You are an American project manager, working temporarily in Sao Paulo (Brazil), of a team comprised of three Brazilian engineers (all male), a marketing specialist (female), and a finance specialist (female). All your team members speak competent English. The team’s task is to design a new headset that can be used with MP3 players. When finally manufactured, the headset will be sold in the Latin American market. [Your response should be between one and two pages long, typed single-spaced.]
List the key cross-cultural issues you need to be sensitive about – as an American – when dealing with this Chinese project team.
What are American cultural traits that can lead to cross-cultural disconnects between you and your team?
Although your team members speak competent English, there are still occasions when you will experience miscommunications with them when talking to them. Explain how this can be.
Your boss in China is a Chinese woman who is vice president of operations in her company. What cultural issues do you need to be sensitive about when dealing with her? (Take into account her behaviors as they affect you; and your behaviors as they affect her.)
You are an American project manager, working temporarily in Sao Paulo (Brazil), of a team comprised of three Brazilian engineers (all male), a marketing specialist (female), and a finance specialist (female). All your team members speak competent English. The team’s task is to design a new headset that can be used with MP3 players. When finally manufactured, the headset will be sold in the Latin American market. [Your response should be between one and two pages long, typed single-spaced.]
List the key cross-cultural issues you need to be sensitive about – as an American – when dealing with this Brazilian project team.
What are American cultural traits that can lead to cross-cultural disconnects between you and your team?
Your boss in Brazil is a Brazilian man who is vice president of operations in his company. What cultural issues do you need to be sensitive about when dealing with him? (Take into account his behaviors as they affect you; and your behaviors as they affect him.)
A leading source of unhappiness people experience when traveling overseas is dealing with local cuisine. Let’s say you are on a two-month assignment to Ghana (West Africa) to assist your Ghanaian counterparts deal with electric power plant projects. This will take you to a number of places in Ghana, including rural and urban sites. Do an Internet search to learn something about Ghanaian cuisine. What features of their cuisine do you find attractive? What features do you find unattractive? If you are visiting the home of a Ghanaian colleague and are served a dish that you find very unattractive, how will you deal with this situation? [Your response should be about one page, typed single-spaced.]