Harmony and common ground : aikido principles for intercultural training

Aikido, a martial art, is practised globally and aims to turn opponents into partners, even when the odds are against harmony. Typically, aikido stands for seeking harmony, common ground and non-violence instead of the combat in most other martial arts. In many parts of the world, it is also applied as a metaphor or an embodiment method in fields such as therapy and communication training. In the field of intercultural business communication training, for instance, it may be argued that aikido meets a need for experimental training approaches with experiential discovery rather than conventional didactic expository (Waxin & Panaccio, 2005; Treven, 2003; Graf, 2004; Díaz & Moore, 2018). In this paper we investigate how and to what extent aikido may be beneficial to intercultural business communication training: we report on a benchmarking study in which we identify what interviewed aikido experts consider to be core principles of aikido on and off the mat. Relying on NVivo software, we performed a qualitative content analysis of the interview data. The findings showed that the way people learn, teach, understand and perceive aikido has fundamental similarities. The respondents referred to aikido principles with the same core meaning, however, with some local or individual nuances: building common ground in interactions and discovering the power of harmony through self-development. The curriculum of aikido consists of movement practice that illustrates and teaches common ground and harmony in challenging interactions: unification and circulation based on an attitude of tranquillity, openness and curiosity. Because aikido movements are not meant to react to an attack but to create a win-win outcome, neither the attacker nor the attacked is a victim. This is similar to interculturality, the communicative process in intercultural interaction which emerges from the situation (Kecskés, 2020). We conclude that aikido has potential in an embodied learning process of intercultural communication skills. The hands-on style of learning involves aikido movements simulating intercultural interactions followed by feedback and discussions. In this way, learners discover insights into the other person’s sensitivities and an emergent common ground framework to add to their intercultural competence repertoires. This embodied approach aims to be an example of experiential discovery that strives to equip employees with a broad range of skills that will help them act appropriately in different international business contexts (Graf, 2005). In the panel organized by Istvan Kecskes: Common ground in intercultural interaction