Nineteenth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

We define intercultural communication very broadly as: communication between people from different countries, between people from different co-cultures within the same country, between people who vary in gender, age, religion, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, language, socio-economic class, or whose lives vary in other significant ways that bring about different cultural ways of seeing and interacting. At times, people perceive their intercultural interaction as intergroup rather than interpersonal. With this in mind, this workshop presentation will highlight stories from students at DePaul University who have acknowledged their biases, examined the significance, nature, processes, contexts, and applications of intercultural communication - and their personal narratives. Participants will pick a partner for “Do you know my story?,” an opening exercise that will demonstrate how we engage in telling and sharing our stories in intercultural settings. The second exercise (will take place 20 minutes after the workshop begins) is an exploration of intercultural contexts. Participants will receive a 1-2-page essay written by a student from DePaul University. Each participant will be instructed to read the essay and identify intercultural significance. Participants are encouraged to find similarities in the essay as well. Please note: privacy of the student’s identity will be removed. The final exercise will provide each participant an opportunity to form their own story by crafting a critical analysis (half-page paper) of their biases and significance of culture in their lives.