Teaching may matter

by Mikael Sondergaard | May 4, 2024 | Uncategorized

Teaching Culture and Peace. Teaching May Matter

A case study: International Seminar in Hiroshima 2023

Mikael Søndergaard, Aarhus University

Ingrid Van Rompay-Bartels, HAN University of Applied Sciences

Fuyuko Takita, Hiroshima University

Introduction

Culture and peace are linked conceptually and historically. There has long been an assumption that knowledge and respect of other cultures promote peace, despite that war is an armed conflict to solve also culturally declined solutions, now (since war in Vietnam) broadly understood as “our way of life.” The link between culture and peace is, however, not straightforward.

Teaching, in a wide sense, has long been associated with efforts to facilitate our understanding in favor of peace. For instance, student exchange programs are historically linked to the aftermath of WWI and WWII as such programs started in 1919 and further expanded in 1946 (Bu, 1999). They assume that understanding various cultures is related to peace. The motivation of these exchange programs is that if you know by firsthand observation about the other culture, you should have a friendly rather than non-friendly relation with individuals from other cultures. Current armed conflicts in the Middle East and in Europe reminds us about other key variables at stake, too.

Understanding cultural competence and knowing and acting in foreign cultures with success is a longstanding interest in the fields of business and academia as a teaching method. These teaching methods have been systematically developed over many decades.

Various methods have been employed by teachers for students to gain knowledge, skills and attitudes that address cultural differences to achieve or maintain peace culture in the long term. For example, exchange programs offer in and out of classrooms experiences such as multicultural opportunities, the ability to interact with a diverse population, and provide students with full immersion in a foreign country for a continuous period of time.

Some parts of teaching cover culture and peace topics in a traditional classroom teaching. Insights via a mixed set of teaching methods offers experience and feedback on students’ participation with diverse populations within a controlled, simulated setting. One example of a simulation directly involving parties regarding the open conflict in the Middle East was developed by Bjørn Ekelund using students from Israel and Gaza working in teams (Ekelund, 2019; Ekelund, 2023).

Ekelund’s simulation is one example of highly developed and sophisticated simulation games that teach students hands-on experience and produce important reflections effectively by the participants. A widely used simulation in this category is Bafa Bafa (Bruschke et al., 1993; Köroğlu & Kimsesiz, 2023; Shirts, 1977).

Most participants report learning beyond a superficial level as a result of these simulations. Describing their experience as transformative, the students reported they learned a substantial amount after being brought out of their comfort zone. However, is this transformation something that occurred in actuality? This begs the question whether learning is acquired at a deeper level that eventually led to change that are reflected in students’ choices and behavior. And if so, how can we demonstrate such learning effects in a controlled, subjective measurement process?

A study shows that measuring learning effects of participants with a change in intended behavioral patterns when comparing pre- and post-simulation choice-making of the participants, based on questionnaire answers. Provided with well-designed feedback, changes in student behavior and choices were observed, which supports the intended teaching goals of making able to select a solution that fit the other culture in addition to increased cross cultural awareness (Heidemann & Søndergaard, 2022).

We learned from these simulations that post-simulation analysis along with participants’ transformational learning experience are the most rewarding parts since it allows us to connect theoretical tools with the participants’ experience.

However, that does not reflect participants actual learning experience through the simulation without proper subjective and controlled assessment and identified teaching goals.

When discussing peace and culture, changes in basic assumptions must be addressed. These changes are very difficult to measure as this requires a designed, controlled setting and more relevance that can be allowed in a purely laboratory setting.

We report on a study that succeeded in demonstrating these fundamental changes in students related to teaching goals within a seminar setting that focused on facilitating cultural studies and peace. Our study utilizes the BEVI analytical tool to facilitate a designed control setting regarding students’ change in growth pre- and post-seminar. The BEVI analysis was developed to help evaluate students’ values, beliefs, and behaviors before and after intercultural experiences and systematically compares the result (Shealy, 2004, 2015, 2016).

Focusing on an International Seminar that was held in early August 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan (commemorating the 78^th anniversary of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945), student data was collected pre- and post-seminar and analyzed. This study examines how the attitudes of students changed significantly as a result, which is an important aspect relating to the teaching goals of the seminar.

The teaching method can be said to be in alignment with Galtung’s positive peace concepts (Galtung, 1969) since this International Seminar includes an A-bomb survivor’s testimony and intercultural interactions with students.

We find that teaching may matter. The teaching impacted the students at a deeper level illustrated by the change in students’ attitudes at most of the BEVI scales.

A Case Study of International Seminar in Hiroshima, Japan 2023

The Seminar

For a case study analyzing the effects of teaching with respect to culture and peace we use an International Seminar held annually since 2006 in early August. This established seminar focuses annually on varying global themes with high level of teaching methods and faculty members from around the world. Previously, student data from the same seminar was utilized in order to analyze patterns of learning during and post the recent pandemic in 2021 and 2022 (Søndergaard et al., 2023).

The context of time and location of this International Seminar draw the attention to the disastrous effects of nuclear weapons on people and the environment as well as the destructive sides of war. Using the history of Hiroshima, Japan, Japanese students and students from other countries engage in discussions about global citizenship and peace in order to understand that we are connected as citizens and that our challenges for a future with peace transcend geographical borders. In this sense the seminar facilitates Global Citizenship Education aiming to play an active role in building a peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, and secure society (UNESCO, 2023).

If culture and peace cannot be taught in such a powerful context such as the International Seminar held in Hiroshima, Japan, it cannot be taught anywhere else!

Teaching Goals of the International Seminar

Teaching goals reflect the idea of getting the students a working knowledge of being or becoming a global citizen in respect to peace, in particular. The seminar is designed to make the students see problems from a multidisciplinary perspective. During the seminar, efforts were made to discuss solutions to social economic and cultural challenges in the world. The 2023 seminar was designed to address climate issues, including energy, security, and sustainability, from multiple perspectives.

Based on the goals hoped to be reached by the seminar, the organizers of the seminar have an understanding the concept of global citizenship. This understanding rests on and develops from previously used concepts, such as cross-cultural competence and global mindset elements, which are contained in the following model.

Model

Classic dimensions of cultural competence are awareness of self and the other. The ability to take and navigate while regarding multiple perspectives is a learning outcome that is rooted in the standard global mindset understanding. In addition, as shown in the model below, awareness and complexity analysis seek to facilitate the development of cross-cultural settings and important interactions with individuals from other cultures effectively within the seminar. In other words, understanding awareness via analyzing complexities should lead to effective action.

The goals exceed the classic understanding of cross-cultural competence by including behaviors and actions. “Knowing” (knowledge) and “Doing” (action) are connected.

The seminar has teaching goals which are both rooted in the classic concepts of cross-cultural competence. However, this seminar builds upon these concepts, exceeding these teaching goals in an innovative way.

BEVI

We use BEVI, Beliefs and Values Inventory which is a suitable tool to evaluate teaching in international courses (Shealy, 2004). BEVI conducts surveys on participants’ same beliefs and values before and after a specific program seminar or course. Therefore, the BEVI tool is helpful to assess effects of teaching on changes in participants’ beliefs and values. We use BEVI scales to reflect the effectiveness of participants’ learning and the teaching purpose of the International Seminar. BEVI indicated reliable results in respect to a change of world view because of effective teaching practices in a seminar with students from diverse backgrounds (Grant et al., 2021).

International Seminar on Culture and Peace

The 2023 International Seminar continued focusing on U.N. related topics, teaching the understanding and skills in the practices of U.N. decision-making.

To achieve an understanding of the objective, content, and principles of peace education, a comprehension of how the concept of peace is approached and interpreted is essential. Galtung proposes a two-dimensional framework for understanding peace that distinguishes between positive and negative peace. (Galtung, 1996). Negative peace is defined as the absence of violence, while positive peace is understood as a state of social justice in which conflicts have been transformed constructively without the use of violence.

Feedback from students of the seminar indicates that the seminar was aligned with Galtung’s conceptualization of positive peace.

The reflection comments indicate that many students perceived that they had achieved their personal learning objectives during the seminar. For instance, one student shared that their perception of what they found most enjoyable about the seminar, which was in alignment with Galtung’s conceptualization of positive peace.

Our selection of citations aims at illustrating how the students noticed and reacted to the teaching goals of the seminar. Student feedback focused on answering what was found as the most enjoyable part of the seminar in relation to culture and peace:

The whole seminar has been enlightening. I’ve never been in this kind of situation before, with individuals from all over the world. Learning about cultural differences and similarities only added to the friendships made. Attending the peace ceremony was a humbling and powerful experience, one that I never would have envisioned. It’s one thing to learn about the impacts of war in a classroom, it’s another thing entirely to hear from survivors, see how a city has reacted, and view the museum telling stories of tragedy. The lectures and workshops too, are on completely different topics to my chosen discipline, but the most different ones I found the most interesting, as it was new and facilitated a deeper understanding of the planet we live on. I’m so, so grateful for this rich experience, and I believe I have developed my understanding as a result.

The reflections offer insights into the perceived outcomes in terms of academic knowledge, personal development, and cultural understanding. For instance:

The knowledge in peace, what is crucial for keeping peace (person-to-person communication and understanding of the history), what is critical in international conferences and overall communication, knowledge of UN, international law, culture, technology… I also learned my own personal quality that I might be good at pacifying a tense situation.

It can be reasonably assumed that the International Seminar has had some influence on the students’ worldviews, at least to some extent, because of their participation and engagement.

My time at the INU conference in Hiroshima has deeply impacted my perceptions of the world. Being surrounded by students and leaders from different backgrounds and cultures pushed me to challenge my own beliefs, while allowing me the opportunity to view complex topics through a different lens.

These examples of feedback presented here reflect subjective evaluations regarding quality and effectiveness of teaching methods in the event. By employing a BEVI-based analysis, it’s possible to gain a more profound understanding of the subjective learning effects that occur in a controlled setting.

BEVI ANALYSIS

The theme of the 2023 International Seminar was climate related topics in the world. The BEVI measured changes in students’ values and beliefs pre- and post-seminar. The BEVI global resonance dimension measured significant changes in students’ values by the end of the seminar. It was assumed that students possessed a high level of interest regarding this International Seminar’s topic—the environment—as they invested their time and resources to attend this abroad summer seminar.

Despite this assumption, the survey results indicated that this International Seminar had some effects on the students concern about climate change by the end of the program.

Changes on 17 BEVI Scales

BEVI Domains	BEVI SCALES	MEASUREMENT	Significant Difference
Formative Variables	Negative Life Events	Difficult childhood parents were troubled; life conflict/struggles; many regrets	Yes
Fulfillment of Core Needs	Needs Closure	unhappy upbringing/life history; conflictual/disturbed family dynamics; stereotypical thinking/odd explanations for why events happen as they do or why things are as they are	Yes
	Needs Fulfillment	Open to experiences, needs, & feelings; deep care/sensitivity for self, others, & the larger world	Yes
	Identity Diffusion	indicates painful crisis of identity; fatalistic regarding negatives of marital/family life; feels “bad” about self and prospects	Yes
Tolerance of Disequilibrium	Basic Openness	open and honest about the experience of basic thoughts, feelings, and needs	Yes
Tolerance of Disequilibrium	Self-Certitude	strong sense of will; impatient with excuses for difficulties; emphasizes positive thinking; disinclined toward deep analysis (e.g., “You can overcome almost any problem if you just try harder	No
Critical Thinking	Basic Determinism	prefers simple explanations for differences/behavior; believes people don’t change/strong will survive; troubled life history	No
Critical Thinking	Socioemotional Convergence	open, aware of self/other, larger world; thoughtful, pragmatic, determined; sees world in shades of gray, such as the need for self-reliance while caring for vulnerable others	yes
Self-Access	Physical Resonance	receptive to corporeal needs/feelings; experientially inclined; appreciates the impact of human nature/evolution	Yes
	Emotional Attunement	emotional, sensitive, social, needy, affiliative; values the expression of affect; close family connections	Yes
	Self-awareness	introspective; accepts the complexity of self; cares for human experience/condition; tolerates difficult thoughts/feelings	Yes
	Meaning Quest	searching for meaning; seeks balance in life; resilient/persistent; highly feeling; concerned for less fortunate	Yes
Other Access	Religious Traditionalism	highly religious; sees self/behavior/events as mediated by God/spiritual forces; one way to the “afterlife”	Yes
	Gender Traditionalism	men and women are built to be a certain way; prefers traditional/simple views of gender and gender roles	No
	Sociocultural Openness	Progressive/open regarding a wide range of actions, policies, and practices in the areas of culture, economics, education, environment, gender/global relations, politics	Yes
Global Access	Ecological Resonance	Deeply invested in environmental/sustainability issues; concerned about the fate of the earth/natural world	Yes
Global Access	Global Resonance	invested in learning about/encountering different individuals, groups, languages, cultures; seeks global engagement (e.g., “It is important to be well informed about world events.	yes

Note BEVI scales derived from thebevi.com/about/scales.

Figure 1

The 17 BEVI scales offer insight into if participation in the seminar contributed to the development of the key goals intended for the seminar. Paired t-tests showed significant changes in the values indicated by the students before and after the teaching of the seminar, see figure I. Three scales (self-certitude, basic determinism and gender traditionalism) which reported no significant changes are not directly relevant to the 2023 International Seminar.

Figure II

In respect to developing an awareness of self and awareness of others, students’ answers in the relevant BEVI scales include ‘needs fulfillment’, ‘identity diffusion’, ‘basic openness’, ‘emotional attunement’, and ‘self-awareness’. These results reflect the effectiveness of the 2023 International Seminar’s teaching methods which has impact on students’ fundamental values and attitudes.

Through the seminar, students partake in complex practical training in analyzing situations with multiple perspectives. These actions, aimed at the relevant teaching goals, lead to significant changes in scores on BEVI scales. In particular, the BEVI scales of ‘needs closure’, ‘meaning quest’, and ‘religious traditionalism’ differed significantly at the end of the course compared to the scores taken at the beginning.

Figure III

In addition to the forementioned scales, students’ answers in the further parameters in BEVI of ‘effect of overall awareness’, ‘search for meaning’, and ‘concern for the unfortunate’, may present significant changes as a result of the Hiroshima atomic bomb victim’s testimony as part of the seminar. This testimony seemed to impact students’ overall awareness, value, and meaning of human life and suffrage, as indicated by the change in score within the BEVI parameter of ‘search for meaning’.

Likewise, in respect to the general theme of the 2023 seminar, students answered the BEVI scales of ‘ecological resonance’ and ‘global resonance’ differently at the end of the course. This indicates an increased awareness of the complexities of the climate issues presented in the seminar, relating to multilevel social, cultural, and political concerns.

Dimensions of Country Cultures and Peace

The teaching goals of the 2023 International Seminar assume a link between social values and global peace. This link was suggested for instance by Fischer and Hanke (Fischer & Hanke, 2009). A study demonstrates the link between different tools for country differences and attitudes toward peace related issues (Basabe & Valencia, 2007).

Differences in attitude regarding positive peace relate to the upbringing of the individual. The country’s cultural background of participants predicts the attitudes toward positive peace an individual may have. In this special issue of the Culture Impact Journal, Rieko Tashiro argues that people from countries with low power distance and high individualism relate differently to positive peace than peoples from high power distance and collectivist countries. (Tashiro, 2024)

35 participants in the 2023 International Seminar spent their primary years of upbringing in countries with low power distance and high individualism. Figure IV positions the two groups of participants.

The mean scores of the two dimensions are derived from the average score of all the countries with Hofstede’s dimensions.

Home country of Participants and Power Distance and Individualism

Figure IV

The group of participants whose background is associated with low power distance and high individualism consistently changed their attitudes towards a more positive stance on all BEVI scales. The changes in this group of participants are higher on the BEVI scales of sociocultural openness, ecological resonance, and global resonance—which are the most relevant scales in respect to the teaching goals of the 2023 International Seminar. See figure V

Figure V

This pattern of attitude changes may be indicative of their upbringing, where explicit communication of individual opinions and outlook is encouraged without concern for hierarchical roles.

On the scales of ‘negative life events’ and ‘needs closure’, these participants show large changes to a more positive stand. In contrast, on these scales a change to a more negative stand is shown by participants from a home country with high power distance and collectivist cultures, a hierarchicalmindset. See figure VI. In fact, the post-seminar scores of this group of participants indicate negative stances on five scales (i.e. negative life events, needs closure, identity diffusion, physical resonance, and basic determinism).

Figure VI

A limitation of this observation lies in the overgeneralization of participants’ behavior and beliefs between the two groups in the 2023 International Seminar. However, the findings may indicate that the home country background could predict different readiness and openness to change attitudes, regardless of an individual’s personal stance.

The focus of this study assesses the effectiveness of teaching goals and learning outcomes of the 2023 International Seminar. However, due to this study’s emphasis on particular dimensions such as BEVI analysis and student feedback, this study may not have fully explored the effectiveness of teaching goals and learning outcomes present 2023 International Seminar.

Therefore, a learning effect may also be an increased insight in attitudes held before the teaching took place. The learning effect that also facilitate an insight in own attitudes which may produce an even stronger and firmer stand in attitude that participants had before the teaching at the seminar begun. The role of group averages calls for including other instruments for a more complete understanding of the teaching effects.

Conclusion

Our case study of the 2023 International Seminar Hiroshima emphasizes the impact of teaching with real life world situations and promoting learner autonomy. Our study provides an illustrative example of Galtung’s principles of positive peace education.

Our findings indicate that the pedagogical approach during the International Seminar in Hiroshima has had a positive impact on students. Students’ feedback as well as BEVI assessment results support the effectiveness of selected teaching approach demonstrating that positive peace education may be taught effectively.

Teaching methods implemented in the program had a significant impact on the student participants. The findings of our study indicate that student’s attitudes changed on BEVI scales related to the goals of the seminar.

Furthermore, our results suggest that participants’ home country’s cultural values may influence their changes in attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs, as reported in the pre-and post-seminar BEVI surveys.

This finding suggests that further research should investigate how participants’ countries of origin and backgrounds affect changes in participants to understand the effects of teaching better. Our study is a big step towards understanding the intricate relationship between historical power context, teaching design, and quality and how such dimensions of teaching influence attitudes), as indicated by the BEVI analysis.

References

Basabe, N., & Valencia, J. (2007). Culture of peace: Sociostructural dimensions, cultural values, and emotional climate. Journal of Social Issues, 63(2), 405-419.

Bruschke, J. C., Gartner, C., & Seiter, J. S. (1993). Student ethnocentrism, dogmatism, and motivation: A study of BAFA BAFA. Simulation & gaming, 24(1), 9-20.

Bu, L. (1999). Educational Exchange and Cultural Diplomacy in the Cold War. Journal of American Studies, 33(3), 393-415. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27556683

Ekelund, B. Z. (2019). Unleashing the Power of Diversity. How to Open Minds for Good. . Routledge, Francis & Taylor.

Ekelund, B. Z. (2023). An Inclusive Language of Diversity. In Inclusive Leadership: Equity and Belonging in Our Communities (Vol. 9, pp. 121-131). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of peace research, 6(3), 167-191.

Galtung, J. (1996). Peace by peaceful means: Peace and conflict, development and civilization. Peace by Peaceful Means, 1-292.

Heidemann, C., & Søndergaard, M. (2022). Systematic cross-cultural management education: a quasi-experimental analysis of guided experiential learning during intercultural simulations. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management(ahead-of-print).

Köroğlu, Z. Ç., & Kimsesiz, F. (2023). Use of Game-Based Teaching and Learning to Foster Intercultural Communication in English Language Education. In Handbook of Research on Fostering Social Justice Through Intercultural and Multilingual Communication (pp. 139-161). IGI Global.

Shealy, C. N. (2004). A model and method for “making” a Combined‐Integrated psychologist: Equilintegration (EI) Theory and the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60(10), 1065-1090.

Shealy, C. N. (2015). Making sense of beliefs and values: Theory, research, and practice. Springer Publishing Company.

Shealy, C. N. (2016). Beliefs, events, and values inventory (BEVI). Making sense of beliefs and values: Theory, research, and practice, 113-173.

Shirts, R. G. (1977). Bafa bafa. Del Mar, Calif.: Simulation Training Systems.

Søndergaard, M., Takita, F., & Van Rompay-Bartels, I. (2023). International Students’ Perceptions towards Their Learning Experience in an International Network Seminar in Japan: During and Post the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 15(11), 8641.

Tashiro, R. (2024). A Call for Many Peaces: The Power of Hibakusha Stories and Cultural Analysis of the Concept of Peace. Culture Impact Journal.

UNESCO. (2023). What is Global Citizenship Education? Retrieved 22 april

Acknowledgements:

We acknowledge exceptional support of research assistant, Kylee Brahma, Hiroshima University

Invisible cultural differences in Sports How do we study – How do we see the invisible cultural values?

by Mikael Sondergaard | Sep 13, 2022 | Culture Impact

Associate Prof.Dr. Mikael Søndergaard, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University

Introduction

A picture sometimes tells more than a thousand words!

Do you see the cultural aspects in the picture of Tour de France winner Vingegaard waiting for his rival Pogacar?

Does the picture reflect invisible cultural differences?

An episode during the Tour de France 2022 was used in the New York Times to approach the story of the winner Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark showing this picture. (Mather, 2022) It is a puzzle why this picture was selected rather than showing the final victory. The article stressed the sportsmanship demonstrated by Vingegaard

There had been two moments of drama on the descent before the big climb as Pogacar, looking for any opening, and Vingegaard, watching his every move, zipped downhill together. But, first, Vingegaard, negotiating a gravelly road, wobbled and nearly fell, one foot popping out of his pedals to keep his balance.

A moment later, Pogacar did fall, but he immediately climbed back on his bike, seemingly not injured too much. Vingegaard slowed to allow him to catch up, a show of sportsmanship acknowledged by a touch of hands between the rivals when Pogacar reached him again. (Mather, 2022)

The invisible aspect of cultural differences is shown in two main perspectives. First, the US New York Times readers have a cultural software that produces a mental image that the winners take all in continuous competition. The journalist has selected the surprise that the leading Vingegaard does not take all but waits for his opponent to catch up. Therefore, this indicates a curiously interestingly different way of understanding competition. Second, Vingegaard from Denmark and Pogacar from Slovenia are socialized into functioning well in societies with low degrees of “masculine” values. For them, the cultural software of the mind tells them you win but want to race again, so you do not destroy your opponent/ you want to keep your opponent safe to race you again.

Vingegaard explained that he expected to race many more times against Pogacar in the future and intended to have a good competitive climate with fair racing. Pogacar understood Vingegaard perfectly, illustrated by his gesture of the hand. There was a tacit consensus between the two competitors. Intuitively, on their own, they acted intending to have a good working climate in years to come. The act of sportsmanship was also routed in invisible cultural similarities. Several interactions between Pogacar and Vingegaard during the Tour de France support this interpretation. Cultural differences interplay with other not culturally related factors. For readers with a masculine mindset, this situation was interestingly unexpected.

By using constructs such as values and dimensions of cultural differences between countries, we explain parts of individual behavior from a framework at the social level. Indivisible aspects of cultural differences in telling and acting in professional sports using two levels of analysis on qualitative data. The invisible cultural difference becomes visible in the process of combining levels of analysis.

Quantitative data show the importance of cultural diversity in professional teams is demonstrated in studies. Several studies have empirically addressed the relationship between cultural diversity and team performance.(Stahl, Maznevski, Voigt, & Jonsen, 2010) The number of nationalities of team members affects performance. The role of cultural diversity in teams is a double-edged sword.

Apart from these points of agreement, the results seem mixed. For illustration, one large study across comparable countries over a period finds that nationality impacts team performance in professional sports teams. (Maderer, Holtbrügge, & Schuster, 2014) A quantitive case study in Germany supports this finding. (Brandes, Franck, & Theiler, 2009)

On the other hand, if one compares teams in the same international competition beyond national borders, results from a study on the impact on team performance from the UEFA Champions League (2003–2012) indicate that more heterogeneous teams outperform less diverse ones. (Ingersoll, Malesky, & Saiegh, 2017)

The results of mixed results and the double-edged sword nature of cultural diversity are thus supported in sports team research as well, But also that the influence of cultural difference may vary depending on levels of analysis as this finding may illustrate contrasting results from studies on teams within and with teams across national borders.

Clearly, cultural differences have an invisible hand in team performance. How to manage it and use it to improve performance? How do we make the hidden aspects of cultural differences in sports teams visible? We will focus on the choices of what methodology considerations and tools to use.

Methods of seeing and telling the invisible cultural differences in professional sports teams

Humans have observed and talked about cultural differences forever. Since the cave age, we have come a long way in developing study methods and reporting on cultural differences. Plato’s cave analogy(Macintosh, 2012) offers the basics of the dynamics of observing the other’s “truth” and how challenging it is to report on it. The Plato caves are often used to illustrate the complexities of intercultural sensitivity. (Lowe, 2002)

Both examples of the introduction illustrate ways of seeing the invisible cultural sides of professional sports as a social phenomenon in its context. These two examples are very different ways of seeing hidden aspects of cultural differences. The qualitative and quantitative analysis required interpretation, allowing for factors other than culture to be part of the explanation. Understood in this way, cultural differences are only part of other factors that may explain the situations I used as examples in the introduction.

Cultural differences are part of a context in different ways. Visible cultural differences are, for example, institutions, e.g., national federations, that influence the members of the sports teams and their organizations in important ways. To study the invisible aspects of culture, we need to use a special case research methodology that allows us to explore invisible cultural differences in their setting, without interference from the observer or the research design, such as in a lab setting.

The choice and application of methods are mainly 1: the data collection and 2. The levels of analysis issue in the analysis of the data as we make the invisible cultural difference visible by combining levels of analysis.

How to isolate invisible cultural differences.

Suppose we accept that values related to culture are amongst other influencers of behavior and attitude. In that case, we need to find a way to illustrate the relationship between cultural differences and the social phenomenon that we seek to understand or explain. The search for cultural differences is a search where we take away other possible explanatory factors in our attempt to understand. Within-group variation can be larger than group variations, e.g., elite sports teams vary significantly from spare time teams within the same sport and country. Therefore, we need to compare top professional teams of the same sport across countries, i.e., sports teams that are as much alike as possible apart from the country of origin.

Sampling of data

In the selection data, equivalence is a primary concern of cultural studies. Here is a recent example showing current concerns regarding equivalence. (Fischer, Karl, & Luczak-Roesch, 2022) Berry’s contribution to the field is to explain the importance of functional equivalence in cross-cultural research. (Berry, 1969, 1989) A narrow, precise sampling has clear advantages. A broader sampling is comparatively less fruitful. Representative samples are the least productive, per se.

Professional sports teams competing internationally are a useful social group for studying groups across cultures using functional equivalence. Controlling factors are important and high in number as they do the same, follow the same rules, etc. More insights on the influence of invisible dimensions of cultural differences may result from further development in the usage of equivalence when studying professional sports teams.

Selection of data sources

Opportunistic and convenience sampling, e.g., using consulting clients as research sites, require several controls and transparent checks vis a vis equivalence. On the other hand, purposive sampling respecting equivalence may have the challenge of access to data.

The importance of equivalence is valid both for primary data and secondary data. Primary data requires greater access to sites. Interview notes, transcripts, recordings, notes from field observations, and reflective data from individual (diaries) internal records are primary data. In contrast, publicly available are secondary data. Annual reports, articles, books, and transcripts of public meetings, e.g., court cases, social media, and library databases, are secondary sources of information(Taylor & Søndergaard, 2017). Some of the articles mentioned in the introduction use both primary and secondary quantitative data.

An estimate of the quality of the source is a concern in both types of data in terms of how well positioned the source is concerning the information under study.

If transparency is respected, it would be fine to select a football coach who has worked in the same position in different national leagues with the same level of direct exposure to the players if this person’s personal information is compared with other independent sources of information, such as an assistant or relevant secondary data. The next step then becomes the one of accessing the data.

Access to data

Once the selection is made, accessing the data involves choices that impact the study. These choices may constrain the analysis and the content of the reporting. In the case of research methodology, this is called gatekeeper management. The relationship with the gatekeeper requires consideration as the researcher can become highly dependent on a gatekeeper. Unforeseen events such as job mobility and sickness may impact the access even with initial success(Taylor & Søndergaard, 2017)

An effective way to get to the source of data is through recommendations. Snowballing is a version of this type of access once you specify the qualities of the data source. Another choice here is the degree of involvement of the researcher. Here is the choice of covert or open entry and data collection. The more intimate the insights need, the greater the time the case research will need to be present in the organizational context. Another important consideration is confidentiality issues and handling expectations to maintain a public image. Textbook authors on case research methodology stress that it is important to be conscious of the possible steps in the entry process that must be managed. (Taylor & Søndergaard, 2017)

In short, the invisible aspect of cultural differences surfaces in professional sports teams in the process of data selection and data access important to make the secret of cross-cultural research happen in the combination of levels of analysis maintaining the unit of analysis, i.e., what we are interested in understanding.

We assume that invisible cultural differences are part of many factors to account for differences between comparable sports teams. We also believe that the relationship between the cultural contexts and what we study needs to be respected. We approach the subject as a case study defined as

A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context where the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and multiple sources of evidence are used. (Yin, 1984)

The real-life contexts are social and cultural contexts at one level of analysis with sports teams and the individual behavior of team members on different levels of analysis.

Studying Professional Sports Teams as Social Phenomena in Cultural Contexts

To simplify the many cultural country contexts pointing to the professional work organizations, country cluster studies group countries a reduced number of countries keeping the important differences in respect to work organizations in which professional sports teams are part. (Ronen & Shenkar, 1985, 2013) From the cultural context, it is possible to formulate questions to the data set of importance to the hypnotized invisible cultural differences. For example, (Wursten, 2019a) developed a model of country clusters with similar values indicated as “mental images,” helping to clarify the difference of what is seen as important in social phenomena such as sports teams.

The country clusters are based on the empirical research by Geert Hofstede and are shown below.

⇙ ⇘

Professional Sports Team

Figure Social phenomenon in cultural contexts

Wursten has demonstrated its usefulness in explaining differences between other social phenomena. (Jacobs & Wursten, 2019; Wursten, 2019b, 2020a, 2020b)

Both these frameworks, Hofstede and Wursten, are recommended for their usefulness in the systematic research into Cultural differences

Conclusion

I want to conclude by citing one of the fathers of the research method. Robert Yin said

“check your data and tell a good story.”

A participant of a Ph.D./junior faculty workshop at Sandberg Manor, August 1989, where we in Europe first met Robert Yin, reminded me about this advice which helped the participant in his career. (Jon, 2022) Yin’s words are, in a nutshell, the point I have been trying to make.

Here several points to check our data have been dealt with. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix in checking your data regarding a case study of invisible aspects of cultural differences.

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