- 22 Mar, 2021
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- 3 Mins Read
PROJECT SCENARIO
PROJECT SCENARIO:
Your team is competing for a multi-year contract with the U.S. State Department to write and design a series of manuals used to train State Department personnel before they start their overseas posts. These employees will need to know how to communicate effectively in those posts as professionals. The U.S. State Department has asked your team for a “sample manual” along with an oral presentation to explain your manual’s design and why they should choose it over the other ones they are considering.
YOUR TEAM OBJECTIVE FOR THE MANUAL:
You and your team will produce a well-researched manual that could be helpful for professionals who need coaching in communicating effectively in the specific geographical region and countries you target. Each section of your manual should begin by analyzing the overall communication style of one foreign country—compared to the style of the USA—an then move to specific suggestions for American professionals beginning work in that country. Be very careful only to include information related to professional communication (particularly negotiation), nothing more; remember your manual is not a tourist guide. (You can assume that its readers will already have a set of Lonely Planet travel guidebooks, which contain national holidays, embassies, appropriate greetings, and so forth.)
CRITERIA for SELECTION:
The State Department is most interested in your manual’s overall usefulness for employees working abroad. Three related features of your written and oral presentation are particularly important: (1) overall consistency, (2) overall clarity, and (3) overall creativity, which includes engaging design (visually and textually) that entices employees to actually use and enjoy your manual. The State Department encourages your team to think outside the box and create something truly fresh, as long as you observe professional writing principles.
Our team’s topic: “Communication Manual for the Global Automotive Industry”.
The automotive industry is one of the world’s largest markets, making it an industry that wields great influence economically and politically across the globe. Our team’s focus is on the other top 5 car manufacturing countries, excluding the U.S., to provide U.S. professionals with the cross-cultural communication skills to collaborate with the other top countries. We propose to make a communication manual that includes China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and India to provide automotive industry professionals with the skills necessary to effectively communicate with the top global car manufacturers.
I’m responsible for the Japan section, so you only need to write the cross-cultural communication manual for Japan.
REQUIREMENTS:
Your team’s manual should observe the following requirements:
• Clear, engaging, carefully edited writing using the third person viewpoint
• Typed, single-spaced, professionally bound
• 5 pages maximum per each main section( Each person is responsible for one section(country).
• At least 3 visuals (personally created) per section
• At least 5 different and meaningful sources cited (HBS Endnotes format) and integrated in each section.
Each section’s format:
1: Each section will begin with a brief analysis of the overall communication style of one foreign country, along with a concise overview of how they became a leading power in the automobile producing global market.
2: An outline of the cultural norms and contexts in relation to business dealings done with the country in question (i.e. high context vs. low context, power distance, professional setting behavior).
3: An in-depth comparison of business dealings and etiquette in the U.S. as compared to the individual country.
4: At least 3 visuals (personally created) per section. At least 5 different and meaningful sources cited (HBS Endnotes format) and integrated in each section.
I have attached a PowerPoint from our lecture, which talks about “How Communicating in a Global Context Different from an American One.” Please read it, but do not use it as a cited source.
Please let me know if you have any question during the writing. Thank you!