Intercultural Communication Institute

33 | Framing and Facilitating Intercultural Competence: Applying the DMIS

Based on the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), this workshop will provide an approach to intercultural competence that is credible, practical, and theoretically coherent. Applications will be made to coaching, training, and strategic organization development in both domestic and international contexts.

Designed for
Intercultural coaches, trainers, and consultants to corporations and other organizations; college faculty members and student services professionals; human resource professionals and training administrators; and others in both profit and nonprofit contexts who have the responsibility of diagnosing needs for intercultural competence and for addressing those needs in focused ways. Participants with IDI qualification will also benefit from this advanced course.

Review the assumption of “constructed experience” that underlies the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)
Learn how particular “intercultural worldview issues” are associated with the DMIS stages, and how their resolution is necessary for development to occur
Explore strategies for facilitating movement through developmental stages in empathic and non-threatening ways
Learn to select interventions based on the diagnosis of unresolved issues in the context of a learner’s experience
Assess the appropriate developmental sequence for training activities that addresses learners’ developmental needs
Review patterns of resistance and strategies for turning resistance into educational opportunity
Adapt interventions to cultural differences

Learning Activities

Presentation and discussion of advanced topics related to the DMIS
Practice with training activities and other intervention strategies suited to particular stages of development
Participation in structured experiences that address various stages of development
Informal assessment of the developmental needs of participants’ clients and students
Review of literature and training resources relevant to a developmental perspective
Development of intervention designs suitable to participants’ clients

Faculty: Milton Bennett

Dr. Milton Bennett is a director and co-founder of the Intercultural Communication Institute. He originated the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and co-developed its measurement, the Intercultural Development Inventory. For over thirty years Milton has consulted with corporations and other organizations in the U.S., Asia, and Europe on topics of domestic and global intercultural competence. Previously a tenured professor at Portland State University, he is currently an adjunct faculty member of the Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and the intercultural sociology graduate program at the University Milano-Bicocca, Italy. He also teaches in several global executive training programs. Milton is the co-author, with Ed Stewart, of American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, contributing editor of Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication, and contributing co-editor of the 3rd edition of the Handbook of Intercultural Training.