Considers two assumptions that underlie the teaching of international business communication: (1) perceptual variations exist within a country, and they sharpen even more across countries and cultures; and (2) critical pedagogy maintains that making students think and revisit their worldviews through an encounter with discomforting or decentering…

Discusses the value of travel and study abroad in opening up students to three major areas: the host culture itself, new perspectives on their own culture, and self-learning. Focuses on how the "culture shock" experience can be used for student growth. Provides the example of a short- term honors study abroad program at the University of…

Describes a partnership between schools in College Station, Texas and in Mexico City that conducted school activities via videoconferencing. The activities were designed to help the students understand cultural differences by studying murals and then creating their own. (LRW)

Outlines the evolution of information design in Europe, which has long involved practitioners from a broader set of disciplines than in the United States. Speculates on reasons for differences in approach to information design in Europe and the United States. Maintains that quality of education is key to both approaches, to respect and improve…

An adult educator working with marginalized multicultural groups describes how the community defined the following core values for working with diversity: living the respect for diversity, climate of extended family, shared grassroots ownership, blend of creativity and practicality, organizational effectiveness, work for the common good, and…

The conception of knowledge was studied for 213 14- and 15-year-old students in Singapore and their 37 teachers and 96 students in the United States, with their 10 teachers. Cultural differences, including those in epistemological frameworks, are discussed, and their implications for education considered. (SLD)

Discusses the origins of multicultural education from the perspective of cultural epistemology, contending that at issue in the debate over multicultural education is the challenge of paradigmatic shifts in understanding multicultural society and multiculturalism as sociopolitical constructs. (SLD)

Conflict may be seen as a threat to be avoided or as a competitive game. The latter is being promoted in transitional Eastern European countries, despite the fact that it is not congruent with human resource practice in a cross-cultural situation. (SK)

Describes a learning activity that stimulates recollection of nursing students' experiences of loss and grief, helping them examine personal responses, recognize cultural differences in responses, and develop skills for caring for those who are grieving. (SK)

Reports results from managers working in four countries, reporting the richness of five media, equivocality of 11 situations, preferred media for each situation, and cultural values. Finds richness and equivocality measures reliable and unidimensional, and media preferences for face-to-face and telephone communication channels for each situation…

Describes a language pedagogy which can help basic writers to understand language's potential to shape, not just to convey information about, social experience. States that students from diverse backgrounds can then more effectively critique the relationships of language's uses in a variety of social contexts. (PA)

Surveyed an ethnically diverse group of students in a Canadian university commerce program using the 24-item Personal Report of Communication Apprehension. While prior research results showed that the level of communications apprehension varies among ethnic groups, these results showed no significant variation. (EV)

Discusses the challenges in managing performance across national cultures and within changing corporate cultures. Describes two human performance technology tools that can help performance consultants understand different cultures and provide the basis for successful management action: the culture audit and the systems model that can be adapted…

Explains the balanced scorecard as a management system that provides a framework for strategic measurement which translates the vision and strategy of the organization in operational terms by four indicators: financial, process, employee and client satisfaction, and results. Also considers the importance of cultural differences in performance…

Discusses the rise of diversity in the workforce and explains how this demographic change has led to businesses developing appropriate training programs. Examines what diversity is, where, when, and why it developed, and where it is going; and applies semiotic analysis to a corporate training video that addresses diversity issues. (Contains 54…