Department of Management Studies

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS

CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT (MS 5480)

A Ready Reckoner: Outline and Course Material

Facilitator: V.Vijayalakshmi aka Viji (VG)

Email for queries: viji@iitm.ac.in

Email to send in your assignments: iitmcourseblogs@gmail.com with the appropriate Subject Line
You can call me: 4566 (Off)
You can meet me: #303 (II Floor), DoMS
Course Material: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxOuB6QBqlB2MjF2ZVRQbWdpeXM
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Introducing…Cross-Cultural Management
“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive” – Mahatma Gandhi

So many variations in cultures! Oh what would we not give to understand them... This usually tempts even a sane person to
generalize, to categorize, and there starts the problem; for there cannot be a greater folly than to stereotype people of
different cultures. This course is not just about managing across cultures; it is also about developing cultural sensitivity
towards people in general and thereby leading to cultural intelligence.

Course Snapshot
This course places strong emphasis on the joy of learning. At the end of the course, these would be our learning objectives:

Appreciating uniqueness about one’s own culture: similarities and differences from others.
Being aware of one’s own stereotyping attitude, behavior and appreciating cultural diversity.
Developing global managerial skills and cultural competence
Analyzing different management styles and practices – the ways in which people from different cultures do business-
aspects of communication, negotiation, leadership, differing perspectives on what motivates people, challenges in international
mergers and joint ventures, and the like.

Pedagogy: “Experience: The Most Brutal of Teachers! But you learn…my God, you learn!” – C. S. Lewis

An eclectic approach – case analysis and discussion, video cases, movies and culture, self-assessments, group presentation,
group exercises, role plays, guest lectures.

Recommended Texts

Adler, N.J. (2002). International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, Cincinnati, OH: South-Western.
Browaeys, M and Price, R. (2010). Understanding Cross-Cultural Management. United Kingdom: Pearson.
Meyer, E. (2013) The Culture Map, New York: Public Affairs Book.

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Reference Journals/Magazines

Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of
Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior
McKinsey Quarterly, Forbes, Economist
Business World, Business Today, Business Week
The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Business Insider, The Fast Company, 99u, Huffington Post

You can download articles/papers from:

http://www.cenlib.iitm.ac.in/docs/library/index.php?page=INDEST_Arrangement

Assessment

What assessment Points Due on

Individual: Cultural Profile 25 29 July (Submit before Wed’s session)
Pair up : Jugalbandi 25 As per class schedule
Group: Cross-Cultural Workshop 40 To be decided
Individual: Learning mindset (curiosity, initiative, -
sincerity in learning, level of preparedness to 10
sessions)

Important: Absence on the day of class presentations or discussions will automatically result in no marks. The assignment deadlines
are sacrosanct. Please do not ask for extensions. Deferrals may only be granted on a case-by-case basis: only for reasons such as
illness or other genuine circumstances beyond the learner’s control. No requests for extension please!

Wishing you a great time learning!

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 SESSION PLAN *(subject to change after co-creating with learners)

S.No Date Content Readings

Setting expectations
1 22/07 How Global Are You?!
Introduction to Culture
R: Beyond Sophisticated Stereotyping
2 24/07 Breaking free of stereotypes Assignment before next session: Culture Map Profile*
(https://hbr.org/web/assessment/2014/08/whats-your-cultural-profile)
Value orientations Case: Leading across Cultures at Michelin
3 29/07
Element of Trust Jugalbandi 1: Proverbs & Values
The Culture Map Case: Camel's Milk and Lamb's Liver (A, B, C)
4 TBD
Differences in Perception of Time Jugal 2: How different cultures perceive time
Case: Wendy Peterson
5 05/08 Providing Feedback, Aspects of Face
Jugal 3: Paralanguage (1)
Case: Van den Bosch Mails
6 07/08 Communicating Effectively
Jugal 4: Paralanguage (2)
7 12/08 Guest Lecture – Ranga-san/Suresh Balsubramani
Geography of thought Case: Cheetah Mobile
8 14/08
Cultural differences in decision-making Jugal 5: Education across cultures
Case: Greg James at Sun Microsystems
9 19/08 Working in Multicultural Teams
Jugal 6: Meanings of meetings across the world
10 21/08 Cultural Immersion : Ethnic Day! Food and Dress as Deep Cultural Metaphors
Case: Coats India
11 26/08 Becoming a Global Leader
Jugal 7: Meaning of leadership across cultures
Case: Renault-Nissan Alliance
12 28/08 Cultural issues in Strategic alliances & Negotiation
Jugal 8: Examples of successful & failed global alliances
R: Cultural Intelligence by Christopher Earley
13 02/09 Global Dexterity: Becoming Culturally Competent
Jugal 9: Movies and CQ/Faux Pas
14 04/09 Wrap up: Panel Discussion

C: Case; R: Reading; CI: Cultural Immersion ; Jugal: Jugalbandi

Note a: We will have invitees from ‘different’ nationalities almost every session to bring in the immersion into the course
Note b: We may attempt at a simulation during one of the sessions.
ASSESSMENT IN DETAIL
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I. Learning mindset (10 marks) Manifested in sincerity & commitment to learning through active participation in class, preparedness in assigned
readings/cases, being regular to class.

II. Cultural Profile (25 marks)

Refer to the paper “Navigating the cultural minefield (Erin Meyer, 2014)”. Go to the website (https://hbr.org/web/assessment/2014/08/whats-your-cultural-
profile), respond to the dimensions and prepare your cultural profile.
Include a brief note in the Reflective learning journal about unique cultural identity and relate it with your own as well as other cultures you are aware of.
Indicative pg limit: 2-4 pages (include your scores in the document)

III. Jugalbandi (25 marks)

Content: I will assign a topic for each session that supplements what is being discussed in class. Pair up as you wish for this Jugalbandi.
Criteria of Evaluation: This presentation or sharing assesses the relevance of your plication of the topic assigned (for example: Proverbs & Values, Philosophy
and Culture, Examples of successful and failure alliances).
Time per pair: 12-15 mns max

IV. Cross-Cultural Workshop (40 marks)

Content: Each team will act as cross-cultural consultants to a group of future expatriates (in this case your classmates) who are about to go on an international
assignment to another unfamiliar country, which I will assign to each team in random. You need to interview people from the industry, expatriates you know of, on
issues of cross-cultural management; such as training carried out in the organization, communication, negotiation styles, leadership, team work, alliances, ethics,
cultural blunders and the like.

Your team’s job is to brief the participants on what they should expect in terms of the cultural aspects of their upcoming international assignment. You will do this
by giving a 35-minute training session that is interactive and engages the participants. Feel free to use creativity and imagination in designing the training module
with games, exercises. The goal is to learn about a country in depth and figure out how to do business in that culture through primary and secondary research that
you do. The presentation should brief the future expatriates on what would be the most salient and surprising cultural differences they will likely experience after
going to that country. Cultural aspects that should be discussed include: 1. Brief country background (e.g., history, language, government) 2. Cultural orientation
(e.g., values, beliefs) 3. Business practices (e.g., time orientation, negotiation styles) 4. Communication style (e.g., verbal, non-verbal) 5. Nature of interpersonal
relationships 6. Business etiquette (e.g., greeting, dress, dining, gifts, entertaining).

Max. Time: upto 35 mns per team (to be followed strictly). Strictly no free riding pls!
Evaluation Criteria: Comprehensiveness of topics covered, relevance of content, creativity and effort taken to design the training module to make it engaging
and participative, ability to link theory to organizational examples, team work, extent to which you are able to understand the nuances in culture in its depth
and bring out interesting insights into the “why” and draw comparisons to other cultures.

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