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 the course. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Journal of International Business Studies
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.

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

Lecture/Tutorial 1

Introduction to the course; a general discussion around the course topics and rationale for this course.

Reading: Chapter 1

Lecture/Tutorial 2

Cultural Environments: Conceptualising and Theorising Culture; tutorial activities begin

Reading: Chapter 2

Lecture/Tutorial 3

Global managers: challenges and responsibilities

Reading: Chapter 3

Lecture/Tutorial 4

Organisational environments: Organising in a cross-cultural context

Reading: Chapter 4

Lecture/Tutorial 5

Communicating across (and within) cultures

Reading: Chapter 5

Lecture/Tutorial 6

Cultural challenges of leadership

Reading: Chapter 6

Lecture/Tutorial 7

Relationships, partnerships and negotiation across cultures

Reading: Chapter 7

Lecture/Tutorial 8

Ethics across cultures

Reading: Chapter 8

Lecture/Tutorial 9

Work and motivation across cultures

Reading: Chapter 9

Lecture/Tutorial 10

Teams and teamwork across cultures

Reading: Chapter 10

Lecture/Tutorial 11

Working internationally and across cultures

Reading: Chapter 11

Lecture/Tutorial 12

Course review and examination preparation

Reading: Chapter 12

Students are expected to attend ALL tutorials. Marks will be allocated for tutorial preparation and participation, not for attendance, although the lecturer will keep an attendance record. The lecturer will check your preparation.  

Assignment summary:

Group Presentation (20%)

Presentation made in tutorial times starting week 6 onward until the end of week 10

Peer assessment by your group members (5%)

Performa based feedback

Presentation made in tutorial time:

Your presentation must address one of the questions listed on MyUni. You will have about 20-30 minutes to present your answer. This will require you to explain the question (in your own words) to clarify your task for the audience. You should ensure that any theory you draw on is clearly explained and critiqued (all presentations must use and reference one quality source). This should be followed with any comparison, critical evaluation, application and/or discussion/debate, leading to a clear conclusion and recommendation(s). You should also allow a few minutes for any questions from the audience.

You should provide some visual aids for your audience (PowerPoint presentations are acceptable – if so, no more than 4 slides should be used, excluding your references).

- As in the examination, the key thing is to present a clear and convincing answer to the specific question; do not simply try to include everything that you know about the topic specified.

- You are also required to take a management perspective – try to answer your question as you think a manager would consider professionally significant (what are the organisational implications of the issue, challenge etc highlighted by the question. Most questions/issues would be enhanced with some specific recommendations for managerial action (eg to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity).

- Finally, you will need to use relevant theory and/or research to support your answer. The theory is an essential part of university learning but is also central to how we understand the world around us. In order to demonstrate your understanding of theory in this course, you must apply (not just describe) relevant theory in answers (you can use theory to help understand a phenomenon or to help to frame, explain and justify recommendations).

Presentation assessment Criteria:

- Answering the question; did you answer the question clearly and convincingly?

- Relevant theoretical support; did you explain and apply theory appropriately?

- Clarity of presentation; did your explanation, conclusion, rationale etc make sense?

- Addressing audience questions; were your answers clear, concise and relevant?

Each member of the team should assess their teammates, confidentially, based on the following criteria (you must include a written justification of your mark; without a clear and convincing explanation of the mark, based on these criteria, your final marks are subject to moderation by your examiner. So, simply giving all your group members 100% or 0%, or any other unjustified marks, without a convincing justification, is likely to result in all marks being revisited by the examiner).

Peer assessment criteria:

- Contribution to the group task; Participation in group meetings; attendance and contribution – not just attendance

- Achievement of agreed goals. 

Assignment Title:

From the perspective of a cross-cultural manager, how far do you agree with Business Beyond’s (2022) assertion about globalisation.

The main purpose of this assignment is to explore, compare, analyse and evaluate different arguments regarding the phenomenon of globalisation. Business Beyond's (2022) Video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvkvTJdbl8

Please note that Business Beyond's video would not be considered a scholarly research source (rather it is presented from an individual/organisation’s point of view). This does not mean that Business Beyond's points are wrong, rather we would need to be aware that this argument and evidence need evaluation (hence the task here). I recommend that you watch the video.  After watching the video you should explore the arguments by looking for scholarly research – take care to avoid simply finding scholars who agree or disagree with Business Beyond; it is best to find a mixture of perspectives, then you can compare and evaluate the scholarly evidence before drawing your conclusions.

The specific content of your answer is flexible – there is no one right way to address this question. However, it is essential that you draw from relevant theory and use clear and specific examples to support your answer – remember, there are a number of approaches to using such examples: you may apply a theory to your example to help diagnose a managerial problem or you could use theory to actually ‘solve’ such a problem. In some cases examples of management practice can also provide relevant evidence to support your argument, though take care with this approach; it is important to use strong examples for this – personal or hypothetical examples are much less convincing as ‘evidence’ than examples of actual practice presented in research publications that have been subjected to rigorous analysis.

The format of your assignment is also flexible. You may prefer to present your work in essay format or report format – or a more creative approach altogether. It might be useful for you to think of this as similar to an examination task (it is the sort of question that has been used in the past, after all, the main difference being that examinations do not normally require complete and accurate referencing).

You will need to support your analysis with appropriate references. These may include academic articles, practitioner journal sources, demographic data or employer association/International Management publications and textbooks. However, any essay that does not include a minimum of 4 quality research references (eg journal articles), will receive a grade of no more than 49%. If you have any doubts about your sources you should check with your tutor. Please note, the video referred to here SHOULD NOT be considered quality research reference. It presents interesting and relevant opinion of the individual organisation presenting and need to be subjected to scholarly scrutiny in your answer.

Your assignments should be no longer than 1500 words (not including your reference list).

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

Assessment Criteria for the individual written assignment

Answering the question: please ensure that what you write addresses the question fully and clearly.

Rationale and argument: remember, although your opinions and beliefs matter to you, other people are more interested in why you have developed these opinions and beliefs and how strong the evidence supporting them is.

Use of relevant theory(ies): theory is an essential part of how we make sense of the world; in the social world, theories help us to understand what we observe and predict the outcomes of particular behaviours (ours and others), so it is important to be able to critique the theories we use. How can we be confident that your chosen theories are strong and useful?

Use of appropriate organisational/managerial examples: The question specifies cross-cultural management as your focus, so you must include relevant examples – ideally from your scholarly reading – of how globalisation has, is and is likely to impact on managers and the people/organisations that they manage.

Appropriate reference support, clear expression, correct grammar and punctuation: accurate referencing is essential to both guide your reader and avoid accusations of plagiarism. Similarly, clear and well-written answers are essential if your critique, argument.

Assessment 4:
Final Exam (total weighting – 50%)

There will be a 3 hour open book examination during the examination period.

You will be provided a case study and you are required to submit a written analysis of the case study based on the concepts that were explored during the course. Further details will be provided in the final lecture.