Intercultural Engagement Thesis

Success Factors for Supporting Intercultural Engagement of Employees towards Sustainability
Nathan Stinnette, Zhuona Li, Shahla Rajaee
School of Engineering Blekinge Institute of Technology Karlskrona, Sweden, 2010 Thesis submitted for completion of Masters in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability Abstract: The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the overall progress of societytowards sustainability by supporting the engagement of employees of multinational organizations. By first identifying unique aspects of sustainability that are important for engagement and aspects of national culture that affect receptivity to sustainability messages, the authors were able to make informed selections of success factors contributing to intercultural sustainability engagement. Withinthese categories, specific strategies and actions leading to successful engagement were identified, based on interviews and survey results from experienced sustainability practitioners and intercultural management experts, as well as an extensive literature review. The further selection and refinement of these led to the development of a capacity building tool to help sustainability practitionersaddress cultural differences when working to engage employees of multinational organizations in sustain-ability. Keywords: Sustainability, Culture, Employee Engagement, Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development.

Statement of Contribution
This thesis was written in a collaborative fashion with each team member bringing their strengths, passions and perspectives to the process. Our goalsincluded expanding our connections, applying what we learned through the MSLS programme and creating a well written, practical thesis. With members from the U.S., Iran and China, our group was diverse in gender, culture, and professional backgrounds. Our topic evolved from a shared interest in the contributions culture could make to sustainability. This paper and the tool attached are the harvest ofour journey and a proof of collaboration among diversity. We each contributed equally to important decisions through all stages of the thesis through a process of discussion and consensus-building. Each of us reviewed articles and shared notes, and everyone read key documents. With her amazing people skills, drive and determination, Zhuona lined up interviews with people who were experts in theirfields. Shahla's superior organizational abilities kept the team on track, making sure our efforts were efficient. As a native English speaker, Nathan waded through large numbers of articles in the research phase, and did much of the writing and final editing. Our journey together has been an inspiring experience and applying the strategies we describe gave us confidence they could really improveintercultural effectiveness. Talking about our different backgrounds and working habits at the beginning enabled us to accept our differences and trust each other's abilities. We enjoyed learning about each other’s cultures and celebrating events like the Iranian New Year together. Throughout the process our goals of mutual respect, understanding, patience and acknowledging differences were likebeautiful fireflies shining on our pathway, reminding us why we formed the team. Nathan Stinnette, Zhuona Li, Shahla Rajaee ii

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the following people for sharing their expertise with us through interviews: Chris Weldon, Gagan Leekha, Göran Carlstedt, Helen Spencer-Oatley, Jason Leadbitter, Jin Yang, Mark Slezak, Marsha Willard, Pablo Villoch,Phillippe Patouraux, Pravin Mallick, Ralf Kaemmerling, Renaud Richard, Richard Blume, Robert Howard, Sanjoo Malhotra, Tamur Goudarzipour, Wouter Kersten, and a special thanks to Bob Willard, whose generosity and enthusiasm for sustainability are truly inspirational. We also would like to thank everyone who responded to our online survey. We would also like to thank: Our primary thesis advisor Andre...