The basketball players sit in a corner of the cafeteria. The rockers hang out near the stage. The ditchers and smokers congregate near the school gates. The JV football players and cheerleaders? They're near the field. This is how students at California's Hawthorne High described the typical lunch period at their school. In doing so, they also…

Purpose: One of the main issues that many organizations will face in the coming years is the management of increasing diversity in the workforce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the levels of individualism and collectivism of managers in two different cultural environments, that is, Malaysia and Australia. Design/methodology/approach: Data…

Examines the relationship between internal communications and organizational learning and considers the effects of national differences in work organization on differences in internal communications, learning, and new product development. Compares small group performance in American startups, smaller Italian companies, and Japanese management…

One of the most important differences between American and Japanese cultures is the difference in group interaction. The Japanese have been described as group-oriented and Americans as individualistic. In Japan, groups are hierarchical and usually make decisions by consensus. Japanese groups play an important role in the lives of their members,…

Examines a series of societal factors that promote either social distance or proximity between two groups and thus affect the degree to which a second language learning group acquires the language of a particular target language group. (Author/RM)

Describes research used to develop an original instrument, the Workforce Diversity Questionnaire, to assess interactions in diverse workgroups. States that a set of proposed dimensions was developed theoretically from literature on cultural diversity, discrimination, and intergroup processes. Explains how validity was tested through confirmatory…

Examines the cultural assumptions about what makes an effective team member. Argues that educators typically design collaborative projects and evaluate student participants by using a Western mode of how people should behave in groups. Suggests pedagogical strategies to prepare students for collaborating with students from many cultures. (RS)

Describes issues that group counselors might face as they attempt to provide services for multicultural and diverse populations. Strategies and recommendations for leading culturally diverse counseling groups are highlighted. (Author)

This paper explores the presence of "groupism" in Japan; that is, the phenomenon that youth in Japan are seen in groups and very seldom alone. The text focuses on "groupism" and what that means for schooling practices in both Japan and the United States. Cultural comparisons between the two countries examine the typical…

This document is a collection of a list of expressions shared by Vietnamese immigrants who have entered the United States. The expressions concern the following topics: names, formality, cultural influences, touching, tact and diplomacy, shared life, open houses, social standards, manual labor, fatalism, and adaptability. (Author/AM)

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations presents here a brief overview of the Pilipino American experience and orientation to aid in understanding. Included are historical facts and also more personal statements. Among the minorities of the Los Angeles County, the Pilipino population is notable for its large proportion of new comers.…

This anecdotal ethnography describes the student culture at Columbia Academy, an international school in Kobe, Japan. The paper begins by contrasting the affluence of Columbia Academy and its students with the relative austerity of a nearby Japanese middle school. The paper follows a typical day at Columbia, and describes the nationalities of the…

The Minnesota Project on Ethnic America inaugurated an experimental program to explore the problems of a culturally diverse college population in a small setting. The program utilized techniques borrowed from related programs and reflects recent social sciences findings on the continued impact of the ethnic factor in American society. The…

The ethnic factor in public education is the main focus of this paper. Among those playing leading roles in the society, there is a general tendency to underestimate the importance of ethnicity as a factor in group life, and usefulness of knowledge about ethnic groupings in America as an aid in coping with social problems, and, perhaps more vital,…