Newswise — AUSTIN, Texas – Marketing and Management Professor Deirdre Mendez at The University of Texas at Austin has released a new book titled “The Culture Solution: How to Achieve Cultural Synergy and Get Results in the Global Workplace,” which aims to help readers adapt to new cultural environments and collaborate successfully with people from different cultural backgrounds.
“I think the book’s greatest accomplishment is to help people make sense of cultural difference and offer a systematic way to manage it,” Mendez said. “I’m also pleased to be able to point out the advantages of cultural diversity and help people use it to achieve their goals.”
Mendez’s book introduces a system for working professionals that applies straightforward techniques to real-life situations in international business, travel, project and team management, conflict resolution, and more.
Readers begin by creating a personal profile for eight cultural dimensions to identify their own cultural orientation. They then develop a profile for an international contact. Comparing the two profiles enables readers to identify the dimensions for which they and their contact may have different preferences and expectations.
The book shows readers how to identify the cultural tendencies likely to cause confusion and frustration in a specific relationship. Mendez then helps readers develop strategies to manage problems, explain their own cultural orientations, and communicate persuasively. This approach can help a reader from any country working with an individual, group, or organization anywhere in the world.
As a professor who has taught cultural analysis to students and executives for many years, Mendez also explains ways to leverage the talents of a team of culturally diverse people to get the best of all approaches.
Mendez is the associate director for cultural programs of the Center for Global Business at the McCombs School. In that role, she develops programs that increase international experience and expertise in the U.S. business community. Mendez worked as a corporate strategist for U.S. companies doing business in foreign markets for twenty years prior to coming to UT Austin in 2005. As a faculty member in the marketing and management departments, she teaches international business and intercultural management to undergraduates and executives.
For more information, contact: Samantha Harris, Red McCombs School of Business, 512-471-6746
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