SSC263e
End-of-Course Assessment – January Semester 2017
Cross-Cultural Intelligence at the
Workplace
__________________________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:
1. This End-of-Course Assessment paper contains ONE (1) question and comprises SIX (6) pages (including cover page).
2. You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Title, Your PI, Your Name, and Submission Date.
3. Ensure that you submit your End-of-Course Assessment by the deadline. After the 12-hour grace period, 10% of the total End-of-Course Assessment mark will be deducted for each 24-hour block or part thereof by which your submission is late. Submissions with more than 50 marks deducted will be awarded 0 marks.
4. You are allowed multiple submissions to Turnitin before the deadline. After the deadline, only one submission is allowed, and only if you have not already made a prior submission.
5. If you fail to submit your End-of-Course Assessment, you will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course.
IMPORTANT NOTE
ECA Submission Date: 11 May 2017 (Thursday) 12:00 Noon
Please read this information before you start working on your ECA.
This ECA carries 50% of the course marks and is a compulsory component. It is to be done individually and not collaboratively with other students. You must submit it on time.
Submission
You are to submit the end-of-course assignment (ECA) in exactly the same manner as your tutor-marked assignments (TMA), i.e. using MyUniSIM. Submission in any other manner such as hardcopy or any other means will not be accepted. Ensure that you submit your ECA by the deadline. After the 12-hour grace period, 10% of the total ECA mark will be deducted for every 24-hour block or part thereof by which your submission is late. Submissions with more than 50 marks deducted will be awarded 0 marks. You are allowed multiple submissions to Turnitin before the deadline, after which only one submission is allowed, and only if you have not already previously submitted. If you fail to submit your ECA, you will be deemed to have withdrawn from the course.
You are reminded that electronic transmission is not always immediate. It is possible that network traffic may be particularly heavy on the cut-off date, and connections to the system cannot be guaranteed. Hence, you are advised to submit your work no later than the day before the cut-off date in order to make sure that the submission is accepted and in good time.
Once you have submitted your ECA, the status is displayed on the computer screen. You will receive a digital acknowledgement message. Please note that it is the digital time-stamp—and not the acknowledgement message—that indicates that you have submitted your ECA. To ensure a timely submission and to have your ECAs marked, you should therefore not jeopardise your course result by submitting your ECA at the last minute.
Do ensure that you have the correct files for submission. Any submission, extra files, missing appendices or corrections received separately after the submission of the ECA will not be considered in the grading of your ECA assignment.
Plagiarism and Collusion
The University takes a very serious view of plagiarism (passing off someone else’s ideas as your own, or recycling of contents from your own earlier marked TMA from the same course or another course) and collusion (submitting an assignment which is the same or very similar to another student’s). Both are forms of cheating, and neither is acceptable in any form in a student’s work, including this ECA assignment.
Avoid plagiarism by giving yourself sufficient time to research and understand the material so that you can write up your assignment in your own words, and ensure that you provide appropriate references when necessary. You can avoid collusion by ensuring that your submission is based on your own individual effort.
Penalties for plagiarism and collusion are severe. Serious cases will normally result in the student being referred to UniSIM’s Student Disciplinary Group. For other cases, significant marking penalties or expulsion from the course may be imposed. For more information about the University’s policies on plagiarism and collusion, refer to the Student Handbook (Section 5.2, paragraph 1.3).
This ECA comprises ONE (1) 3000-word essay (excluding bibliography) that is worth 50% of the final mark for SSC263e Cross-Cultural Intelligence at the Workplace. Your submissions will be marked holistically. The marks allocated for each part of the question are a general guide to the relative importance of each part. Please include the word count at the end of the ECA. Marks will be deducted for essays that exceed the word-limit.
The ECA stands in lieu of a final examination and its contents are cumulative for the course. The ECA covers content presented in the Course Guide, relevant assigned readings and those downloaded from UniSIM’s online library databases. The ECA is also designed to assess basic skills in social science research, including the ability to locate relevant resource materials, and the ability to apply research methods such as the in-depth interview to understand cross-cultural communication.
Please provide in-text citations and a list of references at the end of your ECA. Do note that up to 10% of your grade may be deducted for poor language proficiency, inadequate citation and referencing.
Question (Total 100 marks)
Your consultancy practice has been appointed by a major restaurant chain from the Philippines to set up its first overseas franchise in Singapore. Apart from serving delicious Filipino fare, like adobo, the restaurant is famous in the Philippines for showcasing Filipino hospitality and service excellence. Your client would like to replicate not just the delicious food but also its famous hospitality and service excellence. They have handpicked a Filipino team from their head office to come to Singapore to train the Singaporean restaurant staff for its Singapore franchise. As the senior training strategist at your practice, you have been tasked to work closely with the Filipino team to train the Singaporean staff in view of the restaurant’s grand opening in six months’ time.
a) Identify and discuss the possible key challenges faced by both the Filipino trainers and Singaporean staff in their intercultural communication. Identify the potential misunderstandings and the likely complaints between the foreign trainers and local staff members. To adequately answer this question, you will need to conduct an in-depth interview with two persons. These interviewees must meet any one of the following two criteria: either (1) a person from the Philippines who has worked in Singapore for at least three months or (2) a Singaporean who has worked with co-workers from the Philippines. (40 marks)
b) How can a better understanding of cross-cultural communication assist in enhancing communication and engagement amongst colleagues from different cultures? Explain this within the context of the scenario above where foreign trainers are tasked to train and socialise locals to an overseas service culture, i.e., Filipino hospitality and service excellence.
(30 marks)
c) To assist the foreign trainers in completing their tasks, develop an orientation programme to help them integrate into Singapore society, and to encourage interaction with their Singaporean colleagues. Your proposed programme outline must utilise and address the key challenges and potential misunderstanding identified previously in part (a).
(30 marks)
Students’ Notes
This ECA assesses your depth of understanding of cross-cultural communication and intercultural competency when working and living in cross-cultural contexts, as well as your ability to select appropriate conflict management styles to avert or resolve cross-cultural conflict. To do well, you must examine and analyse the specifics of the scenario presented, and to draft your responses to address all possible issues arising from the context of the scenario.
1) To address the questions effectively, you will need to be familiar with the relevant concepts and theories, e.g., cultural variation, stereotypes, cross-cultural communication strategies and conflict management styles presented in the course.
2) You will need to apply cross-cultural theories, concepts and models, critically analyse the scenario and propose practical conflict management strategies that directly address the specifics of the scenario. These may include, but not limited to: Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural variability; culture shock and the interface between cultures; cross-cultural conflict; conflict management styles and conflict resolution strategies; face negotiation; and the intercultural competence model.
3) Begin with a literature review of relevant articles from academic journals and newspapers. As part of the response, you will need to recruit and interview TWO individuals whom you have assessed to be able to provide valuable insights to your research. These interviewees must meet any one of the following two criteria: either (1) a person from the Philippines who has worked in Singapore for at least three months or (2) a Singaporean who has worked with co-workers from the Philippines. They must be able to provide you with their firsthand experiences of specific cultural adjustments they or their co-workers (criterion (2)) have had to make in order to adapt to living and working in a different culture.
4) You will also need to develop an outline of an orientation programme to integrate the foreign trainers into Singapore society, and to encourage and foster better communication with the Singaporean restaurant staff. Select at least ONE of the theoretical models taught in the course to help scope your outline. You will need to anticipate and identify possible interpersonal and intercultural conflicts that may occur during the orientation programme. You will also need to examine the range of conflict management styles, and create a plan that will guide the resolution of cross-cultural conflict that may arise during the orientation programme.
You are expected to produce an original, well-structured essay that is backed by solid evidence drawn from research data and underpinned by a synthesis of relevant theories appropriate to the scenario in the question. Where appropriate, you should highlight relevant findings and observations obtained from your research and interviews. Be conscious of research ethics. You must obtain informed consent from your interviewees. You must scan the signed consent forms (appended below) and attach these as an Appendix in your ECA answer script.
Your response to this ECA must be written in a format similar to an academic paper, with proper referencing of your sources. You must also provide a bibliography of the literature cited in your ECA. Failure to do so will result in the investigation for plagiarism by your tutor. Your submission will be marked holistically. The marks allocated for each part of the question are a general guide to the relative importance of each part.
Please be reminded that submissions exceeding the word limit will be penalised.
— END OF ECA PAPER —
SSC263e Cross-Cultural Intelligence at the Workplace End-of-Course Assessment (SIM University) Interview Consent Form
SUBJECT’S COPY
I (the ‘Subject’) hereby consent to being interviewed and audio-recorded for the
Researcher’s project on ___________________________________. I am ____ years of age. (Participants under the age of 18 should get a parent or guardian to sign the form.)
All data from this research will be kept confidential. However, if I have any questions about the research, I may contact the researcher at
_____________/_____________________________@unisim.edu.sg (tel./e-mail address).
Subject: Parent/Guardian Researcher:
if subject is under 18:
__________________ __________________ __________________
Name/Signature/Date Name/Signature/Date Name/Signature/Date
SSC263e Cross-Cultural Intelligence at the Workplace End-of-Course Assessment (SIM University) Interview Consent Form
RESEARCHER’S COPY
I (the ‘Subject’) hereby consent to being interviewed and audio-recorded for the
Researcher’s project on ___________________________________. I am ____ years of age. (Participants under the age of 18 should get a parent or guardian to sign the form.)
All data from this research will be kept confidential. However, if I have any questions about the research, I may contact the researcher at
_____________/_____________________________@unisim.edu.sg (tel./e-mail address).
Subject: Parent/Guardian Researcher:
if subject is under 18:
__________________ __________________ __________________
Name/Signature/Date Name/Signature/Date Name/Signature/Date