QUESTIONNAIRE.

Title of research: The relation between experience abroad and perceived intercultural competence and its implications for multicultural teamwork. Researcher: Position: Supervisor: Katharina Gerberding MA student in Cross-Cultural Communication & International Management, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Dr Panos Athanasopoulos, School of Communication, and Language Sciences, University. Education, Newcastle

The nature of this research project: This project is in the research area of intercultural communication. I am investigating the relation between experience abroad and perceived intercultural competence and the implications for multicultural teamwork. The questionnaire allows me to gain in-depth insights into how you conceptualise and perceive concepts, experiences and competencies. The questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and contains questions to tick ( ) as well as questions requiring one or a few key word(s) to answer. In total, you will be asked to complete four parts on different subject matters: Part Part Part Part I: Biographical information II: Experience abroad III: Multicultural teamwork IV: Intercultural competence

Upon completion, please send the questionnaire back to k.gerberding@ncl.ac.uk / katharinagerberding@gmx.de. In doing so, you officially agree to participate in my study. I highly appreciate your time and cooperation for my research and ensure you that all information provided will be treated with absolute confidentiality and anonymity. Should you have additional questions about the study and/or require information regarding the final research results, please do not hesitate to contact me by email (see above) or by phone 0798-0184768. Thank you very much. Complaints In case of any complaints concerning the conduct of research, these should be addressed to me directly (see contact details above) or to my supervisor, Dr Panos Athanasopoulos, School of Education, Communication, and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, panos.athanasopoulos@ncl.ac.uk. Follow-up interviews I plan to conduct a few interviews with a small number of the questionnaire participants. If you agree to participate in a short (max.

5-10 minutes) follow-up interview, please tick accordingly. Yes, I agree to take part in a short follow-up interview. No, I do not agree to take part in a short follow-up interview.

Part I: Biographical information 1) Participant ID (to be filled out by the researcher): 2) Name: 3) Email address: 4) Gender: 5) Age: 6) Nationality: 7) Ethnicity: 8) Mother tongue: 9) Other languages: 10) Most recent academic qualification (BA, Bsc, MA, MSc etc.): 11) Current occupation: Part II: Experience abroad Please list the details of all your experiences abroad that are/were longer than three months in chronological order (shorter trips & travels excluded). If you have more than 4 experiences in total, please only list the four most influential ones. Experience 1 When (point in time)? How long (duration)? Where (location)? What for (purpose, i.e. study, work, travel etc.)? How would you rate your stay (evaluation)? very positive positive neutral/ average negative very negative Experience 2 When (point in time)? How long (duration)? Where (location)? What for (purpose, i.e. study, work, travel etc.)? How would you rate your stay (evaluation)? very positive positive neutral/ average negative very negative Experience 3 When (point in time)?

How long (duration)? Where (location)? What for (purpose, i.e. study, work, travel etc.)? How would you rate your stay (evaluation)? very positive positive neutral/ average negative very negative Experience 4 When (point in time)? How long (duration)? Where (location)? What for (purpose, i.e. study, work, travel etc.)? How would you rate your stay (evaluation)? very positive positive neutral/ average negative very negative Self-assessment and evaluation 1) In your opinion, what was (/were) the most valuable skill(s) you have acquired from your experience abroad?

2) In retrospect, would you say that your experience abroad has enriched your life? Yes, definitely. In what way? Yes, for the most part. Dont know. No, not really. Not at all.

3) On a scale from 1 to 5 (1=very bad, 2=bad, 3=average, 4=good, 5=very

good), how did you perceive yourself in the following domains prior to your experiences abroad? Domain / Rating Tolerance Flexibility Patience Motivation Curiosity Empathy 1 2 3 4 5

Adaptability Sense of humour Open-mindedness Self-awareness Communication skills Team spirit Confidence Skills in the host country language

4) On a scale from 1 to 5 (1=very bad, 2=bad, 3=average, 4=good, 5=very

good), how did you perceive yourself in the following domains after your experiences abroad? Domain / Rating Tolerance Flexibility Patience Motivation Curiosity Empathy Adaptability Sense of humour Open-mindedness Self-awareness Communication skills Team spirit Confidence Skills in the host country language 1 2 3 4 5

5) Please insert the cultures youve been exposed to in the following sentences.
Example: I feel most curious about people from North American cultures. If you cannot find a suitable culture for a sentence, you may leave it out. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 5.6. 5.7. I feel very tolerant towards I easily lose patience with people from I am motivated to interact with people from cultures. I am curious about people from cultures. I am empathetic towards people from cultures. I easily adapt to people from cultures. I have difficulties adapting to people from cultures. cultures.

cultures. 5.8. 5.9. I can laugh the most with people from cultures. I am open-minded to people from cultures. cultures. cultures. 5.10. I enjoy communicating with people from 5.11. I enjoy working with people from 5.12. I have difficulties working with people from cultures. 5.13. I feel confident among people from cultures 5.14. Most of my closest friends are from cultures. 5.15. I could never imagine being with someone from cultures. Part III: Multicultural teamwork Conceptualisation

1) Brainstorming exercise: Please write down the first five words that come to
your mind when thinking about a multicultural team. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2) How would you define a multicultural team in one sentence?

3) What do you perceive to be the perfect team structure?

a) Hierarchical team structure: equal say. a) b)

b) Non-hierarchical team structure: All team members have

1 team leader and x team members.

4) When comparing multicultural teams with monocultural teams, would you 6

say they are? Very similar Similar Dont know. Different Very different

If you think that multicultural teams are somewhat different to monocultural teams, in what way?

5) In your opinion, what are the general benefits of multicultural teams as

opposed to monocultural teams?

6) In your opinion, what are the general difficulties of multicultural teams

as opposed to monocultural teams?

Personal experience

7) Have you been in a multicultural team setting before? YES

NO, please continue with Part IV of the questionnaire.) 8) How many times (approximately)? 9) In what context (school, university, job etc.)? 10) 11) What was the average duration of the teamwork?

NO

(If your answer is YES, please continue with the questions. If your answer is

In general, how would you evaluate your experience with

multicultural teams? Very positive Positive Dont know. Negative Very negative

Why?

12) From your experience, what did you find particularly enjoyable about
multicultural teamwork?

13) Have you encountered difficulties during multicultural teamwork? 7

YES

NO

If YES, in which areas?

Did you try to solve these challenges? YES If YES, how?

NO

14) If you have had multiple multicultural teamwork experiences (see above),
has the teamwork generally improved over time? YES If YES, why? NO

If NO, why not?

15)

Judging from your experience, what would you recommend to

someone who has never participated in multicultural teamwork? My key to successful multicultural teamwork is

Part IV: Intercultural competence Conceptualisation

1) What does intercultural competence mean to you? Please list the three
most important aspects of intercultural competence. 1. 2. 3.

2) Do you think intercultural competence is useful? YES

If YES, what is it useful for?

NO

3) In your opinion, can intercultural competence be learned/ trained?

YES NO 4) What do you think is the value of intercultural training for internationally and interculturally operating businesses?

Personal experience and evaluation

5) Would you consider yourself to be interculturally competent? YES

9) of this part.

NO

If YES, please proceed with the questions. If NO, please move to question

6) Why do you think you are interculturally competent (experience,

personality etc.)?

7) How would you rate your intercultural competence (on a scale from
1=very poor to 10=very good) prior to your experiences abroad?

8) How would you rate your intercultural competence (on a scale from
1=very poor to 10=very good) after your experiences abroad?

9) If you think you are not interculturally competent: What could help
you increase your competence?

10) Have you ever undergone intercultural training? YES

NO

Example: Intercultural training (ICT) 11) If you were a student on an intercultural training course, what would

you like to learn?

12) Equally, what would you not like to learn?

13)

How important are the following training aspects for you (1=not at

all important, 2=not so important, 3=dont know, 4= important, 5=very important) 1 Personality Curiosity Patience Flexibility Team spirit Motivation Skills: How to Communicate Establish relationships Build trust Solve problems Be self-aware Cultural empathy Cultural knowledge Empathy for different working styles Tolerance for ambiguity Awareness of diversity Appreciation of diversity Open-mindedness 2 3 4 5

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14)

REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE

Please imagine you are an employee of a large international company and are about to join a multicultural team for the first time in your career. Your team members will all be from different cultures. In order to prepare you for this assignment, your employer offers you an intercultural training course. Please have a look at the following list of subjects that could potentially be used in intercultural training seminars. Working in a multicultural team. How to do business with X. When cultures collide How to make diversity work. Code of conduct in X business relations. Managing multicultural teams. The Dos and Donts in business encounters with X. Cultural Awareness Training. All there is to know about X business practices. If things go wrong How to solve problems in intercultural encounters. 10.The typical X businessman/ businesswoman. (Note: The X stands for a country/ nationality specification that is not your own. Example: If you are a German, the X could stand for Italian: The typical Italian (=X) businessman/ businesswoman). Which of these ten sessions would you be interested in attending? Please pick the three most interesting sessions and give reasons for your choice. Number: Reason: Number: Reason: Number: Reason: Do you think that the ten sessions are equally relevant? YES If NO, why not? NO 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

This is the end of the questionnaire. Again, thank you very much for taking the time to complete it. Please send it back to k.gerberding@ncl.ac.uk or katharinagerberding@gmx.de.

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