Ben Collier, PhD

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar · 2012 to 2016 · Undergraduate

70-342 Managing Across Cultures

70-342

How culture shapes management, taught through cases from the Gulf, China, India, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

About 20 students in Doha and 57 in Pittsburgh

I created this course at CMU Qatar for students who expected to work in an unfamiliar country or a multicultural team, which in Doha meant nearly everyone. We used Hofstede, GLOBE, and Hall as tools, then worked through cases region by region: SickKids in Qatar, Al Jazeera's US launch, Vodafone during the Egyptian revolution, guanxi in Chinese hiring, Enron's Dabhol plant in India. Students taught each other through panels on cultures they knew, then researched and briefed the class on one they did not.

Week by week

Fall 2016 (Pittsburgh) · Tuesdays and Thursdays. Scroll the schedule and the slides follow along: five from each session, picked from the decks I taught from.

  1. Part I: Key issues in global management
  2. Week 1
    Introduction and course overview
    Hofstede's three levels of mental programming: human nature, culture, personalityA Pakistani manager taking over a team in Singapore with members from the UAE and LebanonHiring at a bank in China, where guanxi mattersWhat is wasta, and how does it shape business in the Middle East?The cases span four continents, from Pakistan to Rwanda
  3. Week 1
    Cultural dimensions: Hofstede, tight and loose cultures, HallReading: Cultural Knowledge, chapter 2 of Cultural Intelligence
    Your Chinese host apologizing that the food is not the very bestHow tight is your state? Social norms vary even inside one countryIndulgence versus restraint around the worldThe US, the UAE, and India on Hofstede's dimensionsCountries plotted on power distance and individualism
  4. Week 2
    Case: Tariq Khan at Tek Case
    (Re)Building a Global Team: Tariq Khan at TekEighteen languages, many time zones, and a team in conflictTeams act as consultants advising Tariq before he takes the jobLanguage: should Tariq make English the standard?Team conflict: how should Tariq handle a heated dispute?
  5. Week 2
    Case: Tariq Khan at Tek (continued) Case
  6. Week 3
    Case: Greg James at Sun Microsystems Case
    Hall's high-context and low-context cultures comparedHofstede's dimensions mapped to GLOBE'sCountry clusters according to GLOBESchwartz's value surveyWhat Greg James did next: weekly worldwide meetings and case management tools
  7. Part II: The Middle East
  8. Week 3
    Case: SickKids Qatar CaseReading: Arabic Cluster: A Bridge Between East and West
    The Arabic cluster: GLOBE scores as they are versus as they should beShould SickKids respond to Qatar's request for proposals?A PESTLE analysis of entering a new marketThe SickKids SWOT exhibitYou don't know how a client works until you are there full time
  9. Week 4
    Case: Al Jazeera Goes Global Case
    Al Jazeera hires you to adapt its culture to the US. What do you advise?Can a news network headquartered in Qatar be trusted by Americans?Al Jazeera America announces it will shut downThe end of Al Jazeera AmericaA British sensibility that did not translate to American cable news
  10. Week 4
    In-class exercise: Doha Foundation In-class exercise
  11. Week 5
    Case: Vodafone Egypt CaseAssignment 1 due
    Hosni Mubarak and Hatem Dowidar, CEO of Vodafone EgyptThe UN guiding principles on business and human rightsThree lenses for an ethical call: deontology, consequences, virtueLegal and ethical are different axesAmnesty International's response to the network shutdown
  12. Part III: China and Asia
  13. Week 5
    Introduction to ChinaReading: Talent Holds the Key to Winning in China
    Brits Get Rich in China: British entrepreneurs try selling in ChinaThe kitchen seller who expected Chinese prices to sell themselvesRecession at home sends British businesses to ChinaChina and the United States on Hofstede's dimensionsChina, the US, and the average on a single radar chart
  14. Week 6
    Case: Zhu Dandan Case
    Confucian virtues that still shape Chinese workplacesFace: reputation across work, family, and societyGuanxi: more than networkingThe finance department org chart in 2007The same department in 2012, after four promotions in five years
  15. Week 6
    Case: Intel in China Case
  16. Week 7
    Business in Asia: Alpha Beta global negotiation exercise In-class exerciseAssignment 2 (Intel in China) due
    Alpha Inc buys robots. Beta Inc makes themWhat to do when you face an intercultural negotiationCulture as an iceberg: behavior on top, assumptions underneathHow cultural values shape negotiation strategyCulture shapes preferences and strategy, which shape the outcome
  17. Week 7
    Case: Recruitment at Sunwah Bank in China Case
    Why invite the hiring manager to an expensive dinner?Is it ethical to advertise 12 jobs when you are hiring 22?Signs that merit-based hiring is gaining ground in ChinaOutcome: ten of the advertised jobs went to guanxi candidatesWhat an American company would call corruption
  18. Part IV: India
  19. Week 8
    Introduction to IndiaReading: Leadership Lessons from India
  20. Week 8
    In-class exercise: Enco In-class exerciseReading: Dual Identity: Indians as Customers, Competitors, and Collaborators
    Decision I: Enco faces threats from the BJPDecision II: the Dabhol plant becomes a campaign issueDecision IV: the government cancels the projectDecision V: Maharashtra offers to renegotiateEnco is Enron, and the plant is Dabhol
  21. Week 9
    Case: Silvio Napoli at Schindler India CaseAssignment 3 due
  22. Week 9
    In-class exercise: cultural immersion In-class exercise
  23. Week 10
    Exercise debrief
  24. Part V: The Americas, Europe, and Africa
  25. Week 10
    Mexico. Case: Sarah James in Mexico Case
    Should Sarah have changed her diet to fit her host family?When working or traveling abroad, I have restrictions on...Advising Sarah on food, transport, and moneyWhat should the professor running the program do?Was this a successful experience for Sarah?
  26. Week 11
    Brazil. Case: Dell's Dilemma in Brazil Case
    Why does Dell want to invest in Brazil?Why Brazil: market size, tariffs, and tax wars between statesWhy Rio Grande do Sul made Dell's short listLeave Brazil, pick another state, or negotiate with the governor?Outcome: Dell negotiated, and the plant opened in 1999
  27. Week 11
    Germany. Case: Wolfgang Keller at Königsbräu-TAK Case
  28. Week 12
    France. Case: Liberté, Égalité, Sororité: How Should France Achieve Boardroom Parité? CaseAssignment 4 (Leading Across Cultures at Michelin) due
    10.5% of CAC 40 board members were womenNorway's approach: strict government quotasThe US is no better at 10.6%France sets a quota for women on big company boardsGermany passes its own boardroom quota
  29. Week 12
    South Africa. Case: South African Airways Case
  30. Week 13
    Rwanda. Case: RD Technology: Treading Water in Africa Case
  31. Week 13
    Thanksgiving break No class
  32. Week 14
    Final presentations Presentations
  33. Week 14
    Final presentations Presentations
  34. Week 15
    Final presentations Presentations
  35. Week 15
    Final presentations Presentations
Hofstede's three levels of mental programming: human nature, culture, personality
Tue, Aug 30 Introduction and course overview Hofstede's three levels of mental programming: human nature, culture, personality

Major assignments

  • Group case analysis papers40%

    Four papers written in groups of three, five to seven pages each: Vodafone Egypt (a PESTLE analysis, then whether to obey the government's order to shut down the network and send its SMS messages), Intel in China (Hofstede and GLOBE, face, guanxi, and managing a dual identity), Silvio Napoli at Schindler India (coaching a new expatriate general manager), and Leading Across Cultures at Michelin.

  • Panel presentation10%

    Groups of three to five presented 10 to 15 minutes at the start of class on what others should know about doing business in a culture they knew well, or one from the course cases.

  • Final project20%

    Multicultural teams chose a country none of them had history with, interviewed at least one person who had lived there, and gave a polished 20 to 25 minute orientation for managers about to move there on long-term assignment: greetings, meetings, negotiation, expatriate problems, government, and management tips.

  • Classroom engagement30%

    Case discussion, in-class exercises such as the Alpha Beta negotiation and Enco, and peer evaluations after group work.

Student work

Every project, by term.

Spring 2016 (Doha) 5 projects
  • Australia Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • France Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Germany Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Russia Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Turkey Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
Fall 2016 (Pittsburgh) 14 projects
  • Argentina Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Bangladesh Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Belgium Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Colombia Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Denmark Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • France Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Netherlands Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Pakistan Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Russia Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Singapore Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Spain Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Sweden Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • Turkey Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there
  • United Kingdom Unfamiliar-culture briefing for managers about to relocate, built on at least five sources and an interview with someone who has lived there

Offerings

  • Spring 2016 (Doha, 1 section)
  • Fall 2016 (Pittsburgh, 1 section)

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