Globalization has helped to increase the movement of people between countries and has also affected organizations through increased international operations. This mean that companies are also significantly more heterogeneous internally than they have been in previous years with more people from different cultures working together. Sweden is one of the countries where this has become increasingly common in connection with more people coming to the country as refugees and workers with visas. In organizations this means that more demands are put on the leadership to handle cultural differences in work teams. For this reason, we chose to focus this study on researching how leaders in Sweden handle communication with culturally diverse teams and what commitments are made in connection with this.Therefore, a qualitative research process has taken place with an abductive approach to draw parallels between theory and empirical material. The study was based on primary and secondary data through interviews with nine leaders and previous research in the areas of leadership, culture, and communication. The results of data collection and analysis highlight important aspects regarding the challenges of leaders in culturally diverse teams and the commitments made to manage it. Hierarchy was an aspect that was raised which meant differences in communication between leaders and individuals from other cultures. Moreover, this meant expectations for leaders to be more direct in offering answers and instructions, which differs from the leader's culture in maintaining an informal level of leadership style and communication (common to all leaders in the study). Among the recommendations was the use of mixed communication tools, perform follow-ups, and do personal meetings to avoid misunderstandings.For all leaders, understanding and an open mindset were of paramount importance. Be vigilant about what certain behavior or modes of communication may be. Adaptations appear to be made to some extent but more thought about culture in communication and how certain information can be perceived. Of further importance is to keep the leaders' own culture in mind when trying to understand others in communication.

No description available.

MSc (Zoology) / Department of Zoology

La manipulation ethnique est devenue une réalité en Guinée, à l’instar de plusieurs pays africains. Elle atteint son apothéose en 2010, lors de la campagne présidentielle. Le tout ethnique est alors la chose la mieux partagée par les acteurs politiques qui instrumentalisent des appartenances objectives dans le seul but de mobiliser la communauté d’origine. L’ethnicité est manipulée à des fins clientélistes par les leaders politiques soutenus par des cortes de mercenaires et la complicité de « flibustiers » de l’information.Cette thèse de doctorat en Science de l’information et de la communication analyse la construction médiatique de l’ethnicité par les politiques dans les médias et plus particulièrement sur les sites d’information. Le document est divisé en deux parties.La première partie, théorique, est consacrée aux différents courants recherches et ayant trait à notre champ d’étude. Elle vise à ressaisir et préciser les concepts d’ethnicité et de diversité culturelle dans le jeu de la mondialisation. Ce qui nous a permis d’interroger la menace que la mondialisation fait peser sur la diversité culturelle, notamment d’aborder le rapport offre et besoin d’information, l’effets des médias, l’échange inégal dans le cadre du nouvel ordre mondial de l’information et de la communication (NOMIC). Elle a permis de circonscrire notre sujet et notre problématique de recherche à savoir comment les hommes politiques utilisent les médias pour instrumentaliser le concept de l’ethnicité?La seconde partie, empirique, rend compte d’une enquête de terrain portant sur les sites d’information. Elle s’appuie sur une méthodologie d’analyse de compte rendus d’entretiens qualitatifs et d’articles de presse à l’aide du modèle de Lasswell, actanciel, et au moyen de l’utilisation du logiciel Tropes. À partir de l’étude du corpus portant sur l’actualité médiatique durant les campagnes électorales de 2010 à 2015, nous avons pu faire ressortir les grands axes du discours sur l’ethnicité et la problématique ethnique pour les situé au coeur des mutations sociologiques de la société guinéenne. Ces méthodes nous ont permis d’appréhender l’instrumentalisation de l’ethnicité en Guinée, le traitement médiatique dont elle fait l’objet, ainsi que les prises de positions tant politiques qu’idéologiques des sites d’information.Au final, cette recherche esquisse des propositions visant à sortir du piège ethnique en Guinée et à reconstruire la citoyenneté. Elle pourrait être utile pour les ONG spécialisées dans la prévention des conflits dans le monde, pour les chercheurs qui traiteront la question de l’ethnicité. Enfin elle pourra apporter sa pierre à l’édifice de la compréhension comme à l’orientation des débats concernant les rapports entre sciences sociales et sciences de l’information et de la communication / Following the example of several African countries, the ethnic manipulation became a sad reality in Guinea. But, we can say the highlight of this manipulation sees its fullfillment in 2010, during the presidential election campaign. The quite ethnic was then the thing the best shared by the political actors who instrumented objective memberships in the only purpose to mobilize the community of origin: the clientelism to which resort the various political parties is then for its peak. It is therefore a question good political ethnicity supported by the mercenaries’ politics with complicity of the « pirates » of the information.So this doctoral thesis in Science of information and communication analyzes the media construction of the ethnicity by the politics in the media and more particularly on the sites of information. The organization of this thesis is based on two parts. The first, theoretical part is dedicated to the various speculative searches and to the currents concerning our field of study. Second, empirical, is of an investigation ground. It leaned on a methodology to know the analysis of articles of sites of information through the model of Lasswell, actenciel, the use of software tropes having for objective essential to seize the contents of articles and qualitative interviews. Besides, in our study of corpus concerning current events during election campaigns from 2010 till 2015, we were able to highlight interesting results basing on the software tropes and our analysis of speech and contents. These results offer a complete vision of the sociological transformations in guinean society carrying at the heart of current events the ethnic problem in Guinea.These methods allowed us to grasp the intrumentalisation of the ethnicity in Guinean society, the media treatment of which it is the object, as well as stands so political as ideological of the sites of information.

Through the years, educational theorists and researchers have been interested in a possible relationship between teachers' effectiveness and their beliefs and expectations. Three concepts underpinned this work: teacher effectiveness, cultural diversity, and teachers' beliefs and expectations. The premise of the study was that the beliefs and expectations of effective secondary choral teachers are related to the social-cultural contexts in which they teach. The study implemented critical discourse analysis as the theoretical framework and the in-depth phenomenological long interview for data collection. Three secondary choral teachers were selected to participate in the study based on the researcher's criteria. The study revealed how each teacher conceptualized student cultural diversity during the teaching experience. Teacher beliefs about effective teaching in culturally diverse settings were described as developing over time in phases along a continuum. The study also confirmed that teachers' beliefs about students can be changed through experiences and reflection. The study revealed effective teachers focused on three different types of expectations in the teaching and learning context and affirmed diverse cultural identities and backgrounds. Recommendations included the development of stronger mentorship programs to increase effective teaching strategies for the secondary choral classroom. The findings of this study support my previous work, which introduces a sequential learning framework for teaching music in culturally diverse schools.

The study discussed investigates the range and variability of cultural and linguistic diversity as represented in interdisciplinary text sets for science read-alouds in Grades K–3. Presenters share their analysis, discuss implications, and offer alternatives for locating texts that include culturally and linguistically relevant depictions of target topics.

The presupposition of the discourse of the theme is that South Africans experience a moral crisis no matter what one’s ethnic background, social-economic level, education, gender, profession, living conditions or whatever is. Chapter One deals with the matter of ethics in terms of its origin, necessity and purpose. It takes the issue further as it describes the moral situation nationally and abroad. As for other countries, South Africa needs to deal with materialism, individualism, consumerism, criminality, violence and the abuse of power. The spirit of the day in terms of the post-modern ideology implies both positive and negative influences in the well being of the society. Chapter Two describes the complexity of diversity as such. It takes note of the occurrence of this phenomenon as it is experienced through all the ages all over the world, but in particular in our country. We have to respect our historical background even if it is so clear that there were many incidents and processes of misfortune. A major issue is the political system of apartheid and the process of changing it into a new democratic dispensation. Religious diversity is another reality which has an impact on the lives of the people especially in terms of morality. Along with religious diversity, cultural diversity also occurs. It is an extensive practical, emotional and spiritual experience. Chapter Three focuses on culture and religion. These two human phenomena bring about experiences such as identity and morality. The development of new religious and cultural systems is taken into account in describing a new order in terms thereof. Along with traditional and diverse social perspectives, the post-religious way of thinking place new emphasis on being moral. Chapter Four tries to make something of the dynamics of religious and cultural diversity. It is important to understand the underlying energy of conflict, accommodation and unity of different entities. Difficulties like race, racism, exclusivism, inclusiveness, respect, tolerance and contemporary lifestyles are discussed. The dynamics of religious diversity also comes to a point. Chapter Five is set aside for empirical research. It was done on the qualitative basis. Interviews either in person, telephonically or by means of a questionnaire were conducted with the following persons: Prof. Louise du Toit, Br. Peter Just, Prof. Willem Landman, Rev. Cedric Mayson, Prof. Piet Strauss, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Prof. Marinus Wiechers. Their contributions were compiled for further use. Chapter Six explores the possibility of a new moral consciousness which should contribute to a better moral understanding of our social environment as well as the development of new and acceptable moral fabric. It incorporates the issue of leadership, opinion formers, individuals, world ethics and the importance of individual and shared responsibility. Closer to the point, Chapter Seven takes the phenomenon of religious and cultural diversity to the influence that it has on certain social levels and orders. Morality is a very practical thing which is present in all forms of human existence and function. Chapter Eight concludes with the discussion of the Christian church’s influence on the morality in South Africa. The church should on the one hand stick to its theological roots and prophetic calling, but on the other hand adapt to the new world in which it has a very important role to play. In its God-given task the church should live up to its destiny by being futuristic, creative, innovative and opportunistic. The ongoing process of secularisation of the world within which the church dwells, should be taken as a serious challenge for consistent and enduring moral healing. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / unrestricted

This research aims to develop a deeper level of understanding of how different levels of interaction amongst different cultures in a work and social context plays a role in perceiving culturally endorsed leadership attributes (CLTs). With the rapid developments in international trade, internet technology, cross-border travel and communication, business transactions across country borders have rapidly become significant contributors to the world economy. Consequently, managing diverse teams and working with colleagues and/or clients from other countries is a challenge to operating in this global business world. A quantitative analysis was done by considering low, medium and high work and social multi-cultural diversity interactions as the exploratory variables and perceptions of outstanding leader attributes as the dependant variable. This study of 269 leaders in a South African Multinational company found that different levels of multicultural interactions in the social context (described by friendships, relationships, family history and education) yielded significant differences in the perceptions of outstanding leader attributes. No significant differences in these perceptions were found for the different levels of multicultural interactions in the work context (described by international assignments and work diversity initiatives). Based on intergroup theory, this suggests that greater cognitive formations results through cross-cultural engagement in the social context than in the workplace. That is, culturally diverse social group memberships are able to condition member perceptions, transfer ideologies, and have a greater impact than culturally diverse groups in the organisational context. It was also found that the senior employees in this organisation (by age and tenure) showed a negative correlation to social multicultural interactions, but a positive correlation to work multicultural interactions. These relationships with tenure indicate the influence of organisational culture on cross-cultural cognitive formations. A synergistic relationship was evident between the work and social contexts, suggesting that inter-cultural activity in one context influences activity in the other context. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In this qualitative study the researcher investigates how school choir competitions in South Africa contribute to creating platforms for social cohesion. The study examines the experiences of conductors and adjudicators in two main South African school choir competitions, namely the ATKV-Applous and ABC Motsepe (previously known as SASCE). This study was inspired by the contribution of the rising choral music platform in post-apartheid South Africa to national regeneration from tensions created by past disparities and how choral music contributes to social cohesion in society. Phenomenology is used to investigate the experiences of conductors and adjudicators and whether participation in choral competitions contributed to advancing social cohesion in a transforming South Africa. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews, the review of documents and the analysis of journal notes taken during the study. The Transformative Learning Theory (TLT) was applied as framework to contextualise deliberate reflection involving increased social knowledge and openness among respondents. In this study, choir conductors and adjudicators reflected on their experiences in choir competitions and how cohesion could be achieved through choir competitions. From the study the researcher concluded that competitive platforms such as choir competitions provide an opportunity for role players to test their strength as individuals and as part of a team. The study found that, regardless of many challenges hindering social cohesion, choral music competitions offer an environment for bringing people closer and establishing harmonious collaboration. Learning from others, sharing and reciprocating experiences lead to new partnerships that promote social cohesion. However, the conditions set out in the rules and policy requirements of the competitions could inhibit social cohesion by exclusion and conditions that may hinder interest. Although many studies focus on the value of choral activities and its contribution to social cohesion, this study fills the gap of exploring the role of choir competitions in fostering social cohesion. Recommendations include the need to foster an awareness of the role of school choir activities, which includes the selection of music, in encouraging nation-building. Furthermore, school choir competition policy should include clearer guidelines on social cohesion. It is recommended that training opportunities for conductors and adjudicators should be expanded and implemented to include musical development, but also focus on fostering a sensitivity to the complexity of cultural diversity and the power of choral activities to enhance nation-building and social cohesion in South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / pt2021 / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

Screening and assessment play a critical role in the lives of young children and their families. The results of these procedures can paint enduring portraits of the strengths and vulnerabilities of both children and families. This article explores the challenges of cultural dynamics and family issues relative to six areas of assessment: the target of assessment, the setting, the methods, the personnel, the uses, and, finally, the fusion of assessment with intervention. While the authors' examination of these challenges does not eliminate the problems inherent in the screening and assessment with infants and young children, it can, perhaps, raise issues and stimulate ideas that can help us to enter the homes and worlds of diverse families and their children in ways that are both respectful and responsive.