Preprint

Teaching intercultural negotiation and communication skills : an international experiment

  • Poncini, Gina Istituto per la comunicazione aziendale (ICA), Facoltà di scienze della comunicazione, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera
  • Charles, Mirjaliisa Istituto per la comunicazione aziendale (ICA), Facoltà di scienze della comunicazione, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera
    1999

22 p

English This paper reports on the initial phase of an international teaching experiment involving the use of videoconferencing for the teaching of intercultural business communication and negotiation skills. The experiment has the following aims: (a) to give insight into how students from different cultures operate in nearly identical situations, (b) to give students exposure to intercultural communication through videoconferencing, (c) to allow students to assess videoconferencing as a tool for international business communication, and (d) to develop intercultural case studies. The paper provides project background and rationale and describes lead up activities involving groups of students in Helsinki, Finland, and Lugano, Switzerland. As part of the initial phase leading to videoconferencing, students in both settings used an identical case as the basis of a meeting, which was videotaped. The paper also discusses the video performance of the two groups, pointing out similarities and differences in student approaches. Finally, it outlines plans for the future and discusses the prospect of extending participation to involve other interested institutions. This is a slightly revised version of an unpublished paper presented at the Association for Business Communication 1998 Annual Convention held in San Antonio, Texas. One of the aims of the conference presentation was to invite participants to join a network of institutions interested in becoming “videoconferencing partners.” At the time of the presentation, an actual videoconference had not yet been scheduled, hence the focus on background, preparations and videotaped meetings and negotiations. Since then, a videoconference has been held between students at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration and students at the University of Lugano (using off-campus facilities at the Swiss Center for Scientific Computing, Manno). This event took place in April 1999 and is the subject of a working paper in progress (Charles and Poncini, forthcoming).
Language
  • English
Classification
Information, communication and media sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
  • RERO DOC 5240
  • ARK ark:/12658/srd1318095
Persistent URL
https://n2t.net/ark:/12658/srd1318095
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