Department: DH
Scientific area: Communication Sciences
Total contact time: 15
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of different cultural patterns, equipping them with the conceptual framework and analytical tools needed to develop sensitivity toward other cultures and to act effectively in multicultural work environments.
Differences in fundamental communication practices, such as speaking and writing, can influence more complex communicative tasks, including persuasion and negotiation. Accordingly, in addition to examining the mediating role of language in the social construction of culture, this course seeks to develop strategies for improving intercultural communication.
1. Culture
2. Intercultural Relations
3. Cultural Dimensions
In the end, students are expected to be able to:
• Recognize standardized communicative habits,
• Relate communicative patterns and the contexts in which they occur within different societies and cultures,
• Identify and use various strategies to establish contact with people from other cultures,
• Adapt better communication, identifying fields of reference, stereotypes and clichés, levels of deference, interaction styles and cultural assumptions.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Recognize standardized patterns of communication.
- Relate communicative patterns to the social and cultural contexts in which they occur.
- Identify and apply a range of strategies for establishing effective communication with people from different cultural backgrounds.
- Adapt communication more effectively by recognizing frames of reference, stereotypes and clichés, levels of deference, interaction styles, and culturally embedded implicit meanings.
Topic 1 – Culture: Some Definitions
Topic 2 – Culture: Identity and Otherness
Topic 3 – Power Distance
Topic 4 – Individualism and Collectivism
Topic 5 – Masculine and Feminine Societies
Topic 6 – Uncertainty Avoidance
Topic 7 – Short-Term and Long-Term Orientation
Required Reading
• Hofstede, G. (2003). Culturas e Organizações: Compreender a Nossa Programação Mental. Lisbon: Edições Sílabo.
• Santos, A. S. (2015). Economia da Felicidade – Determinantes da Felicidade e a Influência das Dimensões Socioculturais: Um Estudo Multicultural (Doctoral dissertation). Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa.
• Sequeira, R. M. (2015). "Critical Interculturality and Globalization." In J. M. Luna (Ed.), Internacionalização do Currículo: Educação – Interculturalidade – Cidadania Global (pp. 55–70). Campinas: Pontes Editores.
Recommended Reading
• Joynt, P., & Warner, M. (Eds.). (1996). Managing Across Cultures: Issues and Perspectives. London: International Thomson Business Press.
• Meyer, E. (2014). The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures. New York: PublicAffairs.
• Mole, J. (2003). Mind Your Manners: Managing Business Cultures in the New Global Europe (3rd ed.). London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
• Trigo, V. (2006). Cultura Económica Chinesa: Como Negociar na China? Mangualde: Edições Pedago.
E-learning.
The mandatory assessment method is continuous assessment, consisting of the completion of two e-portfolios (e-fólios)—written assignments submitted in digital format—throughout the semester, together with a final Global e-Portfolio (e-fólioG) completed at the end of the semester. These components account for 40% and 60%, respectively, of the final grade.
Alternatively, students may opt, within the prescribed deadline, for a single final assessment, consisting of a Final Examination, which accounts for 100% of the final grade.
A reading knowledge of English is recommended.