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The purpose of this paper is to reform the multi-cultural education in China so as to construct a homogenous education model.

Based on the appeal for multi-ethnic culture development of the era and the possibilities for constructing multi-cultural education in China, this paper proposed paths to construct multi-cultural education in China.

First, this paper explains the reasons to construct a multi-cultural education in china: the intrinsic appeals for multi-ethnic culture development; the increasing culture exchange during economy transformation; foreign culture shock in the setting of globalization. Second, it indicates the possibilities for establishing multi-cultural education in China: the arrival of the multi-cultural era and the education ideal of “Unity without Uniformity.” Third, it points out the paths to construct Chinese multi-cultural education: to establish an educational policy with core socialist value; to perfect Chinese multi-cultural education policies; to construct a multi-cultural education model.

This paper points out the paths to construct Chinese multi-cultural education: to establish an educational policy with core socialist value; to perfect Chinese multi-cultural education policies; to construct a multi-cultural education model.

This paper analyzes the possibilities and paths for constructing multi-cultural education in China and would be helpful for reforming multi-cultural education in China.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the prominent cognitive biases that influence Lean practices in organisations that have a multi-cultural work environment which will aid the organisational managers and academics in enhancing the understanding of the human thought process and mitigate them suitably.

A multiple case study was conducted in organisations that were previously committed to Lean practices and had a multi-cultural work environment. This research was conducted on five companies based on 99 in-depth semi-structured interviews and seven process observations that sought to establish the system-wide cognitive biases present in a multi-cultural Lean environment.

The novel findings indicate that nine new biases influence Lean implementation and practices in a multi-cultural environment. This study also found strong connectivity between Lean practices and 45 previously identified biases that could affect positively or negatively the lean methodologies and their implementation. Biases were resilient enough that their influence on Lean in multi-cultural workplaces, even with transient populations, did not demonstrate cultural differentiation.

Like any qualitative research, constructivism and narrative analyses are subjected to understanding based on knowledge gained on the subject, and data may have been interpreted differently. Constructivist co-recreation of process scenarios based result limitations is therefore acknowledged. The interactive participation in exploring the knowledge sought after and interaction that could have a probable influence on the participant need to be acknowledged. However, the research design, multiple methods of data collection, generalisation based on data collection and analysis methods limit the effects of these and findings are reliable to a greater extent.

The results can provide an enhanced understanding of biases and insights into a new managerial approach to take remedial steps on biases’ influence on Lean practices that can result in improved productivity and well-being from a business process perspective. Understanding and mitigating the prominent biases can aid Lean manufacturing processes and support decision makers and line managers in improving lean methodologies’ effectiveness and productivity. The biases can be negated and used to implement decisions with ease. The influence of biases and the model could be used as a basis to counter implementation barriers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that connects the cognitive perspectives of Lean business processes in a multi-cultural environment to identify the cognitive biases that influence Lean practices in organisations that were previously committed to Lean practices. The novel findings indicate that nine new biases and 45 previously identified biases influence Lean implementation and practices in a multi-cultural environment. The second novelty of this study shows the connection between cognitive biases, Lean implementation and practices in multi-cultural business processes.

This paper aims to review current approaches to, and good practice in, information literacy (IL) development in multi-lingual and multi-cultural settings, with particular emphasis on provision for international students.

A selective and critical review of published literature is extended by evaluation of examples of multi-lingual IL tutorials and massive open online courses.

Multi-lingual literacy and multi-cultural IL are umbrella terms covering a variety of situations and issues. This provision is of increasing importance in an increasingly mobile and multi-cultural world. This paper evaluates current approaches and good practice, focussing on issues of culture vis-à-vis language; the balance between individual and group needs; specific and generic IL instruction; and models for IL, pedagogy and culture. Recommendations for good practice and for further research are given.

This is one of very few papers critically reviewing how IL development is affected by linguistic and cultural factors.

When analyzing modes of navigating a multi-cultural environment in a multinational corporation (MNC), most studies employ an etic approach that delineates how, for example, multi-cultural companies thrive and maneuver in a likewise multi-cultural business contexts. This approach implies the use of theoretical models and empirical observations that from a methodological view identify an employee as either an objectified agent or as an anonymous “other,” indicating that such approaches are rooted in an ethnocentric academic tradition. Acknowledging the merits of this tradition, we take the methodological approach a step further and introduce an emic or contextualized approach that makes employees themselves provide the bulk of data on how and why they position themselves in a multi-cultural organization the way they do. The main objective of this chapter is thus to discuss how employees develop personal strategies to navigate in a complex multi-cultural organization. The study takes off by developing a theoretical model for how to approach emic studies and then proceeds to suggest a methodological approach that is capable of providing empirical data for a model based on a combination of both etic and emic approaches. This constitutes a first step towards developing a generic model of how to deal with context. In order to test the model, the empirical focus will be on the relationship between the headquarter of the Danish MNC, Maersk Line, in Denmark and its subsidiaries in Asia. This relationship is analyzed on the basis of interviews in the Danish headquarter and in the local offices in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang.

Fostered by technological developments and globalization, culturally diverse teams are becoming a mainstay of organizational strategy. As the use of multi-cultural teams continues to increase, it becomes paramount to understand the mechanism(s) by which leaders can promote effectiveness within these teams. Despite this need, there are numerous challenges facing those who seek to understand these phenomena and move science and practice forward. The purpose of this chapter is to present a few of these challenges and approaches which can assist in mitigating these challenges. Finally, we identify what we see as key research needs within this area.

Adaptive capacity has commonly been defined as the “general ability of institutions, systems, and individuals to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences” (http://www.greenfacts.org). Adaptive capacity is herein described as the ability to facilitate the process of adaptive team performance and the resulting outcome of team adaptation (see Stagl, Burke, Salas, & Pierce, this volume). More specifically, although often spoken of with regard to environmental and global changes, it is spoken of here with regard to the ability of individuals (and correspondingly teams) to recognize and understand contextual changes, dynamically revise and implement plans accordingly, and learn from each implementation so as to be better prepared in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of socio-demographic factors on ethnic tolerance (ET) and religious tolerance (RT) as well as the participation of the local community in peacebuilding in post-ethnic violent conflicts in a multi-cultural society.

This research was conducted in the rural areas of Indonesia, on the basis of an empirical study that was performed in Lampung, a province at the southern tip of Sumatra. Data were collected through a survey of 500 respondents from five districts susceptible to ethnic conflicts. From each district, two villages that experienced ethnic conflicts were chosen and from each village, 50 respondents were randomly selected. To strengthen the explanation of quantitative data, in-depth interviews were also conducted with another 50 residents, five informants from each of ten villages. Informants comprised community leaders or traditional leaders, local police officers, local military officers and district government officials.

First, the degree of tolerance is not specifically concentrated in the socio-demographic characteristics. Second, ET affects RT. Third, local community participation in peacebuilding in post-ethnic violent conflicts is not influenced by the socio-demographic characteristics but is influenced by ET and RT. The socio-cultural approach is the main strategy for peacebuilding in post-ethnic (and religious) conflicts in multi-cultural societies. The weakness of inter-ethnic relations soon improves in the post-peace period through the reconstruction of social and cultural factors to strengthen social cohesion and social capital at the local community level by involving various stakeholders

This paper is a valuable source of information regarding current research on the role of local communities in strengthening and building peace in post-ethnic violent conflicts in multi-cultural societies.

The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the double edges faced by individuals who have international and multicultural experiences. The implication is that these individuals encounter acculturation challenges, and also gain from their multiculturality. The authors adopt Berry’s (2011) integration and multiculturalism framework to analyze the experiences and challenges that multi-culturals face. This paper suggests ways to glean the silver lining within organizations to help manage and master multicultural experiences in the workplace to benefit both individuals and organizations.

The authors used empirical materials from expatriates who have worked across multiple cultural contexts. Based on these the authors present three examples to illustrate how expatriates and multicultural individuals place themselves in situations where they experience contact and challenges associated with adopting multiple cultures. The authors then analyze these examples to show how the experiences involve psychological-level integration challenges for Multi- and n-culturals.

The three multicultural expatriate examples suggest that individuals with international and multicultural experiences who are successful at managing their experiences develop cognitive and behavioral complexity. However, these individuals also face continuous acculturation including cognitive and ethno-cultural identity conflicts such as, rejection from multiple cultural perspectives because they continually cross-multiple cultural microcosms. Suggestions are presented to help maintain one’s sense of self-worth and minimizing ethno-cultural conflicts.

Notwithstanding the value of analyzing the examples of expatriate acculturation experiences, the limitation to the examples is that it is limited to the experience of three individuals. However, the examples were effective in raising points to discuss relevant challenges and/or the double-edged reality faced by boundary spanners, multi-, and n-culturals.

The paper presents possible ways multi- and n-culturals navigate through their multiculturalism, including suggestions to help individuals who struggle with their multiculturalism through mentoring.

The paper highlights the challenges of acculturation and suggests ways that individuals can overcome these challenges. It further suggests how organizations can take advantage of such individuals by utilizing existing personnel within the organization.

The paper is one of the few that acknowledge multiculturalism is highly challenging even for successful multi-culturals and n-culturals. Currently the literature is scant concerning how individuals can manage and master multicultural experiences in the workplace. The paper suggests a number of useful strategies for individuals and organizations to manage the challenges.

FOR some time, many public librarians have become very sensitive to issues of library provision for multi‐cultural minorities. Many library authorities have recognised that they had a clear duty to meet multi‐cultural needs. Library services in foreign languages are not new for British public librarians and small collections of material in the main European languages were often seen. On a national scale, a central collection in Polish was also formed to meet the particular needs of people who had settled here during and after World War Two. Since the 1960s with people coming from the Indian sub‐continent, demands for Asian books began to appear, and some efforts were made to satisfy these demands. The year 1974 has a significant importance in the history of multi‐cultural library services. From that time the words ‘ethnic minorities’ were mainly directed towards Asian Communities, though the ethnic minorities were invariably called Indians, Pakistanis or Asians, Afro‐Caribbeans, Coloured, Blacks and sometimes even Disadvantaged. The term ‘ethnic minorities’ was rejected by Gundara, J and Warwick, R saying that the terms ethnic minorities and multi‐cultural are by no means interchangeable. The term ‘ethnic’ pertains only to ethnicity, whereas the word multi‐cultural focuses on cultures, surpassing the crude and often meaningless ethnic distinctions. (Gundara and Warwick, 1981, 67.)

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different approaches to managing a multi‐cultural team within an organisation and ways to identify which approach an organisation has adopted. The paper also investigates the result of the different methods and evaluates which is the most effective.

The paper takes a discursive approach in order to explore fully and survey the different styles and their consequences. In order to verify which of the methods is most effective the paper compares and contrasts the two to identify the benefits.

The paper reveals that there are two approaches for managing a multi‐cultural team: developmental and defensive. It discovers what the symptoms of the techniques are and why an organisation might adopt a certain method. The paper finds that the developmental approach is the most effective for organisations and uncovers how an organisation can follow a developmental route on managing cultural differences for the most positive effect.

The paper is a valuable resource to any organisation currently employing a multi‐cultural team or looking to conduct an overseas assignment or re‐locate the whole or part of the company abroad.