Location Room 10.28, Tower building, 10 Pulteney Street

Telephone 8313 2017

Email peter.sandiford@adelaide.edu.au

Course website www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au


Tutorial details will be posted on myuni.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1	Critically analyse the drivers and consequences (political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal and ecological) of globalization, its impact on specific regions and the emerging concerns about its influences on countries around the world.
2	Understand and appreciate the need for ethics and social responsibility in international management, and the growing pressures on firms to act in an ethically and socially responsible manner in their global business operations
3	Compare different theoretical approaches to the concept of culture (at national, regional and organisational levels) and implications of these differences for international and cross-cultural managers
4	Apply theories of culture and management to address the challenges of managing individuals, groups and organisations in an increasingly diverse global context
5	Integrate and apply the basic elements of international strategic management, including the pressures and cost/benefits of strategies that emphasize global integration versus local adaptation; evaluate the specialized strategies required for emerging economies and for international new ventures
6	Compare and evaluate practices related to the management, motivation and leading of employees in an international and cross-cultural context

Course Text:

Steer, RM., Nardon, L., Sanchez-Runde, CJ., Samaratunge, R., Ananthram, S., Fan, D. & Lu, Y. (2017) Management Across Cultures: Australasian Edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


This text provides the basic framework for the lecture program and is required reading to prepare for each week’s classes.

Additional Reading:

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


This particular text provides a useful analysis of a variety of national and organisational approaches to management. Some individual chapters will be specifically recommended in the schedule provided below, but candidates are recommended to explore other chapters during in the course. 

As with any course of Higher Education, candidates will inevitably have varied levels of interest in the different subjects/topics covered. To allow for this, the weekly readings will include essential preparatory reading, but some lecture topics will include recommended additional reading (mainly from Jackson ,2002). These are seen as offering some useful extra sources that apply some of the relevant theories and models in a more fully developed analysis of ‘real-life’ organisations; please note that this edition is relatively old, but still provides one of the best sources, combining an excellent scholarly analysis of international management issues in a historical context (and many of the featured organisations are still operating today and offer a further opportunity for candidates to ‘up-date’ the analysis in the present day).


Candidates will also be expected to prepare for tutorials and this will normally include some reading, focusing on
refereed academic sources. Full details will be provided weekly in advance.

 
Recommended Resources:

There are a number of other general textbooks available in the library. These can be useful to ‘get started’ with a topic
area. There are also a number of more focused/specialised texts:

 

Chanlat, JF., Davel, E.  & Dupuis, JP (2013) Cross-Cultural Management: Culture and Management Across the World, Abingdon, UK: Routledge. (online version in library)

This is a particularly interesting text, taking a largely French view of culture and management – highly recommended, especially as an alternative to the many books on the subject that seem rather too obsessed with Hofstede and quantitative approaches to understanding culture.
 

Gannon, MJ and Pillai, R. (2010) Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 29 Nations, 4th
Edition, London: Sage (online version in library)

This is a very useful addition to the ‘dimension based’ theoretical approaches to understanding culture. Metaphors are an important way of communicating about a variety of issues (not only culture) and can also be a powerful way of thinking about phenomena in a creative way that encourages insight and innovation.

 

Hofstede, G. (2001) Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations
Across Nations, 2nd Ed., London: Sage.

This is the latest edition of Hofstede’s classic work on cultural dimensions. Although often controversial, his theoretical approach has long been influential in the study of culture at a national level; it is important that any serious scholar or culture should be familiar with his model, and it is a good idea to explore his own publications rather than relying on the often simplified versions presented in many textbooks.

 
Porter, ME. (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations, London: Macmillain Press.

This text is another influential one. Although it is quite old (in academic terms), it still provides an interesting perspective and draws from his other, better known work that introduces his model of generic strategies.

 

Stiglitz. JE. (2007). Making Globalisation Work. New York: WW Norton.

Possibly one of the best known critics of globalisation (and a Nobel Laureate); still a topical, emotive and controversial issue. If interested you could try his other writing in the field

 

Trompenaars, F. (1993) Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business, London: Nicholas.

Not so much an alternative to Hoftstede’s work, as a variation on this approach to identifying and applying dimensions to cultural analysis.

 
 

There are also a number of relevant academic journals including (but not limited to):

 
Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal

International Journal of HRM

Journal of International Management.

International Journal of Commerce and Management.

International Journal of Hospitality Management

Management International Review.

International Business Review.

Lecture slides and recordings, general course information, assessment details and tutorial preparation exercises will be uploaded to MyUni.

 
Some recommended www-pages with regards to International Business/Management are:

Austrade                      www.austrade.gov.au

CIA World Factbook     https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook  

Global Edge                 http://globaledge.msu.edu/

New Internationalist    http://www.newint.org

OECD                           http://www.oecd.org

UNCTAD                       http://www.unctad.org

WTO                            http://www.wto.org

This course will be taught by1½ hour weekly lectures supported by 1½ hour weekly tutorials. Tutorials are an important component of your learning in this course and are integral to the course assessment. The communication skills developed in tutorials by regularly and actively participating in discussions are considered important by the School and are highly regarded by employers and professional bodies.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three-unit course or 13 hours for a four-unit course. This time commitment will include reading the relevant text book chapter, preparing for tutorials, and other assessment tasks. Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week. Please NOTE tutorials begin in Week 1 of the semester, so some tutorials may precede that week’s lecture.

Week
1. W/C 27th Feb

Introduction to the course

Reading: Chapter 1

 

Week
2. W/C 6th March

Cultural Environments: Conceptualising
and Theorising Culture

Reading: Chapter 3

 

Week
3. W/C 13th March

Global managers: challenges and
responsibilities

Reading: Chapter 2

 

Week
4. W/C 20th March

Organisational environments: Organising
in a cross-cultural context

Reading: Chapter 4

 

Week
5. W/C 27th March

Communicating across (and within)
cultures

Reading: Chapter 5

 

Week
6. W/C 3rd April

Cultural challenges of leadership

Reading: Chapter 6

 

Mid-semester Break (10th April – 21st April)

 

Week
7. W/C 24th April (Public holiday)

 

Week
8. W/C 1st May

Relationships, partnerships and
negotiation across cultures

Reading: Chapter 7

 

Week
9. W/C 8th May

Ethics across cultures

Reading: Chapter 8

 

Week
10. W/C 15th May

Work and motivation across cultures

Reading: Chapter 9

 

Week
11. W/C 22nd May

Teams and teamwork across cultures

Reading: Chapter 10

 

Week
12. W/C 29th May

Working internationally and across
cultures

Reading: Chapter 11

 

Week
13. W/C 5th June

Course review and examination
preparation

Reading: Chapter 12

 

W/C 12th June, SWOT week



 

TUTORIALS

Tutorials will be held weekly commencing the week beginning Monday 29th February 2016 (ie week one). Tutorial preparation requirements will be posted on MyUni in advance. The tutorials broadly follow and support the lecture subjects. The learning log assessment is based on tutorial preparation and activities so it is essential that you fully prepare for and participate in the tutorials. Preparation will normally include
some reading and additional tasks, students are expected to bring written preparatory notes with them to each tutorial.
 

A full guide to tutorials and preparation requirements will be provided each week on MyUni.

PLEASE NOTE: Students having a tutorial class on a public holiday should attend any other tutorial class in the respective week as tutorial classes are not replaceable and students should still submit a learning log for the tutorial attended.

The group report and group statement will incorporate a small group discovery opportunity for course participants.

There will be two opportunities to meet with an experienced academic member of staff who will act as a mentor during your preparation of the group report and statements. Full details of this will be provided in due course.

Assessment Task	Task Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Tutorial preparation and participation	Individual	10%	All
Learning Log (4 X 750 words)	Individual	20%	2,5,6
Written Group Report (2500 words)	Collaborative	20%	2,3,4,5,6
Examination	Individual	50%	1,2,3,4,5,6
Total		100%

To gain a pass in this course, a mark of at least 40% must be obtained in the examination as well as a total of at least 50% for the course
overall.  Students not achieving the minimum exam mark will be awarded no more than 49%.

 



Please note that to be eligible for Additional Assessment (previously referred to as Supplementary Examinations) in this course ALL required assessment tasks must be submitted.

Tutorial Preparation and Participation (weighting – 10%) ongoing

Students are expected to attend ALL tutorials.
Marks will be allocated for tutorial preparation and participation, not for
attendance, although tutors will keep an attendance record. Your tutor will
check your preparation and any candidate not bringing their written preparation
to each tutorial will have marks deducted from the total possible 10% each week
(one mark or 1% for each time the preparation has not been satisfactorily completed
and/or when not participating adequately).

 

Learning log
(weighting – 20%) Friday 7th April 2017 By 11:59pm

Students are required to submit a reflective
learning log (journal/diary) based on the weekly tutorial tasks.

The objective of the learning log is to
encourage students to structure and reflect on their learning throughout the
course. Your learning log is, as the term suggests, a record of your learning
during the course. As learning styles differ, there is no single best way to
prepare a log or diary of your learning, but certain key aspects of higher
education are particularly important. These include THEORY (so all learning
logs must include and USE relevant theory) EVIDENCE (so, in this course all
learning logs must refer to published evidence – ie scholarly research) and
personal experience (so all learning logs must refer to an activity that you
have participated in during your learning). Although not every tutorial will be
included in the submitted learning log, all candidates are encouraged to
structure their notes for the whole course around the learning log ideal. Tutor
feedback will help students improve their note-taking as well as prepare for
their written assignment and examination.

The learning log will be assessed in the following way:

Students must a minimum of FOUR entries, each of
which should reflect on your learning during one tutorial.

Students will select ONE of their learning log
entries for full, formal assessment and marking by the tutor. The other entries
will be assessed on a pass fail basis.

Students who do not submit their choice of log
entry for marking by the deadlines above will have one entry selected at random
by their tutor.

Each log entry should be approximately 750 words in length and must include the
following elements:

1) A brief account of your tutorial preparation activities; this should refer to any
key reading that you found helpful and a reflective discussion of any other
preparation task.

2) A brief account of the activities that you participated in during the
tutorial itself. This can highlight what you found particularly
interesting/useful or less helpful/relevant about the experience.

3) Critical reflection on the value of the learning activity/experience;
you are particularly encouraged to show how their learning will change future behaviour
in educational, personal or work situations.

An effective learning log would incorporate each of these three elements
into a single learning experience; so, if you read something useful during your
preparation, could you apply that
reading (theory and/or research) in your tutorial and, afterwards, reflect on the value of the reading in a
practical setting (the tutorial). Alternatively, you might learn about a new
theory during the tutorial itself, perhaps that adds to your understanding of
the original reading, and then you could follow-up, after the class, perhaps
reading more about the theory to reinforce your learning.

It is essential that your log should include
specific examples of relevant reading and classroom activities. Published
sources should be carefully referenced using Harvard referencing. You are
required to refer to at least one
research source (ie refereed journal article or research based
monograph/book and not a
student textbook or unrefereed webpage) in each log.

A minimum of four logs must pass for each phase.
All logs submitted must include all three of the elements specified above AND a
quality research source. If any one of the logs does not meet these minimum
requirements the maximum mark available for that phase of the log will be 50%.

Please note, the learning log is intended as
a constructive tool; if you disliked a reading or activity you should clearly
explain why and explore any problems that you faced. It is important to seek
learning from any such negative experiences as well as positive ones, so you
could consider how you could still learn from this. For example, if you found a
theory irrelevant or an activity boring, ask yourself ‘why’ and ask whether you
could take any appropriate action yourself (ie could you constructively raise
an issue/question in the tutorial itself to raise your point of view and
discuss with coursemates and tutor).

Learning logs must be submitted through the course Myuni page.


Assessment criteria for learning logs

Critical evaluation of relevant theory/research evidence

Personal reflection on learning experiences (Acknowledgement of challenging aspects of learning; application of theory to real world experience; specific examples to illustrate concepts/ideas/theories

Appropriate reference support

Clear expression, correct grammar and punctuation




Group Report
(weighting – 20%)

Submission by: Friday 2nd
June before 11:59 pm

Your tutor will arrange
groups of 4-5 for this assignment early in the semester.

Please note. After the
groups have been confirmed group members cannot change their groups and nor can
a group exclude a group member under any circumstances, without the written
agreement of the course coordinator. If any practical or personal problems
interfere with your group’s performance at any time during the groupwork, you
must immediately contact your tutor (do not wait until a few days prior to the
submission deadline) and your tutor will help you deal with any such issues. If
your tutor cannot solve your issue the course coordinator will be consulted.

Length: no more than 2500
words.

Purpose: the purpose of this
assignment is to give you the o
pportunity to explore the challenges of
international and cross cultural management from theoretical and practical
perspectives. This will also help you prepare for the examination case study
(this case study was included in the 2016 examination paper (primary and RAA),
though the specific questions/requirements have been modified slightly to
better fit the requirements of a coursework task.

Task: Case Study Analysis and Recommendation framing:

Farmgate and dairy farming in 21st Century Australia.

 

You run a medium sized Australian dairy farm and recognise that your industry is
facing a number of significant challenges related to the uncertain price of milk
and dairy products, exemplified by the recent cut in "Farmgate"
prices caused by reductions in global commodity values. However, despite such
difficulties, you remain convinced that there are still many opportunities
for ambitious farmers. You are particularly aware of the growing demand for
dairy produce in East Asia. This, coupled with a number of high profile
scandals in the baby formula sector, has convinced you that high quality
Australian milk should be much more profitable than the current market
situation suggests. 

You do recognise that any significant venture would be likely to have high set-up
costs that would be beyond your own resources. As a result, you have approached
a number of your fellow dairy farmers and have suggested meeting to discuss the
possibility of a long term consortium of farms that could work together to
pursue an effective internationalisation strategy.

You have just returned from the first meeting of 14 prospective partners, with
somewhat mixed feelings. Of the original 14, it has become clear that 5 will
not join you due to what you see as "conservative over caution".
However, the other 8 (9 including you) are very interested and are likely to
participate if you can agree on how to pursue your ideas.

Your initial idea was to pool your resources in order to set up a processing plant
and export UHT and dried milk directly, thus cutting out the huge Australian
wholesale organisations that control most of the Australian milk and dairy
market. However, this strategy does have its disadvantages, not least being a
lack of control over the wholesaling and distribution channels in China and you
believe there is still considerable distrust about such products, even bearing
an Australian label, because of cases of ‘fake’ products in the market there.

Another option is to actually expand operations to produce milk in China itself,
focusing mostly on liquid milk. As a consortium this is proving to be the most
popular possibility so far; the partners believe that, combined, you have the
potential to engage in primary farming in China, though you are not sure at
present how best to enter the market place, given differences in agricultural
practice, considerable cultural differences and Government regulation and
intervention in the sector.

The next task, therefore, is to explore the strategic options for the
internationalisation of your operations. You have agreed to meet again in two
months and, in the meantime, the prospective partners have agreed to conduct
their own research to explore and evaluate the possible strategic options.

You have already identified two short articles that you consider to be relevant to
your task; Fuller & Beghin’s (2015) paper was the original source of your
own interest and inspiration and Douphrate et al (2013) provide a brief
overview of some international issues in the Dairy industry. These helped you
to a good start in your analysis, but you realise that now you will need to
focus much more on the likely challenges you face doing business in China. You
wonder what other information you will need before you can make a serious
decision regarding the next stage of your international plans.


Your task is to conduct a critical analysis of the cross cultural and management
issues that the consortium will need to consider and address if the venture is
to progress further. Prepare a report addressing the four questions posed
below.



 
Case Study References

Douphrate, D.I., Hagevoort, G.R., Nonnenmann, M.W., Lunner Kolstrup, C., Reynolds, S.J.,
Jakob, M., & Kinsel, M. (2013). The dairy industry: A brief description of
production practices, trends, and farm characteristics around the world. Journal
of Agromedicine, 18(3), 187-197.

Fuller, F.H., & Beghin, J.C. (2015). China’s growing market for dairy products. Iowa
Agricultural Review, 10(3), 5.

 

Assignment Requirements

Your group should prepare a
report for Kris that critically analyses the issues and challenges that you
forsee as potentially facing you in an international expansion into China.
Your report must address the four (4) requirements below:

 
1.      Outline the key challenges facing the
consortium if they decide to internationalise operations in China.
25%

2.      Identify any significant additional
information that you would need to complete your analysis. You should indicate
an appropriate method of finding this information.
25%

3.      Drawing from a recognised model of
internationalisation strategy, discuss the relevant advantages and
disadvantages of different strategies from the consortium’s perspective.
Select, justify and recommend one internationalisation strategy from the model
that you think would be appropriate for the consortium in the Chinese context.
25%

4.      Identify, explain and justify specific and
relevant management practices that would contribute to the implementation of
your chosen strategy; you should consider the implications of your suggestions.
25%


 

You will need to support your analysis with appropriate references. This may
include academic articles, practitioner journal sources, demographic data or
employer association/International Management publications as well as the
source text. Unreferenced reports, or those that do not include a minimum of 7 refereed
references (journal articles), will receive a grade of no more than 49%.

 

The word limit (2500 words) does NOT include a brief summary, your reference list
and appendices). You may find it useful to include appendices to your report
(including the group statement below). This can be particularly helpful when
conducting organisational analysis (eg PESTLE, SWOT etc) to provide additional
information of potential interest to your readers. However, please bear in mind
that an appendix should not include key material – the main report should
include all your key points, arguments, evidence etc (in other words, an
appendix is NOT a ‘way to get around’ the overall word limit by adding
essential material).

 
Assignments must be submitted through turnitin on the course Myuni page.


Assessment criteria

Critical analysis and comparison of two countries (Australia and China) from a cross-cultural
management perspective and identification of key managerial challenges.

Critique and application of relevant cross-cultural and management theories.

Identification and justification of specific recommendations for dealing with these challenges.

Appropriate reference support.

Clear expression, correct grammar and punctuation, Professional layout and presentation.



 

1.     
All written assignments must be submitted on myuni through the relevant
link, preferably each should be submitted as a single word document (ie, the
three learning logs should be integrated into one document).

2.     
Students must specify their chosen learning log entry for full marking
at the same time as their learning logs. If this choice is not received in
time, the tutor will select one entry at random for marking.

3.     
All assignments (learning logs and group reports) are to be lodged at,
or prior to, the due date and time.  A
late assignment where no extension has been granted will be penalised by a
reduction of 5% of the mark given
for each day, or part of a day, that it is late.

4.     
Assessment marks prior to the final exam will
be displayed on the course website. 
Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify their tutor and
the Course Coordinator of any discrepancies.

5.     
Legible hand-writing and
the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the
assessment process.  Marks may be deducted in the final
examination because of poor handwriting.

6.     
Students in this course are not
permitted to take a DICTIONARY (English or English-Foreign) into the
examination. 

ALL applications for Assessment
Extensions, Replacement Examinations and Additional Assessment are to be
applied for through the centralised Application for Replacement Examination or Assessment Extension form. This is then submitted for approval
to the Faculty of Professions Student Hub, within the timeframes set out
by the policy, either in person or via professions@ask.adelaide.edu.au The hub will then notify the School/Course Coordinator within 3
days as to whether the student’s application has been approved. Please
note that it is not permissible for course coordinators to approve
or organise any of the above directly to and for a student. 

 

Presentation of Assignments

1.     Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

2.     All individual assignments must be attached to an Assignment Cover Sheet that must be signed and dated by the student before submission.  Lecturers will withhold students’ results until such time as the student has signed the Assignment Cover Sheet.

3.     Students may not submit work for an assignment that has previously been submitted for this course or any other course.

4.     Markers can refuse to accept assignments that do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s Policy on Plagiarism:  www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230/