Coaching in Intercultural Organizational Environment

Abstract

In the past centuries the main drivers of the economic (and also cultural) unification of the world were the discovery of the world, colonialism, and then the technical and technological progress generated by the industrial revolution, as well as the expansion of international trade. In recent decades, though, the unrestricted flow of free capital and the worldwide integration of property, driven by market liberalisation and deregulation has become the engine of the new type of globalisation (Konczosné, 2003).
The new type of globalisation is also generating significant changes in cultures and cultural integration. Multinational and transnational corporations have gained a leading and thus controlling role in influencing the world's consumption of culture and ideology. The resulting uniformity determines the changes in both general and consumer values, as well as the consumption of different goods and services. The commercial media, controlled by global actors, seek to influence not only consumption, but also other dimensions of our everyday existence and thinking, changing the most influential value system of contemporary society and also the worldview and public attitude (Konczosné, 2003).
Examination of the accelerated flow of capital and the increasing concentration of capital caused by the process of globalisation, as well as the effects of intensive technical and technological development have led to an increasing focus on the interrelationship between national, social, local and organisational culture in recent decades. In the following, I will explore the concepts of national and organisational culture, as well as the theoretical and practical aspects of cross cultural effects caused by the encounter and coexistence of different cultures.
Coaching, as a complex method and toolkit used in practice, can often focus on the identification and management of culture shocks and related intercultural conflicts in the culturally heterogeneous organisational environment of multi- and transnational companies and their subsidiaries. Accordingly, I will also discuss the specificities of intercultural coaching.