Office: Room 102 Ind. Hall

Office hours: TR 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.; 3:15-4:00 p.m.; W 9-12 a.m. and by appointment

Phone: Office: 874-4727 home: 789-6259 (Please do not call after 10:00 p.m.)

Fax: Office: 874-4722 home: 789-1581

Com. 437: Managing Cultural Differences in Organizations. As the occupants of Planet Earth move into a global economy, people of different ethnicity, race, gender, religion and color meet on a daily basis. To make those meetings effective, greater intercultural understanding becomes imperative. Thus, this course is designed to develop a greater intercultural understanding of organizational communication in today's global village for, it is in that village members of this class will work and play.

Required text:

Harris, R. Philip and Robert T. Moran. Managing Cultural Differences, 5^th ed. (MCD) Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company, 2000.

Course requirements:

1. Class attendance: as much of the learning will take place in class through class discussion and

class exercises, you are required to attend class. If you miss more than two classes, and

your absence(s) are not waived by a university-sanctioned excuse, your grade will

automatically drop by one rank.

2. All assignments must be handed in on time. NO late papers will be accepted.

3. All assignments must be computer generated.

4. All assignments will be graded on the basis of content, style and format. All assignments must be

error free before they will receive a grade. A high priority is placed on effective written

communication.

5. Class participation is a must as the learning process is a synergistic one: we all need to

participate in order to create a dynamic learning environment. Class participation includes being vocal in class discussions, contribution to the class by bringing in newsworthy items others might have missed, “jumping” into class discussions about assigned readings, etc. In other words, just don’t sit there, taking from the class; give of yourself.

6. Plagiarism: Unfortunately, there appears to be an increase of plagiarism on college

campuses nationwide. The faculty of the Communication Studies department has

spent a great deal of time – and anguish – discussing this phenomenon here at URI.

Consequently, we will all be on the alert for plagiarized assignments. Should any

plagiarism be discovered in this class, that student or those students will be subject to

the URI policy on plagiarism. (See University Manual for details.) Simply put: do

your own work and exercise your own code of ethics. Let me trust you to do that.

7. Guidelines for assignments

A. Make sure each and every assignment you hand in has a cover sheet, which

includes:

1). Your name

2) Course title

3). Date

4). Specific assignment

B. When you correct and return (C/R) your assignments, write "revision" on the

cover sheet.

C. DO NOT hand in a new copy of the assignment; make all your corrections on the

original assignment (unless I have asked you to re-write the assignment).

D. Here are some "symbols" that will help you understand my corrections:

1. a word circled and marked with a "P" means there is an error with that

word, either it is used incorrectly or there is some kind of error with

the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation.

2. "agr" means you have made an error in agreement with: subject/verb,

subjects joined by "and," use of indefinite pronouns, collective nouns,

titles.

3. [-] followed by frag means the brackets cluster of words is not a complete

sentence.

4. [-] followed by mng means those words which have been bracketed are not

clear in their meaning to me, the reader

8 When in doubt ASK. You can locate me in my office during office hours (or by

appointment), by phone, fax, or e-mail.

9. If it is apparent that you have difficulty in your writing, I will recommend that you seek

assistance in the Writing Center, Room 313, Ind. Hall. Please take advantage of that

resource.

10. If you can't decipher my writing, I'm not surprised; it's dreadful. Again, when in doubt,

ask.

Final Project

Each of you will be asked to research a multinational company for which you might work upon graduation. The Human Resources Director (AGD) of that company has asked you to write a report in anticipation of your up-coming assignment. In order to prepare you for success in your first assignment, the HR Director wants you to anticipate what cultural adaptations you'll have to make in your life style, what type of government runs the country in which you will be working and if that kind of government will mean restrictions in your behavior, what negotiating style you anticipate the members of the host culture to have; what kinds of adjustments you think you'll have to make when assigned to team work, how you'll plan to stay in contact with your home office here in the States, and what kinds of "do's and don'ts" will guide your social behavior. In your report you are to have the following:

1. Cover sheet

2. Table of contents

3. Introduction, in which you include the reason you have chosen the country that will be the

subject of your term paper. Include in your introduction a map that clearly

indicates where your country is located and on what continent

4. Body of paper in which you discuss each of the areas mentioned by the HR Director.

5. Conclusion

6. Appendix - Here you may want to include additional materials

7. Bibliography: cite correctly all Internet sources, books, articles from magazines and

professional journals and interviews. (One excellent resource is the interview. Seek

out an individual who has lived in the country about which your final paper is being

written. URI has hundreds of international students right here on campus. Include the

date of the interview(s) in your bibliography.)

8. Make sure the report is bound. Make sure the pages are numbered. Be brilliant; this

project constitutes 50% of your grade in Com. 437.

Note: As you progress in your research, please feel free to consult me, your professor, as a

resource person. Wherever possible, set up an interview with someone in the Human

Resource Department of the company which you are studying or an employee of that

company who has been assigned to an overseas position within the company. Make sure you

review that company's annual report. Cite that source in your bibliography.

Due date: noon 10 Dec. 2001 - If you would like your paper returned, please include with it

a stamped self-addressed envelope and I'll mail it to you.

Class participation:

As you have noted, 20% of your final grade will be based on class participation. My judgment of your class participation will be based on your oral contributions in class discussions, your work with your classmates in group projects, and other activities that enrich our classroom learning. At the end of the semester I will give each of you an evaluation form and will ask you to rate (grade) yourself as to your class participation. I’ll collect those evaluations and take them into consideration when assigning you the grade I believe you have earned in this course.

Grading:

class participation 15%

written assignments 35%

final project 50% - see detailed outline of final project at end of syllabus

Note: Please view syllabus as a guide through the course rather than a document “carved in stone.”

If we sense a need to spend more time on a component of the course in order to increase our learning, I'll adjust the syllabus accordingly.

CLASS SCHEDULE

6/9 Introduction to Com. 437

For 11/9 – Read MCD, chap. 1

11/9 Discussion, MCD, Global Leaders and Culture

For 13/9 – Read MCD, chap. 2; The authors of your text state, in the summary of this chapter, “The

most basic skill that global leaders just cultivate is cross-cultural communication.” Hand in an essay

In which you discuss how the authors define the components of cross-cultural communication.

13/9 Discussion MCD, Global Leaders and Communiction

For 18/9 – Read MCD, chap. 3

18,20/9 Discussion – Global Leadership in Negotiations and Alliances

For 25/9 – Read MCD. chap. 4. Hand in an essay in which you discuss why it might be difficult for

Americans to successfully adjust to the new “work culture” that “avoids rugged individualism and

destructive competition.”

25,27/9 Discussion – Leadership and Cultural Change

For 27/10 – Hand in an essay in which you discuss what problems you foresee, if any, when

adapting to the new work habits discussed on page. 96. For 2/10 – Read MCD, chap. 5.

2,4/10 Discussion – Leadership in Cultural Synergy

For 4/10 – Hand in an essay in which you discuss the challenges inherent in any of three of the

seventeen guidelines on pp. 125-6. For 9,11/10 – Read MCD, chap. 6

9,11/10 Discussion – Managing Transitions and Relocation

For 16/10 – Read MCD, chap. 7

16/10 Discussion – Managing Diversity in the Global Work Culture

For 18/10 – Read MCD, chap. 8

18/10 Discussion – Women in Global Business

For 23/10 – Read chap. 9

23/10 Discussion – Effective Performance in the Global Marketplace

25/10 Introduction to MCD, Unit 3; establishing teams for presentation of Unit 3

1/11 In-class initial meeting of each group:

For 6,8/11 – Group I – Doing Business With North Americans

6,8/11 Group I

For 13,15 – Group II – Doing Business With Latin Americans

13,15/11 Group II

20,27/11 - Group III – Doing Business With Asians

22/11 Give Thanks: No class

20,27/11 Group III

For 29/11- Group IV – Doing Business with Europeans

29/11 Group IV

For 4,6/12 – Doing Business With Middle Easterners

4,6/12 Group V `

Final exam period – Group VI – Doing Business With Africans

Fini