EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES AND PEDAGOGY TRACK WORKSHOP: EXPERIENCING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM (AND THE HOTEL MEETING ROOM) Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 20, 1993 148 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES AND PEDAGOGY TRACK WORKSHOP: EXPERIENCING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM (AND THE HOTEL MEETING ROOM) Virginia Arthur, Wendy Klepetar Associate Professors of Management College of Saint Benedict Saint Joseph, MN 56374 ABSTRACT How does cultural diversity effect our perceptions of others and our own interpersonal behavior? This workshop will increase our understanding of how cultural differences effect us and how, specifically, they effect business people engaged in negotiations. We will consider issues of multiculturalism in the United States as well as in the international business field. Participants will learn more about their own cultures’ values and will create a simulated culture in the workshop. They will then negotiate with members of another simulated culture, and analyze the efficacy of their results from the perspective of intercultural relations as well as profit enhancement. INTRODUCTION The Activity and Its Purpose Cultural diversity is a major issue for contemporary businesses. It seems clear that managers need to learn how to deal with employees and customers from culturally diverse backgrounds, and that organizations need to develop corporate cultures flexible enough to adjust to external environments that are culturally diverse. Often, however, this issue has been treated as having two distinct components: one, addressing the cultural diversity of American society; the other, addressing the cultural issues of international businesses. This workshop will combine these perspectives, and engage the conference attendee in an experiential exercise that has been used in our classes to sensitize the student to the realities of doing business with people who differ culturally from themselves. The purpose of the activity is to: 1. Unify our understanding of the domestic and international dimensions of cultural diversity; 2. Introduce exercises that can be used to teach both how cultures differ and how to interact with people from different cultures; 3. Perhaps teach the attendees these concepts and skills themselves. The Experiential Exercise: The Intercultural Negotiation a. This activity will begin with a brief introduction to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s theory that all human cultures have had to face certain common issues, and have evolved different ways of coping with these issues (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961). These preferred solutions are referred to as “variations in value orientations,” and by understanding these we begin to understand the culture. Recent management publications have adapted this material to develop guidelines for multicultural management (Adler, 1991, Harris and Moran, 1987, Lane and DiStefano, 1992). This application will be explained. b. The attendees will be divided into groups of two. Each group will invent a culture for itself defined by its value orientations. The only constraint will be that their culture cannot mirror mainstream middle class North American values. c. Each group of two will then receive a negotiation exercise that will require them to trade with a different cultural group. They will be given time to develop a trading strategy that is consistent with their value orientations. d. Groups will then be combined so that two members of one created culture are trading with two members of another created culture. They will try to negotiate a trade agreement. e. Time will be called and the trading partners will try to identify their counterparts’ cultural values, based on their behavior during the negotiation. f. The presenters, Virginia Arthur and Wendy Klepetar, both of whom are Associate Professors at the College of Saint Benedict, will lead a discussion of the experience. ii. Time needed to perform the activities: 1.5 — 2 hours. iii. These exercises could be used in training and development to prepare people for international contacts or to sensitize them to the issues involved in dealing with cultural diversity in the United States. REFERENCES Adler, Nancy J. (1991) Inter national Dimensions of Organizational Behavior Boston, MA: PWS-Kent Harris, Philip R., and Moran, Robert T., (1987). Managing Cultural Differences Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Kluckhohn, F., and Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961) Variations in Value Orientations Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson Lane, H. W., and DiStefano, J.J. (1992) International Management Behavior: From Policy to Practice Scarborough, Ont: Nelson Canada Table of Contents Volume 20, 1993 Dominant Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Shelf Wars: A Grocery Channel Simulation Shared Cultural Perspectives: An Experiential Exercise Utilizing International Students to Globalize the Classroom An Instrument for Investigating the Effectiveness of Teaching Methods in the Business Policy and Strategy Formulation Course Providing Better Trained Graduates for Accounting Employers The Ambition Gradient Approach to Evaluation of Computer Simulation Game Team Performance Alphatec: A Negotiation Exercise with Logrolling and Bridging Potential Using the Ideafisher Idea Generation System as a Decision Support System in Marketing Strategy Courses A Dynamic Market Share Allocation Model For Computerized Business Simulations Multi-Cultural Adaptability Using Experiential Learning in a Graduate Course Development of Experiential Applications in HRM: Practicing What Preach and Preaching for Practice Linking Students and Business Leaders Through Portfolios Debriefing International Experiential Learning Exercises: Road Signs for Effectiveness Sales Manager: A Simulation Modeling Interactive Effects in Mathematical Functions for Business Simulations: A Critique of Goosen's Interpolation Reducing the Complexity of Interactive Variable Modeling in Business Simulations Through Interpolation Antecedent Biases of Experiential Learners: Trainee Occupation and Subgroup Diversity Pax in Terra Sancta: Simulating the Middle East Peace Negotiations A Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changes in Ethnocentric/Geocentric Orientation by Business Students after Exposure to a One Summer Course in International Marketing's A Systematic Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Experiential Exercises Entrepreneurs Evaluate Experiential Education A Linear Programming Approach to Open System Total Enterprise Simulations Reflecting Leader Behavior from the Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation Linking Cognitive Styles, Teaching Methods, Educational Objectives and Assessment: A Decision Tree Approach Restructuring Management Education in Post-Communist Countries: How Western Experts Can Help Managerial and Cultural Pre-Conditions for Superior Performance in a Global Setting: An Experimental Study with the Aid of Business Games Multiple Industries in Computerized Business Gaming Simulations Content or Process? - Content and Process! Some Observations and Reflections About Management Education in Central Europe Out-of-Class Experiences to Promote Volunteerism Enacting the Linguistic Consciousness of the Modern Managerial Mind: Post-Modernism and Experiential Learning Intergrating Experiential Exercises into the College Curriculum: The Case of Internationalizing the Business Curriculum Simulation Marketing Oversights Incorporating Advertising Creative Strategy into Computer-Based Business Simulations The Dynamics of a Partnership Between Business and Education Collaborative Education Done Globally Experiential Systems Analysis CADPLAN: A Simulation for Comparative Advertising A Doctoral Symposium: Preparing Students for Conference Behavior Comparing the Simulation with the Case Approach: Again! Total Quality Management: A Model for Continuous Quality Improvement The Quality Audit: An Experiential Exercise for Business Students Extending the Reach of Simulations: DECIDE Heads for the Inner City Lessons Learned from a Customized Management Development Simulation The Foreign Exchange Spot Trading Simulation Using Lotus 1-2-3 to complete a Triple Play in a Simulated Competition International Business Education: Is Enough Being Done? Matching of Student-Teacher Cognitive Style as a Factor in Student Success in an Introduction to Information Systems Course Breathing (More) Life into the Case Approach Lord of the Flies: A Live Case Approach to Leadership Cooperative Case Studies: Experiential Tools for Teaching Business Problem Solving Tools Strategy Simulations in Context: An Evaluation of Key Dimensions The Distribution Channel Game Evaluation of a Simulation Game as an Education Tool for Utility Professionals The Relationship Between Total Enterprise Simulation Performance and Learning Total Quality Management does not Happen by Magic, but it can be Taught Using a Pedagogical Methodology that Utilizes Magic Effectively Preparing Students for Careers in a Global Environment by Integrating Total Quality Management Thoughout the Business Curriculum An Empirical Investigation of Cognitive and Performance Consistency in a Marketing Simulation Game Environment Using MARSGAP with LAPTOP: (A Marketing Simulation Game Analysis Program) with LAPTOP: A Marketing Simulation Adapting TQM Implementation to Organizational Level An MBA Business Simulation: Executive Interaction Experiential Exercises and Pedagogy Track Workshop: Experiencing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (and the Hotel Meeting Room) Closing the Gap between Corporate and National Culture The Dynamic Manufacturing Company The Use of Experiential Techniques in Corporate Training The State of Simulation Gaming in Easter European Countries- Principally Russia An Experiential Exercise in Cross-Cultural Training Valuing Differences: A Conceptual Framework Demonstration of an Experiential Exercise Effectively Using Experiential Learning to Impart TQM Concepts in a High Technology Environment The Older Worker Questionnaire: An Exercise Concerning Older Worker Stereotypes and Behaviors The Crime Fighting Task Force: An Exercise in Organizational Politics Welcome to the Party! An Expression of Vocational Preference Experiential Exercise for Imparting Cross-Cultural Appreciation Six Swift Simulations on Globalization Overview of BASF Delegate Program