Assessment task
• Identify a media article that you will analyse. It should report on
- a difficult international business situation
- involving cross-cultural management issues
- that has arisen in the past twelve months
• This task will demonstrate your ability to apply your cultural intelligence skills to a problematic 'real life' international business situation
Choosing an appropriate article
• Choose a newspaper or online article between 350 and 1,000 words and less than twelve months old as the basis of your essay
• It should be reporting actual international business activities or events and not a commentary or academic critique.
• Ensure it is less than twelvemonths old
• Ensure it relates to cross cultural management issues.
• Avoid editorials or columns.
• You can search for article in the Libguide you used for task 1 (see last slides here)
• Keep in mind that you are required to analyse the article with respect to theory, so choose one that will grit you scope to do that
Suggested structure
Introduction (half a page)
Article synopsis (half a page)
Analysis (most of paper)
Conclusion and recommendations of any)
Reference list (not included in word count)
Attached newspaper article (not included in word count)
More detail on suggested structure
• Begin with a brief review of the case, identifying the key participants and events that have unfolded.
• Provide an analysis of the case
- to identify the cross-cultural management issues that have arisen in the case and
- to determine which cross-cultural issue has proved most difficult for management.
• Include an in-depth academic literature review of cross-cultural theory and international business theory relevant to the key cross-cultural management issue identified in the case
• Conclude with recommendations for management to redress the cross-cultural management issues and how these issues might be avoided or better managed in the future
• Please provide a copy of the newspaper article
Useful theory to draw on
• Smyth, P.B, Dugan, S. and Trompenaars, F., 19% National culture and the values of organizational employees a dimensional analysis across 43 nations. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 27(2), pp 231-264. (access through library databases)
• Hall, E.T. and Hall, M.R., 1989. Understanding cultural differences. Intercultural press. (see attached pdf)