Please respond to ONE of the following prompts and discuss how cultural differences and misunderstanding can influence the result of certain situations based on what we’ve covered in class. Please keep in mind that this exam is used to gauge your understanding of how the dimensions of culture and identity work together to help people make meaning of their experiences and interactions with people from different backgrounds. Prompt #1 – Healthcare Choose where the patient is from and do outside research to understand that community’s approach to illness, healthcare, and family involvement. An immigrant family finds out that the patriarch of their family is sick. The patient’s primary doctor is a 35-year-old Caucasian man from the midwest. He comes from a family of doctors. After giving the patient his diagnosis, the doctor schedules a meeting to discuss treatment options with the patient. The patient’s family has requested to attend the meeting as well. The family consists of the patient’s wife and three daughters. You are asked to help the doctor ensure the family receives and understands the information needed to care for their loved one. What should the doctor know and understand about the culture before meeting with the family in order to reach a shared understanding of the patient’s treatment plan? How would you advise the doctor to deliver messages? Please cite any sources you use to provide insight about the immigrant community you’ve chosen. Questions to Consider: 1. What are the differences between the chosen community’s approach to healthcare and the American approach to healthcare? 2. How does the chosen community interact with authority figures? 3. What gender and familial roles exist within that community that might influence the family’s perception of the visit? Who makes the decisions for the family? 4. How might language, nonverbal behavior, and rules of conversation influence the exchange of messages during the meeting? Prompt #2 – Business Provide supporting evidence for any claims you make about Swedish and Japanese business culture and etiquette. Two companies are entering a business agreement. In a preliminary meeting, both companies decide to put together terms of agreement and meet in person to discuss those terms. Company A is based in Sweden and Company B is based in Japan. At the meeting, a lawyer serves as the representative for Company A. The CEO and board members of Company B represent Company B. The lawyer from company A explains the conditions of company A’s participation in the business deal. Company B explains their goals and expectations for the partnership. Once all parties have said their piece, it’s time to decide how to move forward. Company A’s lawyer suggests that more time is needed to consult with the rest of Company A. Company B leaves the meeting feeling disgruntled because everyone who was needed to finalize the decision was present at the meeting. They viewed Company A as unprepared and unprofessional. Company B is now unsure about continuing business with Company A. How can these two companies repair their business relationship? Questions to consider: 1. Why did these challenges arise? 2. How are business decisions made in Sweden? How are business decisions made in Japan? 3. What constitutes an agreement or a commitment in these particular cultures? 4. Who has the final say in business decisions? 5. How do these cultures value and treat time in business? 6. What role do uncertainty and expectations play in this scenario? Prompt #3 – Education Please cite your sources to support your response. In a business class, students are assigned into groups and asked to design a business plan and present the proposal to the director of the business department for their final grade. This project will determine whether each student is accepted into the upper-level classes of the major. The groups are chosen at random. One group consists of four students from different parts of the world. Student A and Student B are from the United States (student A is from a small town in Virginia and student B is from a small town in Northern California), Student C is from Kenya, and Student D is from Saudi Arabia. There are differences in the goals, motivations, and personal lives of each student. How does each student’s culture influence their expectations of how group work is executed and completed? What challenges may arise for the students as they complete their project? How can they work through their differences to get a passing grade? Questions to consider: 1. What are the cultural differences that might influence how this group decides to go about completing the project? Consider standard group work etiquette for each culture. 2. How do the students view their classmates? As friends? Colleagues? Or as strangers grouped together for the sole purpose of completing the work? 3. If this is a semester-long project, how close do you expect the group to get based on the rules of group work interactions? 4. What dimensions of culture might influence the group dynamic? (Power distance, collectivist vs. individualist, high context vs. low context, etc.)
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