After two online zoom Christmas parties, the chair team celebrated again in presence on December 21, 2022. In addition to enjoying culinary delicacies from the cultures represented at the chair, the highlights of the year were exchanged (which, by the way, can be found on this page).

One program item was also ChatGPT, a chatbot launched by OpenAI in November 2022. A chatbot or chatterbot is a software application that is used to have an online chat conversation over text - without a human. After the Christmas party, the following question was entered: "What might a Christmas party at the Department of Intercultural Communication at the University of Passau look like with Bavarian, Peruvian, Mexican and French elements?"  This question was answered in a few seconds by ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/chat) as follows:

“A Christmas party at the Department of Intercultural Communication at the University of Passau with Bavarian, Peruvian, Mexican, and French elements could be a festive and culturally diverse celebration. Some possible elements of the party could include:

• Bavarian elements: Bavarian music, folk dancing, traditional Bavarian food such as roast pork, dumplings, and pretzels, and possibly even lederhosen and dirndls for those who want to get into the spirit of Bavarian culture.
• Peruvian elements: Peruvian food such as ceviche, empanadas, and lomo saltado, traditional Peruvian music and dance, and possibly even Peruvian crafts or other cultural items on display.
• Mexican elements: Mexican food such as tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas, traditional Mexican music and dance, and possibly even a piñata or other Mexican party games.
• French elements: French food such as croissants, pâté, and cheese, traditional French music, and possibly even a wine tasting with French wines.

Overall, the party could be a fun and exciting way to celebrate Christmas and learn about different cultures from around the world.”

Amazing, right? ChatGPT reveals the curse and blessing of digitalization and artificial intelligence and will certainly fundamentally change both academic and teaching cultures in the future.

From September 15 to December 15, 2022, Sina Großkopf spent three months at Québec's Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG) with Professor Kerstin Kuyken for a research visit. She assisted Professor Kuyken as a member of the newly established Center for Research in Intercultural Entrepreneurship (CEEII) in building the intercultural entrepreneur community and in a related project on "The Role of Culture in Supporting Migrants," which focuses on entrepreneurial support for migrant entrepreneurs in Montréal. This project is complementary to the ongoing research project with the University of Passau and the Chair of Intercultural Communication, Professor Christoph Barmeyer, on "Intercultural Resources of Migrant Entrepreneurs in Québec and Bavaria" since 2019. A great acknowledgement is given to the Bavarian Research Alliance, which significantly supported the research stay with the grant for the promotion of Québec studies.

After a long Corona break, it was finally possible to visit the Christmas market to drink some mulled wine and eat German bratwurst. Thus, the Chair of Intercultural Communication together with the student assistants, alumni and the students of the double master between Passau and Aix-en-Provence and the TDU met on December, 6^th 2022 in cheerful company and looked back with joy on the many successful projects and shared experiences of the year 2022.

From November 14 to 18, 2022, Tuzienka Chenet Ugarte spent five days at the Spanish University Carlos III de Madrid, where she participated in a doctoral colloquium and a master's seminar taught by Prof. Dr. Jaime Bonache in Human Resources Management. As part of the Erasmus+ mobility program for employees, she was able to strengthen cooperation with the partner university in Madrid and experience teaching content and methods in a different cultural context. In addition, she continued to work on her dissertation project on biculturalism and leadership during this week. Thanks go to the International Office for coordinating and facilitating the mobility.

Within the framework of the vhb-Smart project "Maître chez nous - Development of Society and Politics in Québec since the Révolution Tranquille", five teaching units were developed between October 2021 and October 2022 by Prof. Dr. Christoph Barmeyer, Tuzienka Chenet Ugarte and Felina Sieland as teaching materials on political, social, demographic, and cultural aspects of the Québec region. For this purpose, four expert interviews were conducted with Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Kuyken (Université du Québec à Montréal), Prof. Dr. Victor Armony (Université du Québec à Montréal) and interpreter Louis Bouchard. 

The planned online teaching units are expected to be available to teachers and students at universities and universities of applied sciences in the Free State of Bavaria from the summer semester of 2023. 

 

What nice experiences have you had abroad? Students answered this question in pictures and in writing; the result was on display as part of the "Weeks of Democracy" in the House of Generations at Heiliggeistgasse 3. The exhibition began on October 15, 2022 with a vernissage where prizes were awarded to the best submissions, as well as a discussion around the question "What can you learn from other cultures?"

For more information, see the article from the "Passauer Neue Presse".

The photo shows (from left): Maria Wilhelm, Dr. Martina Maletzky de Garcia, Nina Heinz, Trainerin in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, Modemanufaktur DeuToMa (Deutschland – Togo – Mali) und Guillermo Moran Garcia

On Thursday, October 13, 2022, the first Entrepreneurship Day (E'Day) took place in the Innsteg Aula of the University of Passau with about 200 start-up enthusiasts. The great interest showed not only Passau's lively start-up scene, but also the University of Passau's path to becoming a start-up university. The event was organized as part of the PATEC project (Passau - The Entrepreneurial Campus) and moderated by Constanze Ruesga Rath, Research Associate at the Chair of Intercultural Communication.

The program included workshops, lectures, pitch events and a start-up fair. In addition, the first Entrepreneurship Award of the University of Passau, endowed with 3,000 euros and mentoring, was presented by Dr. Fritz Audebert, Chairman of the Neuburger Gesprächskreis and CEO and founder of ICUnet.AG. Among other things, Professor Barmeyer opened the final event of the certificate program "Honours Degree in Entrepreneurship" of the University of Passau, which nine teams completed and presented their business ideas at a final pitch.

To sum up, the first Entrepreneurship Day of the University of Passau was a great success and we are already looking forward to the continuation next year in 2023.

More details about the Entrepreneurship Day can be found here.

On July 13, 2022, Professor Christoph Barmeyer organised an intercultural workshop for staff members of the department as well as students. The aim of the workshop was to teach the participants various methods of intercultural competence development based on experiential learning, such as simulations, role plays, case studies, communication and feedback exercises. The exercises were each accompanied by introductions and reflection phases with discussion in order to adopt an appropriate meta-level. The restaurant Mariensäule in Wernstein am Inn and the beautiful summer weather provided an appropriate setting for concentrated and stimulating collective learning.

Due to a joint research cooperation, Professor Kerstin Kuyken visited the Chair of Intercultural Communication in Passau from June 28 to July 6, 2022. Ms. Kuyken is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the École des Science de la Gestion of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and founder of the Research Center for International and Intercultural Entrepreneurship.

The aim of the research stay, which was funded by the Ministry of International Relations and Francophonie in Québec (Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie), was to continue working on the topic of "Intercultural and Migrant Entrepreneurship", which had already been addressed in recent years together with Sina Großkopf. During the stay, Professor Kerstin Kuyken gave a lecture on "Entrepreneurship in Québec" and participated in a presentation and ideation workshop with PATEC representatives. She also spoke with the International Office about the Erasmus exchange between UQAM and the University of Passau. Together with Sina Großkopf and Professor Barmeyer she was working on finalizing a joint article entitled "Transforming context through knowledge creation: A culture-based study of migrant entrepreneurs in Germany". In addition, a meeting took place in Munich together with Michael Kriegel (Founder consultant - Ideation - Publishing and lecturer for Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation), Maria Wilhelm (PATEC/Transfer center), Constanze Ruesga Rath (PATEC) and Sina Großkopf. Work was also done on developing further start-up activities of students in Québec and Bavaria, especially related to a joint project seminar that could be combined with the planned Intercultural Entrepreneurship Community (PATEC). Finally, the planning for the stay in Montréal of Constanze Ruesga Rath, Sina Großkopf and Professor Christoph Barmeyer in fall 2022 was discussed.

The Groupe d'Étude Management et Language (GEM&L) conference took place from May 19 to 21, 2022 at the Redoute and the University of Passau. Under the title "The multiple facets of language in international organizations: New directions for research", current research, practical issues and projects on language in organizations and multinational companies were presented and discussed by an international community and audience.

The conference, organized by GEM&L under the presidency of Dr. Philippe Lecomte in cooperation with the Chair of Intercultural Communication, was attended by around 60 internationally renowned researchers as well as PhD students from 15 different countries, presenting and discussing the state of research from different disciplinary, paradigmatic, thematic and methodological perspectives, with questions on the role of language, multilingualism, culture and communication in international companies and organizations. Practical references were created, among other things, by a round table discussion on cultural and linguistic challenges in international companies, in which responsible persons from ICUnet, AUDI and the German-French cultural broadcaster ARTE participated.

The conference was sponsored by the Neuburger Gesprächskreis and the University of Passau. In organizing the conference, Professor Barmeyer and Dr. Philippe Lecomte were assisted by Dr. Madeleine Bausch, Constanze Ruesga Rath and Tuzienka Chenet Ugarte, research assistants and doctoral students in the Department of Intercultural Communication at the University of Passau.
Here you can find a further report about the conference.

Sylvia Mello is doing her PhD at the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in Rio de Janeiro and stayed at the Chair of Intercultural Communication from May 1 to 31, 2022 to work on her dissertation on humility as a competence of expatriates. Sylvia Mello worked for more than 20 years in international HR for multinational organizations and her research focuses in the area of Global Mobility and Intercultural Management. Some of her recent articles are „Expatriate's engagement and burnout: the role of purpose-oriented leadership and cultural intelligence” and “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on expatriates: a Pathway to work-life harmony?”

She now enriches the research on Global Mobility with the concept of humility. Her current research approach is to discover the “lived meaning" of expatriate humble behavior, by learning from human resource managers, and expatriate managers themselves, about how expatriate humble behavior operates in corporate international assignments, what is considered as humble behavior, and what humble behavior adds to the set of competences that stand out in the life of a successful expatriate.

She attended various courses at the Chair of Intercultural Communication, and participated in scientific exchanges, such as the PhD colloquium with Professor Mary Yoko Brannen, the GEM&L Congress, and presented her own research in colloquia and courses herself.  

The photo shows Sylvia Mello (left) and the chair team.

Within the framework of the Franco-German Master's program of Aix Marseille Université and the University of Passau "Cultural Economics/International Cultural and Business Studies (ICBS) - Langues Étrangères Appliquées (LEA)", which is sponsored by the Franco-German University, Dr. Catherine Teissier stayed at the Chair of Intercultural Communication from May 23 to 25, 2022. The goals of the stay were to organize an information session for interested students, an exchange with the students of the current cohort, a meeting with colleagues from the university, and to work on an image film of the study-program.

The photo shows Dr. Catherine Tessier, Constanze Ruesga Rath, Professor Christoph Barmeyer and the German and French students of the Master's program.

"Cross-Cultural Management & Cultural Identity: Past Perspectives and Present Prerequisites" was the guest lecture given by Professor Mary Yoko Brannen. Mary Yoko Brannen is Professor Emeritus of International Business at San José State University, USA, and Honorary Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. She was associate editor of the Journal of International Business Studies from 2011 to 2016 and is currently consulting editor. In the lecture, she discussed how people identify (or not) with their respective cultural groups: Identity is central to all aspects of adaptation, including workplace adaptation and, more broadly, cultural adaptation, which directly affects well-being and performance. However, in the face of migration, workforce mobility, and global corporate expansion, often in the form of cross-cultural mergers and acquisitions or international joint ventures, the construct of cultural identity is becoming increasingly blurred. The aim of her presentation was therefore to bring the construct of cultural identity more formally and explicitly into the research field of cross-cultural management (CCM) in order to provide a basis for shared understanding and critical discussion.

As part of the international GEM&L conference "The multiple facets of language in international organizations: New directions for research", organized by the Chair of Intercultural Communication from May 19-21, 2022, Professor Mary-Yoko Brannen participated in the Chair's PhD Colloquium on May 17, 2022. She is Professor Emeritus of International Business at San José State University, USA, and Honorary Professor at the Department of International Economics, Government, and Business at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. She commented in detail, through constructive feedback, on the presented doctoral theses of Birgit Gabriel on collective boundary spanning at Arte "30 years of 'regard croisé' - the headquarters of ARTE in Strasbourg in its role of intercultural coordination" and of Tuzienka Chenet Ugarte on "Biculturalism: implications for leadership styles in Latin America".

On May 09, 2022, the launch of the joint intercultural entrepreneurship community between Bavaria and Québec took place. The event was organized by Professor Christoph Barmeyer, Constanze Ruesga Rath and Sina Großkopf from the Chair of Intercultural Communication, together with Professor Kerstin Kuyken from the E S G UQAM (École des Sciences de la Gestion of the Université du Québec à Montréal).

The goal of the joint Entrepreneur Community is to connect founders, students and researchers from Bavaria and Québec. For this reason, the event was hosted via the virtual showroom Agora - a software created by the Québec company: Atypic Labs.

This particular venue represented a new and interesting experience for many: Atypic Labs' mission is to overcome the typical interpersonal hurdles of a usual online meeting and thus provide an interactive experience. In this way, it was possible to successfully pursue the main goal of the event: The emergence and deepening of a Entrepreneur community between Bavaria and Québec, in order to further exploit the cultural and economic potential of the two regions and to inspire each other interculturally and entrepreneurially.

In the dynamic and interactive spaces of Agora, aspiring entrepreneurs from Bavaria and Québec were able to exchange ideas, and the already successful founders were able to share their experiences and intercultural challenges in starting a business. Promising contacts were made, helpful information was exchanged and the entrepreneur community between Québec and Bavaria was deeply strengthened. Thus, the community event and the launch can be considered a full success!

Professor Christoph Barmeyer and Constanze Ruesga Rath stayed from April 11^th to 14^th, 2022 at the partner university AMU (Aix Marseille Université) in Aix-en-Provence. The University of Passau and the Aix Marseille Université for decades already have a bi-national degree program "Cultural Studies/International Cultural and Business Studies (ICBS) - Langues Étrangères Appliquées (LEA)", sponsored by the Franco-German University. The aim of the stay was to work on the joint cooperation, teaching topics, as well as the improvement of structures and processes of the double degree, and to shoot an image film for the study program. For this purpose, numerous working meetings with colleagues and graduates of the study program took place. There was also participation in courses at the AMU. Among others, Constanze Ruesga Rath gave a lecture on "Culture and Biculturalism" to Master's and exchange students at Aix-Marseille Université.

The photo shows (from left): Constanze Ruesga Rath, Marie-Françoise Mercadier, Andrea Tamiazzo, Catherine Teissier, Christoph Barmeyer.

On April 1, 2022 Madeleine Bausch successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Intercultural Transfer of Management Practices of German MNC to Brazil: The Interplay of Recontextualization and Translation". In keeping with the spirit of the Chair of Intercultural Communication, the defense was international, interdisciplinary, and took place across three different time zones: The international review committee consisted of Professor Christoph Barmeyer (University of Passau), Professor Rebecca Piekkari (Aalto University, Helsinki), and Professor Jean-François Chanlat (Paris Dauphine Université, Paris). Based on multiple case studies, Madeleine Bausch's dissertation highlights social micro-processes of transferring quality management practices from German companies to Brazil and discusses the complementarity of the recontextualization perspective and the "translation theory" of Scandinavian institutionalism. The main contribution of the dissertation is a transfer model that presents intercultural transfer as an iterative, complex and multilevel process, showing the cultural and institutional characteristics of Brazil from the perspective of multiple cultures.

Since Madeleine Bausch has already been working at the Universidad de Chile, Faculty of Economics, in Santiago de Chile since the beginning of March 2022, the defense was held online via Zoom.

The photo shows the participants together with the Vice Dean for Research and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Maximilian Sailer.

Participants of the Intercultural Gathering, which is co-organised by the Chair of Intercultural Communication, learn that intercultural communication is not just a subject of study, but a central part of everyday life. At the Intercultural Gathering (IKB), German and international students meet every two weeks to gain insights into other countries and cultures and to get to know interesting people from all over the world in a relaxed atmosphere. At the same time, the participants learn about theories of intercultural communication through direct contact with people from other cultures. The project is a cooperation between the International Support Services and the Chair of Intercultural Communication at the University of Passau (funded by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)).

The meetings took place alternately in German and English. In the winter semester 2021/22, there were again several evenings that contributed to Cultural Awareness. The IKB started with two intercultural quiz evenings during the orientation weeks for the new international students, where the participants learned surprising first-hand facts about Japan, Indonesia, Syria, Greece, Nigeria and several other countries. The country evenings, Czech Republic and Georgia, where participants present their home countries, were also represented again in the winter semester. In addition, there was an evening dedicated to "Stereotypes worldwide", which stimulated constructive discussions among the students, which were continued at a virtual spaetzle cooking evening. At the end of 2021, the intercultural Christmas party was also a great success. So, we are already looking forward to a new semester full of exciting IKB evenings that show how intercultural learning can work in practice.

For more information on current IKB topics, please visit the Instagram page of the Refugee Programme of the University of Passau.

At the invitation of Emmanuelle Sauvage, Professor Barmeyer stayed at the IAE (Instituts d'Administration des Entreprises) of the University of Bordeaux as a visiting professor from 31 January to 12 February 2022. In addition to various lectures on interculturality in French and English, he took part in a working group with the CNRS research team led by Philippe D'Iribarne on 9 February (photo). The focus was on the influences of various German philosophers on German culture and social developments. Likewise, Professor Barmeyer gave a lecture on 10 February at the research centre L'IRGO (Institut de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations) on "Coopération transfrontalière ferroviaire et marketing interculturel: le cas de Alleo".

The photo shows (from left) Christoph Barmeyer, Emmanuelle Sauvage, Geneviève Tréguer-Felten, Philippe D'Iribarne, Catou Faust and Jean-Pierre Segal.

The closing event of the proseminar "Intercultural Entrepreneurship & Design Thinking" by Constanze Ruesga Rath on January 28, 2022 was a great success. Just like at semester start, the entrepreneurs Krista Anderson with ESSTAR, Ernesto Ruiz and Jan Sliva with RUIZ Modedesign as well as Ahmet Deniz from Establi were invited as guests. At the beginning of the semester, they presented the students with the following Design Thinking Challenges about their businesses:

ESSTAR: "Design a snacking experience for people in France that takes their cultural preferences and customs into account."

Establi: "Redesign a state's provision of bureaucratic paperwork (for founders) so that it is equally accessible to people with language barriers."

RUIZ Modedesign: "How should/must the environment be designed to make RUIZ Modedesign sustainably successful in Passau?"

The students presented the insightful results of their Design Thinking Challenges, on which they had worked with great dedication and creativity throughout the semester. In the discussion that followed, the entrepreneurs and guests had the chance to ask questions and exchange ideas with the students. The seminar was a great enrichment for both students and entrepreneurs and both sides could learn from each other.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the students for their great commitment and creative solutions, as well as the entrepreneurs who enriched the course with their practical challenges and gave the students a good insight into the life of an entrepreneur.

On the occasion of Dr. Hans-Walter Schlie's 20th "semester teaching assignment", the Chair of Intercultural Communication celebrated at the Syrian restaurant Safi. Dr. Hans-Walter Schlie can look back on a German-French and intercultural career: He completed studies and a doctorate in law in Hamburg and Heidelberg as well as at the ENA (École Nationale d'Administration) in Paris and worked from 1989 to 2010 on the extended board of the European television station ARTE in Strasbourg. There he was most recently responsible for communications and corporate development. He has been closely associated with the University of Passau as an external lecturer since 2012 through various lectures on ARTE and seminars on Franco-German relations and the development of a European value system.

We would like to thank Dr. Schlie for his great commitment so far and hope that he will remain with the university as a lecturer for a long time to come.