Effective cross-cultural management: lectures and tapas in sunny Granada

Our one week module trip to Granada was awesome – we had a really good balance between the lessons with our course director Professor Michael Dickmann who delivered highly engaging lectures, and there were also activities planned after class almost every day. We had classes in the morning from 9am until 2pm then in the afternoon we took part in pre-arranged activities such as: visiting Abbott Laboratories, a tour of the Alhambra which is the most visited place in Spain, and a tour around the city. Finally on the day of our return to Cranfield, we had the chance to visit Malaga for almost the entire day.

After this module I became more aware of cultural differences among countries, identifying differences in the way cultures see the world and increasing my own understanding of what culture really means in a business/social context. Since I have lived in several countries and I plan to keep living abroad, what I learnt becomes really valuable in future attempts of doing business with other cultures and succeeding in challenges such as achieving a common understanding in a multicultural team or realising your own way of getting things done might not fit a country´s way of thinking.

Beyond the academic knowledge I gained, going on this trip was a great opportunity to become even closer with my MiM classmates. Although we are pretty close here at Cranfield and we share lots of time together between lectures, studying and having fun during the trip allowed us to learn more about each other’s cultures and have fun in a different setting. We shared good memories by enjoying Granada´s nightlife and sharing meals together in a more laid back setting. I find this very positive because you get to know more about them and you get this feeling of “Oh I didn’t know this about you and your culture before”.

Furthermore it was a unique opportunity to share more time with Professor Michael Dickmann. Besides the lectures he came on the tours with us and we had different discussions with him about his travels to Columbia, Germany and the US. He told us about the cultural challenges he has faced all along his life. It was a great chance to learn from a person who has actually experienced these cultural challenges and he’s not only talking from behind a desk/book but based on his real life experiences, in a fun and entertaining way.

I am sure the Effective Cross Cultural Management module is going to be one of the best memories we had in the whole year. We all got a very good impression of Granada as a unique city because of its vibrant student life, delicious food, warm people and interesting cultural background. I really hope next year this same module will have even more people enjoying Granada.