Dynamic networking is a key factor for successful transnational organizations. The transcultural shift is a critical process that can enable cultural hybridization so as to inspire consensual identity and learning aptitude amongst worldwide members. The Global Learning Organization (GLO) model is re-conceptualized to bring about this cultural shift. E-learning seems an appropriate tool to generate effective transcultural communication for both culture and learning perspectives under the GLO model. A qualitative case study using document analysis and interviews is conducted to understand how transcultural communication is generated via e-learning under the GLO model in two fields. Findings reveal that firstly, trust is a core element in generating transcultural communication and the combination of face to face and e-learning can enable trust to be activated and developed. Secondly, the way to build trust varies depending on task characteristics: the detail-oriented tasks require more intense face to face communication than the concept-focused tasks. This study illustrates that design of various mixed learning pattern with strategies to build trust through the affective dimension will be key for the successful GLO.

Bakgrund: Flyktingar lider ofta i hög utsträckning av ohälsa. Arbetet med denna patientgrupp ställer krav på sjukvårdspersonal, vilka bör besitta en djupare förståelse för de individuella behov som kan förekomma hos flyktingar. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande arbete var att beskriva personalens erfarenheter av arbetet och mötet med patienterna på en vårdmottagning för flyktingar. Metod: Studien är av deskriptiv kvalitativ design med intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod. Urvalsgruppen var samtlig verksam sjukvårdspersonal vid utvald vårdmottagning. Data insamlades med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna transkriberades och analyserades enligt Graneheim och Lundmans innehållsanalys. Resultat: Personalen upplevde arbetet på vårdmottagningen som tidskrävande och oförutsägbart. Särskild kompetens som personalen gav uttryck för att de själva besatt var bland annat ett intresse för asylfrågor och transkulturella relationer, erfarenhet av att arbeta med flyktingar samt vana av att samarbeta med tolk. Känslomässiga svårigheter i arbetet som identifierades var bland annat att ta del av patienternas traumatiska bakgrund, samt känslan av otillräcklighet då patienterna många gånger var i behov av mer än bara sjukvård. Patienternas behov av stödsamtal var större än resurserna räckte till. En önskan om utökade personaltjänster och lokaler uttrycktes, dock betonades vikten av att verksamheten skulle förbli en samlad enhet. Slutsats: En medvetenhet om hur kulturella kontexter påverkar människor samt en medvetenhet om sin egen förförståelse och eventuella fördomar, visades vara eftersträvansvärt hos sjukvårdspersonal som vårdar flyktingar. Egenskaper som visade sig vara viktiga hos sjukvårdspersonal, som vårdar flyktingar, var att ha ett öppet förhållningssätt, ett holistiskt synsätt på individen samt en övertygelse om människors lika värde. / Background: Refugees often suffer from a high degree of illness. The work of this group of patients requires that health care professionals should possess a deeper understanding of the individual needs that may affect refugees. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the staff’s experiences of the work and the meeting with patients at a health clinic for refugees. Method: A descriptive qualitative study using interviews as data collection method. The selection group were all the active health care staff who worked at the clinic. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed according to Graneheim and Lundman’s content analysis. Findings: The staff experienced work at the medical clinic as time consuming and unpredictable. Special skills that the staff expressed that they themselves possessed included an interest in asylum issues and transcultural relationships, experience of working with refugees and accustomed to working with an interpreter. Identified emotional difficulties in the care of refugees was to take part of the patients’ traumatic background, and the feeling of inadequacy when the patients often were in need of more than medical care. Patients’ needs for counseling were greater than available resources. A need for increased staff services and working space were expressed, however the importance of the care unit as one single unit was emphasized. Conclusion: Awareness of how cultural contexts influence people and awareness of her own preconceived ideas and possible prejudices, was found to be desirable of clinicians who care for refugees. Characteristics that proved to be important for health care professionals, caring for refugees, was to have an open approach, a holistic approach to the individual and a conviction of human equality.

The purpose of this project was to create a rubric from which researchers and filmmakers can begin producing media different from the existing English language, jargon-laden, instructional videos currently in use in the United States. From this rubric, one video detailing a clinic visit was produced, screened for a diverse audience and evaluated for its efficacy. This video utilized only images to convey information in an attempt to circumvent the confusion that may result while viewing media in a foreign language. Communication theories and strategies such as the Sabido method of edutainment and social cognitive theory guided the filmmaking process. Although it is impossible to create a universally comprehensible text, the development of potentially transcultural media helped identify key issues that should be carefully considered. Effective intercultural communication strategies and an awareness of cultural concerns factored into decisions on representations of gender and nationality, shot composition and editing, as well as the use of positive, negative and transitional characters. This task resulted in both a rubric for media production as well as a reflection on transcultural communication in a broader context. Pre- and post-screening feedback sessions were used to evaluate the comprehensibility of the video and results across varying cultures showed an improvement in knowledge of clinic procedures and protocol. This study represented an important first step in participatory transcultural media creation in partnership with the increasingly diverse patient population of the United States. / Media & Communication