Universitat de Valencia

Stage 4.1 overview:

In this stage you will receive the instructions needed to complete the steps of the 4th phase of the BEGIN project. First, reading different business intercultural communication scenarios and then solving them together with your foreign partners in the 2nd online oral meeting. Finally, writing your reflective essay on the 2nd synchronous meeting.

BEGIN 4	Cross-cultural Business	English	B1/B2	90 mins
STAGE 4: Knowledge Construction: Cross-cultural business
Dates: Week 4, from __________ to __________
Deadline: End of Week 4.
Theme & goals:		Cross-cultural business and intercultural scenario problem solving so as to develop tolerance of ambiguity, positive perceptions of different worldviews and approaches towards dealing with different business-related issues, empathy and knowledge acquisition about cultural diversity, and familiarisation with potential tensions derived from global and national identities in the context of conduction business abroad.
Step 1. Problem-solving intercultural scenarios:		Read the intercultural communication scenarios and solve the problems within your Virtual Exchange groups. The goal is to solve the problems in one of the scenarios given (possible topics: business ethics, lingua franca for business, marketing mistakes, E-commerce, M-commerce, bribery, the whistle-blower, the refugee crisis and business implications, and BREXIT). Each group is expected to read the five scenarios and choose one of them to solve. Group members should discuss their selected scenario through Google+ hangouts or videoconferencing. Each group is expected to build on the selected scenario and elaborate a document of approximately one page structured as detailed below.
Step 2. Second synchronous meeting:		Meet with your foreign partners for approximately at Google + Hangouts (home activity) in order to complete the problem-solving scenarios by contributing different perspectives and negotiating the best possible ways to deal with the different issues.
Step 3. Reflections about the 2nd synchronous meeting:		Write a reflective essay about the 2nd synchronous meeting.

Structure of scenario problem-solving document:

1. Title of scenario.

2. Identification and description of the problem. What is the problem? Give a brief description of it.

3. Possible explanations. Why are the participants facing this situation? What went wrong? What could have each of the participants done in order to avoid this situation?

4. Hypothetical solutions. How can the problem be solved? Give two or three possible solutions.

5. Evaluation of solutions and selection of the best alternative. Choose one of the proposed solutions that would best solve the problem. Work collaboratively on your group’s shared folder on Google Drive. Open a new document and entitle it ‘Problem Solving Scenarios’. This document can be viewed and edited by all group members.

Problem-solving intercultural Scenarios:

Scenario 1: “A business trip to China”

Several years ago, a German company found a profitable project developed by a Chinese company and wanted to invest in the project. The German company then sent a group of workers over China to explore the possibility of the investment. The Chinese company, a big state-owned company, also wanted to do business with the German company. After learning that the German company was sending some workers, the Chinese company did a lot of preparation in order to receive these workers. On the first day the Germans arrived, the Chinese company held a very big welcome dinner, after which they brought the Germans to watch a famous traditional Chinese play. On the second day, the Chinese company arranged a one-day tour around the city for the Germans, including bringing them to visit some historical sites. The day ended up with another big dinner which some local government officials attended. On the third day, the Chinese company showed the Germans their project and indeed they did very well in their presentations and made a very good impression. However, at the end of the third day, the Germans gave up the plan of investing in the project, as they thought that the Chinese company was spending too much on irrelevant activities, such as hosting the big dinners and arranging the one-day tour. They thought the Chinese company merely wanted to get the investment fund from the German side and did not care about the project itself. Therefore, they chose to terminate the business. The Chinese company was shocked when they found out the Germans did not want to make the deal. They really wanted to develop the project with the Germans. And they did not see anything wrong with their reception activities. Should the Chinese and/or the Germans consider reshaping their cross-cultural business policies?

Scenario 2: “A frustrating appointment”

Bill Nugent, an international real estate developer from Dallas, had made a 2.30 pm appointment with Mr. Abdullah, a high-ranking government official from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From the beginning things did not go very well for Bill. First, he was kept waiting until nearly 3.45 before he was ushered into Abdullah’s office. When he finally did get in, several other men were also in the room. Even though Bill wanted to get down to business with Abdullah, he was reluctant to get too specific because he considered much of what they needed to discuss sensitive and private. To add to Bill’s sense of frustration, Abdullah seemed more interested in engaging in meaningless small talk rather than dealing with the substantive issues concerning their business. How might you help Bill deal with his frustration?

Scenario 3: “A misunderstanding”

As an organizational consultant from Detroit working with a Mexican company, Christine Shaver has been traveling to Mexico City every other week for months to help her client improve its marketing. On this occasion, Christine scheduled a three-day trip, during which she planned to meet with a number of employees. But on the first day of scheduled meetings, she was informed that everyone would be leaving work at 2.00 pm because it was a fiesta day. She was beside herself because she had come all the way to Mexico just to have her first day of work cut short. As this turns out, Christine’s Mexican colleagues failed to understand why she was so upset. What was behind this misunderstanding? What can be done so that Christine does not feel so upset?

Scenario 4: “Tower of Babel”

You have recently been appointed as Head of the Sales Department in a Portuguese corporation. The employees of the company are mostly Portuguese who speak English as a foreign language at a satisfactory level. Communication during meetings is done in the local language. Recently, two new employees have been recruited in the company. They come from France and their knowledge of Portuguese is at a very low level. During department meetings, the two newly-appointed employees can actively participate only if communication is done in English; otherwise they use French, which is only spoken by very few other colleagues. You, as Head of the Department, have decided to deliver all departmental meetings in English so that everybody can speak and contribute with ideas on the various issues on the agenda. This decision has really satisfied the French newcomers but the local staff feel really upset as they have to switch conversation to a foreign language because of the two new colleagues who refuse to try to communicate in the local language. The whole situation has caused irritation during meetings, leading to misunderstandings and making communication ineffective. You need to take some action to overcome this problem.

Scenario 5: “A gift or a bribe?”

A major Japanese businessman is visiting a business associate in London. The Japanese businessman is interested in exporting his products in the UK and the British associate seems to be the appropriate connection to do business with. After the meeting, the British associate invites the Japanese businessman and his wife to dinner at his place. When it is time for the Japanese businessman and his wife to leave, on a private moment towards the end of the visit, the Japanese businessman presents an expensive gift to the British associate who refuses to accept it three times. The Japanese businessman insists on giving the gift. The British associate experiences an awkward moment as he considers the gift as a bribe, especially because the gift is very expensive; therefore, he returns it to the Japanese businessman who leaves the house insulted. The British businessman is now facing the fear of ruining the good relationship with the Japanese businessman and of jeopardizing the possibility of profitable business with him. Was the Japanese businessman’s gifting actually a bribe? What could the British associate have done to avoid insulting the Japanese businessman? What can he do now?

Scenario 1 adapted from: http://zhengningcn.blogspot.pt/2008/09/scenario-on-intercultural-communication.html
Scenario 2 adapted from: Ferraro, G., & Brody, E. K. (2015). Cultural Dimension of Global Business. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

 

Summary of tasks:

1) Read the problem-solving cross-cultural business scenarios and choose one

2) Solve the problem-solving cross-cultural business scenario chosen.

3) Complete “Issues about Virtual Exchange” reflection forms.

 

Teacher’s notes (Stage 4: Cross-cultural business)
Step 1	T asks students to read the intercultural communication scenarios and helps them with any linguistic issues they might have. Explains that they are going to solve the problems within their Virtual Exchange groups and that the goal is to solve the problems in one of the scenarios given. The possible topics include: business ethics, lingua franca for business, marketing mistakes, E-commerce, M-commerce, bribery, the whistle-blower, the refugee crisis and business implications, and BREXIT. Tells students that each group is expected to read the five scenarios and choose one of them to solve, and that group members should discuss their selected scenario through Google+ hangouts or videoconferencing. Explains that each group is expected to build on the selected scenario and elaborate a document of approximately one page structured as detailed below.
Step 2	Tells all participants meet with their foreign partners for approximately at Google + Hangouts (home activity) in order to complete the problem-solving scenarios by contributing their different perspectives and negotiating the best possible ways to deal with the different issues.
Step 3	Asks students to write a reflective essay about the 2nd synchronous meeting and to upload the document to the Moodle platform.