"Managing Cultural Diversity in International Development and Business"

Materials: View Dr. Francis' Presentation

The workplace is culturally diversifying. Globalization means that all of us are increasingly challenged to work across national boundaries and across cultural boundaries, whether or not we leave our home country. Through immigration, expanded communications, and our own broadening spheres of influence, each of us is increasingly working with people of cultural backgrounds different from our own. This workplace diversity can be a source of creativity and stimulation or a source of communication pitfalls and frustration, depending upon whether we choose to manage the diversity or be managed by it. TIID’s March Seminar will introduce participants to the expanding research on cultural differences and to the basic concepts of Managing Cultural Diversity.

Speaker:
Dr. Joyce Francis, Tulane University


About the Speaker:
Joyce L. Francis, Ph.D., spent seven years in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, gaining personal experience of managing in a foreign culture while working for small private schools, large MNCs, and a government development organization. Upon returning to the U.S., she consulted on managing cultural diversity with such organizations as Volvo International, California Department of OSHA, U. S. Department of Energy, National Semiconductor, and the Hotel Association of Hawaii. She has taught courses in diversity management at U. C. Berkeley, the University of Hawaii, Växjö University (Sweden), American University, and George Mason University. She recently joined the faculty of Tulane Institute for International Development.