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Intercultural Awareness Portfolio Assignment

ICA

Portfolio assignment

2019-2020

Term 1-2

 

 

 

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Intercultural Awareness Portfolio Assignment 2019-2010

What is a portfolio?

A portfolio is a personal document in which you collect all your assignments for Intercultural Management. You will receive in total 9 assignments in which you are individually asked to apply theories, write about yourself and your homeculture, your view on certain topics and your interaction with others. By reflecting regularly you also keep track of your own development. This portfolio is a document that you can use during your 4 years of study. It can be used as evidence of your work and progress on your intercultural competence development. In coming years you might want to compare your new experiences and thoughts to those you had in your first year.

What makes a portfolio interesting, meaningful and professional?

If you do the assignments just to fulfill school requirements and pass the subject, you will not learn much. Best is to start with a curious and open attitude to learn about yourself and others and to ask yourself many times why you think or do as you do.

Discussing some assignments with other class mates is allowed as long as you give your own answers in your own words. If you have the same answers this is seen as copying, thus fraud. Obviously, this is not allowed and will have severe consequences.

The quality of the reflection will be of equal importance, so:
•       use I, (instead of ‘you’ or ‘we’)
•       describe and reflect upon your behaviour, feelings and thoughts (what behaviour, feelings and thoughts do I have about intercultural management and why do I think/behave/feel like this?)
•       give specific examples of yourself, your own way of doing things or thinking/feeling about certain topics.

Put all your assignments in a nice document, pay attention to the layout, try to make it look professional. Make a nice front page with your name, student number, HAN/ABS email address, a photograph of yourself,  name of your trainer  and class. You can use pictures to make it more attractive.

It is important to answer all questions of your assignments. Knock out criteria we use are:

• understandable and correct English,
• completeness of portfolio,
• handing in on time; and
• clear presentation.

This means all assignments should be delivered typed and presented in a clear structure, checked on grammar and spelling mistakes. Furthermore, you should include references according to APA standards.

Procedure of handing in, feedback and resitting

At the end of P1 / P3 you will read one portfolio of a class mate and give feedback in class. You will use the assessment form you can find on OnderwijsOnline (OO), to learn how you can receive the maximum amount of points for your portfolio. Your lecturer will give you the deadline for handing in the final portfolio in week 2.5 (4.5). You hand in your final portfolio to your lecturer in the required way as this is your formal exam for Intercultural Awareness (AIA-ICA). At the end of term 2/4 your lecturer will assess your portfolio, by using the assessment form. You receive back your portfolio with feedback in the last class of ICA (lecture 2.7 (4.7). The score you receive is a formal grade for this module. If you scored 5,5 or higher, you passed this module. If you scored lower than 5,5 you need to re-sit this portfolio exam by improving it and handing in again to your trainer and on OO. A resit carries a maximum grade of 6,0. If you do not pass the second time, you will have to retake the module and classes next semester.

HANDIN Instructions

You need to upload your portfolio on HANDIN. You need to make your portfolio by yourself and if you use references, paraphrase the text. The administration and faculty of the International School of Business forbid plagiarism, whether the language and the ideas originate from a published source or from work done by another student. In The Netherlands, both are defined as fraud and not allowed. HAN uses a plagiarism detection tool via HANDIN. Commission of plagiarism and/or cheating may result in exclusion of the course. For more detailed information, we refer to HAN Insite:https://www1.han.nl/insite/economie/abs/content/Regulations_.xml?sitedir=/insite/economie/ifa_eng

 

You have to upload your portfolio on HANDIN via https://handin.han.nl. The code you use is AIAICA1A.8.

 

 

Portfolio Assignments

 

Assignments Period 1

Week 1.1 (Kick off week) Iceberg (assignment 1)

Describe your cultural background and make an iceberg of your culture(s) with at least 5 items in each layer and explain each item indepth so that it is understandable, also for outsiders. Add pictures to make the iceberg more attractive and appealing for the grader.

 

 

Above the water (visible symbols and  behavior):

1

2

3

4

5

 

Below the surface (norms and rules):

1

2

3

4

5

 

Deep under water (values, basic assumptions, beliefs):

1

2

3

4

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Week 1.2 Hall & Kluckhohn (assignment 2)

• Make your personal profile of the dimensions we discussed in class of Hall and Kluckhohn (by putting an “I” where you prefer to be). You can use the format below. Justify your position on each dimension with your own real-life examples.

(see chapter 2 and 3 of your book)

 

• Put in the same personal profile the scores for your country (with a “C”). If you have more than one country of origin, make a distinction between them by using different symbols. For example NL and UK

 

• Reflect on the following questions:
  1. Where are you not in line with your national culture(s)? Reflect why you differ.

(give an examples that proofs why you differ)

1. Where are you in line with your national culture(s)? Reflect why you are in line. (give an examples that proofs you are in line)

 

• During the project meeting, compare your personal scores of all your group members by making a group profile, adding it to this portfolio. Answer the following questions in your project group meeting:
  1. on which two dimensions you have the biggest similarities?
  2. on which two dimensions you have the biggest ‘gap’ to bridge?
  3. how do you deal with those differences in your group? Are your strategies effective until now?

 

Format Personal Profile

Hall:  

High context                                     Communication                             Low context

 

 

Monochronic                                     Time                                                  Polychronic

 

 

Close                                                  Personal Space                              Distant

 

Kluckhohn:

Nature

Dominating                                       In Harmony with                              Subjugated to

 

Doing  (task)                                      Orientation                                     Being (relation)

Week 1.3 Hofstede & Trompenaars

No assignment this week

 

Week 1.4 DIE/DAE application (assignment 3)

1. Apply the DIE/DAE- method individually. Observe all your project group members in a project meeting and describe their individual behavior first. Then describe your own interpretation to this behavior on paper, give minimal 3 alternatives for your behaviour. Afterwards, you ask each group member if your interpretation is in line with their intention (check). See the table below for an example.
2. Reflection: What did you learn in this exercise about your observations and interpretations? What did you learn about your group members?

 

Group member	Description of his/her behavior What do you see/hear	Your interpretation of his/her behavior Give 3 alternatives	Your interpretation	Check: was your interpretation correct or not?
Li	Leans his head in his hands and sighs several times during meeting	1)Is worried about the project 2) Is tired from yesterday 3) is not prepared and is ashamed for it	Is worried about the project	Said he has a head ache so I was not correct
Andy         Etc.	When he talks he gets red spots in her neck	1.he Is nervous about the project 2.he is allergic for cats 3.he is lying	He is very nervous about the project	Said he is nervous indeed, but more about his part; he does not know how to do it.

 

 

Week 1.5 Randomia (assignment 4)

 

Answer the reflection questions and explain each answer.

1. Which role did you have in the balloon factory?
2. How did you experience to be in this role (feelings, thoughts, behavior)?
3. How were you approached by the other group members (feelings, thoughts, behavior)?
4. What did you learn from this simulation game?
5. Take a personal real life cross-cultural example, in which you were wondering, confused or frustrated about someone else’s behavior. Apply the four steps of responding appropriately to culturally different people in this situation. What does it tell you?

The 4 steps of responding appropriately to culturally different people.

1. Neutrally describe
2. Wonder about cultures
3. Inquire first, then interpret
4. Explore new responses and behaviour

Tip: read chapter 5 of the Randomia manual (see OnderwijsOnline)

 

Assignments Period 2

Week 2.1 Interviewing (assignment 5)

Make an appointment with a 40 plus person outside of HAN University from another cultural background than yours and not part of your family (outside of your bubble),

Tip: You could ask your class mates for an interview with one of their parents or grandparents. Otherwise, ask your neighbour, the shopkeeper; be creative. Mostly people will be willing to help you, especially with school-related assignments.

Conduct an in-depth interview with this person about his/her cultural background and values. You pick one of the topics below and prepare beforehand 10 open questions about this topic. During the interview you will ask those open questions and follow-up questions around the answers your respondent gave you, to get a deep understanding of the person’s background on that topic. Best is to record this interview and later transcribe it on paper. In any case, you should include:

1. Your name and name of person you are interviewing
2. Date, place and time of your interview
3. Interview questions (open and follow-up questions) and answers
4. Personal reflection:

• How did you experience interviewing your interviewee (behaviour, thoughts, feelings)?
• What is similar and what is different between you and your interviewee?
• Which theories of dimensions you can apply to you and your interviewee? Which not? (explain by giving examples)
• What did you learn from conducting this interview?

 

Potential topics:

 

Religion

History

Family

Upbringing

Future

Economy

Politics

Gender

 

Week 2.2 Conflict analysis (assignment 6)

• Include your Thomas Kilmann profile and give a proper reflection.
• Describe a conflicting situation in your own life and analyze which conflict style(s) of Thomas Killmann was used by you and the other people involved and what you could have done differently otherwise.

Week 2.3 Case analysis- dimensions (assignment 7)

This week you will receive one or more case studies (see OnderwijsOnline). Read the case(s) carefully and analyze the cultural elements in the case by using Hofstede, Trompenaars, Hall, Kluckhohn and others.  Which 5 dimensions influence people’s behaviors and thoughts most? Explain how and when each dimension comes in with examples from the text. Use the lecture book, internet and other resources and as always  include references.

Week 2.3 Case analysis – Reconciliation strategy  (assignment 8)

Analyse the current case situation using Kilmann by answering the following questions:

• which conflict styles do the persons involved use?
• which new conflict style would you propose to reconcile this conflict? How would it look like in practice?

End reflection (assignment 9)

1. Evaluate your own learning in this module by reflecting on all the intercultural trainings and lectures. Mention at least two topics, which you experienced as helpful in your learning on intercultural management and explain why. Mention two topics, which you found less relevant and explain why.
2. Determine for yourself two personal strengths and two challenges in dealing with different cultures, using the competences of the Intercultural Readiness Check.
3. Formulate two personal goals with specific, measurable and time-framed activities for the next semester to improve your intercultural competences.

Example of a RIGHT goal:

Next semester, I will train myself in high context communication by observing my high context classmates, by practising this high context communication myself and by asking for feedback about it to my high context friend. I will do those activities at least once every week during the first block and I will evaluate it then to see if I need to continue or not.

Example of a WRONG goal:

I will go on holidays to another country and there I will meet new people. That’s how I will learn to be more open-minded.

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You upload your complete portfolio (period 1 and 2 together in one folder) to Onderwijsonline in week 2.5, before the indicated deadline (ask your teacher).

Have a meaningful experience!