This skills training is only open for students of the Specialisation Emerging Markets. Other students can take a similar skills training in period 3 (EBS2023) or period 4 (EBS2066).
INFORMATION ON SCHEDULING AND TIME INVOLVEMENT:
- This skills training is offered next to two regular courses in period 2. Required time involvement is on average ca. 6-7 hours per week, including contact hours, self-study and preparation of reflection papers.
- It is not recommended to take an extra course next to this skills and the 2 regular courses. Time involvement for this skills training will be taken into account if you ask for permission for an extra course.
- Lectures for this skills training might be scheduled in the evenings, also for students who blocked evening education. ATTENDANCE AT EVENING LECTURES is part of the attendance requirement. If evening lectures are scheduled, these will be from 18.30-20.30, but NOT on Fridays.
- Tutorials will be scheduled in day time, and can be any day in the week.
- There will be 2 lectures and 6 group meetings.
- ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT (including lectures): max. 1 absence over the entire course, max 2 absences with additional writing assignment; 3 absences cannot be compensated.

GOALS OF THE SKILLS TRAINING
Both in your career and in your studies, you will have to be able to work with people from very diverse backgrounds. During your studies diversity manifests mainly in team work and in tutorial groups. During you career you will have to manage diverse groups and organizations. Managing diversity requires effective communication skills and awareness of cultural differences, as communication styles and values vary a lot across the globe.
Intercultural skills in teamwork are used as a frame of reference in the skills training. This approach allows us to deal with virtually all relevant intercultural skills. We use teamwork in SBE as a starting point and gradually work towards translating this to the career perspective of participants. There is also scope for looking at intercultural issues in individual life experiences of participants.
You will discover how intercultural encounters are always a mixture of individual and cultural elements, how to reflect effectively on this, how to communicate about tensions you experience (and how not…), and how to talk about cultural differences in a way that is productive for everybody involved. Together, these form the building blocks of managing diversity in teams.
In the Specialisation Emerging Markets, special attention will be spent to issues relevant for Emerging Markets such as awareness of the impact of historical relations, including (neo-)colonial relations and other histories of (perceived) oppression, inequality and discrimination.

After an introduction to the topic you will begin with taking stock of your existing skills. In the following meetings we look at how communication styles, values and cultural identities have an impact on intercultural encounters, with special attention to intercultural team work. We will use experiential exercises, in-class discussions, and reflection on your own experiences; all in relation to an attractive textbook. Notwithstanding the use of a textbook, focus remains on skills development. Towards the end of the skills training your learning will be integrated by looking at effective intercultural conflict management.

Stella Ting-Toomey, Communicating Across Cultures. New York: The Guilford Press, 1999

The training aims at participants of all levels of intercultural experience: from very limited to very extensive. Bicultural students and students with extensive intercultural life experience enjoy the training a lot. The skills training will turn your intercultural life experiences into a valuable asset.