Intercultural Management and Diversity

Brief description

Diversity in society and organizations with a special focus on interculturality and gender diversity

  • Definition and discussion of the terms: diversity, equality and justice
  • Diversity dimensions (gender, age, ethnic grouping, sexual orientation etc.) and their significance in organizations
  • Intercultural management theories (such as Hofstede), their application in People & Culture Management (e.g. leadership styles) as well as intercultural learning (intercultural competence, intercultural sensitivity according to Bennett etc.)
  • Stereotypes and unconscious bias as well as measures to red
  • Variations of designing diversity trainings and intercultural trainings as well as other forms of acquiring intercultural and diversity competences in organizations including conditions for their effectiveness

Mode of delivery

face to face

Type

compulsory

Recommended or required reading and other learning resources/tools

Kowalski, S. (2023): Cultural Sensitivity Training: Developing the Basis for Effective Intercultural Communication, econcise //
Matveev, A. (2016): Intercultural Competence in Organizations: A Guide for Leaders, Educators and Team Players (Management for Professionals), Springer //
Mensi-Klarbach, H. & Risberg, A. (2019): Diversity in Organizations: Concepts and Practices, Red Globe Press //
Ceccarelli, B. & Tedrick, S. (2023): Innovating for diversity: Lessons from Top Companies Achieving Business Success through Inclusivity, Wiley

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Blended learning (online and presence teaching, inverted classroom with e-learnings for self-study), single and group activities for self-study (e.g. micro presentations and short drama sketches about bias in People & Culture processes), experimental learning (e.g role plays for elements of diversity or intercultural trainings), guest lectures, e.g. from myAbility or any organization with a diversity management strategy, online quizzes during self-study phases for individual learning success checks or during presence phases as repetition, discussion of open questions

Assessment methods and criteria

Written final examination (55 %, open questions, open book).
Content criteria of the final examination: degree of problem identification and problem characterization, correctness and complexity of the solutions with regards to technical and methodological competence.
Formal criteria of the final examination: completeness of the answers, linguistic differentiation and independence of the presentation of results.
Immanent assessment of learning outcomes (45 %, e.g. in the form of intermediate tests, small group work/problem-based learning and/or individual reflection assignments).
Content criteria immanent assessment: degree of problem identification and problem characterization, correctness and complexity of solutions in terms of technical and methodological competence, consideration of the individual case study context.
Formal criteria immanent assessment: compliance with formal requirements, linguistic differentiation and correctness, independence in presentation of results.

Infos

Degree programme

People & Culture Management (Bachelor)

Cycle

Bachelor

ECTS Credits

3.00

Language of instruction

English

Curriculum

Part-Time

Academic year

2025

Semester

5 WS

Incoming

No

Learning outcome

After successful completion of this course, students are able to

  • outline the concepts of equality, equity and diversity and critically reflect on the role and responsibility of organizations to promote them,
  • explain basic concepts and potentials of diversity management as well as practical methods of operational consideration and project-based implementation on a personal and organizational level,
  • differentiate diversity dimensions and evaluate possibilities to enhance a diverse workforce on all dimensions, especially gender,
  • compare basic theoretical models of intercultural management and apply them to understand main intercultural differences on organizational and individual level (e.g. in terms of different leadership styles),
  • analyse stereotypical ideas in organizations, give examples on the affected People & Culture processes and deduct measures to improve decision-making in an organization towards a more objective, fair and diverse process and
  • illustrate basic principles of intercultural as well as diversity trainings or other forms of acquiring intercultural and diversity competences and critically evaluate the conditions for their effectiveness.

Course code

1582-24-01-BB-DE-47