Assignment overview
This assignment requires you to write a comparative analysis of your own culture of origin and any other culture of your choice. You will need to identify the similarities and differences between the two cultures using various cultural theories.
Assignment details
Read through the following steps to understand and meet the requirements of this assignment:
Step 1: Familiarise yourself with the theories
As a basis for your comparison, you should familiarise yourself with the concepts in the following resources:
- Trompenaar—The seven dimensions of culture Links to an external site. (MindTools n.d.).
- Ferraro—Cultural universals do exist Links to an external site. (pp. 6–10) in your eText.
- GLOBE project—Developing cultural profiles Links to an external site.(pp. 98–103) in your eText.
- Hofstede’s cultural dimensions Links to an external site. (MindTools n.d.).
- Compare countries Links to an external site. (Hofstede Insights 2018).
These readings will provide you with a framework to research and analyse your own culture and another culture of your choosing.
Step 2: Choose a cultural group to compare and a dimension of culture
Your comparative analysis should demonstrate an ability to compare and contrast the culture you have chosen with your own cultural group, by using the frameworks referred to in the resources from Step 1 (i.e. Trompenaars, Ferraro, GLOBE project and/or Hofstede).
You should therefore choose an appropriate cultural group to compare to your own culture of origin. Next, you will need to select one dimension of culture (e.g. particularism versus universalism, family systems, individual versus collectivist orientation) to explore in more detail. The word count for this assignment will only allow you to consider a single element of culture in any depth.
Step 3: Perform research and analysis
Your comparative analysis will need to identify the similarities and differences between the two cultural groups in terms of your chosen dimension of culture. In this essay, you are required to discuss some generalisations that can be made, based on the comparison of the two cultures, that could be relevant to managing in the global environment.
It will be necessary to perform research and analysis to enable this cultural comparison. You should use at least five credible references, in addition to your eText, to support your analysis and discussion.
Step 4: Write your comparative analysis and reference your sources
The following video explains how you will structure your comparative analysis as well as providing some further detail for your discussion.
You will then need to draft and edit your essay with an introduction, body and conclusion—see Essay structure (PDF 89 KB) Links to an external site. (WSU Library 2017) for help with this.
Next, create your reference list ensuring you adhere to Harvard WesternSydU (PDF 2.4 MB) Links to an external site. style. Note: The reference list is not included in the word count. Finally, format your document so that it has 1.5 line spacing and 12 point Arial font.