2016 SIETAR Conference

Cultural heritage: How intangible and tangible culture has created and shaped Australian and global culture

A SIETAR AUSTRALASIA conference held in co-operation with the University of Sydney Business School and the Migrants@Work Research Group

Sydney, Australia, November 24 – 25, 2016

Keynote Speakers

Cristina B Gibson
Professor of Management and Organization and Australia Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Western Australia School of Business
Dr Marilyn Truscott
A heritage practitioner, with post-graduate studies in archaeology, history and materials conservation, recently completing a doctorate on community and heritage.
Janet M Bennett Ph.D
After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia, Dr. Janet Bennett has devoted her career to developing theory and training design in intercultural competence.
Dan Caprar
Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School, soon to join the Discipline of International Business at the University of Sydney Business School
Egil Bakka
Professor emeritus (Dance studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and former director of the Norwegian Centre for Traditional Music and Dance.
Professor Lucy Taska
Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Macquarie University.

Pre-conference Master Workshop

Dr Janet Bennet

Our life’s work is building bridges among differences, softening barriers to living life with cultural others, and probing the mysteries of unknown places and peoples. We do so not only to manage more appropriately, teach more wisely, and train more effectively, but also sometimes for the sheer pleasure of experiencing differences. The core tool of our trade is intercultural competence, that illusive set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that is so essential on our global stage.

​Often, when we ask an intercultural question, the answer is “It depends.” Why do people from some cultures avoid participating in meetings? It depends. What is the source of prejudice? It depends. Why do people from some cultures seem to resist following the rules? It depends.

​It depends on the time, the place, the culture, the face saving, the thinking style, and many other variables.

​For those engaging culturally different others, there are several core skills that are key to reigning in our first impressions, and counteracting the human tendency to form barriers between us and them.

​This full day workshop focused on those skills, and how to practice and teach them, through:

  • ​Exploring – and clarifying – that necessary skillset, mindset, and heartset, based on recent research
  • Highlighting the function of intercultural competence in both domestic and global contexts
  • Discussing practical applications with an intercultural case study