungsparadigma. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse dienen dem besseren Verständnis der Konstruktionen kultureller Differenz und Gleichheit im südafrikanischen Managementkontext. Zudem verweisen sie auf Wege der konstruktiven Nutzung dieser Konstruktionen, so dass schließlich Empfehlungen für das transkulturelle Management in internationalen Organisationen der Automobilbranche in Südafrika gegeben werden können.The construction of cultural differences and similarities has gained interest in theories and practice during the past years. This manuscript therefore focuses on the construction of cultural differences and similarities of managers in a selected international organisation in South Africa with regard to conflict, identities and values. This articles aims at presenting perspectives of top and middle managers with regard to the relevant topics by answering defined research questions. The study presented uses a qualitative case study approach in the phenomenological and interpretative research paradigm. The research results serve as guiding principles in improving the understanding of constructions of cultural differences and similarities in the South African management context. They therefore lead to conclusions and recommendations of managing transcultural interactions in automotive organisation in South Africa

Intra-and inter-group perceptions of Chinese and Tanzanian employees in intercultural cooperation

The cooperation between Chinese and Tanzanian employees and organisations has a very long tradition in Tanzanian history. The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand how Chinese and Tanzanian employees see themselves and “the other” while cooperating. This research presents a study of a single case, conducted in a selected Chinese organisation in Tanzania. It uses a hermeneutical research paradigm. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and observation and analysed through content analysis, following Terre Blanche’s model. Findings demonstrate and explain the perspectives which Chinese and Tanzanian employees hold mutually with regard to the group image of self and other within the organisation, as well as perceptions of self and other in terms of organisational, environmental and cultural contexts. Since this is a qualitative single organisational case study, the findings are limited to this single organisation and are not generalisable. Conclusions drawn from the new research insights are provided and recommendations are given in terms of how Chinese and Tanzanian perceptions present themselves and how organisations could work with self-image and counter images to improve intercultural cooperation