MCGILL UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL INTERNS PREDEPARTURE TRAINING INTERCULTURAL EFFECTIVENESS

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MCGILL UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL INTERNS
PRE-DEPARTURE TRAINING (INTERCULTURAL
EFFECTIVENESS)

• May 2, 2009
• Thompson House
• 3650 McTavish, 2nd Floor
• Sue Cass - Facilitator

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McGill University International Interns
Pre-departure Course (Intercultural
Effectiveness)

• OBJECTIVES
• To provide an opportunity for the 2009 interns
  to
• Increase understanding of the complexities of
  intercultural competency and effectiveness
• Explore some of the real-life challenges they may
  be confronted with during the internship i.e.
  working and living in a new and different
  cultural context and,
• Develop some practical strategies and approaches
  that will help facilitate personal and
  professional adaptation and effectiveness in
  their host country.

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AGENDA

• 900 Welcome, Introductions, Overview of the day
• 930 Looking down the road that lies ahead
  Hopes, concerns, questions.
• (Small group work and plenary)
• 1030 BREAK
• 1045 Exploring the Dimensions Intercultural
  Effectiveness
• (Introductory game, discussion, presentation,
  stories from the field )
• 1215 LUNCH
• 100 Intercultural Communication Tools and
  Strategies
• (Role play, discussion, presentation, group
  work with scenarios)
• 230 BREAK
• 245 The Adaptation Process
• (The cycle Theory and reality, Group work,
  Plenary)
• 415 Past Interns Panel
• 515 Wrap-up and Evaluation

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KEYS TO INTERCULTURAL EFFECTIVENESS

• KNOWLEDGE e.g. of self, concept and
  complexities of culture, of host culture
• SKILLS e.g. personal and professional
  adaptation, organizational (promotion of positive
  workplace environment), complexities of
  intercultural communication
• ATTITUDE (Key predictors of success) e.g.
  humility, openness, empather, respect,
  non-judgmentalism, tolerance for ambiguity,
  commitment
• From the work of Dr. Daniel Kealey and
  Associates Canadian International Development
  Agency and Foreign Affairs Canada (1990, 1995,
  2000, 2001)

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Some Musings on Culture

• A set of agreements about the way the world looks
  and the way the world works (or should work).
• An integrated system of learned behaviour
  patterns that are characteristic of the members
  of any given society. Culture refers to the
  total way of life of particular groups of people.
  It includes everything that a group of people
  thinks, says does, makesIts customs, language,
  material artefacts and shared systems of
  attitudes and feelings.
• A set of rules and maps (paradigms) for human
  survival and interaction.
• We meet, we communicate, and in doing so we
  create culture
• (Durkeim)

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

• Guidelines for group work
• Please take a few moments to read the scenario
  and then discuss with your group
• 1) What were the key dimensions of cultural
  difference that may have been at play in this
  situation?
• 2) Is there anything that the intern might have
  done in advance to prevent the situation from
  occurring in the first place and/or the
  consequences?
• 3) If you found yourself in a similar situation,
  what might be said or done to produce the best
  possible results?

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Scenario 1 The Invitation

• You (a male McGill student) are one month into
  your overseas internship. All has been going
  extremely well at the Keedo Regional Health
  Extension Centre where you are working. You are
  also particularly happy with your living
  situation at the home of Charles Kazula, the
  Director of the Keedo Centre. Mr. Kazula, his
  wife and his family have been most welcoming and
  accommodating. You have also become quite close
  to their eldest daughter, Lucy.
• A colleague at the Centre has just invited you to
  a dance to be held in a nearby town on the
  weekend. You love to dance, have been looking
  forward to more social activity and also think
  this would be an ideal opportunity for you and
  Lucy to do something together. That evening,
  while dining with the Kazula family you announce
  that you have been invited to the dance and would
  like to invite Lucy. Immediately Lucy becomes
  very flushed and appears most embarrassed,
  averting her eyes from you. It is Charles
  reaction which takes you by surprise though.
  Glaring at you, he responds sharply and in a loud
  voice That will not be possible! and
  immediately leaves the table. Shortly
  afterwards, Lucy does the same. You and the rest
  of the family finish dinner in an uncomfortable
  silence..

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Scenario 2

• You have been working for several weeks at Women
  as One a regional NGO that works in defence of
  womens reproductive rights and against domestic
  violence. You have met and had the opportunity
  to work in solidarity with some wonderful women,
  and have begun to build some nice friendships.
• On day one of your colleagues, Rita, takes you
  aside for a conversation. She tells you that her
  daughter Suli is very unwell and needs some
  special medicine which is quite costly. She asks
  if you could please help by giving her some money
  to buy it.
• You feel very awkward. You do not have much
  money yourself but feel sorry for Rita and her
  daughter, and so decide to pay for the medicine
  even though this will very much deplete your own
  financial resources. She takes it telling you
  profusely what a wonderful, true Canadian
  sister you are.
• The next day you run into Rita and her daughter
  Suli at the market. They are shopping and both
  looking extremely happy and healthy! You are
  confused as in your conversations with Rita you
  had understood that Sulis condition was quite
  grave. When you approach them and mention to Suli
  how well she looks, she smiles and says Yes, I
  am very well sister and so excited about the
  wonderful party my mother is preparing for my
  birthday. We have been working on it for weeks.
  You must come!
• You are a bit speechless and upset. Is this
  the medicine that your hard earned money went
  towards?...

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Scenario 3

• You have been living with the Suarez family since
  the beginning of your internship in the town of
  Puerto Lopez. While the accommodation is
  comfortable and the family quite friendly and
  seemingly happy to have you with them, you are
  getting progressively more irritated by their
  over protectiveness, and general lack of respect
  for your privacy. The parents, Pablo and Juanita
  refuse for example, to allow you to go anywhere
  on your own insisting that a family member
  always accompany you. They have also expressed
  opposition on a number of occasions to you
  accepting certain invitations to other peoples
  homes for dinner of social gatherings without
  providing much explanation or rationale. It is
  becoming rather irritating.
• As upsetting is the fact that you are quite
  certain they are going through your belongings
  when you are not around, as you have frequently
  found things to be out of place. While up until
  now nothing has gone missing, you are quite
  certain that you saw their daughter wearing one
  of you sweaters in town a few days before. You
  are offended by this. You do not want to create
  conflict but something must be done! Perhaps
  it might be best to just begin looking for an
  alternative living arrangement.

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Scenario 4

• Your internship has given you the opportunity to
  work for a national NGO The Peoples Voice,
  which is an organization that works for the
  rights of their countries indigenous peoples.
  You have appreciated having this international
  experience, as you are considering doing graduate
  work in human rights once your undergraduate
  studies are completed. Since arriving you have
  also been received extremely well and with much
  respect. You have not only been included in
  almost all important meetings and events, but
  your perspective is also frequently solicited and
  often acted upon (something you are not always
  comfortable with).
• While your placement has generally gone well, you
  are beginning to feel uncomfortable both about
  the status you have been afforded and more
  generally about some of the ways the organization
  operates. There seems to be some inherent
  contradictions at play. For example, there are
  only a few indigenous staff, none are in
  management positions, and in general they seem to
  play only minor roles at best in decision-making
  that goes on. You think that given the nature of
  the organization, they should also be the face
  of the organization and certainly have more
  voice. These are after all the People who the
  organization supposedly works for and represents.
• You have just been called into your supervisors
  office who tells you that an important
  international delegation is visiting the city
  next week and wants a presentation about the work
  of The Peoples Voice. The management team has
  decided that you would be the best person to make
  that presentation. You tell him that, while you
  are flattered, you really dont think you are the
  most appropriate person to do it. He is adamant
  that you should. You are not sure what to say
  next

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PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL ADAPTATION

• Guidelines for groupwork
• 1) One thing I anticipate that I might really
  find difficult to adapt to and how I might react.
• 2) What will help me cope (i.e. a useful
  strategy and / or something I could do in advance
  to prepare for this reality or possible reaction)?

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Closing Thoughts and Action Plan

• In thinking about the discussions of the day we
  have just completed, the mandate of your
  internship, the many people who you will be
  interacting with, and the cultural context in
  which you will be immersed, reflect on and answer
  the following questions
• 1) What I still need to do to best prepare myself
  for the internship experience that lies ahead?
• 2) What I want to avoid (or change)?
• 3) What I need to accept?
• 4) What are the most important priorities that I
  will need to keep on my radar when I arrive?

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• Wishing you all the best for a satisfying and
  successful internship this summer.