Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai
Dr. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai is associated professor at Amsterdam School of International Business. She is known for working as a bridge between cross-cultural communication and the field of neuroscience. Following her study at King's College London in a Master program on Applied Neuroscience, in 2020, she published her latest book “Cross-Cultural Management with Insights from Brain Science" (Routledge).
As a consultant, she specializes in organizational neuroscience, bringing contribution of brain science to further understanding and successful practices of leadership, diversity, change, bias management, mindfulness, stress and well-being.
She can be reached at:
www.facebook.com/culturemovehttps://
www.linkedin.com/in/culturemove/
https://twitter.com/CultureMove_Com
[email protected]
As a consultant, she specializes in organizational neuroscience, bringing contribution of brain science to further understanding and successful practices of leadership, diversity, change, bias management, mindfulness, stress and well-being.
She can be reached at:
www.facebook.com/culturemovehttps://
www.linkedin.com/in/culturemove/
https://twitter.com/CultureMove_Com
[email protected]
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Papers by Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai
but don’t benefit from living in a diverse cultural environment; and (3) because people can be both products and producers of culture, future research can focus on ‘technologies of the self’, in the sense that individuals, organisations and governments can promote human agency (i.e. people as producers/authors of culture), proactively raise aware-
ness and support the cultivation of a dynamic, contextual and polycultural self.
interpersonal communication. Incorporating insight from cultural
neuroscience, a number of potential mismatches with regard to
facework are revealed when methodologies originated from the
West are applied in a different context. This paper examines
culturally appropriate face strategies in cooperative learning
among Vietnamese learners. Our results show that discussion
outcomes increase when self-face and other-face are confirmed
and group-face is mildly confronted in form of intergroup
competition. The paper indicates that educational methods
underpinned by fundamental psychological assumptions based on
Western values should be adjusted to be culturally appropriate for
contexts in which it is applied
education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being
enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long
existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based
CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that
originated from elsewhere can be “cloned” with similar results) and neo-colonialism
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an
adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally
appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account
the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but
institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and
incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform
overlooked aspect of cross-cultural studies. Mainstream cultural metaphors (e.g. the iceberg, the software of
the mind, the onion, and the distance) are not only limited in number, but are also overwhelmingly based on
the static paradigm – as opposed to the dynamic paradigm that is often sidelined in academic discourse.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces the Diagram of Diversity Pathways – an
interdisciplinary framework that sheds some light on how the inherent meaning and heuristic orientation of
static cultural metaphors may stand at odds with evidence from the newly emerged field of neurobiology.
Findings – The implications of these metaphors are called into question, namely, culture is all about
differences; values are stable; values guide behaviors; and values are seen as binaries.
Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests that theorists and practitioners should pay
more attention to the contribution and scholarly work of the dynamic paradigm since there appears to be
substantial compatibility between them.
Originality/value – The matching of neurobiology and dynamic paradigm brings into focus alternative
metaphors which not only offer insightful perspectives but also may open doors to perceive culture in a new
way. Furthermore, cultural metaphors deserve more academic scrutiny because metaphors and theory
development can have a symbiotic existence.
Keywords Interdisciplinary, Cultural metaphor, Cultural neuroscience, Dynamic cultural paradigm,
Evolutionary biology, Static cultural paradigm
Paper type Research paper
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform.
.
This chapter opens by discussing the eagerness of countries such as the US and UK to emulate a number of educationally high performing countries in Asian and Eastern Europe. It discusses the initial focus upon pedagogy, in particular, whole class interactive teaching, which is a feature of many of these societies’ educational practices. The chapter draws upon developments in Russia to illustrate our argument that more meaningful reasons for educational success concern attitudes and behaviour, not only those of students and teachers, but also those of the wider society. The chapter concludes by drawing upon the Russian experience to highlight a number of risks to Asian education systems that are posed by rapid social change underpinned by globalising influences.
(i) West-East transfer with the influence of Western approaches in non-
Western countries where neocolonialism happens in the sense that
Western paradigms tend to shape and influence systems and thinking
elsewhere through the process of globalisation;
(ii) East-West transfer with the similar failure as the consequence of the West ‘borrowing’ policies and practices from Asia without caution of false universalism;
(iii) While encouraging each country to consider particular aspects of its
heritage to develop a culturally appropriate body of theory and practice
in accordance with their own world views and in line with their own
norms and values,
(iv) the article draws attention to the unavoidable
multicultural dimension of the global economy and argues that each
theory should be researched and introduced to the world citizens with
different perspectives, widening their knowledge repertoire so that a
tailor-made, customized solution can be reached for each specific particular
problem in our internationally economical, educational and political
landscape.
In short, each theory has a universal part which transcends time and location.
These powerful continuities should act as foundation for different
cultural perspectives to be constructed. However, moving upwards
to the level of practice, this East-West dichotomy should be synergised
and customizable, as this multicultural world gives us exclusively only
particular, specific case-sensitive challenges.
Vietnam, Singapore, Korea and Japan have been proven to share characteristics of a collectivist society. Researchers agree that this collectivist mentality strongly supports cooperation that CHC’s learners/workers best perform in groups.
However, little is known about the other side of the coin. Whilst applying a method born in one culture to another, cultural differences have been forgotten. The so-called global application has led to a situation in which a Western model is forced to launch in a completely new and different context. This new context and the existing cultural values are not always incorporated into the implementation of a Western concept of cooperative learning. Consequently, it does not necessarily follow that all forms of cooperative learning will surely succeed within a CHC environment.
As a result of ignoring, stereotyping and underestimating cultural and educational characteristics, in CHC countries, the implementation of constructivism and one of its applications—cooperative learning—has ended up in failures, suspicion or resistance.
The authors would like to question (1) the fixed assumption that “groupwork
surely works in CHC countries” and (2) the domination of developmentalism
in education nowadays and its mismatch with cultural assets. With this paper, the authors contribute to the recent call for culturally appropriate pedagogy
This study links theory directly to practice by formulating nine concrete CL instructional design principles to be considered in curriculum and task design with Vietnamese students in particular, and Asian-CHC learners in general, as target group. These principles are:
Principle 1: Consider including a mechanism for appointing a group leader.
Principle 2: Be aware that interpersonal competence is a leadership trait that is highly valued.
Principle 3: Consider applying reward structures on the basis of equality.
Principle 4: Consider using teacher approval as a valuable form of reward.
Principle 5: Consider avoiding the use of public disapproval towards individuals.
Principle 6: Consider the use of groupings based on friendship or other types of positive social relationship.
Principle 7: Try to develop and foster new and cohesive groupings for students who do not share a high degree of social attachment before undertaking CL activities.
Principle 8: Consider creating sufficient face-confirmation for each individual within group.
Principle 9: Consider creating milder types of face-confrontation between groups. This should be practised with an attentive role of the teacher to maintain a healthy learning environment.
Talks by Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai
The dynamic interaction of these 5 factors also question our static framework of cultures, for example, those that assume each country has an index on the spectrum of individualism-collectivism. Frameworks such as from Hofstede should be seen as the first best guess, or sophisticated stereotypes. Boxing a culture into a set of values, or reducing a culture to a static index risks fatalism because it can indirectly promote assumption, prompting us to look for and see only cases and examples that fit. Human beings are not only the product of culture but also active agents in producing culture via our actions, changing our own genetic and neural makeup, while relentlessly shaping and reshaping the surrounding environment. That gives us back the authorship as active agents rather than a cultural dope.
but don’t benefit from living in a diverse cultural environment; and (3) because people can be both products and producers of culture, future research can focus on ‘technologies of the self’, in the sense that individuals, organisations and governments can promote human agency (i.e. people as producers/authors of culture), proactively raise aware-
ness and support the cultivation of a dynamic, contextual and polycultural self.
interpersonal communication. Incorporating insight from cultural
neuroscience, a number of potential mismatches with regard to
facework are revealed when methodologies originated from the
West are applied in a different context. This paper examines
culturally appropriate face strategies in cooperative learning
among Vietnamese learners. Our results show that discussion
outcomes increase when self-face and other-face are confirmed
and group-face is mildly confronted in form of intergroup
competition. The paper indicates that educational methods
underpinned by fundamental psychological assumptions based on
Western values should be adjusted to be culturally appropriate for
contexts in which it is applied
education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being
enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long
existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based
CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that
originated from elsewhere can be “cloned” with similar results) and neo-colonialism
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an
adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally
appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account
the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but
institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and
incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform
overlooked aspect of cross-cultural studies. Mainstream cultural metaphors (e.g. the iceberg, the software of
the mind, the onion, and the distance) are not only limited in number, but are also overwhelmingly based on
the static paradigm – as opposed to the dynamic paradigm that is often sidelined in academic discourse.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces the Diagram of Diversity Pathways – an
interdisciplinary framework that sheds some light on how the inherent meaning and heuristic orientation of
static cultural metaphors may stand at odds with evidence from the newly emerged field of neurobiology.
Findings – The implications of these metaphors are called into question, namely, culture is all about
differences; values are stable; values guide behaviors; and values are seen as binaries.
Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests that theorists and practitioners should pay
more attention to the contribution and scholarly work of the dynamic paradigm since there appears to be
substantial compatibility between them.
Originality/value – The matching of neurobiology and dynamic paradigm brings into focus alternative
metaphors which not only offer insightful perspectives but also may open doors to perceive culture in a new
way. Furthermore, cultural metaphors deserve more academic scrutiny because metaphors and theory
development can have a symbiotic existence.
Keywords Interdisciplinary, Cultural metaphor, Cultural neuroscience, Dynamic cultural paradigm,
Evolutionary biology, Static cultural paradigm
Paper type Research paper
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform.
.
This chapter opens by discussing the eagerness of countries such as the US and UK to emulate a number of educationally high performing countries in Asian and Eastern Europe. It discusses the initial focus upon pedagogy, in particular, whole class interactive teaching, which is a feature of many of these societies’ educational practices. The chapter draws upon developments in Russia to illustrate our argument that more meaningful reasons for educational success concern attitudes and behaviour, not only those of students and teachers, but also those of the wider society. The chapter concludes by drawing upon the Russian experience to highlight a number of risks to Asian education systems that are posed by rapid social change underpinned by globalising influences.
(i) West-East transfer with the influence of Western approaches in non-
Western countries where neocolonialism happens in the sense that
Western paradigms tend to shape and influence systems and thinking
elsewhere through the process of globalisation;
(ii) East-West transfer with the similar failure as the consequence of the West ‘borrowing’ policies and practices from Asia without caution of false universalism;
(iii) While encouraging each country to consider particular aspects of its
heritage to develop a culturally appropriate body of theory and practice
in accordance with their own world views and in line with their own
norms and values,
(iv) the article draws attention to the unavoidable
multicultural dimension of the global economy and argues that each
theory should be researched and introduced to the world citizens with
different perspectives, widening their knowledge repertoire so that a
tailor-made, customized solution can be reached for each specific particular
problem in our internationally economical, educational and political
landscape.
In short, each theory has a universal part which transcends time and location.
These powerful continuities should act as foundation for different
cultural perspectives to be constructed. However, moving upwards
to the level of practice, this East-West dichotomy should be synergised
and customizable, as this multicultural world gives us exclusively only
particular, specific case-sensitive challenges.
Vietnam, Singapore, Korea and Japan have been proven to share characteristics of a collectivist society. Researchers agree that this collectivist mentality strongly supports cooperation that CHC’s learners/workers best perform in groups.
However, little is known about the other side of the coin. Whilst applying a method born in one culture to another, cultural differences have been forgotten. The so-called global application has led to a situation in which a Western model is forced to launch in a completely new and different context. This new context and the existing cultural values are not always incorporated into the implementation of a Western concept of cooperative learning. Consequently, it does not necessarily follow that all forms of cooperative learning will surely succeed within a CHC environment.
As a result of ignoring, stereotyping and underestimating cultural and educational characteristics, in CHC countries, the implementation of constructivism and one of its applications—cooperative learning—has ended up in failures, suspicion or resistance.
The authors would like to question (1) the fixed assumption that “groupwork
surely works in CHC countries” and (2) the domination of developmentalism
in education nowadays and its mismatch with cultural assets. With this paper, the authors contribute to the recent call for culturally appropriate pedagogy
This study links theory directly to practice by formulating nine concrete CL instructional design principles to be considered in curriculum and task design with Vietnamese students in particular, and Asian-CHC learners in general, as target group. These principles are:
Principle 1: Consider including a mechanism for appointing a group leader.
Principle 2: Be aware that interpersonal competence is a leadership trait that is highly valued.
Principle 3: Consider applying reward structures on the basis of equality.
Principle 4: Consider using teacher approval as a valuable form of reward.
Principle 5: Consider avoiding the use of public disapproval towards individuals.
Principle 6: Consider the use of groupings based on friendship or other types of positive social relationship.
Principle 7: Try to develop and foster new and cohesive groupings for students who do not share a high degree of social attachment before undertaking CL activities.
Principle 8: Consider creating sufficient face-confirmation for each individual within group.
Principle 9: Consider creating milder types of face-confrontation between groups. This should be practised with an attentive role of the teacher to maintain a healthy learning environment.
The dynamic interaction of these 5 factors also question our static framework of cultures, for example, those that assume each country has an index on the spectrum of individualism-collectivism. Frameworks such as from Hofstede should be seen as the first best guess, or sophisticated stereotypes. Boxing a culture into a set of values, or reducing a culture to a static index risks fatalism because it can indirectly promote assumption, prompting us to look for and see only cases and examples that fit. Human beings are not only the product of culture but also active agents in producing culture via our actions, changing our own genetic and neural makeup, while relentlessly shaping and reshaping the surrounding environment. That gives us back the authorship as active agents rather than a cultural dope.
While most literature in the field is dominated by the static paradigm, that is, culture is fixed, nation equates to culture, and values are binary, this book takes a different approach. It regards national values as a first-best-guess and balances it with an introduction of the dynamic paradigm. This school of thought posits that culture is not static, context is the software of the mind, opposing values coexist, change is constant, and individuals can develop a multicultural mind.
A unique feature of this book is the contribution of an interdisciplinary approach. It’s the first textbook of cross-cultural management that incorporates latest findings from the emerging discipline of cultural neuroscience and evolutionary biology in the discussion. Such a holistic approach is meant to help readers gain a deeper and broader understanding of the subjects.
The sample chapter focuses on Change management.
https://www.routledge.com/Cross-Cultural-Management-With-Insights-from-Brain-Science/Nguyen-Phuong-Mai/p/book/9781138304666
The sample chapter explains the nature of culture and its roles in the evolution of human species, discusses the dynamic interaction between culture
and other factors: environment, genes, brain, and behaviors.
https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462985414/intercultural-communication