The main aim of my diploma thesis is to describe the culture of the Kingdom of Spain, to define its cultural dimensions and then to compare it with the results of the Czech Republic. The work offers not only general information about Spain and about its culture but also focuses on its economy and current situation on its labor market.

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The purpose of this thesis was to distinguish between which work factors contribute to emotional conflict in the workplace. Specifically, the factors of interest were existence and tolerance of multicultural diversity, work group culture and group identification.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate politeness strategies which a Japanese person applied in a series of intercultural communications. These strategies used in several different situations were examined from a cultural/social viewpoint as well as intercultural pragmatics. This research study also focuses on how people from different cultural backgrounds evaluate a Japanese person's behavior. By analyzing the results obtained from the research, this study investigates how a Japanese person commonly conceptualized politeness in a certain situations, and what that person did to demonstrate politeness in an intercultural environment. Role-playing activity, questionnaire, and interview were used as research instruments. In the role-playing activities, two actors (one from Hong Kong, and the other from Japan) acted out scenarios, which included potential face-threatening situations. Three different groups of people across two cultures then evaluated the Japanese actor's behaviors by filling out the questionnaire. Interviews were also conducted with some of the participants from these three groups. The results show that there are significant differences in the evaluation of politeness, not only between two different cultures, but also among people from the same culture. This suggests that some politeness strategies are not necessarily culture specific. Keywords: Politeness; Strategy; Evaluation; Hong Kong; Japan

<p>This project proposes, develops, and tests a new theoretical concept termed <i>embodied narration</i> to understand the role of the body in processes of knowledge production. Specifically, this project draws upon postmodern organizing and narrative theorizing to argue that the body itself – not just those stories told about the body – is discursive, and thus, serves to produce, reproduce, or challenge existing organizational knowledge and power structures. Embodied narration – <i>the expression of the body’s stories through the body without the imposition of the written or spoken word</i> – is conceptualized as one process through which such continued oppression or resistance occurs.</p><p><br></p><p>Embodied narration was examined within the organizing context of distance running, a fitting context given its operation as an ideological discipline centered on embodied practices and the salience of the gaze among organizational members. This study employed photovoice methodology to procure participant photographs meant to approximate spectatorship of embodied narration. Further, participants shared their experiences and observations of organizational knowledge and disciplinary mechanisms in semi-structured interviews. A grounded theory analysis was employed to identify emergent themes related to organizational knowledge and discipline and provided the researcher and other readers with the preunderstanding of organizational knowledge necessary for situated interpretations of photographs. Participant photographs are presented in the absence of the written or spoken word to allow the subjects depicted in them to speak for themselves, as is consistent with the assumptions of embodied narration.</p><p><br></p><p>Results indicate unique knowledge and disciplinary mechanisms within the organizing context of distance running which are consistent with past and ongoing research. Importantly, participant stories of spectatorship provide insight into the possibilities of embodied narration within this context, including the role of member inclusion/exclusion and body visibility/invisibility in such processes. From these stories, conclusions were drawn regarding the many possible ways by which embodied narration may be employed or enacted within other contexts. In all, this project extends postmodern organizing and narrative theorizing by rejecting the assumption that discourse is inherently linguistic, and by introducing a new process by which power/knowledge is produced.</p>

This thesis examines the influence of the current research on personal orientation to cultural differences on learning in small, facilitated dialogue circles formed to discuss issues of race and culture. A facilitator's guide has been developed based on research and theory that covers: a) intercultural communication, b) racial identity development, c) internalized oppression/superiority, d) facilitation of difficult conversations, e) the use of Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as an assessment tool (Hammer and Benne~ 2001 ), f) the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) as a conceptual model (Bennett, 1993 ), g) adult learning theory, h) change theory, and i) contemporary dialogue circle practice. The manual includes background material for sessions that introduce new material, encourages interactive learning between participants, and offers sequentially appropriate questions for discussion according to the developmental stages defined in the DMIS.

This study focuses on exploring barriers to intercultural communication among managers atIKEA Japan. It investigates what challenges MNC subsidiary managers experience whilecommunicating and interacting with people from different cultures.For this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the respondents were ofSwedish and Japanese nationality holding management positions at IKEA Japan.The research concluded that the respondents experienced the barriers differently, some feltstressed over uncertainty while others felt excited. A common theme across all the barriers waslanguage difficulties. Language differences were the most prominent stumbling block.Nonverbal communication was of greater importance to the respondent that does not speakJapanese well and is often used as a tool to aid verbal communication.The respondents did not see stereotyping and ethnocentrism as a clear hindrance to interculturalcommunication. However, from their responses, it is evident that there are some issues. TheJapanese tend to bunch all Westerners together and assume they are unable to speak Japaneseand understand Japanese customs. The Japanese have a strong sense of pride in their cultureand a strong preference for speaking Japanese. The Swedish managers may even lose therespect of Japanese co-workers if they do not speak Japanese perfectly.

This study addresses the challenges of developing the intercultural competency of global leaders within the context of the U.S. multinational corporation (U.S.M.C.). This research seeks to examine how organizations develop managers capable of leading in a pluralistic work environment and the implications of this kind of learning on the current assumptions held by intercultural academia and the business community. The research approach was interdisciplinary: combining adult learning theory (self-directed and transformational learning), international business communication and leadership, systems thinking, organizational development and learning, and intercultural theory. The following questions were addressed: How is cultural competence developed, supported, and integrated by the U.S. multinational organization? What challenges and obstacles do organizations face in effectively developing globally competent leaders? How can the intercultural academic community help to facilitate cultural competency development in the organizational context? The study found that, although global leadership competency is largely undefined in organizations, the mandate "to be global" is pervasive. In spite of this, culture in the organizational context and its impact on leadership development and performance are not widely understood in U.S.M.C.s. Yet, the study also found that most organizations do not have programs of any kind that promote intercultural competency development. Reasons for this discrepancy centered mostly on lack of awareness and support at the highest levels in organizations, business cost justification, and the lack of collaboration among (corporate) departments as well as between organizations and the intercultural academic community. Two data sets were used to complete this research. The first set included members of the corporate business units of Learning and Development.(L&D), Human Resources (HR), and Diversity. The second data set was comprised of interculturalists who hailed from the academic community, the business community, or both.

This qualitative study explored the effects of intercultural differences on technology transfer interventions. More specifically, the emphasis was on key differences between the worldviews of change agents and clients that impact such change agentry attempts. Utilizing frameworks taken from intercultural relations, change agentry, and diffusion of innovations research, the study examined a single case of change agentry-the distribution of cookstoves to a rural community in Peru-in an attempt to answer the following question: How do intercultural differences help shape the results of change agentry interventions in technology transfer attempts? The focus of this study was the distribution of "improved cookstoves" in rural Andean, Peru, by a rural aid organization based at a university in Lima, Peru. Individuals from both the aid organization and the community were interviewed regarding their experience, including the engineering and technical team responsible for diffusing the technology, as well as community members who adopted the technology, others who did not, and a third group trained by the aid organization to be local "experts" in the use of cookstoves. The research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationships between change agents and client recipients by contributing a,n intercultural perspective to discussions of the diffusion of innovations and development interventions.

The following study evaluates the impacts intercultural training has on student development of global perspective and of intercultural competence, on social support networks of international students, and on internationalization goals at a community college in Southern California. Data reveals that participants in the extra-curricular student volunteer program benefit from a combination didactic-experiential training program that focuses on culture-general frameworks and provides tools for accessing culture-specific knowledge. Participants enter with high levels of openness and respect, and develop throughout the program, demonstrating increased cultural self-awareness, knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks, curiosity, and comfort with ambiguity. Students acquired role behaviors associated with multiple functional support network 4 systems. Internationalization efforts may be promoted through extra-curricular programs due to increased intercultural contact, stronger international student support systems, and through the actions of an interculturally inforn1ed group within the student body.