Dealing with Cultural Differences in International Event Management : Case: Exchange Student Events at TAMK
Dillenburger, Annika (2013)
Dillenburger, Annika
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2013
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013112618353
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013112618353
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to find out how to successfully implement international event management nowadays, by the example of events for international exchange students at TAMK. The target audience in this context consists of event organizers who deal with organizing events for exchange students or international events in general and the goal of the research was to find out what mistakes are made most commonly and give suggestions for how to avoid them.
In order to achieve these goals, data was collected by reading literature of professionals in this topic and by distributing a customer questionnaire to those who have attended international student events in the past. The questionnaire aimed to find out how satisfied the participants were with the planning and execution of the event and what cultural problems could be noticed. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed by using the quantitative analysis method. Several theories from event management and intercultural communication studies will be applied in order to analyze the results of the research, e.g. Communication Resourcefulness Theory, the ABCs of event management and Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
The key results of the questionnaire were, that the attendees of the events are mostly satisfied with the event as such, but less with the behavior of the organizers when it comes to availability for questions and solving problems and the chance to give feed-back. When looking at the cultural problems it could be seen that language barriers and the formation of groups from people of the same nationality were the factors that caused most arguments and misunderstandings.
In conclusion it is important for the event organizers to be available and collect feed-back, in order to learn from possible mistakes and improve their events in the future. They also have to have a certain level of cross-cultural understanding, to be able to solve difficult situations that can occur during the execution of the event.
In order to achieve these goals, data was collected by reading literature of professionals in this topic and by distributing a customer questionnaire to those who have attended international student events in the past. The questionnaire aimed to find out how satisfied the participants were with the planning and execution of the event and what cultural problems could be noticed. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed by using the quantitative analysis method. Several theories from event management and intercultural communication studies will be applied in order to analyze the results of the research, e.g. Communication Resourcefulness Theory, the ABCs of event management and Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
The key results of the questionnaire were, that the attendees of the events are mostly satisfied with the event as such, but less with the behavior of the organizers when it comes to availability for questions and solving problems and the chance to give feed-back. When looking at the cultural problems it could be seen that language barriers and the formation of groups from people of the same nationality were the factors that caused most arguments and misunderstandings.
In conclusion it is important for the event organizers to be available and collect feed-back, in order to learn from possible mistakes and improve their events in the future. They also have to have a certain level of cross-cultural understanding, to be able to solve difficult situations that can occur during the execution of the event.