Overview
Doing business in a foreign country can be fraught with pitfalls, from culturally inappropriate hugging to accidental obscene hand gestures. By researching and understanding the culture of a foreign country, you can better prepare yourself and your team to avoid mistakes and leverage cultural protocols to your advantage.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your knowledge of cultural competence from this week’s module resources to compare the culture of the United States with the culture of the country you chose in Milestone One. You will show how doing business can be very different from one country to another.
Prompt
Use the Module Two Assignment template located in the Guidelines for Submission section to create a cultural comparison guide between the country you selected for your course project and the United States. In Part One of the template, you will identify common information about both countries, including their cultural backgrounds and business etiquettes. In Part Two of the template, you will identify the six dimensions in the Hofstede model of national culture for both countries. In Part Three of the template, you will draw conclusions on how doing business in the country you selected will differ from doing business in the United States and tips for individuals doing business in your selected country.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
- Basic Country Facts: Identify government types, languages, and religions for both countries.
- Business Etiquette: Identify common business etiquette in both countries (e.g., common greetings, differences in communication toward men and women, negotiating styles, and acceptable business attire).
- Tips for Doing Business: Identify three tips you would give to individuals doing business in the non-U.S. country you selected. Tips could be about behaviors to avoid (e.g., items as innocent as posture or body language or attitudes regarding punctuality or approaches to business).
- Cultural Dimensions: Identify and examine the six dimensions in the Hofstede model of national culture for both countries.
- Conclusions: Conclude how doing business in your new country will differ from doing business in the United States.
Guidelines for Submission
Submit your completed Module Two Assignment Template as a Word document. Sources should be cited according to APA style.
| Criteria | Exemplary (100%) | Proficient (85%) | Needs Improvement (55%) | Not Evident (0%) | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Country Facts | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies government types, languages, and religions for both countries | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing additional information when identifying government types, languages, and religions for both countries | Does not attempt criterion | 10 |
| Business Etiquette | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies common business etiquette in both countries | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing additional business etiquette examples for both countries | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Tips for Doing Business | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies three tips to give to individuals doing business in the selected non-U.S. country | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying tips that would prove more helpful to individuals doing business in the selected non-U.S. country | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Cultural Dimensions | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies and examines the six dimensions in the Hofstede model of national culture for both countries | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing information for all six dimensions for both countries | Does not attempt criterion | 10 |
| Conclusions | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Concludes how doing business in the new country will differ from doing business in the United States | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include providing additional conclusions stressing the differences between both countries | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Articulation of Response | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability | Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas | 10 |
| Citations and Attributions | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors | Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution | 10 |
| Total: | 100% |
