FEB UI Management Department Guest Lecture, “Modeling the n-Cultural Experience: Potential Applications for International Business Career”
Nadyezdi Rifi Prihadiani ~ Assistant Lecturer of the Management Department FEB UI
Nino Eka Putra ~ PR FEB UI
DEPOK – (22/9/2021) On Wednesday (22/9/2021), Associate Professor (International Management) UQ Business School The University of Queensland, Assoc. Prof. Andre Anugerah Pekerti, Ph.D., was a speaker for the Guest Lecture of the Management Department FEB UI, with the topic “Modeling the n-Cultural Experience: Potential Applications for International Business Career” online. The moderator for this lecture was Sari Wahyuni, Ph.D., Lecturer of the Management Department of FEB UI and opened by Maria Ulpah, Ph.D., Head of the Regular S-1 Management Study Program FEB UI.
In his presentation, Andre Anugerah Pekerti explained that the influence of culture on organizations through trade, immigration, and the exchange of information and ideas have been happening for centuries. However, it is only in the last few decades that the level and intensity of cultural influence has soared as a result of globalization. This results in a multicultural work environment where most of a country’s workforce comes from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. Therefore, there is increasing interest in understanding the effects of multiculturalism in organizational contexts.
This theoretical presentation revolves around the question, “Do functional individuals who underpin various cultures exist? If so, how do you know them and how do they function in the work environment?” This theoretical presentation will briefly review the existing literature on biculturalism and multiculturalism. Then propose a more nuanced theory of multicultural experience called n-Culturalism.
“Cultured individuals are functional individuals who successfully operate by maintaining several identities and cultural frameworks, and reflecting these frameworks in their behavior.” Andre said.
Andre continued that the presentation introduced several contributions to the literature on individuals living at the intersection of two or more cultures. First, by challenging the previous operationalization of bicultural individuals, the concept of n-Culturalism expands and re-conceptualizes the empirical criteria of bicultural and multicultural individuals. The presentation also introduces individual-level metacognitive working models beyond existing bi-dimensional acculturation perspectives.
Meanwhile, Andre proposes that cultured people can maintain the significance of several cultures in varying degrees of intensity so that they function with several cultural frameworks instead of switching from one cultural framework to another. “So, there is a need for the idea of n-Cultural metacognition that has high functional utility by describing how an individual can manage several cultures simultaneously. The implications of the proposed work model are related to organizational behavior in a multicultural setting.” Andre stated as he concluded his session.
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