University Lecture TU Kaiserslautern

Intercultural Management: 

Workshop in Practice

The TU Kaiserslautern is amongst the most reknown institutes in Germany when it comes to technical academic education. As part of the internationalisation strategy, that brings students from all around the world to the university, the International School for Graduate Studies (ISGS) was created in order to internationally promote the Master and PhD programmes.

Weblink   University of Kaiserslautern

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A Warm Welcome From the Students

As part of the programme, the ISGS organises workshops and events to bring together students from different careers and backgrounds. In the end of 2009, a 2-day workshop on intercultural management took place a seminar hotel in the beautiful village of Lambrecht, a wine-growing region in Rhineland-Palatine.

The seminar was titled "Intercultural Management and Leadership: Working Successfully Across Cultures". For an entire weekend, I led the workshop as a trainer and moderator, alongside the following structure: 

• What is culture? 
• Introduction to intercultural management
• Cultural dimensions and models
• Culture values and standards:
  Germany & the world
• Business etiquette
• Stereotypes
• Intercultural communication
• Team work and leadership
• Culture across countries

Cover of the Seminar Documentation

25 participants from different careers took part in the workshop, all of them master and doctorate students. And -- what made the two days really special and lively -- was the mix of their cultural backgrounds from Yemen, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Russia, Columbia, Cameroon, Estonia, India, Vietnam, Ethopia, Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Germany!

Group Picture with Lecturer

The mix of interactive workshop methods such as presentation, open round exercises, analysis of case studies, role plays, critical incidents, moderated discussions, simulations, group work and participant-oriented reflections were greatly appreciated and eagerly executed by the lively and interested group.

For more impressions from the workshop, the ISGS has published pictures taken during the exercises on their website:

Weblink    ISGS Events: Intercultural Weekend

All in all it was a very lively and highly rewarding experience for both sides: as a lecturer, I truly enjoyed the multiculturality of the group with their varying experiences in Germany; and the feedback from the students was highly positive in terms of learning experience and group enjoyment. 

Andreas Hauser

Management Consultant & Intercultural Trainer