UPLASASE-LAS1066-SEM2-AE-2024-5-F - L-Università ta' Malta

Course Title

LAS1066 - Building Bridges: Developing skills to work with people from different cultures

MQF Level

Duration and Credits

Semester 2

4 ECTS

Mode of Study

Part-Time Evening

Information for International applicants

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This micro-credential is offered as part of the programme for the Liberal Arts and Sciences and will only be offered subject to a minimum number of applications received. More information can be found on the PLAS website.

The Unit aims at providing students with an introduction to cultural intelligence and intercultural communication capabilities. It will explore critical cultural theoretical frameworks, and the role and importance of interpersonal relations and communication in different cultural contexts at individual, organisational and societal levels.

Through this Unit, students will understand their own culture, what it means to them, and the multiple sub-cultures they belong to. They will also develop awareness of what makes them who they are, and how their culture influences the way they work with other people.

This Unit will teach students how to understand and to lead diverse (from a cultural, religious, generational point of view) people and to integrate this knowledge and understanding, and apply it within their own sector/organisation/department.

The Unit will also identify intercultural challenges, failure in communication, misinterpretation and misunderstanding and strategies and tools to face them and develop capabilities to operate globally.

Main Reading List

Hofstede, G. (2015), “National Differences in Communication Styles” in D. Brzozowska and W. Chlopicki (Eds.), Culture's Software: Communication Styles, Cambridge Scholars Printing, Boston, MA, USA.
Hofstede, G. (2011), “Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede Model in context”. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, Unit 2, http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol2/iss1/8.
Thomas D.C. at al., “Cultural Intelligence: Domain and Assessment”, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol 8, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 123-143.
Livermore, D. (2015), Leading with Cultural Intelligence, AMACOM, New York City, USA.

Supplementary Reading List

Hofstede, G. and Minkov, M. (2012), “Hofstede’s fifth dimension: New evidence from the World Values Survey”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 43 no. 1, 2012, pp. 3-14.
Hofstede, G.J., Pedersen, P.B., Hofstede, G. (2002), Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures, Nicholas Brealey, Boston, MA, USA.
Meyer, E. (2016), The Culture Map. Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures, PublicAffairs, New York City, USA.
Meyer, E. (2015), “When Culture Doesn’t Translate”, Harvard Business Review, pp.66–72.
Trompenaars, F. et al. (2012). Cross Cultural Management Textbook Presentation, Lessons from the world leading experts in cross-cultural management, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:

Describe cultural frameworks and theories and application of cross-cultural communication;
Identify and Consider identity and team/group intercultural communication challenges;
Discuss context and process of interpersonal and organisational communication;
Identify intercultural comunication challenges and misunderstandings;
Consider strategies to prevent culture shock and implications for communication in the workplace;
Develop negotiation strategies and intercultural and interreligious conflict management tools.

Learning Outcomes: Skills

By the end of the Unit the student will be able to:

Apply cultural competence into everyday business/organisation decisions;
Communicate effectively with people of different cultures;
Adopt the more suitable communication strategy or shift between different communication strategies/styles according to the context, the recipient of the communication and the objective;
Find the more suitable form of communication with people speaking different languages (translator, interpreter, illustration...);
Prevent and avoid cultural misunderstandings.

Non EU Applicants:

EUR180

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Micro-credentials offer the possibility of providing flexible learning pathways to respond to evolving needs and new developments, thus enabling students to tailor their studies to their needs. Micro-credentials may be combined or transferred into larger credentials, such as certificates, diplomas and degrees, provided that the relevant programme requirements are met. Applicants wishing to transfer micro-credentials to a programme of study are encouraged to seek the advice of the relevant academic entity.