Group Paper/Project
Group Paper/Project
Instructions
ATTENTION !!!
DO NOT post the PP of your project here. The PP belongs in
your Group Area as a New Thread and title it
CompletedGroup 2-China —- or CompletedGroup 5-Brazil
Only the Executive Summary Paper belongs in this slot.
Upload your group’s Executive Summary paper here in your folder.
Team Project –Culture Analysis
Your group/team constitutes the Human Resources department
of your company. Your company has decided to establish a branch office in
another country. (Your team must select a country to research). The culture
must be a culture outside the USA such as South African culture. The team
should not select a culture represented by any member of the team. Select one
from which no one in the group/team represents.
The human resources staff has been charged with the task of
“training” the managers from your home office who will be going to the new “out
of country” office to manage the employees there. The employees will be
individuals hired from that culture. Each manager will have a staff of 5-6
employees.
You must decide what your company does. The design of the
company in that culture is part of the assignment. Factors that will affect the
design and structure should be taken into consideration. This information is
best referenced in Daft.
The presentation will be a PowerPoint and must be original
to this course. This presentation must include the application of theories and
concepts addressed in Northouse, Adler and Daft. The presentation should
provide a comprehensive analysis of the nuances of the culture. Anyone viewing
the PowerPoint should be able to use it as a blueprint of what the culture is
like and how to function smoothly in that culture.
FOCUS – of the group project is to prepare an
“in-service” program for a group of managers who are being sent to
run offices in that culture. The office is staffed with individuals from that
culture. The in-service program should adequately familiarize the managers with
that culture so that they fit in immediately, and do not make any disastrous
errors in their behavior or work demands. The in-service should provide
information, knowledge and skills necessary to be successful with these
employees.
Assumptions:
Company goal – Successfully integrate the
“foreign” office into the parent company family.
Objectives-
Manage and supervise an efficient office
Maximize Production
Maintain a positive working atmosphere
Motivate the workforce to a high level of achievement
Minimize attrition
Improve the bottom line
The challenge will be to find material about your chosen culture
that will allow you to make connections to the information in Northouse, Adler
and Daft.
Vision statement
Mission statement
Create an organizational chart – and explain why it is
designed that way.
What organizational design would be best for this new
office?
As a manager in this culture what Parochialism and
Ethnocentrism might hinder your effectiveness?
What values, attitudes and behaviors of yours might clash
with the chosen culture?
Discuss thoroughly, the Dimensions of Difference starting on
page 50 in Adler. These include:
Power/Distance
Individual/Collective
Uncertainty Avoidance
Career/Life – career
Universalistic/Particularistic
INCLUDE SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS of people in the culture that
illustrate the Dimensions. You need evidence to support the placement of the
culture into the dimensions.
What would be the most appropriate managerial/leadership
style to utilize in this culture and why? Provide specific examples of
behaviors in the culture that lend themselves to the style you choose.
What stereotypes do you have of this culture that would hurt
your effectiveness, and what stereotypes would help your effectiveness?
What stereotypes might the employees have of you and how
would you deal with this?
What cultural blinders might you have in dealing with this
culture?
Communication — If there are specific words or ideas that
one would not be wise to use or address in that culture, include this
information. What non-verbal messages (gestures) are important to know so that
they may be used if necessary and not used if inappropriate?
Is the culture “low-context or high-context” and how will
this impact dealing with the employees?
What attributes of your own culture and of the chosen
culture might help foster synergy? How would you create synergy between the
management and the employees if the management was from the USA and the
employees were from your chosen culture?
If important decisions need to be made what decision making
process would you use and why? Connect this to the information in the Decision
Making Module PP and the supplemental lecture and PP items in WEEK Eleven.
How might your version of ethical behavior clash with the
ethical standards of the chosen culture? How would you deal with this?
Any presentation that does not adhere to the requirements
will not be considered a passing piece of work.
Do Not simply include a history of the culture. This is not
the assignment. You must analyze the culture from the perspective of working in
that culture — using the information in Daft, Northouse and Adler as your
framework for the paper.
Outside resources will be necessary in order to create a
complete picture of the chosen culture.
NOTE: Pretend that this presentation is for a f2f
presentation using a PowerPoint show. Do not include voice input on the slides.
Do not include a lot of animation – it does not play well online with your
presenting it f2f.
Post your PP Show in the Group Area. Do not post it here.
In other words, your assignment is to analyze another
culture through the framework of multicultural considerations that Adler
presents and the organizational design that Daft presents. Include leadership
information (Northouse) only as it applies to the most appropriate style for
the culture you have chosen. It is understood that you will use Adler and Daft
for the basic outline of your project Specific cultural information must come
from other sources. It is expected that you will use at least 3-4 outside
sources and most likely more.
Country/culture selections will be on a first come first
served basis. No two teams may research the same culture. The team/group must
submit the topic (chosen culture) to the professor for approval by (Week 5) or
sooner if your team has decided on a topic.
The presentation is expected to be a PowerPoint show. The
challenge will be to include the information succinctly. Please create no more
that 20-24 slides. The references may be included as a last slide. You do not
need to cite the sources on each slide. Please make sure you follow APA
guidelines when you create the References. Each team/group will submit the
finished project to the Professor in your Group Area. The Presentation (use the
country name for your file name) is due Week #11 (15% of final grade). Upload
as a Microsoft PowerPoint attachment using the file name Completed-Japan or Completed-Ghana
Additional Assignment—Executive Summary – This is the
document that belongs in this assignment slot. Do not post the PP here. Write a
one page executive summary/conclusion that reflects the salient points in the
PowerPoint show. The paper should be a collaborative effort by all members of
your team. Each member of your team
should submit this one page summary of the project to her/his Individual Folder
once the project is completed and posted in the Groups Area. When you submit
the paper to your folder use the file name – Yourlastname-ProjectP
Once you have posted your project in your Group Discussion
Area — go to the Discussion titled Completed Projects and post your project
there. Use your culture’s name and Group number for the “New Thread” title.
Take some time to review your classmate’s projects.
