>> Match Facts:

World Cup qualifier, Group Six, England v Kazakhstan
Venue: Wembley Stadium Date: Saturday, 11 October
Kick-off: 1715 BST
UK TV Coverage: ITV 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live

>> Did you know?

* The first manned orbital flight by Yuri Gagarin took off from launch facility Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
* Kazakhstan is the world's ninth biggest country and is one of the fastest-growing nations on earth, partly because of its oil and gas resources

>> Facts and Statistics:

* Location: Central Asia, northwest of China; a small portion west of the Ural River in eastern-most Europe
* Capital: Astana
* Climate: continental, cold winters and hot summers, arid and semiarid
* Population: 15,284,929 (July 2007 est.)
* Ethnic Make-up: Kazakh (Qazaq) 53.4%, Russian 30%, Ukrainian 3.7%, Uzbek 2.5%, German 2.4%, Tatar 1.7%, Uygur 1.4%, other 4.9% (1999 census)
* Religions: Muslim 47%, Russian Orthodox 44%, Protestant 2%, other 7%
* Government: republic; authoritarian presidential rule

>> Language in Kazakhstan:

Kazakhstan is a bilingual country: the Kazakh language, spoken by 64.4% of the population, has the status of the "state" language, while Russian, which is spoken by almost all Kazakhstanis, is declared the "official" language, and is used routinely in business. Kazakh (also Qazaq) is a Turkic language closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak.

>> Who are the Kazakhs?

The word "Kazakh" means "a free and independent nomad" in ancient Turkish. Kazakhs have travelled along the steppes of Kazakhstan from western China to the southern border of Russia for centuries.

For centuries Kazakhstan was a country of nomads and herders. Tribes were the basis of society; the tribe was constituted of family members and the family elders. Inter-tribal marriages were important in establishing security and peace. To this day, Kazakhs say, "the matchmaking lasts a thousand years, while the son-in-law lasts only a hundred." Arranged marriages are still the norm in many parts of the country.

Read more >> Kazakhstan Culture

In today's world the list of qualifications for many management positions is of more and more resemblance to the Renaissance man. Sure you must understand some finance and economics and of course business strategy is a must-have for success. Then throw in some leadership and marketing know-how with a dash of sheer creativity and what do you get? You get someone who still needs to understand how to deal with people from a multitude of different cultures and then capitalize on burgeoning international markets.

Cultural diversity is extremely prevalent in our work force and populations. A company who wants to be successful needs management that both embraces this notion and understands it. The reality is that this is not happening enough. "Many leaders are operating on an old conception of the world around them and of human nature, including the nature of work, the worker, and the management process itself," John Saee explains.

Read more > Grant Deken

Dr. Geert Hofstede made a rare personal appearance as this year's keynote speaker at ITAP International's annual conference in Dublin, Ireland. In bridging the key gap between academic study and real world business applications, Dr. Hofstede's presentation highlighted the vital connections between national cultures and employee satisfaction and performance, with strategic emphasis on how these cultural characteristics vary from country to country.

Hofstede was introduced by Dr. John Bing, Chairman of ITAP International, Inc. "Dr. Hofstede's informative presentation and overall presence at the conference was a notable high point," Bing said. "His attendance highlighted his close association with ITAP, which now goes back almost two decades. Our work together has been a matter of personal satisfaction over the years."

Read more > Hofstede

As a company involved in cultural awareness training, we are often asked for a definition of intercultural competence. In short, there is no one answer that can be given to this question. Intercultural competence is a term that can be applied by many different people for many different reasons. As a result the definitions change depending on the angle at which people are looking at it from.

In essence intercultural competence can be summed up as the ability to work well across cultures. Yet, many will not agree with such a simple definition. As a way of presenting all the different opinions on the matter, we scoured some sources to see how others define intercultural competence. Here are the results....

Read more at Definition of Intercultural Competence

Nurses and health care providers who care for patients of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds often face such challenges as unfamiliar languages and cultural beliefs. To provide optimum care, cultural sensitivity and knowledge are crucial, especially in the case of patients facing cancer.

In the April 2008 issue of MEDSURG Nursing, authors Marcos Pesquera, Linda Yoder and Marilyn Lynk outline key aspects of provider care that help patients understand their disease and reduce the anxiety that comes with facing a serious illness in an unfamiliar setting.

Nurses and other professionals first need to assess their personal attitudes and identify any biases or assumptions, Pesquera writes. Providers should then seek to understand a patient's particular culture and its influence on cancer prevention and control. To further build trust, health care professionals need to demonstrate empathy and validate the patient's comprehension by asking such questions as "Do you understand what I am asking you to do?"

Read more > Cancer Care

Appreciating that individuals from different cultural backgrounds have different cultural norms, practices and expectations is vital for success in international business.

Although companies all around the world seem to move closer to common practices and appear to become more alike each day, differences in the way we think or act profoundly influence business interactions. People and companies may have certain similarities on the surface, but our upbringing, our education and training in ways of conducting business, the basis for our judgements and behaviour, all vary - not only from country to country, but from region to region, from small company to large company, from one business sector to another. When there was relatively limited contact, and contacts were confined to a small number of individuals, cultural awareness was the preserve of a few. In today's world of global communications, team empowerment, everyone needs some level of cultural awareness.

Read more: Intercultural Business Skills

intercultural

Indian companies are clueless about local cultures and the social mores that prevail in their associates, joint ventures and subsidiaries abroad.

Like our ancestors we are now crossing the seven seas and establishing outposts in foreign lands. Indian companies are going global as never before! The excitement and can-do attitude of the corporates is palpable. Strategies, business plans, budgets, travel schedules and manpower in Indian companies are increasingly international. Boundaries are being erased not just on maps but in minds.
Key asset ignored

Many companies are however unaware of the cultural nuances involved in global business. Most of the time the acquisition programme is confined to "hard" business due-diligence. The information processing about a new business possibility is restricted to number crunching, contingency planning and future opportunities. The assets most central to the entire opportunity, people and personal networks, are entirely ignored!

Read more > India

So you have just been made the new team leader at work. Your colleagues draw from the US, UK, Germany, Brazil, India and China - a truly intercultural team. Working with people from different cultures and countries can be a challenge. What do you need to know? How should you go about being an effective team leader? The intercultural team leader needs to be aware of their style and how this fits in with the expectations and needs of their colleagues.

Firstly, as the team leader you to bear in mind the concept of leadership varies from culture to culture. If you want to be a successful team leader you need to appreciate who in your team expects what. What they expect will be culturally influenced.

Read more: The Intercultural Team-Leader

US officials say the military is transforming to meet the changing face of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. BBC Arabic's Roula Ayoubi reports on a new "cultural training" programme to improve US soldiers' skills in dealing with local people.

"Assalamu alaykum, Ahlan wa sahlan, welcome." With these words, Iraqi sheikhs greet a group of marines in a narrow room at the beginning of a training session.

The class is part of "Mojave Viper", a new pre-deployment cultural training course established to prepare US forces for what the military calls "irregular warfare" in Iraq.

The meeting starts with a prayer suggested by the group's Iraqi interpreter, who wears a marine uniform.

Read more: Iraq

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins next week. Millions of people from Morocco to Malaysia will fast everyday from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. Among these will be significant numbers of Muslims working in offices in Europe and North America where Ramadan slips past unnoticed. This lack of awareness can and does cause inconvenience, stress and unhappiness to practicing Muslims in the workplace. Kwintessential, a leading cross cultural communication training provider, has released a free guide for employers with Muslim staff to help them better understand the month and what it means to Islam's adherents.

Read more: A Ramadan Guide for HR Personnel

At this moment in time, the increase in cross border human traffic has meant that companies are no longer dealing with a homogenous native community from which they recruit their staff. Companies are now facing cross cultural challenges in how they recruit, manage and develop a multi-cultural staff. One area of note where HR and management are finding difficulties is in the interview room.

Read more: Culture and Interviews

Culture affects everything we do. It is a shared framework of understanding and a basis for communication. For marketers who work internationally or interact regularly with counterparts overseas, poor understanding of each others cultural background can lead to uncomfortable situations, bad decisions and ineffective relationships.

Dutch Professor Geert Hofstede developed the first model for measuring how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. Though dating from the 70s, his theory can still help reduce levels of frustration, anxiety and concern. It can improve your understanding of other cultures and success in global team situations.

Hofstede concluded that there are 5 dimensions to cultural cross-communications. By knowing how a culture measures up on each scale you can understand their behaviour and relate to them more effectively.

Read more> Culture Clash

"Cultural know-how can be a great advantage in a competitive market but it has the potential to play havoc with relationships. It is critical to be aware of the differences. This means taking the time to research cultures, appreciate needs, moulding your concepts and ideas and most importantly communicating in a suitable manner".
Neil Payne, Kwintessential

We have been made aware of a rival to our humble Squidoo page at Zimbio.

The wikizine is worth an occassional look now and again but will never be as great as this one!

Check it out > Intercultural Communication

The homogenous team is a thing of the past in most international organisations and companies. More and more teams are made up of people with different nationalities and therefore different cultures, languages, ideas, behaviours and ways of doing things. Some would argue that the 'international language of business' negates any communication issues within such a cross-cultural team; however those with hands-on experience of such teams would disagree.

When people of different cultural backgrounds come together in any setting there will always be issues in terms of interaction. This is because they bring with them their own cultural baggage in terms of how they do things and expect things to be done. Cross-cultural issues will not always be a hindrance, in fact they can many a time be a force for positive creativity, but as and when a clash of cultures occur it has a negative impact, especially within a team.

By way of introducing the idea of cross-cultural communication within a global team we focus on four examples of issues that occur when team members are of differing nationalities.

> Language

Although English may always be the language of the office it does not mean everyone is totally confident in its use. Also bear in mind they may not appreciate the language to the same degree as a native speaker. Issues resulting from this include:

* Non-native English speakers may be more reluctant to express themselves freely. This might interfere with the ability of team members to offer their maximum contribution.
* Non-native speakers may not always be able to express themselves in the manner they intended. Words can be misused, given the wrong emphasis or statements can come across as rude.
* Some cultures rely heavily on the use of body language and gestures. When non-verbal signals are being given they will not be picked up on by others. Also their communication style may be inhibited when the meetings are conducted virtually.

Some things team leaders or team members can do to improve this are:

* Provide additional opportunities for all team members to contribute more easily. For example, allow people a chance to write things down before a meeting or as part of a follow-up.
* Keep language simple: avoid idioms, slang, irony, etc.
* Non-verbal communication is important. Team members should be aware ways in which members may express negative responses or concepts. For example, silence may be one method that could be wrongly interpreted as agreement in other cultures.

Read more >> Culture in Teams

>> Cultural Diversity

Canada is culturally diverse. This goes back to the 1890s when it began inviting people from all over the world to settle in the country to help it develop and grow. Canadian immigration policy was historically open, welcoming and egalitarian in its philosophy. This has also manifest into the psyche of the nation where people are encouraged and to retain their cultural identities, traditions, languages and customs.

>> Individuals concerned with the group

Canadians are generally a tolerant, polite and extremely community-oriented people. Although they are individualistic in terms of their basic cultural traits, they nevertheless place a great deal of emphasis on the individual's responsibility to the community. This is seen as giving balance and a good quality of life.

>> Regionalism

Most Canadians have a strong allegiance to their province or region, sometimes more so than to the country. There are some broad differences between regions, which can generally be summed up as follows:

* Atlantic Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland): The people are somewhat reserved and provincial, to the point that they are seen as old-fashioned.
* Ontario: This is the business hub and the people tend to be business-like and conservative.
* Western Canada (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan): The people are open, friendly and relaxed.
* British Colombia: The people are less conventional. This province is often viewed as the Canada of the future.
* Quebec: The French region, has a distinct cultural identity. The people are extremely regionalistic/independent.
* North: The people have a strong pioneer spirit.

Read more >> Business Culture Canada

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people." Woodrow Wilson

With the march of globalisation and internationalisation growing louder and stronger, few successful businesses can now escape the need to work across cultures. Even if businesses or organisations are not working abroad or with foreign entities, it would be a challenge to identify any that have a mono-cultural workforce. Even in the South West, businesses ranging from manufacturers to farms to care homes are employing foreign personnel in order to operate at maximum efficiency.

With this move towards a cross-cultural business environment comes a need for people to be aware of how culture impacts the workplace. Unfortunately, as many quickly discover, the rest of the world does not do things "like we do". Cultural differences impact everything from inter-personnel communication to health and safety procedures to project management. In short, no corner of any business escapes.

It is within this context that the idea of leadership is being challenged. Our "western" conceptualisation of who a leader is, what they do and how they do it is not shared the world over. Today's leaders need to be adept at leading and managing people of different cultures; they need to listen to the 'voices of the people' as well as understand what those voices may actually be telling them. This in essence is the crux of the challenge; when people perceive the world, communicate and view their leaders in different ways, the leader's ears may be ringing with misunderstood messages.

The leader will come across cultural issues in many different guises. By way of illustrating the challenges of cross-cultural leadership and for the sake of brevity this article will examine two interdependent issues: the role of a leader and communication.

Read more >> Leadership in a Cross Cultural Environment

For anyone interested in the intercultural field, SIETAR are a great organization to get involved with.

SIETAR members view the world as a set of interdependent people and cultures which are equal in value and offer a variety of perspectives and approaches to living and working in a global community. The main purpose behind our efforts is to increase acceptance and respect among and within cultural groups, thereby paving the way for world peace.

SIETAR goals

The main purpose of SIETAR is to encourage and support the development and application of values, knowledge and skills that promote and reinforce beneficial and long-lasting intercultural and inter-ethnic relations at the individual, group, organization and community levels..

Specifically, the SIETAR Global Council pursues the following goals:

* To enhance the awareness of intercultural issues in policy-making, business, and education
* To contribute to the solution of societal problems by facilitating communication between peoples of different cultures, and encouraging research directed toward improving knowledge and practices in the field
* To provide multi-disciplinary, professional expertise in intercultural issues in practice and research by establishing a network of intercultural specialists
* To contribute to the development of standards for interculturalism, and for the practice of intercultural education, training and research
* To support publications, personal and professional exchanges, research, and other projects as well as regional, national and international conferences and other events.
* To find ways to cooperate across borders to enhance the benefits of SIETAR membership and to enlarge the impact of SIETAR in the world.

Visit SIETAR

The Culture Vulture has started his own intercultural del.icio.us bookmarks page for anyone interested. There you can access websites he thinks are of use to people interested in intercultural issues.

When it comes to communicating across different cultures, understanding the language may be just the beginning.

A leading intercultural communications expert said that the ability to "read between the lines" and understanding non-spoken expressions in various cultural contexts is also an important part of communication, one that's often overlooked when studying foreign languages.

According to Park Myung-seok, professor emeritus at Dankook University, the English-education curriculum in Korean schools does not reflect this fact nearly enough. Park has written several books on the topic of intercultural communications. Most recently he co-edited a book, titled "Communicating Nonverbally: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication."

Read more > Communicating Nonverbally: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication