Intercultural Competence

International Day in Munich

On 5 June, The Institute for Intercultural Studies IFIS at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich celebrated its annual international conference. This year, the 6th International Day 2008, which has become sort of an institutionalised venue over the years, was held under the topic of “Applied Interculturality – Intercultural Projects”.

I had the pleasure of being invited as a guest speaker amongst a number of national and international experts, all of them approaching the issue of working and living in intercultural environments from different angles. In reference to my fellow presenters, I chose a topic that bore relation to experiences in my own work life and that combined scientific knowledge with practical experience in the field:

Intercultural Success Factors in Consulting
– Saudi Arabian Experiences

Cover Page of the Presentation

On the basis of two projects that I have led over the past three years in Yanbu and Jeddah, I compiled my hard-earned expertise into a catchy summary of the main intercultural challenges. In order to do this, I chose a two-angle approach: firstly, I showed the German experience of the Saudis by way of matching Arab proverbs; and secondly, I cited a number of statements made by a Saudi while in Germany.

As a result, the key success factors identified for consultancy in Saudi Arabia were as follows:

• Understanding of time
• Communication
• Attitudes and behaviour
• Religion
• Personal relationship

And finally, this led to the essential message that lies at the basis of working in any intercultural environment:


THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN FOREIGN CULTURES LIES IN

KNOWING THE FACETS AND ACCEPTING THEM

Andreas Hauser