EDN546

Dynamics of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace and the Community

Assignment 1: Critical Review of one cultural construct

Aim

The aim of this assignment is to develop your conceptual understanding of the role and significance of existing cultural constructs, such as Individualism-Collectivism, Cultural distance, and Cultural values.

The purpose of this assignment is to gain in-depth understanding of one selected cultural construct, including its relevance and limitations to explain real life issues.

For this Review, you are asked to choose a Cultural construct from a list of constructs provided.

Criteria for Assessment

1. Your conceptual understanding of your selected construct, more specifically:

• Your understanding of the meaning and underlying assumptions of the construct- please use your own words and avoid quotes from the literature.
• Your understanding of the reasons behind the criticisms and limitations of this construct in the literature, and your own assessment of these criticisms

2. Your in-depth Applied understanding of the relevance and limitations of your selected construct to explain real-life issues, more specifically:

• The quality of your critical, analytical reflection on the relevance/limitations of the construct to explain real-life issues in your chosen field of practice (eg. Community development, or organizational psychology, or human resource development, education, or human resource management… your choice.

Note regarding references: you are not expected to undertake a review of literature on your selected construct for this assignment, but to “use” the ideas developed in the article to support your points. You are encouraged however to add 2-3 more references to help you demonstrate your understanding of your selected construct.

A brief guide on how to start your assignment:

1. Choose a real-life topic/experience (it can be a personal or a professional)
2. Choose a cultural construct either (individualism- collectivism, cultural distance or cultural values that you can apply to your experience)
3. Read the provided article (relevant with your selected aspect) and connect the article with your topic
4. Write your conceptual understanding of your selected construct
5. Write your in-­depth and applied understanding of relevance and limitations of  your  selected   construct  to  explain your selected real-­life topic

A brief guide on how to structure your assignment writing:

1. Introduction (150 words)
2. Describe your selected real-life topic (300 words)
3. Explanation of your selected cultural construct and applied understanding (600 words)
4. Conclusion (150 words)
5. References

Helpful reference:

Reference: Shenkar, O., Luo, Y., & Yeheskel, O. (2008). From “Distance” to “Friction”: Substituting metaphors and redirecting intercultural research. Academy Of Management Review, 33(4), 905-923.