A Study on the Intercultural Experience between SME Managers and Foreign Workers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal the mutual cultural experience and meaning between managers of companies in the root industry that hired a large number of foreign workers and foreign workers. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with five managers of the company. The contents of the in-depth interview were composed of perceptions of foreign workers that managers usually experienced. In processing the collected data, the meaning of the experience was derived by dividing it into five factors of mutual culture: understanding, empathy, communication, cooperation, and solidarity. As a result of the study, various experiences of managers by factors of mutual culture were collected, and it was confirmed that these experiences contributed to the development of individual mutual cultural sensitivity as well as productivity improvement. In this context, mutual cultural communication competency is an essential competency of modern times living in a multicultural society and a key to coexistence with other cultures.