Evaluating the Impact of Training on Increasing Cross Culture Competency

Joan B Schuman

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: Community Engagement Division Technical Session 6
Tagged Division: Community Engagement Division
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--34599
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/34599
Download Count: 309

Paper Authors

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Joan B Schuman Missouri University of Science and Technology

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Dr. Joan Schuman is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department at Missouri S&T. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Arkansas and completed her Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi. Schuman is a Project Management Professional (PMP) certified through the Project Management Institute. She worked for several years in the aerospace industry with the Boeing Company initially as a design engineer and then later in systems engineering. At Missouri S&T, she teaches a variety of courses emphasizing Project Management and Financial Management for both undergraduate and graduate level courses. Her research interests focus on engineering education with a special interest in Service Learning and project management. Schuman is also the Departmental Experiential Learning Coordinator. She has developed her undergraduate project management class into a Service Learning class where the students work with area communities on real projects that benefit both the communities and students.

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Abstract

Abstract: In our global world, engineering students have a greater need to develop cultural competency. As new engineers enter the workforce, they will be exposed to global projects through industry and possibly through outreach for which they will need to be competent culturally. Programs that expose students to different cultures are available to some during college, such as study abroad programs or Engineers Without Borders (EWB). But whether these experiences increase one’s cultural competency is still not clear. One study, using a cross-culturally valid assessment, showed no evidence that students who traveled on EWB projects saw an increase in their cultural competency after traveling and working briefly in a foreign land. I wanted to explore whether training students in cultural differences would in fact improve their competencies. In this paper, I evaluated the effectiveness of cultural training on intercultural competency by using the Intercultural Develop Inventory (IDI) survey, which is a cross-culturally valid assessment tool, to measure student’s cultural competency pre and post classroom training. The training was part of a Global Project Management course in which the habits and cultural differences of several national cultures were analyzed and discussed in addition to the project management curriculum. The students that were surveyed were graduate level in the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department. Over the course of 7 semesters, 131 students were evaluated. The students completed the cultural competency survey during the first week of class and then again at the end of the term. The results, however, showed no significant change in the average cultural competency for this group of students. Possible reasons for these results are discussed in the paper.

Citation
Format

Schuman, J. B. (2020, June), Evaluating the Impact of Training on Increasing Cross Culture Competency Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34599