THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT COURSE FOR UNDERGRADUATES, EXECUTIVES, AND MANAGERS

The world of organizations is no longer defined by national boundaries. Prior to the 21st century a dispproportionate amount of the published material on management came from the USA. American managers and American trained researchers observed the behavior of people in US-based organizations. The problem was in the assumption that what was true for Americans working in the USA was true for people from other countries working worldwide. Both managers and researchers assumed that American's work behavior was universal. They were wrong. (Nancy J. Adler 2008)

This paper will act as a guide to develop a curriculum to modify one's attitudes, thinking patterns and behavior. We have learned that global complexity is neither unperdictable nor random. Variations across cultures and their impact on organizations follow systematic predictable patterns. This course will provide the participants with examples of the ways in which cultures vary, how that variance systematically affects organizations, and how people can recognize, manage, and effectively use cultural variance within their own work environments. No country's system or prespective is any better or worse - any more or less effective- than any other country's ; rather each is distinct and therefore must not be un derstood as a replica of any other nation.

This course outline can be used by executives, managers and college students. Cross-cultural Managment is a new field and and integrates the best of what is known in the field as of the 21st Century. Far from leaving with a sense of knowing all there is to know, it is hoped that participants using this curriculum will gain a sophisticated awareness of the world beyond their natural borders, an understanding of the limits of their own knowledge and a set of questions to guide their managerial decisions and furture innquiry.