GRA 2246 Managing Across Cultures
GRA 2246 Managing Across Cultures
In an increasingly globalized world, where organizations are seeking to attract international talents and where individuals are increasingly mobile, cultural awareness and cross-cultural management knowledge and skills are essential. Organizations also need to adjust their human resources management practices to better deal with cultural diversity.
In this course using organizational and psychological research, we explore the concepts of culture, mobility, and cross-cultural leadership and human resource management. We examine how culture and cultural differences influence human behaviour in the workplace. We discuss the different types of international mobility and their respective challenges and opportunities. We examine how culture and leadership are intertwined, and discuss how cultural diversity affect human resource management, especially within multinational corporations. Finally, we discuss how cultural diversity and its management can trigger ethical dilemmas.
This course will provide the students with a theoretical, analytical and experienced based foundation for understanding the challenges involved in managing a culturally diverse workforce.
By the end of the course the students should
- be able to define the construct of culture
- be able to critically describe and assess theories and research studies related to culture and people management
By the end of the course the students should
- have improved their cultural awareness
- be able to identify how culture shape people management
- be able to identity strategies to effectively manage cultural diversity the workplace
- critically evaluate actions and programs aimed at managing cultural diversity in the workplace
- critically reflect on ethical dilemmas associated with cultural diversity and its management
By the end of the course, the students should be able to reflect on their own cultural background, on how they approach cultural differences, and have acquired tools and developed strategies to better navigate, and critically apprehend, cultural diversity in the workplace.
Topics covered:
- The construct of culture
- Central theories and research for understanding cultural differences, including comparative theories/research and indigenous theories/research.
- Central theories and research for understanding international mobility, including research on expatriation and migration
- Central theories and research for understanding cross-cultural leadership and human resource management, including research on cultural agility and leadership development, on gender, equality, and leadership across cultures, and on human resource management practices in multinational corporations.
- Ethical dilemmas associated with the management of cultural diversity in the workplace.
The course is structured as a combination of lectures, discussions, in-class activities, and compulsory student presentations. It requires a substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement during class.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
Teaching
Information about what is taught on campus and other digital forms will be presented with the lecture plan before the start of the course each semester.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 30 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 2) Comment: Student presentations (one or two students) of cases or research articles. Exam code: GRA 22461 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 70 Grouping: Group/Individual (1 - 3) Duration: 2 Week(s) Exam code: GRA 22461 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.