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Asha Rao has spent her career finding ways to
tackle the challenges that sometimes surface when
people from different cultural backgrounds interact.
An expert in the field of conflict resolution
and negotiation in business, Rao traveled on a
Fulbright grant to Bangalore, India to the Indian
Institute of Management. There she lectured on
cross-cultural management, organizational behavior,
conflict resolution and negotiation, and international
human resource management.
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Rao finds that her management students, both
those in her home institution, California State
University-Hayward, and those in India benefit
from an understanding of how cultural diversity
impacts management issues. For example, one assignment
she has given her students is to investigate a
religion or faith through library research and
interviews and then examine its role on the values,
attitudes and behaviors of people in the workplace.
This type of assignment prepares Rao's students
for potential conflicts they may one day encounter
as managers. Rao's time in India on her Fulbright
grant undoubtedly will benefit her students back
in the United States. "I learned a lot about
Indian firms and their management that definitely
expands my global perspective. I have rich data
and teaching material for my students in California,"
Rao reports. Further, the educator notes that
pedagogical material in U.S. business schools
on management issues in developing countries is
scarce and outdated. To remedy this, while in
India she videotaped interviews she conducted
with Indian CEOs, managers and workers "to
understand the challenges they face and their
solutions." Rao explains that she translates
these videos into powerful teaching tools by using
them to bring light to cross-cultural management
issues for her students.
As a scholar of international styles of conflict
resolution, Rao herself also benefited greatly
from her time in India. "India has been a
society of many cultures for centuries. I'm hoping
to take the strategies of Indian firms back to
U.S. businesses so we can learn from India's historical
experience," Rao says.
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"International education
exchange is the most significant current project
designed to continue the process of humanizing
mankind to the point, we would hope, that
nations can learn to live in peace"
--J. William Fulbright |
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