08 English Task

Intercultural Issues in Project Management and Presentations 2017

English lecturers

Anton Ledergerber Douglas MacKevett

Intercultural Issues in Project Management and Presentations 2017

An assessed assignment for W.ICE09_VOP for the IWI International Campus Experience in Santa Clara, California.

Task: Students write a Critical Review of their Santa Clara experience reflecting on intercultural issues in EITHER a) project management OR b) presentations. The style should be persuasive and follow the AEI format shown in WIWSP03 and WIWSP04.

Purpose: Students reflect on their experience in the USA and the contents of WIWSP03 and WIWSP04. Based on theoretical readings and these reflections, they will give recommendations to the English Team for keeping, changing, and/or removing existing materials.

Deadlines: students will be briefed before leaving for the US; online submission of the assignment will take place by the last day of their campus experience.

Background Reading:

Elena, R. D. (2010). Cultural differences in project management. Annales Universitatis Apulensis: Series Oeconomica, 12(2), 657.

Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), 8.

Wursten, H., Lanzer, F. (2012). The EU: the third great European contribution to the world. Retreived May 23, 2016, from http://www.academia.edu/22416977/The_EU_ the_third_great_European_cultural_contribution_to_the_world

Assessment: as per WIWSP03 and 04 "Assessment Chart" (Complex Writing). Swiss Scale of 1-6.

Student Brief: Reflect on your experience in Santa Clara. Recall any particular incident during meetings with clients (project management) or presentations to clients that struck you as odd, unusual, or otherwise noteworthy. If a presentation, was it, for example, that the American presenter always started off humorously? What effect did that have on you? If a project meeting, did it strike you as funny that your client met you very casually, with his hand in his pocket and a mug of coffee in his hand, and said: "Hi, I'm Bob."? What affect did this have on you? Your task is to analyze these "intercultural incidents" and understand them in the larger context of global business practices. At the end, you will also offer your English lecturers recommendations on the current materials.

Format: About 750 words (about 3-4 pages). Any texts cited should follow the standard Eulen-Papier (APA) rules.

Step 1: Choose and describe a trigger event / incident for your experience with either project management or presentations.

Step 2: Outline relevant theoretical considerations from the assigned reading texts on intercultural issues.

Step 3: Analyze the triggering incident in the context of the theoretical considerations and draw any relevant conclusions.

Step 4: Based on your findings, make relevant recommendations to your English instructors concerning the WIWSP03 and WIWSP04 modules you took. Are the concepts there relevant to your Santa Clara experience? What could or should be changed, added, or removed? Please be specific and add justifications for whatever choices you make.

August 2017

lea/mkd