12 Dec 2013

Hanze UAS and Sharism Era

Today (12th December 2013), Hanze University of Applied Sciences (UAS) hosted another successful event in its facilites at Zernikeplein, Groningen, the Netherlands. "Meet your IC Future" as mentioned in my last post, is an event targeting the 1st year students of Hanze's International & Intercultural Communication undergraduate course which aims to provide some insight about what students can expect upon graduation in what regards their professional life.

It is relevant to remark that this was the second time I received the prestigious invitation to be a speaker there. I believe "Meet your IC future" is a very good initiative because it proved once again that students are indeed curious about what they can do in the field of International Communication.


When we start a University degree we are full of doubts, uncertainties whether or not we have chosen the right road, what it is really about, if we will be successful in this profession and so on. Evidently, I approached what to expect from the course itself, how is the job market and what skills to develop. But also it is key to find out whether they like the course & profession or not. That is why I had an important message I repeated for all students attending one of my three afternoon sessions today, which was:

"Do things that make you smile. Find out if you are really passionate about International Communication, culture, networking, socialising. Because you will be doing that for the decades to come of your lives and it is really important that we do things that we like, we got to be happy!"

I think my message was well received and correctly decoded by at least some of the students. One of the students came to me after the last session and said that he felt I had truly spoken from my heart. Like the Dutch say: "Ja, dat is waar!". I truly did! I am passionate about communication, people and culture. That is something I genuinely love. So I am actually happy when I have to work. It really makes me smile :)

Getting back to the title of this post... Hanze and Sharism philosophy. For those who have lived the 1990's and early 2000's a lot were told at that time about the Information Era, how information was all-powerful and how important was to have it secured in order to create some sort of information capital. It is evident that information is still very important. However, the perspective has considerably changed.

Nowadays, it is all about who is more shared, liked and followed. We are living the #Sharism Era. The more we share, the more we are shared and, consequently, the more we are, indeed, important in the digital world. But to be liked, shared and followed you have to be relevant. It is all about creating relevant content for your conterparts in the social sharism universe. It is about the person who shares, how it is shared and to whom the information is shared.

It was so pleasant to see people coming all the way from the South of the Netherlands and even from Germany, leaving their jobs on an end-year time where everyone is busy. But they came. They came to share, to share with young minds that in a few years will be part of the international communication industry. 

It is central for us - junior & senior professionals - to share the best practices and talk about the skills required to be a good intercultural public relations professional, this way we are directly contributing to the development of the communication world. 

As I mentioned in my last post, professor Geert Hofstede in his lecture at Hanze UAS, last November, pointed to the main characteristics of a world-citizen. I do believe a good PR professional working in an international scale do require to be such a citizen of the world.

I would say Hanze UAS is in the right direction stimulating the sharism philosophy through their digital University world where students & teachers can interact and exchange assignments/reading materials/grades through a state-of-art intranet.

On top of that, the well prepared staff behind the International Communication course makes events like "Meet your IC Future" which clearly demonstrates how important it is to share - and they do find people that follow the same line of thought... as I do and the many other professionals that took the nearly the whole day off to share!



Many thanks to Ellen Koen and Hanze UAS for the opportunity of sharing & for the gifts. I love Dutch hospitality!


~ and keep on smiling :)

8 Dec 2013

Which are the skills International Public Relations pros need to have to be effective in today’s challenging global business world?

Next Thursday, 12th December 2013, I will be speaking at a very interesting event hosted by Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, NL) entitled “Meet your IC Future” - IC stands for International Communication. It targets the first and second year students of the International & Intercultural Communication undergraduate course of the respective University.

I believe it is a good initiative from the Hanze UAS staff because it gives the opportunity to students to have a clearer idea from the very beggining of the course of what to expect when graduating and the type of jobs that International Communication field has to offer. These advices will be given by young professionals that a few years ago were in the very same situation, full of questions...

Hanze UAS, Zernikeplein, Groningen/NL

There are a few areas of main concern – or doubts – when someone commences a University Degree. But first of all, what is central is to find out whether or not the course truly reflects what you want to do for the next decades of your life.

Once you start a University degree, I would advise you to check out its full content programme for the years to come, the modules you will have to study and if they are compatible with what you expected – and mostly important, if you can imagine yourself working with related subjects for a considerable part of your life from now on.

If you feel the course is right for you, great. If not, try to find your real vocation, everyone has an easiness for something, a natural feel for one or more areas, find yours and prepare yourself to be a good professional in that area(s).

The three main areas of concern are as follows:


1. What to expect from an International Communication course?
* The course will give guidelines, you have to go after what matters most to you within it
* Study and give a lot of attention to « Intercultural Communication »
* Do further research on the themes you have interest in working with
* Attend conferences, seminars and symposiums in your city, region, country and even abroad
* Participate in debates and forums
* Dig for opportunities – the web is a valuable resource to do it

2. What to expect from you as a student/professional/person?
*** To be a world-citizen – Professor Hofstede in his November 2013 lecture at Hanze UAS, pointed some of the vital characteristics for being considered a citizen of the world, which are as follows :
Live and work abroad
Suffer culture shock and learn from it
Intelectual curiosity on history, geography, literature
Recognise cultural differences between societies
Recognise one’s own cultural programming
Speak (fluently) at least one foreign language
Understand different communication styles
*** In addition, I would add some essential « soft » skills for IPR pros:
Cultural awareness
Open-mind
Out-of-the-box thinking
Resilience

3. What to expect from the job market?
**Competitive but always welcoming bright talents
**Demanding
** Foreign languages, international experience, industry experience (internships), volunteer work, social media scanning, etc.
** Worldwide Opportunities in :
PR, corporate communications, development & NGOs communications, public affairs, advertising, digital communications, strategy, research...
Intercultural induction training, executive coaching
**Jobs can be independent consulting, in agencies, in-house, Governments, NGOs, Academia, the spectrum is wide!
Alternative functions in HR, administrative roles

These initial reflections are merely an initial step towards the understanding of what could be expected within the large spectrum offered by the International Communication field.

In this scope, I would strongly recommend a new term to define PR professionals involved in international communication contexts. I do believe a good denomination for the area and its professionals would be: “Intercultural Public Relations”.

I will go through this new term proposal for PR across cultures in one of my next posts, wait for IT!

References:

 « Hofstede’s Lecture November 2013 » refers to Professor Geert Hofstede Lecture at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen/NL, which took place on November 18th, 2013. Hofstede lecture was part of an event discussing global workplace.

  ~ and keep on smiling :)

27 Nov 2013

Scholars & Practitioners getting together towards the development of Intercultural Competence

The Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology of Tilburg University and the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) Nederland hosted a one-day symposium entitled “Advancing Intercultural Competence Development: Initiating the dialogue between researchers and practitioners”. The event took place on Wednesday, 16th of October 2013, at Tilburg University, south of the Netherlands. It was a success!

This event was part of SIETAR Nederland’s Elfstedentocht (‘Eleven City Tour’), a tour across the country where eleven major Dutch universities and applied universities involved in cross-cultural research are hosting a meeting for practitioners and scholars connected with intercultural studies.





SIETAR Nederland is committed to the development of Intercultural Competence and shares the idea that practitioners and scholars have a lot to learn from each other.

The topics discussed in the panels where related to one of the four concentration areas below:

·      Intercultural competences: What are they, how can they be assessed and developed, and how do they contribute to intercultural effectiveness?
·     Effectiveness of interventions: How do intercultural training, coaching and counselling contribute to intercultural competence development?
·    Diversity management: Developments and challenges for researchers and practitioners in addition, we welcome papers on cross-cultrual psychology addressing other areas
·    Cultural differences: Insights from research and practice

It is relevant to remark how diverse the presentations were under those four major areas. Intercultural competence is important from the medical clinics daily routine to corporate affairs. Wherever there is more than one culture (or sub-cultures) involved, there is a need for intercultural management and that is only possible to be performed with excellence by trained professionals – that is, intercultural scientists and practitioners with deep knowledge on intercultural communication theories & frameworks.

I had the chance to present the results of my MA in International Communications dissertation in a presentation named “Cross-Cultural Media Relations”, which was classified under the “cultural differences” umbrella.




"Intercultural competence is becoming a must-have skill in today’s business world no matter in which specific sector you work. Therefore, understanding cultural differences is strategic in enhacing one's capability to interact and communicate efficiently across national borders".

19 Nov 2013

Lecture by and Dinner with Professor Geert Hofstede

Monday, 18th November 2013, Groningen - I get a last minute place to attend the International Partners Universities Event (IPUE) at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands. I was extremely interested in attending this event because IPUE would be hosting as Keynote Speaker Sir Professor Geert Hofstede - Knight of the Netherlands Kingdom and one of the most influential management thinkers of the 20th century as ranked by The Wall Street Journal. Hofstede is without a doubt one of the brightest minds in the field of Intercultural Communication ever.

Professor Hofstede's speech on his "Cultural Dimensions and respective effects on communication patterns" was - to say the least - very inspirational and clarifying. It is impressive how he deeply understands national cultures in relation to its influence over communication patterns and present it in such a simple way. Hofstede makes possible for us to understand how national cultures may affect communication patterns and it is likely that the cultural dimensions become evident after we study his theories and compare to our own international experiences.

"Intercultural contacts are often violent and are as old as humankind", said Professor Hofstede referring to the innumerable intercultural encounters that resulted in conflict & wars throughout human history. "However, it is possible to learn successful nonviolent intercultural approaches", he added.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions have been used as essential theoretical background on Intercultural Communication by scholars & practitioners from all around the world for decades and continue to be essential literature in the current times.

                                                    Hofstede lecture at Hanze University, Groningen

Hofstede pointed to some of the characteristics an individual needs to be considered a "world citizen", which are as follows:

Experience

  • Having worked in more than one country
  • Having suffered culture shock and learned from it

Personality

  • Intelectual curiosity including interest on history, geography, literature
  • Stability, tolerance for the unexpected

Awareness

  • Recognising cultural differences between societies
  • Recognising one's own cultural programming

Communication skills

  • Mastering at least one other language
  • Understanding different communication styles
--

After the enlightining speech at Hanze University, a selected group of students, scholars & University staff were invited to have dinner with Professor Hofstede and his wife in the city centre of Groningen - luckily, I was one of those.

I had the invaluable opportunity to talk to Professor Hofstede tête-à-tête for nearly half an hour about Brazilian national and regional sub-cultures, among other interesting subjects. It was a big inspiration to be seated beside such a genius but also quite interesting to see how such an internationally recognised personality can be such a caring & considering person. He is indeed a very special gentleman, gifted with the ability of seeing what everybody experiences but perceiving what most never did - and, moreover, transforming his findings into simple and didactic theories & frameworks. 

Flavio Oliveira and Professor Hofstede at t' Feith Huis - Groningen/NL

Monday 18th November 2013 will remain in my memory as a precious moment in time spent in the company of Professor Hofstede, his lovely wife Mrs. Maike Hofstede and other special people in a great setting - "echt gezelligheid"! This dinner was idealised by Mrs. Iekje Smit (Chairwoman of the Master in International Communication - Geert Hofstede Consortium, a joint MA programme that carries the Professor's name and from which I have graduated in July 2013) and well organised by Kirth Ramoutar (MIC graduate) - my big thanks to you guys for such an unforgettable evening.


~ keep on smiling :)

17 Nov 2013

Culture, social networks and the future of public relations

Much have been said about communication and its relation to culture. Smith (1966) back in the sixties already pointed to the fact that "culture and communication are inseparable", and indeed they are. 

However, it is hard to understand why neither the communication scientific community nor communication practitioners in general have given proper attention to intercultural communication theories & frameworks in what refers to its utility in the practice of public relations across borders, which inevitably encounters a multi-cultural environment.

Culture permeates all aspects of human life and we are most likely to never perceive it. It is often quoted in cultural studies that "a fish would hardly realise the environment around it - water". The same happens to human beings when staring to its own culture which have a direct impact in the communication patterns used by and with a counter-culture. As Hall (1976) explained in his Iceberg model, most of one’s culture is unconscious. The majority of the cultural aspects each human being carries in its mind software - term crafted by Hofstede - remains unknown.  

Hofstede (2001) claims that "culture is more often a source of conflict rather than synergy". This assumption is presumably right. Nevertheless, if PR professionals dedicate sufficient effort in trying to identify & classify foreign countries as per its cultural orientations, it will consequently lead to a better understanding of the foreign target audiences to be reached, concomitantly, increasing the chances of a message being rightly understood and accepted.

In other words, what is required is to analyse the environment one is going to undertake public relations' efforts through an intercultural communication perspective. Then, after that it is important to establish a strategy to adapt/conform with the counter-culture in order to reach mutual understanding - transculturality, a middle ground between the cultures involved in the communication process, where every stakeholder involved is able to understand each other. After cultural differences and eventual conflicts are professionally managed, one should most likely encounter a state of cultural synergy.

Appropriately, Sriramesh & Verčič (2009, p. 9) add:  “Communication influences and is influenced by culture. Most definitions of the term public relations originating in the United States and Europe recognise that communication (both mass and interpersonal) is the foundation of the public relations profession”.

Reflecting on Sriramesh & Verčič statement on how communication is influenced by culture and vice-versa, it is reasonable to assert that communication processes carried out by public relations professionals in the current age of globalisation are in all probability a practice of intercultural communication.  

Therefore, it is imperative for any communication professional - specially for those within the PR industry - to develop intercultural competences and skills in order to increase success rates when communicating across cultures. This will allow a smoother relationship with the respective counterparts which are likely to come from a varied range of cultural backgrounds, each one holding different traditions, distinct ways of living, preferences and paradigms. 

Understanding cultural differences may be strategic in enhacing one's capability to interact and communicate efficiently across national borders.

The advent of internet and its increasingly important social networks have made this understanding and contact with other cultures much easier. What is basically needed for someone seeking to understand other cultures is to have the scientific knowledge to classify it (cultural studies, intercultural communication, sociology) and have a sensitive analytical view about foreign national cultures (soft skills like openness to other cultures, resiliance & flexibility).
If one has the knowledge and ability to analyse it under a sensitive critical view, it is possible to go further into the next stage of examining the communication patterns in relation to each of the cultural continua identified. Such knowledge can be acquired by executing some in-depth research into intercultural communication. 

That is certainly a ride worth taking where PR professionals have a lot to learn and much to use from intercultural communication into the traditional PR functions & practices - which is becoming inevitably an activity where it is needed to engage with stakeholders from a multitude of different cultural backgrounds.

Public relations and communication in general will soon become international-only activities - if they are not already. Even when acting local, communication & PR professionals are required to have a broad, international view of business and of the communication process - taking into consideration that with the development of internet & social media, any issue involving an organisation may generate global repercussion in a matter of minutes - if not, seconds!
-  

To sum up, global public relations is a worldwide stakeholder engagement & relationship management activity, which deals with a multitude of cultures in a progressively more digital & social world. International public relations is about people, is about connecting and engaging with strategic stakeholders through relevant content!

References:
Hall, E. T. (1966) Hidden dimension. New York: Anchor.
Hofstede, G. (2001) Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Smith, A. (1966) Communication and culture. New York: Holt, Rinehardt and Winston.
Sriramesh, K. & Verčič, D. (2009) Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2nd ed., New York, NY:  Routledge.

14 Nov 2013

International Public Relations and Intercultural Communication

I strongly defend that International Public Relations (IPR) must make use of Intercultural Communication theories and frameworks in order to achieve the best results possible when dealing in a multicultural environment. I first presented this idea in my recent delivered MA dissertation entitled: "Cross-Cultural Media Relations: an investigation about the relevance of intercultural communication factors in the practice of media relations across different cultures", which was part of the graduation requirements at the Master in International Communication - Geert Hofstede Consortium, which was handed in to Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, NL) and Leeds Metropolitan University - with merit (Leeds/UK).

Intercultural Communication (IC) theories proposed by authors such Edward T. Hall, Trompenaars and Geert Hofstede may provide a robust set of tools to better understand how can national cultures influence the communication behaviour players provenients from the respective counter-culture. This can be crucial when crafting messages for target audiences not from the same culture as the writer(s)/creator(s) of the message.

Therefore, if one make use of those IC theories in conjunction with IPR and traditional public relations theories as also defended by Zaharna (2000, 2001) and Ihator (2000), it will bring a considerable upgrade to PR programmes executed across borders.

I am trying to diffuse this idea among scholars and practitioners as I recently did at Sietar's Nederland Symposium "Advancing Intercultural Competence Development: Initiating the dialogue between researchers and practitioners" that took place on 16th October 2013 in Tilburg, Netherlands.

I will continue to do so and I would be glad to hear the opinion from scholars and practitioners about this topic.

Thank you for your attention and have a lovely night :)


References:
Ihator, A. (2000) ‘Understanding the cultural patterns of the world – an imperative in implementing strategic international PR programs’. Public Relations Quarterly, 45(4): 38-44.

Zaharna, R. S. (2000) ‘Intercultural communication and international public relations: exploring parallels’, Communication Quarterly, 48(1): 85-100.


At last but definitely not least...

Hi there,

Long time I have been hearing advices from friends, colleagues and lastly by a former Professor that I should start a blog to diffuse my ideas on global communications.
I am Flavio Oliveira, PR addicted, social media activist and communication believer & scientist.

I will be blogging mostly about Public Relations in an international scope, its relation to Intercultural Communication and all in-between.

It starts today.. let's get to the business!

Wanna know what I think about Communication today? Have a look on this link!

Wanna keep also updated through my Facebook page? Please click here and like it!

I hope you will have an interesting ride.. Let me hear your thoughts as soon as they pop up in your heads..

A lovely night to you all :)


Best,
Flavio


 Photo credits: Alex Mitev  (Bulgaria) - www.alexstudio.bg