Publication Date

Fall 12-10-2018

Document Type

Capstone project: Open access

Degree Name

MA Leadership Studies

Department

Leadership Studies

Abstract

This explorative, inductive, applied research study aims to examine the intersection of intercultural communication of values and leadership identities and capacities. Using existing and guiding cultural value theories, experiential learning techniques, meaning making ideologies, and adult learning principles, a two-and-a-half-hour intensive workshop was designed for a group of twenty-eight leadership and entrepreneurship students, predominantly Mexican nationals at the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, City. Specifically, the study demonstrates how culture affects leadership identities and capacities using the agreed-upon symbols, rituals, heroes and values that make up each culture’s perspectives, practices or applications of culture in everyday life. The expressed values of the individual help inform their leadership capacities, and therefore help contribute to the whole nation state’s idea of what is desired and what is not. These desired symbols, images, and behaviors reproduced in the media reflect that culture and enforce values, norms, expectations and practices therein (Trend, 2016). This exploration is a way to decipher those values they are personally held that inform leadership as well as more widely held values that are perpetuated through institutions and media. An interdisciplinary approach combining sociology, psychological anthropology, adult learning theory, and leadership theories are used to analyze the effects and themes of the experience of the undergraduate students in order to inform further research in this area. Historical literature and critiques were examined in order to create a concrete rationale and purpose for further work in this field. Cultural values, intercultural communication, meaning-making and the impact of the workshop itself are analyzed based on self-observations, written evaluations of the participants and the theoretical principles aforementioned. Workshop outcomes, themes, suggestions for further research as well as a personal reflection of the practitioner experience concludes the study.

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