Abstract

What if we focus on developing commonalities? We posed this question to a group of 50 experts from different countries and disciplines in order to better understand the concept of transculturality. The results of this Delphi study reflect and confirm current conceptual and practical discussions, which are increasingly focusing on relational approaches when it comes to dealing with cultural complexity. Such a perspective analyses cooperative dynamics, emphasises the connections between cultures and regards commonalities and differences as complementary resources that need to be related to each other in processes of shared practice. The prefix ‘trans’ thereby highlights the connotation of ‘beyond,’ which aims to create new commonalities. In our talk, we would like to introduce our current research approaches to such a relational understanding as well as corresponding competence and management models, which are intended as an invitation to exchange about implications for further research and for business practice.

Bios

Prof. Dr. Julika Baumann Montecinos is a Professor of Transcultural Management at Hochschule Furtwan­gen University | HFU Business School and the academic co-lead of Zeppelin University’s Transcultural Caravan Network. She focuses on research and publications in the field of relational economics, par­ticularly on the success factors of transcultural cooperation, as well as on the development of related international and interdisciplinary teaching, training and networking projects. She is part of the Eras­mus+ project ELEVATE on organizational intercultural learning as well as Executive Board Member of the German University Association for Intercultural Studies (IKS).

Dr. Tobias Grünfelder is an Associate Professor at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius and a Research Fellow at the Leadership Excellence Institute Zeppelin (LEIZ) at Zeppelin Uni­versity. He specializes in transcultural leadership, management, and learning and his research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Cross Cultural Management and the In­ternational Journal of Intercultural Relations. He is co-editor of several academic volumes and an active member of the Transcultural Caravan Network and Erasmus+ project ELEVATE, promoting transcultural collaboration, competence development, and organizational learning in global contexts.
The two share the enthusiasm for their joint research and for working together on innovative teaching concepts and training formats that focus on dealing productively with diversity and complexity.