200024 PS Areas of Application (2010W)

In this course we focus on intercultural trainings, which are more and more used in international business as well as e.g. for developmental assistance. Intercultural trainings are offered as culture unspecific trainings, which focus on a sensitivity training to intercultural differences in general, and culture specific training, which prepare for a stay abroad in a particular country. Widely used methods are lectures, films, simulation games (e.g. Barnga, Bafa-Bafa), role plays, which are based on so-called “critical incidents” - critical intercultural interaction situations that lead to misuderstandings or conflicts, and the popular “culture assimilator” which is also based on critical incidents which are analysed in small groups and in which participants are offered different explanations of the case and should find out the interpretation that is most adequate in the view of most people in the host country. The goal of this method is to train empathy and sensitivity to culturally different causal attributions and interpretations.