Education Commons^™

Helping Students With Cross-Cultural Communication: An Experiential Activity, C. Fender, Jane Murray

Jane Murray

This presentation details an activity that can be utilized to assist students understand and experience the issues surrounding cross-cultural business communications. Student groups are set the task of constructing short (5-10) minute role-plays to illustrate cultural communication styles and values. Groups are assigned two different cultures to research, with the role-play focused on an initial business meeting between individuals from those cultures. Role-plays are then "acted out" in a class fishbowl, with observers identifying specific cultural features of the communication. The activity's design allows it to be easily tailored to varying class sizes, or incorporated into assessment pieces and examinations.