Organization and Management Theory OMT

Program Session #: 98 | Submission: 13112 | Sponsor(s): (IM) 
Scheduled: Friday, Aug 7 2015 11:15AM - 12:45PM at Vancouver Convention Centre in Room 121

Discussant: Laurence Romani; Stockholm School of Economics; 
Discussant: Henriett Primecz; Corvinus U. of Budapest; 
Chair: Marie-Therese Claes; U. Catholique de Louvain; 
Participant: Jacek Mironski; Warsaw School of Economics; 
Participant: Lynn Imai; Ivey Business School; 
Participant: Jaap Boonstra; Sioo; 
Participant: Isabela Baleeiro Curado; Fundacao Getulio Vargas; 
Participant: Tatiana Andreeva; St. Petersburg U. GSOM; 
Participant: Jacob Eisenberg; UCD; 

Many of us teach classes that include culturally and nationally diverse compositions of students, be it classes taught in our home universities or abroad. This PDW will address three topics linked to teaching culturally diverse students; it will share insights from teachers with many years of experience of such classes and will foster a discussion together with the audience. Following the insights gained by Szudlarek et al (2013) from educators' perspective on Cross Cultural Management Education, the PDW will focus on the three areas that emerged as most prominent: (1) the subject matter of management, (2) the diverse backgrounds, expectations, and changing composition of audiences we meet in our classrooms, and (3) the role and responsibilities of the instructor. Even within a single cultural context, professors and students have different expectations and learning agendas; when we bring together a diversity of nationalities and cultures, we have to consider a broad array of issues that may affect learning, including different language proficiencies and diverse learning or teaching styles. As management lecturers and professors, whether we are aware of it or not, we make dozens of decisions in our classes: who adapts to whom, what kind of teaching and interactions style we are going to use, how much we adapt our language level and communication style, or whether we can use the same teaching materials across diverse cultural backgrounds.

In this PDW, a culturally diverse group of management scholars, with substantial experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate management courses to diverse groups of students, will explore the challenges linked to teaching management in culturally diverse groups along with workshop participants. This PDW will heightened the awareness of participants' to the role culture plays in teaching management and will provide them with an opportunity to consider concrete issues as well as potential strategies to address those challenges.