Encyclopedia of Culture

Culture strongly influences the life we live, ranging from individual choices through relations with others, organisational culture and multicultural society to international contacts. Furthermore, failing to take culture into account, may result in major costs. In the last few years instruments have been developed to show the impact of this rather intangible topic, including ways and means to deal with it. This book is the result of an interaction between theory and practice, lectures on culture on the one hand and the reports by hundreds of students on their experiences with living and working abroad; more than 500 years of experience! The topics discussed have been organised in a mind-map and complemented with summaries of the literature and self-study exercises. All this is available on the website www.culturalcompetence.eu. The Encyclopedia of Culture summarises the literature part of that website. The practical experience may be found on the website through quotes by the students. Pieter van Nispen learned about culture in much the same way. First, he experienced culture as an international student, as diplomat and international consultant. His curiosity drove him to study the literature of this phenomenon. Later he became a senior lecturer and researcher on internationalisation with a focus on culture (including the not so international aspects of culture). His research focused on the influence of culture from foreign policy on the one hand to project management on the other.