[MUSIC] Hello, and a very warm welcome to ESCP Europe, the world's first business school established in 1819. My name is Marion Festing. I'm a professor of human resource management and intercultural leadership here at the Berlin Campus of ESCP Europe. Berlin Campus of ESCP Europe is your host for this MOOC on intercultural management. And now, I just see arriving my colleague Chiara from Turin. >> Ciao, my name is Chiara Succi. I'm a professor of organizational behavior at ESCP Europe in Turin. Wow, it's impressive. Every time I find this campus very beautiful. Check it out. Hi Chiara, welcome. How are you? >> Hi Marion, good to see you. I'm happy to be here. >> Yeah, very good to see you. How was your flight? >> It was good, thank you. It was a [INAUDIBLE] flight. >> That's great. So let's go in. The colleagues are already waiting. >> Fantastic. >> Yeah, let's go. >> Okay. >> Hi, I'm Robert and let me introduce you to Kirsten. >> Thanks, Robert. I'm Kirsten Aliface, professor for Organization and Human Resource Management. >> And I'm Wertvorten, professor for International Marketing and we are happy to be your MOOC team all together with Marion and Chiana. >> Hello. >> Hi, good to see you. >> Very nice to see you, hi. >> Hi. >> Good to see you. >> Welcome, welcome. Take a seat. >> Hi, Kirsten. >> [INAUDIBLE] Good. >> How long are you staying actually here? >> Yeah, a couple of days I think. >> Okay, great. >> Marian, I read one of your papers lately. I was impressed by the way in which you emphasized the intercultural aspects of human resources management. May I ask you a question? Why did you decide to focus your research on intercultural human resources management? >> Chiara, this is a very good question. I have always been interested in studying international human resource management. However, I strengthened the intercultural dimension to my work when I started to work for ESCP Europe. The international dimensions of the school still strikes me. Having six campuses across Europe in such fascinating cities as Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Turin, and Warsaw is incredible. With the additional partner universities across the globe, we experience a real intercultural encounter every day. Our school has an exceptional international dimension and is truly diverse in a way I have always dreamt of. I love interacting with and teaching students from a wide range of countries as well as working with professors from all over Europe. >> Robert, have you already heard that we've put culture for business at the center of our strategy? We really want to emphasize the cultural dimensions when preparing our students to become young business leaders. With our excellent center in intercultural management located here in Berlin, we provide innovative research results as well as new learning methods in an intercultural management. And this is unique to ESCP Europe. >> Yes, this really taps into a need for young talents who look for challenges in global organizations in the future. Increasing their intercultural competencies through international business education is a key success factor for their future career. In a recent study, some colleagues were even able to prove this relationship empirically. The key result was that the international management education of ESCP Europe alumni was indeed related to the development of global identities and eventually their career success. >> And this is why I'm very pleased to participate in this MOOC on intercultural management. I think we can really help people to grow and improve their skills. Folks, are you ready to start? >> Sure, let's have a look at the learning objectives of the MOOC. The MOOC is designed around three main learning objectives. First, you will be able to describe the concept of culture, learn how to identify and eventually value cultural differences and critically reflect upon your own cultural values compared to those of others. Second, you will discover how culture influences individual attitudes, behaviors and decision making strategies. You will see examples of how culture shapes personal interactions in international organizations. For example, in groups or in leadership situations. Further, we provide you with examples of how culture has an impact on management practices in various fields such as marketing or human resource management. Finally, we will encourage you to learn from experts from the corporate world and empower you to interact with people from other cultures. We aim at enabling you to manage other people and organizations in an intercultural context. The MOOC has five modules. Our ESCP professors will share with you the latest research results to make sure that you receive a state of the art knowledge about intercultural management. Our schedule is five weeks of learning. Each consisting of five videos lasting six to eight minutes. At the end of each week, you will complete a short quiz. You can look at the videos and online materials whenever you want. However, the week starts on Monday and the quiz will be due on Sunday. Taking the quizzes will give you the opportunity not only to test whether you have acquired the knowledge needed to work in an intercultural context. But also to reflect upon yourself and your relationship with the intercultural environment. At the end of the five weeks, you will have an interesting wrap-up of the whole content, and a final quiz to test your knowledge. If you make it, and I'm sure you will, this is the first step on the journey to a career in international management. As part of the MOOC, you will also find additional material to enhance your knowledge. This material has been carefully chosen by the professors to highlight and extend certain parts of the course. I recommend you to consult them accordingly. You can find them in the Further Readings & Resources. You can also take part in the Course Discussion Forum. Where you will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with your peers. It is a great chance to start using your intercultural management knowledge. Now we are looking forward to start this mutual adventure and wish you an informative and inspiring journey. [MUSIC]
