How becoming a cultural manager changes your career outlook

How becoming a cultural manager changes your career outlook

In today's globalised world, cross-cultural management is a crucial skill. Over an intensive 4-day period, students engage in case studies, role-playing, and workshops, transforming into adept cross-cultural managers. Discover Dr. Ribeiro's unique approach and insights into international business challenges.

The reality of our world globalising means that more than likely, at some point in one’s career, it will become imperative to understand how to work with organisations that have international offices and with the people from those respective cultures. 

Senior Lecturer Nuno da Costa Cardoso Dantas Ribeiro states as much when he says that “cross cultural management is not just a desired skill in today’s industry, it's a required skill.”

Currently teaching the Managing Across Cultures course in RMIT’s Master of International Business, Dr. Ribeiro runs the class over an intensive 4-day period. “It truly becomes four days of students transforming themselves into cross cultural managers,” he notes. “We look at a number of cases studies, we look at cutting edge research, participate in role-playing exercises and business simulations, watch and discuss interesting videos and, occasionally, have an industry-leading guest come and give a workshop.”

three post graduate business students sitting at campus and have a conversation

One of the main learning outcomes of the course is to find culture-based approaches to problem solving, where it is understood that the intention is not necessarily to ‘solve’ the issue, but rather to understand it and add it to the students’ management toolkit. Students, for example, dissect the Starbucks operation in Vietnam, often with the assumption that the company ‘failed’ in the country. Yet at the end of the case study, Dr. Ribeiro challenges the class to take a deeper look and debate whether this is true. 

Companies such as IKEA are also discussed, with factors like extraordinary employee reviews being brought up and questions being asked about what they do differently in terms of cultural management to aid in their success. 

Thanks to numerous years of working all over the world in tourism and  hospitality as well as in academia, and trained as a cultural anthropologist, Dr. Ribeiro notes that often “I have lived through the examples I talk about – and I share both my successes and shortcomings ‘in the field,’ since both are an integral part of the learning process. I bridge the gap between theoretical and practical application, and I find it easy to show why something may work well in Vietnam, but not elsewhere.”

Dr. Ribeiro points out a few areas in which he sees Vietnam needing to improve upon - those being human resource training and service quality consistency - to achieve better customer service results. He works to instil strong ethics for both through his unique teaching style. “I grew up in a military family,” Dr. Ribeiro states, “and as such hard work, punctuality, and consistency was paramount. I bring this same mindset as a lecturer and once my class starts, the doors are closed until breaktime. Being on-time is one of the few skills that transcends borders. No one, from any culture, will be upset at you for being early. But when you are late, you may indicate that you are not taking the meeting, your colleagues, or yourself seriously. And respect goes a long way in any business culture.”

If your job deals with cross-border relationships, or is you want to cultivate essential cross-cultural management skills, then check out what a Master of International Business degree can do for you.

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