Assignment: Helping an International Friend Develop as a Team Leader
Your company has just hired your foreign friend to work in a middle-management position. Since you have lived in the United States for many years, your friend believes that you understand job coaching for a traditional American company. She wants to work with you and has many questions-some of which concern the manner in which cultural nuances related to religious customs, verbal and nonverbal communication, etc. may affect leadership roles.
Write a five to seven page paper in which you:
1. Recommend whether or not your friend should insert herself as a coach from the beginning. Provide a rationale for your response.
2. Determine two conflicts that could possibly arise as a result of asking people to work on days of religious significance. Propose concrete solutions for these two possible conflicts.
3. Determine whether or not cultural quirks could restrain the foreign manager from expressing his or her ideas readily. Provide a rationale for your response.
4. Determine two actions that you can take in order to prepare yourself and your friend to become multicultural leaders. Provide two examples to support your response.
5. Predict two major conflicts that may arise out of nonverbal communication misunderstandings (e.g., words misinterpreted, hand gestures, looks, shoulder shrugs, names of objects, etc.). Suggest two actions that your friend could take in order to diffuse these types of misunderstandings and thus make the workplace more harmonious. Justify your response.
6. Use at least five quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Examine how leadership influences organizational performance.
• Determine key leadership qualities that contribute to leadership effectiveness.
• Determine basic approaches to resolving conflict and negotiating.
• Write clearly and concisely about leadership strategies using proper writing mechanics.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in leadership strategies.