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2013/2014  KAN-DCM_MAGW  Managing the Global Workplace

English Title
Managing the Global Workplace

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Mette Zølner - Department of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM)
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalization, International Business, markets and studies
  • Management
  • Organization
Last updated on 23-08-2013
Learning objectives
At the end of the course the student should be able to:
  • Distinguish between various perspectives on culture (i.e. conventional, alternative, and critical perspectives) and discuss their strengths and weaknesses when applied to global workplace.
  • Describe and analyze major expressions of culture in the global organization and assess and discuss challenges when managing these.
  • Distinguish the relation between the concepts culture, language and identity and discuss how to empirically distinguish between these.
  • Describe, apply and assess relevant analytical tools and methods for understanding culture when managing in the global workplace.
Course prerequisites
Relevant Bachelor degree – in business and management or equivalent.
Examination
Managing the Global Workplace:
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Case based assignment
Duration 72 hours to prepare
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period Winter Term
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure
The exam will consist of a 72-hour case-based written exam paper. At the beginning of the exam, students will be given a case and a set of questions which relate the case to the exam curriculum. The exam paper will have a maximum length of 10 standard pages (not including cover page and references).

To do the exam (home assignment), students must have participated actively in class. Active participation will be evaluated upon compulsory presentations that students will be assigned to do in groups or individually and upon the constructive feedback they give to their fellow students.
Course content and structure
This course explores the cultural challenges that characterize the global workplace, that is, organizations spanning geographical, linguistic, and cultural borders.While focus will be on cultural challenges, the course will relate these to identity and language.
Readings and lectures will present various perspectives on culture (conventional, alternative, and critical perspectives) and discussstrengths and weaknesses of these when applied to the global organization. However, emphasis will be on the cognitive approach to culture as meaning categories that individuals draw upon and make sense of in and through social interaction in and across particular institutional and organizational contexts. Analytical concepts, such as recontextualization (Brannen, 2004), cultural sensitivity (Shapiro), global mindset (), and culture as praxis (Whittington, 2006), will be introduced and their applicability will be discussed on the basis of concrete cases and examples from global workplaces. Recurrent cultural challenges when managing the global workplaces will be illustrated and analysed on the basis of cases illustrating issues such as common corporate values and code of conduct, common languages, bi-culturals and bi-linguals as cultural bridges, virtual teams, professional cultures and identities, global talent management and headquarter-subsidiary relationship in general.
Teaching methods
The course is designed to integrate analytical and practical aspects of the global workplace. The course will mix lectures by faculty and practitioners respectively and include active participation of students through case analysis, group and plenary discussions. The course readings amount to approximately 1000 pages.
Expected literature

To be announced on Learn
 
Last updated on 23-08-2013