Managing across cultures,
International teamwork,
Intercultural leadership,
International human resource management
A cross cultural management issue of your choice (this can go beyond the lecture topics)
ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES
Please note:
You have to choose a company case before deciding whether you are able to choose focus on a topic. Please note that it is harder to find company cases for the topics of communication, negotiation, and teamwork compared to leadership and international human resource management. You can use a journal article that analyses cross cultural issues in a company case, or a textbook case study. However, the case needs to be a real company case rather than a fictional case. This can allow you to find additional information on the case (e.g. from other papers, news articles, or websites). Moreover, make sure you do not simply copy the analysis provided in the article or textbook case study. You do need to conduct you own analysis, applying theoretical cross cultural management concepts.
The title ‘Managing across cultures’ is broader and allows you to combine various topics, such as communication, negotiation, teamwork, and leadership. You are allowed to choose a topic that is not subject of the lectures, as long as it represents theoretical cross cultural management issues.
Assignment structure:
It is suggested that the coursework should contain the following sections. You do not have to follow this structure if you find an alternative structure that makes sense.
Introduction – BRIEFLY state which topic/area/issue you decided to investigate, as well as the motivation and context of the research. Outline the structure of your report.
Concepts and Theory – Using academic and professional journals, books etc., provide a summary of what is already ‘known’ or what has been written about your topic. You can refer both to concepts and theories and supporting empirical findings. Please provide definitions for technical terms. Outline any key debates that have shaped what has been written. This literature review should be limited to the articles, books and other items that have a direct bearing on the topic being addressed.
Please make sure that you apply the theories that you have reviewed in your case analysis. In past, a common mistake has been to review one theory/set of concepts and then use different ones in the case analysis.
PLEASE NOTE: Concepts/Theory and application can be combined, they do not NEED to be placed in two separate sections! However, make sure you outline theory sufficiently before applying it.
Application to a company – Demonstrate how the issues you chose apply to one or a few companies of your choice. Outline how the company deals with it and discuss whether they could deal with the issue any better or not. Try to analyse only one or a small number of companies in depth, rather than analysing many companies superficially. You have to refer to real companies, not fictive cases. If you use case studies from books, you need to supplement them by other sources, such as company reports, journal articles, and newspaper articles.
Conclusion – Provide a BRIEF summary of the focus and key points raised, and mention any further implications of your observations.
Relative weight of these sections:
The concept/theory and application parts are the main parts of the assignment, whilst the introduction and conclusion should be very short. The main parts can either have a heavier emphasis on the concepts/theory, or on the application, depending on your choice. The word distribution therefore does not need to be 50/50% between these concepts/theory and application, but varies depending on your focus.
MARKING CRITERIA:
Your assignment will be marked (from ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’) according to the following criteria. The first two criteria (‘Concepts/theory’ and ‘Analysis of cases’) are given the strongest emphasis.
Concepts/theory:
You have to demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the concepts and theory that you use to analyse your company case. Many concepts and theories have been discussed in the lectures, for example definitions and theories of culture, cultural differences, intercultural communication, etc. You have to state the definitions of any used concepts and explain any theoretical considerations in your own words. Where available and suitable, you should also refer to empirical findings, such as studies of cultural differences in leadership styles, or of issues in international teamwork and international HRM. To demonstrate critical thinking and understanding, it is useful to present and compare various (sometimes contrasting) views from the literature and state what you conclude from these comparisons.
Analysis of Case(s):
You have to apply the concepts and theory to one or a few company cases, by demonstrating what specific issues or events in the firm can be explained through these concepts or theory. You should gather as many relevant data about the firm as possible, within the restrictions of available data and the word limits of your report.
Relevance to assignment task
It is important that you provide fulfil the tasks in depth. You therefore have to avoid presenting irrelevant material or arguments. Irrelevant information will not contribute to your mark.
Reading:
You will be marked on the amount of relevant reading you have done, in particular reading beyond the textbooks.
Language and structure
This refers to the transparency of the assignment structure (see ‘Assignment structure’ above), clarity of ideas and arguments, the quality of language and spelling, and general format (see ‘Style guidelines’ below).
Citations and references:
The correctness, consistency, and formatting of your citations and references will be marked (see ‘Reference format’, below).
Formatting
Although this does not count as much as the other criteria, you have to provide your assignment in a neat and coherent format (e.g. font, spacing).
