Layout of Interactive Workshop on Cross-Cultural Differences and Emotional Intelligence

This document provides a layout and description of an interactive workshop on cross-cultural differences and emotional intelligence. The workshop is designed to address the challenges and benefits of cultural diversity in global organizations. It includes activities such as icebreakers, essay writing, Chinese whisper, diversity ball, and more. The workshop aims to enhance participants' understanding of cultural diversity and develop their emotional intelligence skills.

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The layout of the Interactive Workshop designed to address cross-cultural differences
and emotional intelligence
The proposed workshop for the identification of cultural diversity and emotional intelligence
is divided into six modules; each module will correspond to five different learning objectives
as prescribed by the class. Here we are presenting the summary layout of the proposed
workshop in a table form. This workshop will last for two working days and cover a duration
of 17 hours including two lunch breaks.
Activity Details Purpose
1. 1 Hour Icebreaker: Formal Introduction of the
group with detail about the cultural
background.
Familiarizing session.
2. Two and
Half
hour…
Short Essay about the Trains in the
country and discussion session.
To establish the advantages of a
cross-cultural group in the
process of adding a new
viewpoint and speed up the
process of decision making.
How a group made of cross-
cultural people can explore
more tangents of any given
problem (Laroche, 2012).
3. Half
Hour
Chinese Whisper How to fill in the
communication gap when
individuals have linguistic and
cultural barriers (Kumar, 2010).
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4. Lunch
5. One and
Half
Hour
Diversity Ball To develop a cross-cultural
tolerance among the individuals
and inflict a thought process
among them where they can
observe certain individuals with
a different lens view.
6. Two and
Half
Hour
Face Value Cards How to judge a person on his
face value and then based on
the value of his designation in a
cross-cultural organization
(McDonald, 2012).
7. End of
the
session
for the
day one
8. Day 2
9. Two
hours
Reflective on a Ted-Ed Video and
discussion
Impact on leadership and
decision making and the display
of emotions in various cultures.
10. Two
Hours
A debate on Hippie culture, its
advantages, and disadvantages.
To develop an understanding of
the subculture inside the main
cultural streams.
11. Lunch
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12. Two and
a half
hour
Reflection speech about the class and
farewell
What they learn about the
development of the key
strategies to meet out the
challenges and leadership of a
group with cultural diversity.
Description of the activities and their Impacts
Icebreaker: Here all the participants will greet the group with the help of their local gesture,
for instance, Namaste in India. They will explain about this gesture. The idea behind this
exercise is to create a culture based distinctive identity for an individual (Fedorock, 2013).
After the end of this icebreaker session we will add a pinch of humor in the exercise by
introducing them to a bunch of potatoes, here we will tell them to pick a potato that looks like
them. Towards the end of the exercise we will tell them that they all are equal in the terms of
the qualification, however, they are different because of their respective backgrounds. Here
we will also give the moniker of Mr. Potato and tell them to carry the potato until the end of
the workshop (Hara, 2017).
A short essay about trains
Tube trains in Britain, European Railways, Trans-Siberian Railways, Railroads of USA, and
Railroads in China. They all are Railways; however, they are altogether different experiences.
When the participants will describe the railways, their personal experience associated with
concerning railways will reflect on their essay. Towards the end of the exercise, the facilitator
will help the team in identifying unique points of each experience and give them a lesson that
cultural diversity can help them in adding more experiences into a similar technology or the
exercise (Alaxender, 2017). This exercise will fulfill the needs related to the learning
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objective three which is related to the Implication of the technology, organizational
leadership and cultural diversity in a single frame of reference. It is very important to exercise
in today's global world because various countries are working on the model of technology
transfer (Swallow, 2017).
Chinese Whisper
In this exercise, the facilitator will pass a message in a slow voice to the other person. All the
individuals have to pass on the word or the message by whispering it to the other person. This
exercise will tell the participants about the loss of message in setup because of the cultural
diversity. The exercise of the Chinese Whisper will help them in understanding the
implications of the learning objective two related to the composite culture of a global
workplace. Setting up a protocol for behavior patterns and communication networks is an
essential exercise in a global workplace (Scott, 2014).
Diversity Ball
In the exercise of diversity ball, we will tell the participants to remember a pleasant and ugly
experience related to a person belonging to a particular race or creed. This exercise will give
them objective thinking about the process of cultural diversity and supply a new thought
process to enhance their emotional intelligence. Towards the end of this exercise, we will
remind that about the Mr. Potato and add a pinch of humor (Diler, 2014). We will give them
a message to treat everyone on the same scale without any prejudices of caste and creed. This
exercise will give them a message related to the learning objective five which is related to the
relationship building within the organization (Moran, 2011).
A debate on Hippie culture
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Hippie culture is the best example of a radical point of view. They promoted the concept of
globalism in a different undertone. However, societies across the world never acknowledged
this subculture full heartedly because it became a place of patronage for criminals and other
individuals that were promoting the social vices (Carison, 2013). A discussion on Hippie
culture will serve the learning objective two which is connected to the transformation of
organizational culture. This exercise will help the participants in understanding the dynamic
nature of the organization culture, how it needs constant transformation throughout.
Reflective note of the Ted-Ed video
Expressions have a universal language where an individual actually understands more from
the emotions projected by the speaker. Most of the cultures have different yardsticks to react
to emotional expressions. A reflective note on the Ted-Ed Video talking about the
regeneration of the body because of positive thinking will help them in understanding the
reception of the emotions under different frameworks. It is an important exercise where the
participants will understand more about the cultural diversity of a group and the connotations
associated with a certain display of emotions and gestures. Here they will identify that
various cultures have different ways of expressing themselves more effectively (Keith, 2011).
Face Value Cards
This exercise will help them in understanding the hierarchy based equations of reporting
inside an organization. It will help the participants in understanding the face value of the
designation ahead of the cultural bias and other prejudices associated with the cultural
mindset of the individuals while working in a group (Keith, 2011).
A reflective speech about the experience in the workshop
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This speech will help the participants in the process of the revision of the lessons that they
learned during the classes. This exercise will help them in understanding how this
information helped them in transforming themselves and what important lessons they learned
from the workshop.
Final Comments
This workshop has the potential to address certain key issues related to the cross-cultural
dynamics of global organizations. The purpose of this workshop is to change the perspective
of the individuals about certain gender and race-based biases. It will also help them in
understanding the fact that how certain messages and practices may have different undertone
various other cultures. Emotional intelligence is dependent on these factors, an organization
where employees belonging to the same culture often carry a synergy of the emotional
intelligence in its structure. However, achievement of the same synergy in global
organizations can become a big challenge. The proposed workshop will try to generate a
thought process in the participants where they will be able to understand the trigger points of
this emotional synergy at the workplace (Carison, 2013).
The exercise of terming them as Mr. Potato will create a unique interface for them where we
will address their intellectual faculty and remind them about the parity of knowledge and
skills that they are sharing. Other exercises associated with the workshop will tell them to
handle the differences. Here they will interact with certain individuals in an informal
environment. Respecting an individual based on the merits of his ability is a practice which is
very common; however, respecting an individual because of his distinctive culture is
something different. With the help of this workshop, we will help the participants in judging
colleagues on different face value and form a different kind of interpersonal bonds with them.
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Introduction of an informal environment is a great exercise to break the ice among the
employees coming together from different backgrounds. Formal atmosphere often fails in
bringing out the best of an employee.
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Bibliography
Alaxender, T. (2017). Cultural and Ethnic Diversity. London: Hogrefe Publishing.
Carison, J. (2013). Cross-Cultural Awareness and Social Justice in Counseling. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Diler, J. V. (2014). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for Human Services. New York: Cengage
Learning.
Fedorock, S. (2013). Global Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press.
Hara, N. (2017). Global Wikipedia: International and Cross-Cultural Issues in Online. New
York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Keith, K. (2011). Cross-Cultural Psychology: Contemporary Themes and Perspectives.
Wiley: New York.
Kumar, D. (2010). Cross-Cultural Management: Text And Cases. New York: PHI Learning.
Laroche, L. (2012). Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions. Abingdon:
Routledge.
McDonald, D. (2012). Managing Diversity in the Military. Abingdon: Routledge.
Moran, R. (2011). Managing Cultural Differences. Abingdon: Routledge.
Scott, C. (2014). Diversity in the Workforce: Current Issues and Emerging Trends.
Abingdon: Routledge.
Swallow, D. (2017). The diversity dashboard. New York: Infinite Idea.
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