Intercultural Management

Where we are coming from

A workshop at the DJW 30-year anniversary symposium at 18. June 2016 was our start. We already discovered cultural synergy as an outcome of positive intercultural communication as an important topic. From 2019 to 2023 we promoted formation of a workgroup that discusses and shares experiences in order to improve our members’ intercultural competence.

Where we are going

The aim of our new working group consisting of two Japanese German dyads is to develop the knowledge to reach more awareness, encourage positive communication that leads to good solutions via regular discussions at the platform provided by DJW. Heightening the awareness of cognitive processes, needed for negotiation and change management in intercultural workplaces, are the core aims of our on-going monthly discussion.

We are eager to promote DJW members’ ability to build trustful relations as well as create dynamic networks among Japanese and German [business] people. Participants of our meetings can benefit by learning on how to reflect problems and develop useful strategies in the intercultural workplace. By doing so, we enabled already DJW members to become key persons with boundary spanning ability between Germany and Japan.

Specifics

The new program of the AG Intercultural management is completed. The meetings will be organized by dyads of AG Japanese and German team members based in Germany and Japan. It is planned to conduct online meetings and also on the spot and hybrid meetings. These meetings will be conducted

• in Japan, Professor Dr. Rolf D. Schlunze (Ritsumeikan University, Osaka Ibaraki Campus) with Ms. Aoi Ono (Nippon Paint Corporate Solutions Co., Ltd.; Division Human Resources) will host meetings at Ritsumeikan University at the Osaka Ibaraki Campus
• in Germany, Carsten Watanabe (Chowa-Coaching) with Rieko Ishii (Kurimoto, Ltd.) will host meetings at the DJW Office in Düsseldorf.

One reason why we are operating in a dyads or two AG leader teams is that we reveal higher sensitivity and empathy towards DJW members with Japanese cultural background. The idea of managing the AG Intercultural management is to enthuse members to learn by small intercultural teams. This enables us to act as a knowledge bridge between German and Japanese DJW members and / or between German and Japan-based DJW members.

This year, we built our sessions around the central theme of “Leadership in Transition”, to help DJW members deepen their understanding of the constant changes and challenges in intercultural leadership. Navigating corporate culture is already complex enough on its own, but when national and cultural differences are added to the mix, the challenge becomes even greater. Our 2025 sessions try to tackle this by giving different impulses and exploring different viewpoints.

• March 11 - "Post Merger Integration" with Christoph Rohloff
• May 13  - "Rethinking Intercultural Leadership" with Sierk Horn
• July - "AI augmented Leadership Coaching" with Mathias Maul
• September - "Insights from intercultural mergers" with Aoi Ono and Derric Low from NipponPaint
• November - "Motivating intercultural teams" with Rieko Ishii & Carsten Watanabe
• December -  Christmas and Year-End-Session with Rolf Schlunze

We wish to integrate not only different cultural views, but also functional and professional backgrounds of our DJW members. We wish to learn from each other through our discussion and share our observation, intercultural exchange, feedback and common experiences. We are working to heighten the knowledge towards successful leadership in multi-linguistic teams.  The AG will take steps that should result to learn about constructive inter-cultural management.

To join our regular working group meeting, please register in advance at the DJW event homepage or check the invitation via our digital workspace within DJW "Networking Hub".

Contact

Japan
Prof. Dr. Rolf Schlunze (Professor of Intercultural Management at Ritsumeikan University OIC)
Aoi Ono (Nippon Paint Corporate Solutions Co., Ltd.; Division Human Resources)

Germany
Carsten Watanabe (Chowa-Coaching)
Rieko Ishii (Kurimoto, Ltd.)

E-Mail: intercultural@djw.de