This ECA comprises ONE (1) 3000-word essay (excluding bibliography). Your submissions will be marked holistically. The marks allocated for each part of the question are a general guide to the relative importance of each part. Please include the word count at the end of the ECA. Marks will be deducted for essays that exceed the word-limit.
The ECA is also designed to assess basic skills in social science research, including the ability to locate relevant resource materials, and the ability to apply research methods such as the in-depth interview to understand cross-cultural communication.
Please provide in-text citations and a list of references at the end of your ECA. Do note that up to 10% of your grade may be deducted for poor language proficiency, inadequate citation and referencing.
Question
Your consultancy practice has been appointed by a major restaurant chain from the Philippines to set up its first overseas franchise in Singapore. Apart from serving delicious Filipino fare, like adobo, the restaurant is famous in the Philippines for showcasing Filipino hospitality and service excellence. Your client would like to replicate not just the delicious food but also its famous hospitality and service excellence. They have handpicked a Filipino team from their head office to come to Singapore to train the Singaporean restaurant staff for its Singapore franchise. As the senior training strategist at your practice, you have been tasked to work closely with the Filipino team to train the Singaporean staff in view of the restaurant's grand opening in six months' time.
a) Identify and discuss the possible key challenges faced by both the Filipino trainers and Singaporean staff in their intercultural communication. Identify the potential misunderstandings and the likely complaints between the foreign trainers and local staff members. To adequately answer this question, you will need to conduct an in-depth interview with two persons. These interviewees must meet any one of the following two criteria: either (1) a person from the Philippines who has worked in Singapore for at least three months or (2) a Singaporean who has worked with co-workers from the Philippines.
b) How can a better understanding of cross-cultural communication assist in enhancing communication and engagement amongst colleagues from different cultures? Explain this within the context of the scenario above where foreign trainers are tasked to train and socialise locals to an overseas service culture, i.e., Filipino hospitality and service excellence.
c) To assist the foreign trainers in completing their tasks, develop an orientation programme to help them integrate into Singapore society, and to encourage interaction with their Singaporean colleagues. Your proposed programme outline must utilise and address the key challenges and potential misunderstanding identified previously in part (a).
Students' Notes -
This ECA assesses your depth of understanding of cross-cultural communication and intercultural competency when working and living in cross-cultural contexts, as well as your ability to select appropriate conflict management styles to avert or resolve cross-cultural conflict. To do well, you must examine and analyse the specifics of the scenario presented, and to draft your responses to address all possible issues arising from the context of the scenario.
1) To address the questions effectively, you will need to be familiar with the relevant concepts and theories, e.g., cultural variation, stereotypes, cross-cultural communication strategies and conflict management styles presented in the course.
2) You will need to apply cross-cultural theories, concepts and models, critically analyse the scenario and propose practical conflict management strategies that directly address the specifics of the scenario. These may include, but not limited to: Hofstede's dimensions of cultural variability; culture shock and the interface between cultures; cross-cultural conflict; conflict management styles and conflict resolution strategies; face negotiation; and the intercultural competence model.
3) Begin with a literature review of relevant articles from academic journals and newspapers. As part of the response, you will need to recruit and interview TWO individuals whom you have assessed to be able to provide valuable insights to your research. These interviewees must meet any one of the following two criteria: either (1) a person from the Philippines who has worked in Singapore for at least three months or (2) a Singaporean who has worked with co-workers from the Philippines. They must be able to provide you with their first- hand experiences of specific cultural adjustments they or their co-workers (criterion (2)) have had to make in order to adapt to living and working in a different culture.
4) You will also need to develop an outline of an orientation programme to integrate the foreign trainers into Singapore society, and to encourage and foster better communication with the Singaporean restaurant staff. Select at least ONE of the theoretical models taught in the course to help scope your outline. You will need to anticipate and identify possible interpersonal and intercultural conflicts that may occur during the orientation programme. You will also need to examine the range of conflict management styles, and create a plan that will guide the resolution of cross-cultural conflict that may arise during the orientation programme.
You are expected to produce an original, well-structured essay that is backed by solid evidence drawn from research data and underpinned by a synthesis of relevant theories appropriate to the scenario in the question. Where appropriate, you should highlight relevant findings and observations obtained from your research and interviews. Be conscious of research ethics. You must obtain informed consent from your interviewees. You must scan the signed consent forms (appended below) and attach these as an Appendix in your ECA answer script.
Your response to this ECA must be written in a format similar to an academic paper, with proper referencing of your sources. You must also provide a bibliography of the literature cited in your ECA. Failure to do so will result in the investigation for plagiarism by your tutor. Your submission will be marked holistically. The marks allocated for each part of the question are a general guide to the relative importance of each part.