Handbook

Business School

Course Study Guide

2010–11

Managing across Cultures

INDU 1033

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Contents

1. WELCOME ........................................................................................................................................ 3

2. INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE................................................................................................. 4

2.1 AIMS ........................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 LEARNING OUTCOMES ................................................................................................................. 5

2.2.1 Knowledge and understanding of: ........................................................................................ 5

2.2.2 Intellectual Skills: .................................................................................................................. 5

2.2.3 Subject practical skills: .......................................................................................................... 6

2.2.4 Transferable skills: ................................................................................................................ 6

2.3 LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................ 6

3. CONTACT DETAILS ......................................................................................................................... 7

4. COURSE CONTENT ......................................................................................................................... 7

4.1 SESSION READING....................................................................................................................... 9

5. ASSESSMENT DETAILS .................................................................................................................. 9

5.1 SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................ 11

5.2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ASSESSMENT .................................................................................... 11

6. OTHER DETAILS ............................................................................................................................ 14

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1. Welcome

Welcome to Managing across Cultures (INDU 1033). This course guide outlines the key details for this

course but please also refer to the course Web CT site for further information and course materials.

This course brings together knowledge and different interpretations which enable a critical analysis of

the issues and contexts relating to management and doing business across cultures. We will explore

aspects of national cultures and of cultural diversity, and we will critically evaluate relevant academic

research in the area of cross-cultural management to underpin the practical and applied work.

Although there is a need to acquire and adopt practical knowledge on various – national – cultures, the

course is delivered at a postgraduate level, which implies that students are supposed to deliver work

at a high academic level. Substantial reading of journals and other academic sources is a key

requirement for passing this course successfully. Evidence from the past, however, has also shown that

students may perform well, and at the same time enjoy the course, because of its high relevance for

current business and generally internationally operating organisations, like supranational bodies of

governance and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Furthermore, for many of our students the

course has a particular relevance because they have already a practical experience of living, studying

and, quite frequently, also working in another culture and they are continuously confronted with other

cultures.

The course is delivered to various postgraduate programmes, like the MA and MBA International

Business and MA International HRM. The course is part of these programmes as managing across

cultures is extremely relevant for both international business and the International HR-policy of

companies. The course looks at both general aspects of international business and HRM. HRM aspects

will be dealt with as HRM, and also International HRM, becomes ever more a strategic asset of

organisations and both general managers and HRM-experts have a role to play with the development

and implementation of policies with regard to cross-cultural management. Managing across cultures is

by its very nature linked with HRM and working with people in organisations.

This document outlines the course’s main features and provides you with the key information you

need during the course. However, if you need any information about the course please do not hesitate

to contact me. I am very excited by this subject, as it enhances our understanding of the globalised

world we currently live in, and look forward to lecturing on this course. On behalf of the team of

lecturers and tutors I wish you an enjoyable and interesting time.

Dr. Ulke Veersma

E-mail: [email protected]

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2. Introduction to the Course

‘Managing Across Cultures’ examines the differences between cultures, their relation with business

and working in organisations and the way people from various cultures communicate and interact. The

topic is most relevant for the management of culturally diverse organisations. Managing across

cultures is a major theme for business as the workforce of organisations becomes more varied in terms

of culture, language and religion. Another major issue for modern organisations is internal and

external communication. The meaning of information is different in the context of diverse cultural

settings and problems may occur since the meaning of what is communicated is different for different

people with various backgrounds. Also, the underlying values of various cultures may be different,

which may lead to misunderstanding and may, hence, cause conflicts between various actors. In sum,

organisations underperform and may suffer from conflicts when the variety of cultures is neglected.

Therefore, various aspects of culture and their impact on working in organisations will be explored

during the course.

The success of managers is usually dependent on their sensitivity and open-mindedness to accept and

value aspects of other cultures which may be unfamiliar to them. Instead of looking at it as a threat

cultural diversity may be looked at as an asset. What is even more crucial for our understanding is the

fact that cultural diversity, and the living and working in another culture, exposes us to new insights

and ideas from divergent perspectives.

You are encouraged to reflect on your attitudes and behaviour towards other cultures both

individually and by participating in analytical discussion where feedback on tasks and skills is given and

received.

I encourage you to take responsibility for your learning and to mix with other students from the very

start of the course. I expect you to attend all timetabled teaching periods, to read and prepare

carefully and to take special note of assessment deadlines. A very important part of any Master’s

programme, especially for this course, is the interaction and discussion between students and staff

and the sharing of life experience. Please ensure that you fully involve yourself in discussion even if

this has not been your experience in study up to this point and even if you believe that other students

know more than you. Not involving yourself in discussion will waste a valuable opportunity for your

learning and personal development and deprives others in the class from a full learning experience.

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2.1 Aims The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of managing employees across national

cultures. Drawing from advanced research on the impact of national and sub-cultures on

organisations, it explores the effects of cultural diversity on major organisational processes of

communication, decision making and the division of labour. The management of international

businesses is a central focus and there is a strong emphasis on differences between Anglo-American,

European, African and Asian cultures.

The course provides important professional expertise for contemporary human resource and

international business management. We explore the principle theories of cultural difference and

academic research on the effects of cultural diversity on communication, negotiation, motivation,

leadership and ethics in organisations. Through critical analysis and practical application, we extend

our awareness of the cultural differences that may impact businesses while reinforcing skills and

behaviours that can help managers adjust to, and accommodate, such differences.

2.2 Learning Outcomes By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

Understand, analyse, and evaluate the complexity of international management, and the need to vary management practices in different cross cultural situations.

Increase awareness of own cultural beliefs, assumptions, and practices;

Critique cultural biases within existing management theories and practices

Formulate responses to cultural influences on key management processes, such as international staffing policies, the management of expatriates, team building, and training and development

Develop personally effective methods for dealing with new and challenging issues confidently;

Empathise with people from different backgrounds;

Identify the influence of cultural diversity on management problems within organisations.

2.2.1 Knowledge and understanding of:

As mentioned before, the course focuses on the impact of national and sub-cultures on organisations

and organisational processes like communication, teamwork, leadership and motivation. Students will

therefore gain knowledge and develop an understanding of different (national) cultures. Also, the

various aspects of diversity and aspects of organisations will be dealt with where members from

different cultural backgrounds work together. Students will gain knowledge and understanding of

requirements for working in this type of organisation.

2.2.2 Intellectual Skills:

This course requires critical reading and writing aiming to develop academic skills with regard to the

research and analysis of theories and research national cultures and related issues of doing business in

and between different cultures. These intellectual skills will be developed by raising the critical

awareness and understanding of cultural diversity and organisations. Students are required to

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question existing knowledge and analyse information in a systematical, structured way in order to

increase their own and others level of knowledge and understanding.

2.2.3 Subject practical skills:

Practical skills that are developed are with regard to presenting, debating, group discussion and

academic writing. Students have to present their findings and have to work in groups. In the tutorials

students will be put in groups that are as much as possible composed of various national cultural

backgrounds.

2.2.4 Transferable skills:

Students will develop transferable skills with regard to communication and teamwork. Also, they may

develop skills of leadership and develop a cultural awareness. Students will develop an awareness of

working in and with another culture but also the requirements for working in a different national

culture as an expatriate. This will increase skills to work in other cultural settings.

2.3 Learning and teaching activities The course is structured around a programme of regular content, self study and case analysis. The

course will follow a standard format of a one hour lecture followed by a seminar session. The schedule

below gives an indication of the subjects covered in each session. The course will attempt to take into

account topical events and the current news agenda so new subjects may be introduced as the course

is delivered or the subjects below given a different context. In particular, the course is designed to be

receptive to what is happening in the world – especially in business - and the interests and needs of

the students.

At the same time, students will be expected to read widely and not just from the listed texts. Students

are expected to engage and participate fully in debates and discussion and come fully prepared to

seminars ready to play an active part.

Each seminar will focus on the theme of the previous lecture so that students have time to prepare.

Students are therefore expected to read as widely as they can from the key text(s) and journal articles.

They are also expected to bring cases to class.

Active participation in the programme and willingness to undertake reading and research between

classes is essential. Students should aim to develop a portfolio of useful background information

including articles from newspapers, magazines and journals and useful websites, as well as real-life

situations so that these can be shared with others in the tutorial.

At the start of the programme, students will be asked to form groups of up to five members. This

group will become the core focus of active learning and participation. Each team will be responsible for

presenting a case of a company operating across borders where cross-cultural issues are involved. One

of the core notions behind Managing across Cultures is that national cultures impact on various

aspects of companies, how they are structured and how they are managed and how people interact

and communicate. Explore issues that could be caused by different, possibly conflicting norms and

values and approaches to management and organisation. The suggested length of the presentation is

15 minutes.

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3. Contact Details

Room Email address Phone number

Course Leader:

Dr. Ulke Veersma QA 159 [email protected] 0208 331 9132

Tutors:

Dr. Ulke Veersma

Dr. Antoinette St. Hilaire QA 349 [email protected] 0208 331 8415

Angela Bowles QA 145 [email protected] 0208 331 7965

Farzam Bobani [email protected] 0208 331 7958

Admin Programme Coordinator:

Bettina Hirmer QM245 [email protected] 0208 331 9038

Please see your programme handbook for more detail

4. Course Content

Week beginning

Session Title and Description Reading or preparation (next table for details)

20-Sep

Joining / Welcome back

27-Sep Lecture Course Introduction

Seminar Initial meetings, group allocation and icebreaker

04-Oct Lecture Theories of cultures and the meaning of culture Schneider and Barsoux: Ch. 1 & 2.

Thomas: Ch. 3

Seminar Exercise with various cultures

11-Oct Lecture National cultures and cross-cultural interaction Schneider and Barsoux: Ch. 3 & 4.

Thomas: Ch. 4 (pp. 71-86)

Seminar Identifying a case with cross-cultural issues involved (You

have to come to class with a case linked to the assignment)

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18-Oct Lecture Cross-cultural decision making Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 3 (p. 58-

61) & Ch. 10. Thomas: Ch. 5

Seminar National cultures and assumptions on organisations –

discussion

Preparation by searching website

Geert Hofstede: www.geert-

hofstede.com

25-Oct Lecture Research – This week you should make preliminary

enquiries about your case for assignment 1

Progress on coursework

Seminar The lecturer will be available for consultation.

01-Nov Lecture The structure of organisations and multinationals Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 4

Thomas: Ch. 9

Seminar Exercise: Who to hire? given out in the tutorial

09-Nov Lecture Cross-cultural issues of motivation, management

and leadership

Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 6

Thomas: Ch. 4 (pp. 87-89) and Ch.

7 and Ch. 6 (pp. 117-136)

Seminar Case study ‘multinationals – home country and host

countries’

Material in class

15-Nov Lecture Communication, strategy and cross-cultural

negotiations

Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 2 (p. 43-

48) & 5

Thomas: Ch. 6

Seminar Activity: Developing cross-cultural effectiveness Material in class

22-Nov Lecture International teams and developing cross-cultural

relationships

Schneider & Barsoux: C h. 8;

Thomas: Ch. 8

Seminar Simulation: intercultural conflict resolution Material in class

29-Nov Lecture The international manager and international

assignments

Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 7

Thomas: Ch. 10 & 11

Seminar Exercise: the diverse organisation Data collected by students *

06-Dec Lecture Towards the ‘global’ organisation Schneider & Barsoux: Ch. 9

Thomas: Ch. 11

Seminar Case ‘expatriates’ To be distributed in Tutorial

13-Dec Lecture Managing across cultures –Revisited

Seminar Review of the course and feedback

* students will collect data on diversity policies of companies. The outcomes to be discussed in class

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4.1 Session Reading

Reference Key aspects to consider

Schneider, Susan C, and Jean-Louis Barsoux (2003),

Managing across Cultures. 2nd Ed. FT Prentice Hall,

London

Issues of cross-cultural management

Thomas, David C. (2008), Cross-Cultural Management:

Essential Concepts. Sage, London.

Theories of culture and management

More relevant reading:

Albrecht, Maryann H. (2000), International HRM: Managing Diversity in the Workplace. London: Blackwell.

Adler, Nancy J. (2007), International Dimensions of Organizational Behaviour, 5th ed. London: Cengage Learning.

Beamer, Iris & Varner, Linda (2004), Inter-cultural Communication in the Global Workplace, 3rd ed. London: McGraw Hill.

Browaeys, Marie-Joëlle & Price, Roger, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management. London: FT Prentice Hall.

Deresky, Helen (2008), International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Dowling, Peter J. (2008), International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational, 5th ed. London: Cengage Learning.

Earley, P. Christopher & Singh Harbir (eds.) (2000), Innovations in International and Cross-cultural Management, London: Sage.

Elashmawi, Farid (2001), Competing Globally: Mastering Multicultural Management and Negotiations. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Francesco, Anne Marie & Gold, Barry A. (2005), International Organizational Behavior: Text, Readings, Cases and Skills, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

French, Ray (2010), Cross-Cultural Management. London: CIPD. 2nd Edition.

Gannon, Martin J. & Newman, Karen L. (2001), The Blackwell Handbook of Cross-Cultural Management, London: Blackwell.

Gooderham, Paul & Nordhaug, Odd (2003), International Management: Cross- Boundary Challenges. London: Blackwell.

Granrose, Cherlyn S. & Oskamp, Stuart (1997), Cross-cultural Work Groups, London: Sage.

Guirdham, Maureen (2005), Communicating Across Cultures at Work, 2nd ed. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Hall, Edward T., & Hall, Mildred R. (1990), Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Harris, Philip R., Moran, Robert T., & Moran, Sarah V. (2004), Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century, 6th ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Hofstede, Geert (2003), Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutionsand Organisations Across Nations, 2nd ed. London: Sage.

Hofstede, Geert (2004), Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, 2nd ed. London: Palgrave McGraw Hill.

Inglehart, Ronald (1997), Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

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Jackson, Terrence (2002), International HRM: A Cross-Cultural Approach, London: Sage.

Jandt, Fred E. (2010), An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community, 6th ed. London: Sage.

Lane, Henry W., Di Stefano, Joseph J., & Maxnevski, Martha L. (2000), International Management Behaviour: Text, Readings and Cases, 4th ed., London, Blackwell.

Lane, Henry W., Maznevski, Martha L, Mendenhall, Mark E., & McNett, Jeanne (2006), The Blackwell Handbook of Global Management, 2nd ed. London: Blackwell.

Luthans, Fred & Doh, Jonathan P. (2009) International Management, 7th ed.

Mead, Richard (2005), International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions, 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell. London: Palgrave McGraw Hill.

Mole, John (2003), Mind your manners. Managing business cultures in Europe, 3rd ed. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Peng, Mike W. (2009), Global Business. London: Cengage Learning.

Ricks, David (2006), Blunders in International Business, 4th ed., London: Blackwell.

Samovar, Larry A., & Porter, Richard E. (1999), Intercultural Communication: A Reader, 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Scollon, Ron & Scollon, Suzanne Wong (2000), Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach. London: Blackwell. 2nd ed.

Smith, Peter B.., Bond, Michael H., & Kâgitçibasi, Çigdem (2006), Understanding Social Psychology Across Cultures: Living and Working in a Changing World. London: Sage.

Tayeb, Monir H. (1996), The Management of a Multicultural Workforce. Chichester: Wiley.

Terpstra, Vern, & David, Kenneth (1985), The cultural environment of international business. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western.

Trompenaars, Fons & Hampden-Turner, Charles (2000), Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. London: Nicholas Brealey. 2nd ed.

Ward, Colleen, Bochner, Stephen, & Furnham, Adrian (2001), The Psychology of Culture Shock. London: Routledge.

Journals - Leading current thinking on cross-cultural management can be found in recent issues of:

Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources

British Journal of Management

Communication Research

Cross-Cultural Management

European Journal of Management

Global Business Review

Harvard Business Review

International Business Review

International Journal of Human Resource Management

International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

International Journal of Public Sector Management

International Small Business Journal

Journal of Business Ethics

Journal of International Business Studies

Journal of International Management

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5. Assessment Details

To pass this course you must successfully engage in the assessment. There will be guidance and assistance given by the course team but also remember that the University have a dedicated study skills team who deliver support sessions each term. A timetable of these events is posted in October and can normally be viewed at http://www.gre.ac.uk/studyskills/study_skills_timetable. Students can also contact the Study Skills team on [email protected] or 020 8331 9894.

5.1 Summary of assessment

Assessment Title Weight towards final grade

Pass Mark

Length Due Date Return Date

Header Sheet #

Written Report

30%

50%

3000 words 6th

December

2010. 3 PM

17.01.11 172496

Individual Project

70% 3000 words 17th

January

2011. 3 PM

07.02.11 172498

5.2 Detailed description of assessment

Team Presentation and Written Report (3000 words) – 30%

Small student teams will be formed during the first tutorial. Each team will be responsible for

presenting a case of a company operating across borders where cross-cultural issues are involved. One

of the core notions behind Managing across Cultures is that national cultures impact on various

aspects of companies, how they are structured and how they are managed and how people interact

and communicate. Explore issues that could be caused by different, possibly conflicting norms and

values and approaches to management and organisation. The suggested length of the presentation is

15 minutes.

The purpose of the presentation is to convey the key message of your presentation and you should not

read large amounts of text to the audience. You should research the case by using various sources. If

you have any questions or doubts then please contact your course tutor.

After every presentation, the group will receive informal feedback, both on the contents of the case

and the presentation itself. The discussion in class should help to identify the main problems and

critically discuss possible recommendations to the management and other actors. After the

presentation and the feedback received a report will be written and submitted as group work.

The focus of the written assignment is not only on operating across borders, but, first of all, on the

related concepts from this course: what theories are relevant to explain issues of the management of

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various cultures, theories of culture and management and organisation can be applied to the case and

how to increase cross-cultural awareness? Next, questions should be dealt with like: how can

problems of intercultural interaction and working be resolved more effectively? What important

lessons and insights can learnt by the management and other participants?

The written report prepared by your team needs to:

briefly describe the case and the various cultures involved;

identify potential problems or actual problems related to the various cultures and interaction between cultures involved;

analyse the national cultures at stake and use theory to investigate various cultures;

write a short reflection on how you worked as a team – also addressing differences in preferences of team members which may be linked to various national cultural backgrounds.

The report should demonstrate wide research on cultural issues and differences between national

cultures. Most important to demonstrate academic writing skills, including appropriate referencing,

and the report should contain a correct list of references with relevant book chapters and, more

importantly, articles from academic journals.

Individual Project (3000 words) – 70%

The main piece of coursework is individual and will focus on the evaluation of a company where

various cultures are involved. Assume the role of an international director preparing managers for

expatriate assignments. Given that you will have earned a postgraduate degree in international

business or international human resource management, you are well-equipped to draw from academic

theories as well as practically-applied skills in cross-cultural literature.

Part 1:

Taking an academic perspective, analyse and critique the models of cultural dimensions as developed

by the most influential researchers on national cultures like Hofstede and Trompenaars as tools for

increased understanding of doing business in and between various cultures.

Explain each model and how it can be used to investigate national preferences.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each model? Is there any inherent bias in each (if so, how might this be overcome)?

In what other ways might these models be improved to be more useful? Critically discuss and compare the aforementioned models and additional research with those from the likes of Hall, Inglehart, Adler, the ‘European values’ study and the GLOBE project etc.;

Select two different cultures and analyse the problems which may be caused for expatriates coming from one cultural background working in the other culture;

Then, discuss the realistic possibilities for expatriate managers coming from various cultural backgrounds in terms of motivating and leading staff.

Be sure to fully explain your reasoning and support your conclusions with specific examples, verified

facts, and cited evidence from academic research.

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Part 2:

Your next task is to assess the value and relevance of training and orientation activities to prepare

employees for expatriate assignments. Explain, based upon articles from academic journals, how

companies prepare and support expatriates and their relatives with training, the reward and other

aspects of working in another country or culture.

Explain how expatriates could be prepared on the basis of one or more relevant concepts from the course;

How could this support expatriates with various aspects of working within and managing organisations (e.g., cultural awareness, resolving ethical dilemmas) with making managerial decisions, communication and negotiations and conflict resolution)?

What are the requirements for working in multi-cultural teams and developing intercultural relationships?

What lessons can be drawn from tutorials and discussion in class?

How can multi-cultural awareness be raised and the impact of stereotyping be decreased?

Support your reasoning with evidence from readings and relevant academic journal articles.

Requirements

1. Write your answers in proper academic style - particularly ensuring you use ‘third person’

narrative -, Harvard-style in-text citation and referencing with a correct list of references.

2. If you paraphrase (i.e. rewrite any materials in your own words), you must identify the original

source. You must demonstrate evidence of extensive research into the topic.

3. Some useful information may be retrieved from the internet. However, work at postgraduate level

of academic study should not contain material from the internet as this is unreliable in most cases

and often concerns obscure information. Only in cases where websites contain reliable information

students are allowed to include websites as their source of information.

4. For the individual project, utilise a sufficient number of academic-style resources (e.g. textbooks,

books and journals) to support your points and try to ensure that you use no or only a small number

of internet sources. Please note how many marks are allocated for academic and theoretical

content.

5. For the team presentation and report, you are more likely to find also relevant information from

other sources, such as sites for business and management. Consult also the general business papers

like The Financial Times or The Economist. Be sure to use information from legitimate news media

sites rather than from blogs, social networking sites, and other personal accounts.

6. Note that the required word limit for your assignments excludes the cover page, reference list and

any footnotes or appendices.

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Below you find a summary of the marking criteria for all assignments:

Marks allocated to criteria:

Criteria

20 % Focus Does the writing have a clear focus on the issues to be addressed? Does the writing address these issues in a clear and meaningful way?

10 % Critical understanding Does the work show a critical understanding and show originality in the thinking?

30 % Synthesis Is the work based on sufficient sources of academic writing and does it bring together the literature in a significant manner?

20 % Soundness Does the writing indicate a comprehensive understanding of the topic area and literature discussed?

10 % Clarity of structure Is the work well organised and logically constructed to achieve synthesis while being mindful of the needs of the reader?

10 % Mechanical Soundness Is the writing clearly written, spell checked and grammatically sound and referenced appropriately?

6. Other Details

The majority of information relevant to you while you study at the University has been brought

together into your programme handbook. Please refer to your programme handbook for any further

information you might require including methods of submitting assignments, advice and

administrative procedures.