International Immersion In The Classroom: A New Paradigm

Abstract

Business, language and cultural eccentricities are the cornerstones of nation-state sovereignty. Cultural diversity presents a myriad of challenges for academia and business. Cross-cultural frameworks serve to transcend barriers and promote classroom learning to an immersion category. In this paper, notable cross-cultural frameworks are explored, including the Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, Hofstede and Lewis. The first three of these theoretical models will be familiar to most. The Lewis model transcends the first three, and is fully explained in Lewis’ newest book, “The Cultural Imperative”. Grounded in this theory, Richard Lewis developed a cultural assessment exercise, Cultureactive, which identifies individual cultural profiles. Richard Lewis’ Cultureactive may be linked to an enriched experience for students of International Business, or any class that has an international component. The transition from Cultureactive to InterCultural Edge [ICE] has been a remarkable journey. ICE is a collaborative initiative between the Fuqua School of Business, Duke CIBER, Richard Lewis Communications, and Cultureactive.com. ICE is web-based product that teaches cross-cultural awareness in business settings by focusing on individual assessments. This allows the executive/student to compare personal results with team results and national cultural profiles. Both research and teaching consortia have been assembled to establish the research validation for ICE as well as develop a certified teaching network. The potential of the Richard Lewis model may be realized by fostering the development of promising cross-cultural research and enabling students to experience Culturactive today and ICE tomorrow.