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Essay Instructions: Cultural Differences
The Scenario:

As part of the "Professionalism in Computing" class, each student is asked to make a 5-minute presentation on a topic of their choice. Student A ( a foreign student) in this scenario choose to talk about his home country and his hope to learn more about the country in which he now lived. Following the presentation Student B in a private conversation expressed some interest in the talk and his sympathy with the need to understand the cultural nuances of the country in which one lives. Following the in-class session Student A sent the following e-mail message to Student B:

"How are you? I hope you are doing fine. I am pretty sure that you are not expecting this e-mail and I am finding it quite awkward sending it in the first place. You are probably wondering who I am, well I am in your Professionalism in Computing Class.

The reason I am sending you this e-mail is because I am intrigued by your character, especially for someone in CS. You carry yourself quite maturely, and unfortunately, I find that very hard to come across in people our age or people who are CS. As you are already aware, I am an international student, and have different perspectives at looking at things. I definitely enjoy making new friends.

I by no means intend to offend you or any of that sort. I sincerely look forward in inviting you for dinner, coffee or whatever you chose. This is a friendly gesture in our culture. As you might remember about some of the points I pointed out in my presentation. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable, by all means decline the invitation. I am very aware that things are done differently in the American culture, so I leave the choice totally up to you."

Getting no reply after a week (even though they did see each other in class), Student A sent a second message:

" While browsing through my agenda I realized that I hadn't specified a date and time for my invitation. So how does Saturday for lunch at Applebees around 2:00 pm sound? If you have a better suggestion, I am open... even if its in Roanoke...

Please let me know if you can make it either in class, or via e-mail. If you intend to decline the invitation, please let me know. I appreciate it.

PS. I do hope that this is the correct e-mail address."

Questions:

Without going any further, draft your response as if you were Student B.

After reading Student A's first e-mail would you suggest any changes to his message?

If so what would you suggest?

The Scenario Continued:

The quick response from Student B was:

"What is this a damn joke or something? You must be psycho or gay. Apparently you don't have a clue how life works here. People here don't try to solicite (sic) friends using email, and I sure as hell don't want to have anything to do with you. Obviously you didn't get the hint when I didn't reply to your first message or recognize your existence. Do not email me and do not talk to me in class, I don't even want to know you're alive, I want nothing to do with you. Get a life..."

Second Questions:

Does this response from Student B deserve any response?

What would you suggest as the next step for the instructor in the course?

Essay Instructions: The topic country is SPAIN
a) Identify the key cultural differences. Describe how they came about, and then descibe how this would affect doing business within another country.

b) Explore the ramifications of the following cultural-related topics as they are manifested in your research country: (Spain)

1) RACE
2) RELIGION
3) NATIONAL ORIGIN
4) GENDER
5) PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
6) CASTE SYSTEMS
7) ATTITUDES TOWARD FOREIGN INVESTMENT
8) ISOLATION
9) ANTI-AMERICANISN
10) ENVIRONMENTALISM
11) CULTURAL IMPERIALISM


C) Identify THE MOST IMPORTANT cultural topics and explain your selection.

D) Include any historical explanation for your cultural selection

E) How does this affect your buisness decisiopn within this country?

Essay Instructions: Few jobs require the kind of cultural sensitivity as the job of the international trainer. Large numbers of American business people travel the world training business people in everything from management techniques and computers, to human resource management and ethics. But what works in the domestic training session may or may not work in the global training world. Indeed, what may be wonderful in one context may be downright offensive in another. Sensitivity is key. Understanding local customs and the dominant local ethos is very important.


There are many well-known "cultural mistakes" that cost companies loss of market share.
Please identify some in this article.
How shall international companies approach foreign markets from the perspective of culture?
How shall they manage cultural differences?

? Find the following 2 articles and refer to them in your essay.
1. The Pitfalls of Cross-Cultural Business, in Risk Management, March 2004, Volume 51, Pages: 38-43, by Jared Wade

2. Business: A hyper market, The Economist, London, April7, 2001.

Essay Instructions: First select a management issue (Cultural differences among army officers) that interests you because it will be the topic that this and your big research paper are based upon. Search in the Library databases for "case study" and key word(s) that describe your selected issue.
Select a case study and develop your research question (In today's Army is it important to understand cultural differences to promote effective (quality) management and collaborative teamwork?). You must also identify
the organization the case study was developed on. Lastly, create an annotated bibliography on this topic. Guidance for creating annotated bibliographies is uploaded.
Bibliography MUST contain at least five scholarly references. It may include newspapers or other periodicals also but they do not count toward the minimum five.