An introduction to intercultural competence in the workplace

Introduction

Welcome to this short online course on Intercultural competence in the workplace. Over the next two weeks you’ll explore what role culture can play in a range of professional settings, and learn how you can analyse situations in your own workplace in which intercultural competence is required. The overall aim of this course is that you’ll develop a mindset that allows you to critically evaluate different notions of culture as a first step towards developing the ability to mediate between cultures.

Terms like ‘culture’ and ‘identity’ are very broad and difficult to grasp. This first week focuses on activities around understanding and applying different facets of the terms ‘culture’ and ‘communication’, as well as ‘intercultural communication’. In Week 2 you’ll learn to identify how your own socialisation can impact norms around verbal and non-verbal communication.