The Culture Lab

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Culture is “the beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and practices that are characteristic of a group of people.” (Warrick, 2015:4) Culture occurs at multiple levels, from our family units to sports teams to companies, and countries. To effectively work across cultures, we must have the ability to understand differences in order to build relationships, influence others to action, motivate those around us, and effectively convey information. Thus, navigating across cultures entails understanding how differences in the values, norms, and artifacts of a group affect our ability to do those things. The goal of this course is for students to develop the ability to analyze, understand, and navigate cultural differences to communicate and operate in different environments more effectively. This course focuses on analyzing culture through multiple lenses. We will examine our own individual values, organizational cultures, and national/geographic cultures. A successful learner in this course wears the hat of an anthropologist and a manager: they seek to understand the nuances, differences, and similarities across cultures, while also developing tools to build relationships, influence action, and motivate those around them.