Abstract
This doctoral research investigates how the Japanese martial art of aikido can be used as an embodied pedagogy to enhance intercultural business communication training. The project aims to determine the effectiveness of integrating aikido principles (learning from aikido) and corresponding movements (learning with aikido) in developing intercultural competence. The research comprises four studies, primarily using qualitative methods, except for the fourth study, which employs a mixed-methods approach.
The first study explores the parallels between aikido interaction and intercultural interaction. It reveals that both emphasise conscious interaction that focuses on co-creating common ground and harmony. Aikido interaction achieves this via physical activities that promote multisensory learning and somatic training. These findings highlight the potential of aikido activities to teach the principles of harmony and common ground, essential for effective intercultural communication.
In the second study, interviews with 20 aikido experts from around the world identify eleven core principles of aikido, categorised into tranquillity, connection, and ecology. These principles form a model of aikido interaction that offers transferable skills. Moreover, the study emphasises that aikido's self-regulating and co-regulating properties can bring about physical, physiological, and mental changes that reduce defensive reactions and influence behaviour positively, making the aikido interaction model a valuable embodied pedagogy for intercultural communication training.
The third study examines the variations in practice, motivation, societal role, and values of the aikido experts interviewed. Despite these differences, the core principles of aikido remain consistent, providing a common foundation for applying aikido interaction models in diverse contexts. This study underscores the adaptability of aikido principles to various contemporary settings while maintaining their core values.
The fourth study assesses the impact of aikido-embodied training on business and organisational participants. A training experiment involving 73 employees, employers, and entrepreneurs from Belgium and the Netherlands compared intercultural communication training with embodied aikido exercises to a version of the training with only theoretical explanations. The measured and surveyed data show that the aikido interaction model (learning from aikido) and the embodied learning experience (learning with aikido) supported participant satisfaction, memory performance, and intercultural competence.
Overall, this doctoral research emphasises the pedagogical and conceptual advantages of incorporating physical activities like aikido into intercultural communication training. Aikido's principles of intrapersonal (inward), interpersonal (outward), and upward development offer a comprehensive method for fostering intercultural competence, focusing on tranquillity, cognitive empathy, anthropocosmic nobility, and lifelong learning. Therefore, integrating aikido into intercultural business communication training enriches existing models and approaches. Aligning the findings with contemporary theories that expand the definition of language, this research eventually suggests that aikido can be understood as a language. This perspective allows future research to examine aikido through linguistic theories, highlighting its potential as a language that involves social interaction, bodily movements, sensory experiences, and contextual meaning-making. Future research with such an approach can provide valuable tools for facilitators and participants in intercultural communication training and support other pedagogical or communicative domains.