Inspiring Global Professionals
From module to community: The development of the intercultural awareness agenda within HBS and beyond
Huddersfield Business School is an internationally facing School with almost 50% of our student body from overseas, and over 40% of our staff with international experience. Core to this is the recognition of globalisation as a force for change in all aspects of the contemporary world, and the importance for graduates and business school staff to be able to engage and act globally. Therefore, we are fully cognisant of the need to support our students in developing effective skills for ‘cross-border communication and collaboration’ and we aim to inspire all our stakeholders – particularly students and staff – to be global professionals. As such we have taken a number of bold moves to ensure that all learners, students and staff, develop an appreciation for intercultural diversity and the ability to communicate respectfully and empathically across cultures.
Students
Recent developments in embedding intercultural awareness have their roots in modules on cross-cultural studies which date back some 20 years. The drive towards reform of the postgraduate curriculum (reviewed in 2018) and the undergraduate curriculum (reviewed in 2019 and 2020) provided the opportunity to embed intercultural learning more systematically within our provision. Thus, in the postgraduate review a new 15-credit course The Global Professional was built-into every new taught postgraduate programme rolled out from 2019/20 onwards to ensure that all students developed their intercultural awareness. This innovative and ground-breaking module has been designed to develop students’ employability, addressing the industry-identified need for intercultural skills. The module focuses on developing awareness of and sensitivity to cultural difference, growing the ability to demonstrate curiosity and respect for cultural difference. Through a framework of personal intercultural development and active reflexive learning students gain the understanding and skills which ultimately enable them to engage effectively in the global business environment. In the 2020/21 academic year, over 850 postgraduate students were enrolled on The Global Professional.
Following the success of the postgraduate development, the School sought to systematise provision in its review of undergraduate programmes. Intercultural training became a key strand in the School’s ASPIRE module, with the ‘I’ of ASPIRE standing for Intercultural. This module was rolled out to first year undergraduate students in 2020/21. By the academic year 2022/23 all three years of undergraduate study will receive intercultural training on the ASPIRE module.
Staff
Intercultural Awareness Training for all staff, academic and professional services, is a strategic priority for Huddersfield Business School. Introduced in the academic year 2020/21, the training is underpinned by the same principles of intercultural development as the teaching which is delivered to students. It focuses on the ability to recognise and change one’s perspective from an ethnocentric world view, where other cultures are judged in comparison to one’s own, to an ethnorelative one, where curiosity, respect and intercultural empathy are embodied and integrated into one’s sense of self. The training is delivered in four parts: i) understanding ourselves as cultural beings, appreciating that worldview is shaped by culture; ii) uncovering the roots of unconscious biases, addressing our biases in order to promote and support diversity in the organisation; iii) exploring the dimensions of culture upon which societies are constructed; iv) exploring skills and behaviours to enjoy more effective and sophisticated intercultural experiences. The School’s strategic leadership team, subject group leaders and professional services colleagues undertook the four-part training in 2020/21, including completion of the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC), a globally recognised assessment tool, which provides participants with an understanding of their starting point for intercultural development.
The training has enabled further developments in staff intercultural awareness with professional services colleagues engaging in monthly intercultural conversations, each one focussing on topics which enable individuals to move along a continuum of intercultural sensitivity development (Bennett, 1986) towards acceptance of, and adaptation to, cultural difference; respecting the right of others to have a different world view, able to act with cultural empathy through communication competence and behavioural modification. Colleagues attend these conversations in their respective teams and are provided with content to consider beforehand. These conversations offer colleagues the opportunity to reflect on and share their personal experiences of culture and cultural difference, and thus grow their intercultural awareness.
Partnerships to extend intercultural awareness
In the academic year 2020/21 we turned the disadvantage of limited travel opportunities enforced on us by the pandemic situation to explore and offer alternative international opportunities. In collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano Graduate School we were delighted to offer our students a virtual module on Digital Transformation Strategy led by the Politecnico.
We have subsequently built on the success of this by offering two virtual modules led by the Politecnico di Milano:
- Industry 4.0 and virtual factory tour (MADE Smart Factory)
- Innovation and Competitive Advantage and luxury industry case study (Pagani Automotive manufacturer of luxury cars)
A further extension has been a partnership with the Confucius Institute at the University of Huddersfield offering postgraduate students a 6-week course on Business in China. Topics include:
- Business etiquette in China
- Preferences and taboos among Chinese people
- Feng Shui in Chinese business
- Chinese business negotiation styles
- China's traditional and modern business culture
- Basic Chinese language skills for business
As the School embeds intercultural sensitivity practices across programmes, disciplines, and different stakeholders. The perpetual cycles of innovation have resulted in the delivery of trainings and seminars to the wider University campus and the local community. Intercultural training provides a bridge to the School’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy and a doorway into a more inclusive School culture. In 2021 the School established its EDI Committee, with a nexus group which includes students, academic staff from across the school and staff from professional services. Future plans include dissemination of knowledge and practices in intercultural training through academic publication and knowledge transfer activities with local, national and international partners. The ultimate goal to establish both HBS and the University as an HEI renowned for its commitment to EDI policy and practices.