LINGUIST List 6.271

Wed 22 Feb 1995

Confs: 2nd International Conf on Communication in the Workplace

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1. Peter White, Conference Announcement

Content-Length: 7567

2nd International Conference on Communication in the Workplace
Local Diversity, Global Connections: Communication, Culture and Business

The National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia's Centre for
Workplace Communication and Culture at the
University of Technology, Sydney and James Cook University of North
Queensland, together with the National Centre for English Language Teaching
and Research at Macquarie University plan to present the Second
International Conference on Communication in the Workplace at the Wesley
Centre, Sydney on November 8-11, 1995.

The focus of the Conference is Local Diversity, Global Connections:
Communication, Culture and Business. The conference will be divided into
three interconnected themes, one theme on each of the three days.
Participants will be able to explore areas of special interest within and
across each theme. Also featuring are case studies including ADI Marine,
Infolex Pty Ltd, Optus, Selleys, Uncle Toby's Company Ltd.

Below is an outline of the themes.

Day 1
Globalisation and Productive Diversity

Globalisation: what are the new frontiers?
Crossing borders and removing boundaries in the current global environment.
Developing cross-cultural communication skills for global corporate
citizens.

International business cultures: how do different national styles influence
organisations?
Negotiating new ways of doing business and managing human resources.

Total quality management and benchmarking: what do we mean by quality? OR
how can the notions of quality and standards allow for difference?
Balancing different interpretations of quality with the need to conform to
international/Australian standards.

Putting diversity to work: what are the benefits?
Tapping into the diverse skills of employees. Recognising the depths and
breadth of employees' language skills, experiences, cultural styles and
ways of thinking.

The Language of exporting: how do we market the new global growth
industries? Exporting services (education, languages, tourism, information,
arts, etc.) to the Asian Pacific region and beyond.

Day 2
Learning Organisations-Negotiating Workplace Cultures

Corporate cultures: how do you link personal values with corporate missions?
Creating corporate cultures which allow and value differences.

Working in teams: which teams work and under what circumstances?
Recognising different types of teams; valuing different skills and strategies.

National competencies and multiskilling: how do you recognise, compare and
complement different skills and experiences?
Linking education, work and community. Learning and demonstrating
competence in new and flexible ways.

Creating learning environments: under what conditions does learning thrive?
Responding to community and individual needs in flexible ways.

Enterprise bargaining: how do you cater for differences?
Learning to develop new workplace relationships.

Day 3
Communicating and Managing Change

Communicating corporate information: what are the implications for employee
participation?
Developing efficient and effective communication systems . Working with
formal and informal modes of communication.

Informal and interpersonal communication: how does the way we speak and
write influence working relationships and relationships with clients?
Relating effectively to people.

Working together: how can we gain access to the language and cultural
skills of a multicultural workforce?
Recognising and utilising the language skills of the workforce. (Languages
other than English, specialist languages, community communication
networks.)

The language of marketing: how do we meet the needs of a diverse clientele?
Speaking the customer's language, niche marketing, networking and building
customer relations.

Interactive multi-media and new information technologies: what are the
implications for the way we work, learn and communicate?
Managing new communications media as forms of language and cultural interaction.

Alternative Formats, Maximising Participation

One of the objectives of the Second International Conference on
Communication and Culture in the Workplace is to encourage greater
participation than usually occurs at conferences. To make this possible,
the conference has a number of new presentation formats, as well as the
more conventional formats.

- Plenary Presentations (30 mins)
 where invited key experts introduce the conference themes and
 state-of-the-art approaches.

- Plenary Multilogues (90 mins)
 where an expert panel debates an issue and then opens the discussion to
 the audience.

- Small Group Multilogues (45 mins)
 where you introduce a controversial proposition related to the
 conference themes/ panel debates and open it up for further discussion
 in a small group.

- Reflections on Practice (45 mins)
 where managers, trainers, workers, trainees, teachers, administrators,
 community educators 'walk through' their experiences, their practices,
 their community involvements, their learning-on-the-job.

- Engagements with Practice (90 mins)
 where presenters actively engage their audiences in activities or
 experiences derived from their work and interests: management processes,
 training activities, planning processes, client relations or marketing,
 evaluation.

- Workshops-in-Partnership (90 mins)
 where people present in partnership. Partners might include: trainers,
 researchers, managers, administrators, business people, members of the
 community. Workshops require active engagement of the audience in a
 learning experience.

- Paper Presentations-in-Partnership (45 mins)
 a shorter version of the Workshop-in-Partnership, but with more of a
 'show and tell' approach, allowing 15 mins for audience questioning.

- Workshops (90 mins)
 where you lead a group through a series of experiences/activities which
 illustrate an idea or a practice.

- Papers (45 mins)
 where you present from a prepared paper to a group about your experience
 or your research, leaving about 15 minutes for questions and discussion.

Sessions will be taped, and tapes available for sale.

Written papers, background information on sessions, overhead transparencies
etc. will be lodged with the conference secretariat and available for sale
in photocopied form.

The conference is expected to attract about 500 local and international
participants including employers, unions, academics, industry trainers and
language teachers.

It will provide an opportunity for people to engage in a dialogue about the
latest ideas on organisational change, communication and culture.

For further information contact the NLLIA Centre for Workplace Communication
and Culture, University of Technology, Sydney. PO Box 123, Broadway, New
South Wales, 2007, Australia. Tel: +61 2 330 3926.
Email: d.brosnanmailbox.uts.edu.au