IMS 6365.

0G1 COURSE SYLLABUS

Global MBA Online
School of Management, UT Dallas

Course: IMS 6365.0G1 Cross Cultural Communications and Management

Instructor: Habte G. Woldu
Semester: Summer 2006
E-mail: wolduh@utdallas.edu; Tel. 972-883-6357

Course Information | Technical Requirements | Course Access | Communications |

Student Assessment | Scholastic Dishonesty | Course Evaluation | Course Schedule |

Course Information
Course Description

This course is designed to help students understand the importance of national and
organizational cultures with the objectives of enhancing communication among
individuals, organizations and nations in order to understand cultural differences and to
be able to effectively manage those differences. The course deals with various issues
related to complexity of culture, cultural orientation of different organizations and
individuals and the mapping of world cultures through the cultural dimensions of
Hofstede and others. The course will enable students to develop skills of
communications, managing cultural differences in a multicultural environment, and the
art of negotiation so that international businesses can be effectively managed and
business failures related to cultural blunders can be minimized. Finally, students through
various contemporary studies will be able to understand the cultural dynamics that has
been taking place globally.

This course is available in WebCT, an online course platform supported by UTD. The
online dimension is intended to enhance your learning and participation experience.

Instructor Information

Dr. Habte Woldu is a Senior Lecturer and Foreign Study Trip Coordinator at the School
of Management, UT Dallas. Courses include International Marketing Management,
Comparative Management Methods (online, on campus), The Global Economy, Area
Studies: East and West Europe, Africa and Asia, and undergraduate section of
International Business. Masters of Human Resource Management and Ph.D. in
Economics from Academy of Economics, Poznan, Poland. Research interest: cross-
cultural management, East European studies and African economic development.

You can find some information about me on: www.utdllas.edu/~wolduh. I do post study
trips and other important events on my Web site.
Required Text

Nancy, Adler, International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, 4 th Edition, South-

Western Thomson Learning, 2002

Textbooks and some other bookstore materials can be ordered online through MBS
Direct Virtual Bookstore or Off-Campus Books online ordering site. They are also
available in stock at UTD Bookstore and Off-Campus Books.

Articles

Bolton, Michele, Imitation Versus Innovation, Lesson to be learned from the Japanese,
Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 21, November, 1993.

Dadfor, Hussein & Gustavsson, Peter, Competition by Effective Management of Cultural

Diversity, International Studies of Marketing and Organization, 22(4), pp. 81-92.

Hofstede, Geert, The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories,

Journal of International Business Studies, Fall, 1983, pp.75-89

Laurent, Andre, The Cultural Diversity of Western Conceptions of Management, Int.

Studies of Management and Organization, Vol. XIII, No. 1-2, pp. 75-96

Suuatari, Vesa, Problems Faced by Western Expatriate Managers in Eastern Europe:

Evidence provided by Finish Expatriates in Russia and Estonia, JEEMS 3/1998, pp.240-
266

Recommended Reference Texts (not required):

Chen, Ming-Jer, Inside Chinese Business: A guide for Managers Worldwide, Harvard
Business School Press, Harvard Business School Press, 2001, pp45-65

Walker, Danielle, Walker, Thomas and Schmitz, The Gudide to Cross-Cultural Success:
Doing Business Internationally, McGraw Hill, 2 nd edition, 2003

Schneider, Susan and Barsoux, J-L, Managing across Cultures, 2nd edition, Prentice-
Hall, 2003

Ferraro, Gary, The Cultural Dimensions of International Business, 4th Edition, Prentice-
Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2004

Shenkar, Oded, Global Perspectives of Human Resource Management, Prentice-Hall,

Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995

Trompenaars, Fons, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global

Business, 2 nd edition, 1998, McGraw Hill, 1998

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Course Contents

Ch. 1 An Introduction: Culture and Management

Ch. 2 How Do Cultural Differences Affect Organizations?

Discussion 1: Bus schedules in the Bahamas

Bus drivers and business owners in the Bahamas work whenever they want to work. A
particular hour dictates what they will actually do. If the bus driver feels hungry, he/she
will go home to eat lunch without waiting for a scheduled lunch hour. If he/she meets a
longtime friend, he/she will take time to have a long conversation while the passengers
would nervously wait for the driver in the bus. This cultural behavior is in contrast with
the practice in countries where life is preplanned and time is viewed as money.
1) Is the behavior of the bus driver consistent with the life style of most developing
countries? 2) Explain why nations differ in their perception of time.
(pg 32, Adler)

Reading source: McClain, James, Diversity in Business,

www.speaking.com/articles/jamesE.McClain

Ch. 3 Communication across Cultures

Discussion 2: Trusting or Naïve:

Based on the discussion presented under the title

“Can a Bosnian Trust a Canadian Working in Sweden?” in Adler, 2002 p 24, what is your
perception on how the Western versus non-westerner cultures view fellow human beings
with regard to human nature “Good Versus Evil” How much will this attitude affect the
management style of nations?

Ch. 4 Creating Cultural Synergy

Discussion 3: Individualism versus Collectivism

Under the title “The German won’t hire the Serbian’s daughter”, there is a dilemma a
German boss is facing when his best Serbian engineer came to his office and asked him
to hire his daughter who happened to graduate from one of German’s best universalities.
The issue hear is the German boss is coming from business cultural background where
asking favor for a family member or to work with a family member in the same
organization is not popular or can even be considered unethical, where as for the
Serbian, it is ethical and appropriate to ask a favor and to work with a family member in
a corporate settings. If the situation is not solved positively, the Serbian engineer leaves
the corporation. P.29
1) Discuss the problems involved in this case and the origin of the problems with
regard to the cultural background of the subjects involved in this particular
dispute?
2) How can one solve the problems?
3) Can corporation be efficient when family members work in the same organization or
department?

Reading source: Barone, Michael, “A place like no other” (Specific Nature of

American Culture)

Ch. 5 Multicultural Teams

Discussion 4: The long term versus the short term organizational cultures:

Japanese and Canadian firms reached a stalemate over the length of the contract. The
Japanese, in order to reduce the uncertainty in their coal supply and to assure
continuous, stable production in Japan, wanted the Canadians to sign a 10-year
contract. The Canadians on the other hand, did not wish to commit themselves to such a
lengthy agreement in the event that they could find a lucrative offer in the interim. Due to
such cultural bounded differences, the two sides could not negotiate a deal. (p.33)
a) Discuss the nature of cultural background of the two countries that could have
contributed to the conflict.
b) Do you believe that one of the parties has a wrong business strategy?
c) Discuss the options that can help explore the ways to reconcile the two conflicting
sides

Ch. 6. Global Leadership, Motivation, and Decision Making

Discussion 5: Power Distance: An Application of Theory X over Y

Canadian Employees described their Filipino boss’s low-trust approach to management

as unbearable and suspicious behavior. The Canadians went on saying that, the Filipino
boss was constantly looking over their shoulders, checking their work, attitudes and
punctuality. As a result, the employees began to slow down work; however their boss’
understanding was that they were being lazy. (Adler, 2002 p 47)

Discuss:
a) the causes for the misunderstanding of both sides and relate the situation to one or
two of the theories you have been exposed to in your readings.
b) how is this case related to McGregor's X and Y theories within the context of
Canadian and Filipinos cultures?

Ch. 7 Negotiating Globally

Discussion 6: Miscommunication between low context and high context cultures:

when a “yes” does not necessarily mean yes.

A US company has sent a young American to a traditional developing country to train

young graduates how to fly an expensive and modern airplane. The young American
mentor spent eight effective hours a day for 30 days in explaining everything the trainees
need to know. At the end of each day, when he asks if they (the students) understood
his lecture, all of them will repeat “yes”. The trainer concluded that all of them had
managed the education and were ready for practical flying. An experienced American
former trainer who sat in classes to evaluate the process of the training was critical of
the communication process and advised that the students’ readiness to fly can be
deceiving and dangerous.

a) What went wrong in the training process and method of training?

b) Have you ever observed such a situation taking place in any organization that has a
highly diversified human resource? How can you tackle such a problem?

Reading Source: Key Cross-Cultural Differences Related to Canadian Companies:

Doing Business in China

Ch. 8 Managing Global Managers: Cross-Cultural Transitions during Entry and

Reentry

Discussion 7: Arm’s Length Vs Formal Business Practice:

An Egyptian executive, after entertaining his Canadian guest, offered joint partnership in
a business venture. The Canadian, delighted with the offer, suggested that they meet
again the next morning with their respective lawyers to finalize the details. The Egyptian
failed to appear at the meeting place. The Canadian wondered why the Egyptian was
unable to come to the meeting place and what the problem could be. After some
research, the Canadian found out that the Egyptian interpreted the Canadian suggestion
to come with a lawyer, as a sign of mistrust of his (Egyptian) verbal commitment.

a) Explain the cultural backgrounds of the two that could have contributed to the
existing conflict. Which cultural theory/ies do/does explain the situation?
b) What synergistic approach could you apply in order to solve the misunderstanding
so that the deal will be back on the table for negotiation?

Ch. 9 and Ch. 10 A Portable Life: The Expatriate Spouse and Global Career

Discussion 8: What Motivates people in Different Cultures? New Hotel in Tahiti

Discuss why the Tahitian skilled wood carving expert was not enthusiastic when a
developer of a hotel, being satisfied by the quality of the work increased his order?
Discuss situation in relation to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory, Herzberg’s Two-
Factor Theory and Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. (Adler, 2002, p.177)

Reading Source: Expatriates, Women, Managers, Careers, Structural Systems

Research”

Special Lecture Series:

Lecture 10 The Cultural Behavior of Expatriates: Who adapts Better to the

American Culture? A survey-based study (Woldu)

Discussion 9: Should host countries be culturally accommodative to foreign

expiates?

Companies bring in foreign executives from their foreign subsidiaries to the headquarter.
By bringing these young executives to the United States, companies attempt to create
global management teams which would be ready and flexible for global assignments.
While this effort offers companies the opportunity to attract a highly motivated
management force, and the expatriates the opportunity of working in a dynamic work
environment, it also creates adjustment problems. These executives before they were
transferred to the United States could have had higher social status and comfort when
they were in their respective countries. This scenario is real in most developing
countries; due to the low wage and absence of benefits to workers, the expatriates in
their home countries, could afford to hire, servants, gardeners, guards and chauffer for
less money. One of the major adaptation problems these expatriates face is the
unavailability of such conditions. As a result, the spouses express frustration and this
can negatively affect the efficiency of the expatriates.

What can companies do in order to solve these problems? Should companies be

accommodative to them or ignore the problem with the hope that the new foreign
expatriates will adapt to the headquarters' life style and expectation?

Lecture 11: Modeling of Cultures Based on Cultural Orientation

Discussion 10: Is Bribery Part Of Some Cultures Or An Act Of Unethical Business

Practice?

You are a marketing director for an American construction company in Middle East. Your
company has bid on a substantial project that it wants very much to win. The total value
of the bid is estimated to be 2 billion worth of crude oil deal from Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday, the cousin of the Minister of Oil and Energy in Saudi Arabia who would award
the contract suggested that he would help if you were willing to pay a “fee” of $20,000.
The problem is that, the Ethical Business Practice Act is strongly enforced in the United
States. In addition, you are aware of the fact that European and Japanese competitors
are interested in the deal and have slightly a different view on the concept of gift or
bribery. Furthermore, your company doesn’t want you to violate the Ethical Business
Practice Act, but at the same time, the company expects you to save the deal. What kind
of strategy would you use in order to avoid the legal repercussion on one hand and
losing the business deal on the other hand? How can you handle the situation? (Adler,
2002, P.192)

Reading Source: Eigen, Peter, “Transparency International’s Bribe Payers

Survey”, 1999

Reading Source: Evans, Janet, “B is for Bribery: The Current State of Greased
Palm”

Lecture 12: Two Views on Legal Interpretation and Time Management

Reading Source: Woldu, H. and Budhwar, P. Across-National Comparison of

Cultural Value Orientation of Indian, Polish, Russian and American Employees

Lecture 13: Assessing East European Culture

Reading Source: Woldu, H. and Budhwar, P. “Do Females Culturally Differ from
Males? A Gender Based Analysis of the Former Communist Countries
Lecture 14: Human Resource Management Strategy in Different Countries

Special Session: Web conference on Video clips on “managing business

operations overseas: the cases of Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, England and
Japan.

After watching the video clips, prepare yourself well in order to participate in the
web conference. In order to participate in the web conference you need to have a
headphone.

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Technical Requirements
In addition to a confident level of computer and Internet literacy, certain minimum
technical requirement must be met to enable a successful learning experience. Please
review the important technical requirements and the web browser configuration
information.

Course Access and Navigation

This course was developed using a web course tool called WebCT. It is to be delivered
entirely online. Students will use UTD NetID account to login to the course at:
http://webct.utdallas.edu/. Please see the details of course access and navigation
information.

To get started with a WebCT course, please see the Getting Started: Student WebCT
Orientation.

If you have any problems with your UTD account or any problem with the UTD WebCT
server, you may email to: assist@utdallas.edu or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at:
972-883-2911. If you encounter any technical difficulties within the course site, please
send an email to gmbasupport@utdallas.edu.

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Communications
WebCT course has built-in communication tools which will be used for course
interactions and communications. Some external communication tools such as regular
email and web conferencing tool may also be used during the semester. Please see
more details about communication tool information.

Interaction with Instructors and Peers:

The Instructor will communicate with students using WebCT Discussion board and
email. Students may send personal concerns or questions to the instructor using course
Email tool. The Instructor will reply to student emails or discussion board messages
within 48 hours during weekdays under normal circumstances.
For this course, Discussions will be organized in the following way:

• Course Announcements exclusively for use by the instructors to post updates,

schedule changes, teleconference information
• Personal statements for posting of brief personal/professional statements during
first week of course which should help students get to know each other and
also assist instructors organize case study groups
• Cross cultural communication topics (mini cases) that will invite discussants to
post their opinions, suggestions and counterarguments (each topic will be
opened on a Monday and will be locked on the following Monday morning) see
Discussion topics in syllabus.
• Optional discussion on videos which are available on the course site.
• Private group will be set up for each case study group to use to exchange
information, upload and download files, etc.
• Lounge is available for students to use for more informal communications, or to
continue discussion of cross cultural communication management beyond the
recommended posting parameters

Please note there is a web conference scheduled for video discussions during the last
week of the course. Please find general web conference information under
communication tool information. Watch Course Announcements for web conference
announcement for meeting access information.

Groups may also use the web conference tool for group project discussion and
collaboration if needed. See communication tool information on how to schedule a group
meeting.

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Student Assessment

Grading System:

• Individual participation in mini-case discussions (10%) and participation in group

report (5%)
• Group project: summary of articles (20%)
• Mid-Term exam includes chapters 1-6 and articles: Hofstede, Laurent, Bolton,
Dadfor & Gustavsson (30 %)
• Final exam includes chapters 7 -10, special lectures 10-14 and articles: Dadfor &
Gustavsson and Satuuri (35 %)

Participation (10% + 5%):

Participation in the weekly mini-case discussion topics:

Students are expected to provide comments and solutions to the posted questions and
problems spelled out in the provided mini-cases. More expanded versions of the cases
are available in Adler (your textbook).The short narrated mini-cases are found at the end
of my lecture notes. As the cases reflect the contents and the objectives of the chapters
under which they are listed, you need to read the chapters thoroughly. In order to have
full credit, each of you should participate in all case discussions. (You may earn bonus
points for your participation grade by contributing to the optional discussions on videos
shown on the course site.)

Each student will be graded based on his/her level of participation. Level of participation
will be evaluated by quality, not quantity, of postings.

Parameters:

• Students will be evaluated on postings dealing with mini-case discussion topics

• Students will be graded on ONE original (researched) contribution on 5 of the 10
discussion topics. Think of it as a class room discussion. Remember quality of
your posting is what counts; a posting such as “I agree with his or her point” will
not have any significant merit for the course of the discussion and will not be
rewarded
• As a courtesy to other students and instructors, postings beyond the requirements
and the related topics, please consider using the student Lounge discussion
area.

Participation in Group Project:

All students are expected to participate in group activities and share the group
assignment works. Instructor will ask each group member to evaluate all other group
members’ participation. A Peer Evaluation Form will be submitted by each student.
Based on the evaluation information, instructor will assign a group participation grade for
each student.

Group Project: Article Summary (20 %):

Groups will be selected for case studies/article summary during the first week of the
course and group information will be posted under Groups icon. Each group will work on
a separate case (article) and a 5-6 page written report will be submitted on the specific
due dates as indicated in the course schedule table. The summary should also be
supported by 5-6 similar research publication sources from refereed journals and books.
The summary of the article should include:
a) objective/s of the article
b) the problems/hypotheses the author/s seek/s to examine
c) the methods of research used in the analysis
d) the finding/s of the paper
e) the relevance of the article to comparative management
f) conclusion
g) the strength and weakness of the article

Each group can use its Private Discussion area to communicate among group members.
One group member is responsible for submitting the written report for the group in
Assignment Dropbox. The Instructor will provide feedback to group members in Private
Discussion area after the report is graded.
Assignment submission instructions: You will submit your assignments (in MS Word
format with a simple file name and a file extension, no space or special characters) by
using the Assignment Dropbox tool on the course site. Please see the Assignments icon
on the designated page. You can click each assignment name link and follow the on-
screen instructions to upload your file(s) and submit it. Please refer to the Help menu or
the WebCT Student Guide for more information on using this tool. Please note: each
assignment link can only be used one time and will be deactivated after the assignment
due time. After your submission is graded, you may click each assignment’s “Graded”
link to check the results and feedback.

Online Exams (Midterm and Final)

Students will be evaluated on two timed online exams administered on the honor
system. The questions for the exam will be drawn mostly from Adler’s text book,
assigned articles and special lecture notes. Mid-term and Final exam will include both
multiple-choice and essay questions. Sample essay questions are posted on Evaluation
Tools page. A sample test is also available for you to practice to get familiar with the
testing system.

The exams will be available on the days indicated on the Schedule and instructions will
be given indicating the total time allowed for completion once the exam is opened. The
instructors can change the system of examination and evaluation for the entire class if
the honor system procedures do not function as expected.

The exams will be available under Exams icon on Evaluation Tools page. You can
access them by clicking the icon and then clicking the available quiz/exam title links.
Each quiz/exam is timed and can only be accessed one time within the scheduled time
window. Please read the on-screen instructions carefully before clicking the Begin Quiz
button. You may review exam results by clicking the “View scores” button after the exam
has been graded and released for viewing.

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Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty

The university has policies and procedures regarding scholastic dishonesty. Detailed
information is available at: http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html. All
students are expected to maintain a high level of responsibility with respect to academic
honesty. Students who violate university rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to
disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal
from the university. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students and the
integrity of the university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

Course Evaluation
As required by UTD academic regulations, every student needs to do an evaluation for
enrolled course at the end of the semester. An online instructional assessment form will
be made available for your convenient and confidential use toward the end of the
semester.
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Course Schedule

Week Date Chap Lecture Discussion Assignment

1 5/15-21 1 Lecture 1 Personal statement (on
Discussion Board)
D 1: Bus schedules in
the Bahamas (only odd
groups numbers
participate)
2 5/22-28 2 Lecture 2 D 3: Individualism Vs
Collectivism (only even
group numbers
particpate)
3 Lecture 3 Bolton, May 28
3 5/29-6/4 4 Lecture 4
5 Lecture 5 D 4: The long-term Vs Dadfor and
Short-term Gustavsson, June
Organizational culture 4
(only odd groups
numbers participate)
4 6/5-11 6 Lecture 6 D 5: Power Distance:
Individualism Vs
Collectivism (only even
group numbers
particpate)

5 6/12-18 7 Lecture 7 D 6: Hofstede, June 19

6/18-19 Midterm Miscommunication:
(1-6) Low Vs High Context
(only odd groups
numbers participate)
6 6/19-25 8 Lecture 8 D 7: Arms Length Vs
Formal Business
Procedure D 3:
Individualism Vs
Collectivism (only even
group numbers
particpate)
7 9 and Lecture 9 D8: What Motivates
10 people in Different
Cultures? New Hotel
in Tahiti (only odd
groups numbers
participate)
8 6/26-7/2 Special Laurent, July 2
 lecture
series:
L10 - 14

Lecture 10

9 7/3-9 Lecture 11 D 10: Is bribery part of

some cultures or an act
of unethical business
practice? (only even
group numbers
particpate)
Lecture 12 Reading Source: Satuuri, July 9
Measuring cultural
differences between
East Europe and
others: Woldu and
Budhwar
10 7/10-16 Lecture 13 Reading Source: Do
Females Culturally
differ from their Male
Counterparts?
11 7/17-23 Lecture 14 Doing Business Web conference:
Special Abroad-Video Clips 1-5 Tue. 7/18,
session 12 noon–1:30 pm
(only odd group
numbers
participate
7/24-23 Special Doing Business Web conference:
session Abroad-Video Clips 1-5 Tue. 7/25,
12 noon–1:30 pm
(only even group
numbers
participate
12 7/30-7/31 Final
(7-14)

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