Summary Inclusive Management & Intercultural Communication | Arteveldehogeschool | 2025/26

Inclusive management
1.Introduction & intercultural communication

Inclusive management:

 A management approach that values diversity & promotes the
inclusion of all employees (profile, age, gender or other
discrimination criteria)
 Aims to create a healty working environment (everybody feels
respected, valued and supported)
 Seeks to eliminate stereotypes and discrimination
 Innovation and creativity  recognizing the individuality of each
team member

Why is inclusive management important?

= financial performance: businesses with more diversity  score better
financial

 Companies with more women and ethnic diversity in leadership
positions have a higher change of success and profit than companies
with little diversity
 Different perspectives lead to better decisions, more innovation and
stronger teamwork

= positive impact on talent retention, innovation, decision-making,
reputation,…

9 benefit of diversity, equity and inclusion:




What is intercultural communication?

1. what is communication?

,= communication is symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual,
process in which people share meanings



 Symbolic: objects, words, actions representing meaning
= interpreted as a message
= arbitrary and non-arbitrary symbols
 Arbitrary  meaning is based on social agreement
 non-arbitrary  meaning there is a natural connection not what
they represent (crying face  showing sadness)
 interpretive
= understanding is essential
= shared agreement  otherwise misunderstanding can happen
 transactional
= communication is a two-way process in which people both send
and receive messages at the same time
= intercultural communication is the communication between
sources and receivers from different cultures
 contextual
= physical context : candlelight dinner vs crowded street
= social context : funeral vs party
= interpersonal context : talk with boss vs with best friends
 process
= dynamic, developing, changing
= people create shared meanings

2. what is culture?

= is a context phenomenon, a shared system of meanings ( Basanez)




= is the collective programming of the mind, which distinguishes the
members of one group of people from another (Hofstede)

= is a learnt set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and
social practices, which affect the behaviors of a large group of people
(Lustig & Koester)

,Culture consist of layers (Schein)

= made up of different levels

= to which cultural layer of Schein’s onion would you
contribute

 art and architecture
 balance between work and home
 food
 corruption
 humour
 beliefs
 dress

3. what is intercultural communication

= is the communication between sources and receivers from different
cultures and good intercultural communication requires an interculturally
sensitive attitude, cultural knowledge

= as well as skills in frame-of-reference-shifting

= also about developing a creative mindset to see things from different
angels without rigid pre-judgment

Why is intercultural communication important?

= how you see others  influenced by your own cultural perspective

= it is essential to learn to navigate across different cultural landscapes

 need an understanding of how different cultures trade and do
business
 need an insight into how different cultures communicate
 need an clear idea of how different cultures manage people
 need to understand other cultures

2. culture, communication & global citizenship

Barriers to intercultural communication:

1. assuming similarity instead of differences
= happens when people think that others from different cultures
behave, think, or communicate in the same way they do
 This can lead to misunderstandings
2. stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination

, = stereotypes vs generalizations:
 generalizations are helpful  behavior of people (not judgmental)
 stereotypes are hurtful  lock people in categories, make
judgements

= these two are often confused  they both involve making broad
statements about a group of people

 prejudice = means having a negative opinion about someone
without really knowing them
 discrimination= happens when people are treated unfairly
because of their culture
3. ethnocentrism
= means believing that your own culture is the normal or best
culture and judging other cultures by your own cultural standards
4. perception
= way people interpret and understand the world around them
= culture strongly influences perception, so people from different
cultures may interpret the same situation differently

What are cultural values?

= values are the building blocks of cultures

 means that values influence how people
 think, behave, communicate, make decisions
 values shape what a culture considers important, acceptable or
respectful

2 ways to study cultural values:

1. normative perspective
= how should we behave?
 Focuses on rules, ideals and expectations in society
 Is about what people believe is the right way to behave
2. Descriptive perspective
= how do people actually behave?
= what are their preferences?
 Observes cultural patterns and preferences

Many classifications:

- Hall: key concepts of cultural differences
- Kluckhohn: variations in value orientations
- Hofstede: Dimensions of culture
- Trompenaars: dimensions of culture