Introducing Story-Strategic Methods: Twelve Steps toward Effective Engagement

by Robert Strauss

Overview

The purpose of Introducing Story-Strategic Methods is to awaken us in the cross-cultural context. Our natural tendency is to be asleep to our own cultural values and core worldview assumptions. This tendency applies as well to our expectations in the cross-cultural context. For example, in what ways would a "justice" pattern of culture orient our speech and behavior? To what degree is a "justice" pattern of culture different from an "honor" pattern of culture? The book asserts that culture matters in effective communication. Going further, to what degree does a story told from the Bible nullify the power of culture? Often we assume that the biblical story trumps culture. It does not. The book affirms rigorously that culture is much more powerful than we first suppose. If in fact, culture trumps the biblical story. Therefore, understanding and skills are required for effective engagement across cultures. Strategic storytelling is a twelve-step methodology that addresses the problems of miscommunication and syncretism that plague the cross-cultural context. It offers a step-by-step solution that promises success. Insights are firmly rooted in Scripture and equally grounded in empirical research from the social sciences. The stories told throughout the book are true. The answers are compelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532613173
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	03/17/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	212
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Robert Strauss is President and CEO of Worldview Resource Group, Owner of Global Perspectives Consulting, and Lead Faculty in the College of Business and Economics at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He is a member of the International Academy for Intercultural Research. He is co-editor of Manual de Capacitación Transcultural (2009). He travels extensively, provides consultation to organizations in public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and resides in Colorado.
Robert Strauss is owner of Global Perspectives Consulting in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. GPC clients excel in complex global marketplaces through the acquisition of cultural competence. Clients include the United States Department of Agriculture and City of Little Rock, Arkansas Police Department. Strauss is Lead Faculty of the courses Program Development and Accountability and Research Methods in the Anderson College of Business at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Also, he is President of Worldview Resource Group, a not-for-profit organization that equips cross-cultural workers in a story-based worldview approach to mission. WRG works with agencies located in India, Southeast Asia, North Africa, Western Canada, Mexico, and all of Ibero-America. Strauss is a member of the International Academy for Intercultural Research. He is the author of Introducing Story-Strategic Methods: Twelve Steps toward Effective Engagement, published by Wipf & Stock in March 2017. He and his wife live near Denver, Colorado.

Table of Contents

List of Tables vii

List of Figures viii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Part 1 Acknowledging Ambiguity

1 Describing the Context 3

2 Exposing the Need 8

3 Analyzing the Need 31

Part 2 Aiming for Clarity

4 Introducing a Solution 43

5 Making the Case for Strategic Storytelling 57

6 Examining a Solution: Steps 1-5 80

7 Examining a Solution: Steps 6-9 101

8 Examining a Solution: Steps 10-12 111

9 Analyzing a Solution 128

10 Anticipating the Future 145

Appendix A Essential Steps of Field Research 151

Appendix B Four Overarching Patterns of Culture 155

Appendix C An Adaptation of the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity 159

Appendix D The Four Capabilities of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) 161

Appendix E Etic and Emic Perspectives of Culture 165

Appendix F Value Dimensions of Culture 167

Appendix G Max Weber 169

Appendix H Edwards-Strauss-Steiner Model of Cultural Context Awareness of Self and Others 172

Bibliography 173

Index 183