Developing Curricula Across Cultures

Abstract

In this paper, the author describes the process of developing a doctoral curriculum in Organizational Psychology involving the participation of a team comprising administrators, faculty, and students which combined seemingly opposing elements. In order to define a curriculum for the future, the members had to resolve conflicts amongst themselves at the personal, philosophic/ideological, and organizational/structural levels. At the personal level, they learned to reconcile: content and ‘hard’ quantitative skills with process and ‘soft’ personal skills short-term individualistic approaches with long-term strategic thinking monoculturalism with one dominant culture and multiculturalism with pluralistic thinking. At the philosophical levels, they learned to: combine content and process traditional and experiential approaches diversity awareness and the management of cross-cultural differences. At the organizational/structural levels, they were able to: combine hierarchical and collegial or consensus-based approaches develop an identity that is unique combined with identity of the larger university culture create resources for empirically-based and experientially-based scholarship. After these differences were reconciled, the members were able to develop synergistic approaches that allowed them to evolve from their ethnocentric biases to more multicultural approaches. They learned that multiple bases of power would allow them to influence their colleagues to accept the approaches they could potentially offer the university even though they would not have the formal authority to do so. By practising what was preached, the team was able to define a mission and a vision that was considerably broader than the one it would have if it were to work individualistically. Their mission was to: develop curricular sequences that focus on seminal works in organizational theories, values, research, and practice have an interdisciplinary focus that draws on the fields of psychology, sociology, systems thinking, experimental, and quasi-experimental design emphasize on integrating and differentiating knowledge simultaneously emphasize on theory-in-action and reflective practice.