Leadership in a Global World Management Training Requirement Using The Example of The Asian Studies Program at University of Applied Sciences (HTWG) Konstanz

This article demonstrates the need for higher education to systematically cultivate leadership competencies. Values-based leadership is emerging as an attractive international concept, and the related competencies that managers need stem from this. Approaches taken from intercultural communication theory and classical communication psychology show how effectively and clearly value-based actions (speech) can be taught as part of intercultural management training. Experience gained in the interdisciplinary study programs 'Asian Studies' and management (USA) and 'Business and Tourism Germany' (WDT) at HTWG Konstanzi is used as an example to demonstrate teaching formats that can be used to inculcate social competence, and in particular intercultural competence as a competence values-based leadership. This article describes how it is possible to incorporate appropriate teaching formats into management training curricula and also offers observations evaluating the effectiveness of such approaches, including using methods drawn from empirical social research.


Introduction
Considering the challenges of global management in the modern world, the tasks required of managers are more diverse than ever and place extremely high demands on both a professional and personal level. The global and virtual presence occupied by managers in an international context means that leadership styles such as ethical/values-based leadership and the related competencies and abilities required of managers have come to the attention of researchers. In view of this, in addition to providing professional preparation, modern management training must also improve mentoring to develop personal competencies. There is often a general consensus about the classes offered on international curricula for professional training programs in business, but to what extent is there an implicit or explicit promotion of targeted personal competency development? What types of classes are available and needed? How successful are the existing offerings?
My observations as a manager and as a coach of future managers in national and intercultural contexts have made it clear to me that self-awareness, intercultural competence and values-based communication and action are all basic requirements to enable successful leadership.
Every manager (or person in a leadership role) must be able to manage themselves in the sense that they acquire the necessary knowledge, are able to identify and control their emotions, can empathize with themselves and others, can take a critical approach to situations, and in particular able to communicate in an appropriate way. This is a competency that all managers must consciously acquire, and should therefore be part of the content of any manager training program.
International Journal for Applied Information Management Vol. 1, No. 3, September 2021, pp. 125-135 ISSN 2776 126 At the university of applied studies (HTWG) Konstanz we have developed an interdisciplinary management training program with elements of intercultural learning for Asian and German students entitled 'Asian Studies and Management (USA)' (business administration plus regional specialization) and further revised the program in various phases according to above requirements. The aim is to train key players for operational institutions and organizations in Germany and Asia, with this training covering professional competence, linguistic competence and intercultural competence.
The approval of the project to establish a center for enhancing Chinese competence at the Konstanz HTWG means that from March 2018 onwards there will be opportunities for in-depth exploration of the approaches used to develop intercultural competence and produce materials (modules) for intercultural management training.
My article draws on current leadership theory in the field of global management to define the challenges faced by global managers and presents the related requirements in terms of leadership competencies. The AS program at HTWG Konstanz and its competency development steps as a basis for ethical leadership in an intercultural context can be viewed as opportunities: three phases of demonstration of curriculum development to what extent experience and surveys/evaluations can improve the quality of training, as well as a phase-based performance appraisal approach different.
Project funding will allow this approach to be tested in the future (over the next three years) using empirical social research methodologies, to evaluate programs and utilize the tested approach for use in management training.

Literature Review
There are many scientific definitions that aim to explain the term 'leadership'. There is a broad international consensus on the following definition, which is particularly suitable for defining personnel leadership in organizations: personnel leadership in organizations refers to when one person motivates, influences, and enables others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are both members [1].
When discussing the topic of leadership and related attributes in an intercultural context, it is important to try to approach it in as neutral a way as possible, as the researcher's own cultural background plays an unconscious role. The social psychology approach has been shown to be prudent here, which states that leadership means the qualities attributed to certain people by others based on the quality of their relationships with others [2].

Aspect of modern leadership
The complexity of a manager's day-to-day work has been charted long ago by Mintzberg, who identified a high degree of flexibility as a key requirement, along with an aptitude for communication through multiple external contacts, and competence in building personal networks [3]. Even so, the actions of a leader, especially those at the top level in the hierarchy, are inseparable from political and global trends, which managers need to recognize and deal with appropriately.
The managerial actions once mentioned in the management literature (ie planning, implementation and control) are now less of a manager's 'normal' day-to-day work than they once were. Since the 1990s, therefore, the focus of leadership research has fallen more on the 'irrational aspect' of leadership. The 1990s thus saw the emergence of 'transactional versus transformational leadership', initially as a pair of opposites [4][5].
While transactional leadership describes both commercial and rational concepts, transformational leadership focuses on the relationship between employees and leaders. It can be argued that the employee is not only influenced by the leader's behavior but can literally 'change', and that he identifies with the leader and the tasks he has assigned. It should be noted here that there is not necessarily an expectation of an immediate quid pro quoin reward, and that satisfaction comes from collective action that is considered reasonable. However, this places high ethical and communication demands on managers.

The characteristics of successful management
Charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and self-esteem, all communicated in a manner appropriate to the person and situation, play a key role here.
The intercultural universality of this requirement was corroborated by the GLOBE study (http://globeproject.com/), which used implicit leadership theory to examine the similarities and differences between effective leadership in indifferent cultures. This long-term global study covers 60 countries and 951 companies from three different industries [6].
Although prototypes of excellent leaders may vary by culture and position, studies show that it is possible to define universal leadership attributes that provide information about what is viewed positively for leadership across the board: a globally applicable basic dimension to characterize the meaning of successful leadership across the board. modern world.
Attributes that are universally seen as desirable are: administrative skill, excellence oriented, dynamic, effective bidder, honest, assertive, encouraging, fair, win-win problem solver, informed, intelligent, communicative, coordinator, motivated, forward planning, positive , trust builder, motive mover, team builder, reliable, trustworthy and foresight.
It can be inferred from this observation that the values listed above can be associated with responsible and ethical leadership, and that the appropriate form of leadership will have great potential for worldwide success. However, evaluating and researching so-called ethical leadership is not an easy task [8,9].
It is not surprising, however, that on the contrary, major damage can be caused by irresponsible, potentially unethical leadership, which can result in a lack of belonging and contribute to aggressive or vengeful behavior towards coworkers and the organization [10]. This has a measurable impact on the success of a company, as evidenced by research including the Peus study [11].

Ethical requirement for managers
Different situations in day-to-day management activities require different leadership styles, individual approaches, and sometimes even different competencies. Nevertheless, all managers must be familiar with ethical principles to enable them to act for the common good. If this is taken seriously, all managers in all cultures should possess the attributes mentioned above. It is likely unrealistic for universities to claim that their educational mission is to teach all students the relevant competencies, but most universities operate a values-based canon (mission statement) that incorporates these attributes. Although whether universities or courses want to include these attributes in their educational offerings may vary from institution to institution, subjects such as ethics and governance have become an integral part of many business administration curricula.
However, whether management training can teach these attributes or not is an unanswered question. It will be an interesting exercise to examine different programs and courses from this perspective and to undertake long-term studies. While some of these characteristics are also highly character-dependent and therefore difficult to understand by research activities, it is an undeniable fact that knowledge-based and values-based training can promote values-based approaches and particularly intercultural competence. In global leadership settings, the term 'intercultural competence' is viewed in the context of the three dimensions of perception management, relationship management and self-management. management [12]. These abilities and competencies, for example in foreign languages, are essential for leadership (and not just in intercultural contexts) and are taught with special care and attention.

Phase 1: Educating and training german students
The realization that pure scientific knowledge is not sufficient for successful business transactions in international markets is what gave rise to the 'Asian Studies and management' study program with the specialization 'China' and 'Indonesia/Malaysia' in 1997. Course development focuses on the knowledge that business in Asian markets will often collapse due to insufficient cultural expertise for successful negotiations. The field of intercultural communication studies and linguistic research approaches provided and still provide basic background information, as they use surveys to identify why negotiations failed or business deals did not work out. Intercultural competencies are referred to as core competencies and are therefore the focus of training. For details of early research approaches, see for example Hall's model of cultural differences [13] and Hofstede's model of dimensions and sociolinguistic approaches [14][15].
Therefore, from the outset the program offers 50% business administration subjects as well as language courses in the respective country's language with the aim of reaching B2/C1 level, paired with relevant target country knowledge through country-specific classes such as 'Chinese Language Studies' / Indonesian Studies'. The general approach taken from intercultural communication is also an integral part of the curriculum. The development of intercultural competence, especially in the field of activities related to professional business, is the main objective of education and training.

Phase 2: Founding the WDT course
In order to secure internships in the relevant target country, this specialism focusing on the field of business was established in2007 following research undertaken at Chinese and Indonesian universities. After foundation studies of german language in their home country, a total of 30 students per year were given the opportunity to continue their main course in Germanyand receive dual degree after two years. Like the program for German students, the curriculum was created consisting of business administration subjects, this time paired with tourism as a specialism, language courses in German business, and classes in the field of intercultural communication.
The two groups of students from Germany and Asia studied alongside each other, and it became clear that although the courses existed side by side, this fact alone failed to create virtually any contact between the groups. This was surprising if you consider the fact that given their choice of study programme, all of the students must have had an intrinsic interest in the relevant target culture.

3.3.
Phase 3: Efforts to integrate the study programme in order to develop social and intercultural competence 3.3.1. Part 1: Interweaving curriculum The existence of unfriendly parallels of students from different cultures was systematically examined, and surveys and discussions with both groups showed that despite the purported training to provide intercultural competence, both groups retained many of the deep-rooted stereotypes of their peers and lacked knowledge. sufficient theoretical. to find their way with each other. Despite having expressed interest in each other, the students stand in their own way when it comes to making contact.
As a result, the curricula of the two courses were systematically intertwined, and specialist subjects were administered jointly to both groups. However, it quickly became clear that mere physical coexistence in one space did not break the ghettoization of the two groups. Group work in mixed teams was completed rather reluctantly, and somewhat emphasized the existing prejudices: 'Germans are very direct and disrespectful', 'Chinese are very passive and reserved' [16,17,18].
There is a clear failure to ensure the development of intercultural competence, including unbiased interactions with one another and the application of tools from the field of intercultural communication studies to deal with challenging situations. In this situation, the professor's role as expert and knowledge provider is not sufficient to develop the intercultural competence meant in the strict sense of ensuring an open and non-prejudiced relationship with people 129 from the target country. In addition, the discussion shows that students also lack the relevant self-competence to critically question their own behavior. New steps have been taken and since 2010 have been the subject of ongoing evaluation of their success in building intercultural competence, through regular student surveys and semester spokesperson meetings.

Part 2: Classes to develop intercultural competence
Intercultural competence development is not restricted to universities, but is also imparted at seminars and workshops for trained managers. This parallel development can also provide universities with suggestions for shaping student seminars that have the same objectives.
Evaluations completed in 2000 of seminars on intercultural communication for managers thus demonstrated similar trends to those which can be seen in our university-based manager training: the focus is on purely cognitive and partially affective learning levels to develop cultural understanding, paired with an acceptance that cognitive understanding can form the basis for building tolerance and solving problems in the context of a foreign culture. This is not always the case, as for example demonstrated byaSwiss analysis undertaken in 2000 entitled 'Interkulturelle Kompetenz wozu?' ['Intercultural competence-why?'] [19].However, their evaluation of 20 seminars raised a similar concern to that which we found in our courses: simply 'understanding' is not enough to enable appropriate behavioral adjustments.
Based on our experience, there are requirements of intercultural competence training proposed here as a result of a lack or virtual lack of competence following these seminars that also apply to the university sector. The objectives and requirements of seminar courses designed to develop intercultural competences should accordingly take the following into account: • Rather than believing that knowledge input can be used to build assurances about culture and/or behavior, there should be support for uncertainty and motivation to ask questions (curiosity), and participants should be encouraged to reflect on their own attitudes and value actions. . Only this can provide uncensored space for foreign perspectives. • A general awareness of linguistic processes should be initiated: students should be familiar with the basics of communication (both verbal and non-verbal), and then be able to interpret them in the context of a foreign culture. • Foreign elements should not be seen as 'other' in a pejorative (i.e. not 'normal') sense. Instead, the relative nature of normality should be clarified. • Tolerance to frustration should be considered a value.
• Empathy, as a basic ability to understand things you haven't experienced yourself, should be included.
• Ultimately, the ability to handle conflict should become a normality, rather than avoiding conflict being a desirable goal.
In our course we have made the importance of intercultural competency training a key element alongside the basics of business administration and linguistic competence, and thus view it as an important and future-oriented qualification. With this in mind, we have expanded the curriculum: in addition to a cognitive approach to knowledge (which we also consider important), we have also included more affective learning objectives, although we are aware that these are more difficult to evaluate and that it may take longer to achieve learning objectives. this (if it is), because it relates to the whole personality and its development.
However, our new seminar focuses more on general competence and social competence development. Because we have mixed teams and groups, these classes take place directly in an intercultural environment, allowing us to build both simultaneously and in parallel.
In developing the new class program, we considered it necessary to consider which sub-competencies could be developed through additional classes, to enable us to develop appropriate teaching methods and to define learning objectives and forms of evaluation: the new course format prioritizes interactive forms of learning . The discussion and survey from phase two identified the following five sub-competencies as critical, and we promote their  We consider an important component of developing intercultural competence to be a classroom format in which students from different cultures study together with the specialist and methodological assistance of the course leader, after which they reflect with the course leader on the content and process of learning. This last step is an important innovation, which, together with the targeted evaluation of written and oral surveys, helps the class to be tailored to the student's learning needs and allows long-term conclusions to be drawn regarding competency development through a specific class format.
To facilitate joint integration, two consecutive and interrelated classes are offered in the first semester (Interdisciplinary Project Work 1 and 2, Learning Team Training 1 and 2), with an additional class (Communication Psychology) in the third semester. It provides preparation for German students for their internship placement in the target culture (which generally takes place after the fourth semester), and helps introduce new students from Asia to the new realities of life and study.

'Interdisciplinary Project Work' during the first semester since 2011
First-semester students generally need to start with orientation, and foreign students experience greater integration problems as a result of the foreign cultural environment and speech acts in the foreign cultural linguistic space. The subject 'Interdisciplinary Project Work' is designed to facilitate integration for both groups into this new phase of life, and also to give them the opportunity to make friendships with fellow students from the target culture from the start. Transfer of knowledge on the factors behind the success of international teams is practical combined with experience in small mixed groups

Approach
Classes are tailored to the student's current situation: the topics assigned to project work match the student's interests, and the focus is on fun and shared experiences. Successful projects include: •

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This approach is based on years of observation showing that when there is a willingness to work on the topic together, there is a greater tolerance for frustration when interpersonal or organizational problems arise. When we started project work in 2007, it was clear that teams who chose their own topics were significantly more successful than those assigned knowledge-related topics by us. Project support provided in the form of classes means that students are 'obligated' to complete their project together over the course of a semester, which lays the groundwork for collaborative intercultural learning and means that the theories and methods of intercultural competence taught in other subjects take on important relevance and relevance. comprehensive for students.

Role of the teacher
The teachers on this course function more as a 'teaching coach', guiding the initial phase of getting to know each other and the assembly of suitable teams. They are available to assist groups in the event of any problems, and students receive feedback on their interim report and final presentation.

Evaluation result for competence development between 2010 and 2017 and suggestions for further work
Each class is evaluated by students using a survey (written and oral). Organizational problems (coordination difficulties due to multiple schedules, space issues depending on group size) appear to be serious issues that need to be addressed at the administrative level (schedule comparison, free space). The evaluation shows that the goal of developing mutual understanding and thus mutual interest is achieved by using this teaching format.
Statements from and discussions with students have made it clear that this format creates openness to one another and awareness of issues. Frustration tolerance is tested, and early tools for dealing with difficult situations are available thanks to input from project supervisors.
These projects force students to perform speech acts consciously and show them the importance of mastering the relevant foreign language.
To follow up, students themselves mapped out the key competencies they needed to successfully work in mixed teams. Then it is possible to relate to this introspection. The evaluation up to 2017 has highlighted the following points: • Openness to new/different things (get out of your comfort zone) • Tolerance • Empathy and consideration for others • Communication competence, including in foreign languages • Teaching formats and accreditation in the form of ECTS need to be improved Based on these findings, we can say that the seminar has basically helped the development of the competencies set out in Figure 1. To make a more definite statement regarding the development of individual competencies of students in this category, a long-term study should be carried out using qualitative methods, in particular in-depth interviews and interviews. participatory observation of project work. This has been made possible with the approval of proposed projects starting in 2018.
The 'Learning Team Coaching' class was introduced to further promote the competencies listed above and also to deliver cognitive content in a way that is equally beneficial to both target groups, with a stronger focus on professional collaboration and thereby increasing emphasis on social competence in performance-oriented situations.

'Learning Team Coaching': accompanied self-learning in mixed international groups
Since the winter semester of 2012/2013, the tried-and-tested method of learning team coaching (a three-stage structured self-learning process) has been used during the first two semesters as an overarching class for the basic studies stage of the AS (Asian Studies) and WDT (Business German and Tourism Management) courses of study.This gives students from Germany and students from Asia (China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Indonesia, Malaysia,

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Korea, Vietnam)an opportunity to meet.The aim is to integrate students with group participants from the opposite culture very early on in the learning process. In addition to passing on expert knowledge, therefore, learning team coaching is primarily about developing effective communication, intercultural sensitivity, and self-organized work processes. Learning team coaching is completed in German and tackles fundamental topics of business administration.

Approach: coordinated organization of teaching and learning processes
In their first and second semesters spent on site in Konstanz, both student groups attend basic business administration classes which are offered by two lecturers as part of the respective study programmes. These classes have a parallel structure and consist of six or eight lecture modules and four learning team modules (a hybrid approach). Teaching and learning materials from lecture and learning team modules must be tailored to the specific concerns of (a) new students and (b ) non-native speakers. In addition to creating congruent work materials, this also requires coordinated organization between the two classes (coordinating dates for lectures and learning team coaching). Two Asian students regularly work together with three or four German students in a learning team. The organizational effort of mixed international learning team coaching is balanced out by learning effects on a methodological level as well as effective integration of student groups.

Evaluation
Students rated this collaboration as fundamentally very positive: perspective changes, knowledge sharing, and discussion to deepen understanding were identified as valued aspects, and 'increased understanding due to general debate' and 'intensive engagement with the topic' were seen as particularly positive.
Since the main focus here is on content mastery (unlike the introductory project 'Intercultural Project Work'), it is interesting to see how well students cope with the situation: when the effectiveness of learning success in some circumstances is uncomfortable by conflict with the 'weaker group' ( because of their non-native status) or if empathic alternatives persist, and whether foreign students feel inferior and emotionally overloaded and thus perceive their learning success as limited.
In this case, however, 'ineffective' was the point cited by only a minority of students. This is revisited with the semester spokesperson under the critical aspect of 'too many unnecessary questions to ask', and gives lecturers insight into the group dynamics of multiple teams: some teams are open and direct in their interactions with one another and thus can see the importance of their questions. for discussions with the lecturers without problems, while other groups lacked contact with each other, meaning that some questions remained. Open time and contact with lecturers were described as unsatisfactory because some students took time with questions that were deemed unnecessary. Discussions with students make it clear that it is a challenge to deal with one another, and that better discussion structures can be introduced in groups.
Communication behavior and lack of conscious communication management can be highlighted as problem areas.
The cross-sectional evaluation also shows that 'pleasure' and 'value added' are cited more often than 'effort', 'fatigue' and 'confusion'.

Communication Psychology
Based on the critical statements made, it seemed appropriate to once again systematically tackle the topic of 'communication'. This subject is offered during the third semester subsequent to the other two formats, and is provided separately to the two groups to take the linguistic difficulties of non-native German speakers into account and also specifically target linguistic competence. This is followed by a joint workshop where the theories and fundamentals are discussed together as a group and tackled via role play.  [20] and interactions centered on Ruth Cohn's themes [21].
Intensive work in the 1970s gave rise to the four-sided model of communication and later became a self-training tool of the inner team, helping participants to gain greater awareness of their conflict management. This communication tool is very simple and can be easily integrated individually into any system. Depending on the personality and level of consciousness, effective conflict management can be successfully practiced here. Another suitable concept is the 'nonviolent communication' approach adopted internationally by Rosenberg [22,23].
This increases awareness of conscious linguistic interactions in communication beyond linguistic and national boundaries, and helps identify hidden needs that often cause irritation to others in communication activities.
This class teaches participants about their perceptions: they get to know each other and their motives for certain speech acts (particularly in conflict situations) and develop empathy for their own needs and the needs of fellow students. Theoretical inputs are put to the test in practice in the realities of the participants' lives, where the tools they have learned are used to solve the problems they bring. The extent to which broad human categories and intercultural categories can be unified here is for example shown by the fact that German students generally work on their 'directness' so as not to come across as hurtful and disrespectful, while Asian students seek to formulate their needs in a way that is quite direct to them. Germans to 'hear' (see) them. The two groups can work on real cases together in joint workshops, and thereby develop their intercultural competence. Due to the fact that these approaches allow such personal challenges to be identified and resolved, participants are thus better prepared to be personally committed to generally significant outcomes for learning progress.

Evaluation
Verbal and written evaluation of the course has long showed that it is valued equally highly by participants from the various different cultures because it helps them to develop self-competence through awareness of their perception of themselves and others. This therefore often triggers 'aha' effects, because Schulz vonThun's tools in particular (inner team self-coaching and conflict management using the four-sides model) open up new ways of viewing situations. Marshall Rosenberg's approach of non-violent communication helps with perceiving and directly formulating one's own needs, which represents a challenge and an asset in equal measure for both target groups. Time and again, ideational realization of empathy as a conflict-solving skill represents a moment of surprise for students.

Conclusion and Discussion
The introduction of new classroom formats has increased the development of student competencies, a fact which has so far been confirmed by after-class evaluations and by observations of different groups during the study: mixing does not only occur in the classroom itself students also carry out activities together, forming themselves into groups of students together, and spend time with each other 'voluntarily'.
The current situation highlights the fact that contact does not automatically occur between groups without targeted merging, and even merging alone is not enough: students learning together to get all require a special format that must be offered in addition to existing classes or integrated into other formats , such as work. interdisciplinary projects, learning team training and classical communication psychology. Professors thus take on a broader role, namely as knowledge mediators and mentor learning coaches, who must offer and support interactive teaching formats to ensure success.
The shift away from theoretical input, and active discussion to develop personal experiences are not new elements in studying psychology. For intercultural teams, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the experiential phase with accompanying self-reflection: students can discuss their problems with approaches and situations and deal with them with the lecturer, thus ensuring the development of intercultural competence. Students demonstrate their ability to achieve targeted self-perception and perspective change in role-playing and by handling cases in an exam format.

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However, it is difficult to make targeted statements regarding competency development by class. What is not disputed is the fact that the accompanying contact opportunities and decisions to address students' constantly emerging needs have a positive effect and provide valuable information for material revision.
In the future, we will develop a research format designed to test the competency development hypotheses obtained so far from the evaluation.
The fact that students can also use these classes as researchers continuously and improve during the reflection phase is for example shown by the research approach undertaken by P. Homes and G. O'Neil: students work together to examine the process of intercultural interaction in what known as the 'PEER model [24]. Like Holmes and O'Neil, we feel that it is not only important for students to learn together that shared reflection on this process is equally important.
Based on our class and development path, we'd also say that the 'it's the journey, not the destination' attitude also gives program directors more motivation than working from clear targets that must be met. Competency development, like personality, is a fluid concept. However, as a university we have an obligation and opportunity to provide targeted assistance to young people. The increasing global context in which studies are set and the international contact situations created by the increasing number of foreign students expected at their respective universities provide excellent opportunities to offer early preparation for the challenges of daily working life on the international stage and to train successfully, values-based managers in an intercultural context.
"Self-awareness" is essential to self-control as a prerequisite for training as an ethically operating manager. Cognitive and emotional processes are interrelated and need to be developed with university support. Competency development is not something that happens solely through the transfer of knowledge: students as autonomous individuals must receive support from professors in their roles as teachers or learning coaches, which are adapted to the educational mandate of certain study programs. However, 'less control, more support' requires a different self-image on the part of university teachers, something that needs to be taken into account.