Title: A cultural artefact 'show-and-tell': a paedagogical tool for teaching cross-cultural management

Authors: Ken I. Kim

Addresses: Department of Marketing and International Business, College of Business Administration, Mail Stop 103, The University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH 43606–3390, USA

Abstract: This paedagogical tool was developed for an international management course of which the concept of country culture was a prominent element. Each team (or each individual, if teams are not utilised) identifies and brings to class a cultural artefact that represents the culture of the team|s assigned country in significant and meaningful ways. It then makes a short presentation to the class on – (a) what the artefact is, (b) what beliefs and values it portrays, and finally, (c) what underlying assumptions are associated with it. This project is a small |teaser| project in that it |teases| students into a bigger main project for the course. Students often postpone |getting their feet wet| for the main project, because they are overwhelmed by the project|s open-ended nature and by the substantial reading and research needed. This project is a very useful little tool in that it helps the students to rather painlessly get started earlier on the main project in the academic term than they otherwise would.

Keywords: county culture; cultural artefacts; culture; cross-cultural management; international management; paedagogical tool; business research; MBA; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2006.011093

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.144 - 148

Published online: 13 Oct 2006 *

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