Michelle Cummings-Koether

Intercultural competence is overdue for a rethink. For too long it has meant memorizing national traits and cultural averages, as if a person could be read off the map of where they were born. I work differently. My focus is on the values individuals actually hold, and on how those values shape everything from the dynamics of a small team to the direction of whole societies.

What drives me is a conviction that humans are changing inside the systems around us, often steered from outside by politics and, increasingly, by AI. I want us to keep our eyes on the people, not just on the mechanisms doing the steering. How is AI reshaping culture itself? What happens to human values when an algorithm sits between us?

As an academic with years of consulting experience, I work as a bridge between research and industry. I specialize in team dynamics, project planning, intercultural communication and conflict within organizations, and the dynamics between American and German cultures, where I bring particular depth.

Prof. Dr. Cummings-Koether is a Professor at the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (Technische Hochschule Deggendorf) and Co-Head of the I-ETOS Institute for the Transformation of Society at THD, where her work centers on intercultural competence, the values of individuals within organizations and society, and how human dynamics are shaped by forces such as politics and AI.

Through the institute, she also carries out consulting work for organizations, drawing on earlier consulting experience across industries in Germany, the United States, Austria, and beyond. That work has addressed a wide range of challenges, from the fundamentals of team dynamics to leadership development, intercultural market entry strategies for start-ups and established organizations, and the difficult human aftermath of hostile takeovers. Today her consulting is firmly placed within an academic context, mixing modern research with current industry needs and trends.

Her research examines the values and expectations that shape diverse groups, and how cultural values inform value-based leadership and management. A continuing strand of her work focuses on team building and team dynamics, carrying the organizational questions of her consulting into empirical study. Increasingly, her attention turns to artificial intelligence: the question of trust in AI, how AI influences culture and society, and the ways AI can reproduce or reshape gender stereotypes.