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HA_E31 - International Management*"CLOSED FOR FURTHER ENROLMENT"

Faculty
Frank Brandt
Course Coordinator
Chris Mathieu
Prerequisite/progression of the course
It is advantageous, but not a prerequisite, to have some background social science knowledge (sociology, economics, anthropology organization theory)
Course content, structure and teaching
This course is designed to equip students to better analyse and understand the inter-cultural contexts, situations, dilemmas, and opportunities that arise from the increasing internationalisation of business. Emphasis is placed upon developing tools and analytic capacities that are applicable in a variety of managerial roles with the intention of giving students a solid foundation from which to move into a variety of more specialised managerial positions. By the end of the course the student should be capable of understanding the roles that culture plays in business activities, as well as coming to a personal position of how the challenges of cultural difference can or should be met.
The course will discuss ethics and moral in a global perspective and the increasing institutional pressure for the company to act with social responsibility.
The course is comprised of three integrated pillars. The first pillar comprises of theories that give us the ability to analyse culture – What is it? Where does it come from? How does it affect social and business life? What can and can’t we do about it? Here we also focus on the link between culture and institutions and business and management practices, primarily through Institutionalisation Theory and Business Systems Theory. The second pillar comprises of looking at a series of topics such as mergers and acquisitions, relations between units of multi-national corporations (MNCs), the psycho-social aspects of being an international manager, working and leading multi-cultural teams, and ethics in international/multi-cultural contexts. The third pillar comprises of applying the theories that are applicable to each of the topics in the analysis and discussion of concrete cases.
Learning Objectives
After having attended the course, the student:
  • Possesses a sophisticated and analytical understanding of the origins of cultural differences via familiarity with various competing and complementary theories
  • Understands the difference between cultural and institutional approaches to differences encountered in international business and management
  • Understands the ways in which such differences can impact management, organization and business
  • Understand cultural impact on management behaviour
  • Can develop an array of theoretically and empirically founded strategies for dealing with and positively utilizing these differences
  • Understands how the challenges of international management play out and can be met from the personal/psychological level up to the intra organizational level.
Type of examination, exam aids and assessment
4 hour written open book exam

Last updated by The electives Secretariat 07/09/2009