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Paper Instructions:
Dimensions of Intercultural Relationships
Homework
Intercultural Business Communications
MSPM1-GC1020
Zuleika Cuevas
Hofstede’s work serves as the base for other researches in cross-cultural psychology, inviting a number of researchers to study different aspects of international business and communication. These dimensions founded by Hofstede illustrate the deeply embedded values of diverse cultures. These values impact not only how people with different cultural backgrounds behave, but also the manner in which they will potentially behave when placed in a work-associated context.
This is a brief overview of the six cultural dimensions:
1. Power Distance: This dimension explains the extent to which members who are less powerful in a society accept and also expect that the distribution of power takes place unequally.
2. Uncertainty Avoidance: It is a dimension that describes the extent to which people in society are not at ease with ambiguity and uncertainty.
3. Individualism vs. Collectivism: The focus of this dimension is on the question regarding whether people have a preference for being left alone to look after themselves or want to remain in a closely knitted network.
4. Masculinity vs. Femininity: Masculinity implies a society’s preference for assertiveness, heroism, achievement and material reward for attaining success. On the contrary, femininity represents a preference for modesty, cooperation, quality of life and caring for the weak.
5. Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation: Long-term orientation describes the inclination of a society toward searching for virtue. Short-term orientation pertains to those societies that are strongly inclined toward the establishment of the absolute truth.
6. Indulgence vs. Restraint: This revolves around the degree to which societies can exercise control over their impulses and desires.
CASE STUDY OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES EXPERIENCED AT A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN GHANA
Developing countries often lack native engineers, so foreign engineers are often deployed for sanitary and water systems for rural communities. This is necessary to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target for accessing sanitation facilities and clean water. However, often there is a failure to manage the project effectively due to existing cultural differences between local communities and foreign engineers. This case study of one such project in Eastern Ghana, supervised by a British engineer and project manager, explores some of the critical issues that can arise in a cross-cultural project.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have been considered here, namely, masculinity vs. femininity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and individualism vs. collectivism. Please provide examples of some of the issues the British engineer would experience based on each of the four dimensions while he is in Ghana.
In this assignment, you will be articulating an understanding of the use of the concept (Dimensions of Intercultural Relationships).
An ‘exemplary’ score (10 of 10 points) will reflect a foundational understanding of the diversity factors plan for managing cultural diversity; it should be focused from the perspective of a manager and include a discuss ion of the three key factors of this process. An ‘effective’ score (8 of 10 points) will reflect an understanding of the essentials of ‘cultural diversity management in an organization,’ and how it is executed. An ‘ineffective’ score (0-7.9 points) will reflect a paper that is poorly organized and difficult to read; one that does not flow logically from one part to another; one that does not discuss the assigned topic. If the paper is late, does not follow the required format (please see below,) has spelling and/or grammatical errors, includes technical terms that are not defined (or poorly defined,) and/or has a lack of clarity and conciseness, then the paper will be subject to point reductions.
Submission Format:
Written Assignments: All written assignment must be word processed, 3 fully pages, with a 12pt font size, be double spaced, include page numbers, submitted on the scheduled due date, saved using the appropriate file naming convention, and delivered as an MS Word file (not as a .PDF) to the appropriate ‘Assignments’ drop box on the course homepage. Please use examples to explain your ideas, thank you!
Reports and/or papers that are submitted after the due date will be automatically reduced in score by twenty percent (20%) before they are read. All written reports must be submitted with a cover sheet; Failure to include a cover sheet will result in an automatic reduction in points. The cover sheet must include the following information:
EXAMPLE:
Jane Doe
Intercultural Business Communications
MSPM1‐GC1020
Dimensions of Intercultural Relationships
xx/xx/xx
Delivery Channel:
Upload the completed ‘Individual Report’ to the ‘Assignment’ (INDIVIDUAL) drop box on the course home page.
File Naming Convention:
The following naming convention should be used when submitting, Individual, Group, or Team assignments:
Course Number Assignment Name Individual/Team Name Semester Abbreviation
Individual Example: MSPM1-GC1020 Dimensions of Intercultural Relationships Your Name xxxx
