BUS 222F: GLOBAL DEXTERITY

Fall Semester, 2015 (MODULE)

Instructor: Andy Molinsky, Ph.D.

Office: 254 Lemberg

 (781) 736 -2255

Office Hours: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Have you ever been in a situation where in order to be successful you had to act outside your personal comfort zone? For most of us, the answer is yes!The goal of this module is to help us navigate these situations more successfully. During the module, you will choose a situation outside your own personal comfort zone to work on. You will apply the tools and techniques from my book Global Dexterity to this situation, with the goal of beginning to feel more comfortable and competent.You'll be required to go out into the “real world” and actually perform this behavior multiple times, and each time, you will keep a structured diary about your experience. During our class sessions, we will share our experiences and work together to develop solutions. The goal here isn’t magical transformation. Instead, it’s for each one of us to gain an increased level of self-awareness and to acquire an expanded toolkit for handling these situations throughout our professional lives.

READING MATERIALS

Course readings, which are to be completed before arriving to class, are in the following sources:

Book: Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process by Andy Molinsky (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013)

Course reader: You will purchase electronic access to two cases: Yutaka Nakamura & Alpha Beta Negotiation. I will hand out copies of Alpha Beta to you in class on the assigned day, but you will access Yutaka Nakamura yourself via Xanedu’s web access.

Additional Case study: I have personally written a case study (“Jin Wang”) that you will use as part of the course. I will hand out copies in class. It’s free for you to use, but it’s also copyrighted and so you cannot copy or distribute it.

Internet articles: For several sessions you will read blog posts or other short publicly available articles about cultural adaptation.

LEARNING GOALS

  • You will learn first-hand about the challenges of acting outside of your cultural and personal comfort zone
  • You will develop your own strategies for coping with these challenges
  • You will learn from sharing your experience with others

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Requirement PercentageDue Date

Attendance and Participation20%N/A

Global Dexterity Personal Project80%

Final Project Portfolio45%December 3

DigitalInteractive Presentation35%December 3 or 8

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION (20%)

There are two ways that you can earn participation points:

  1. Contribute your insights during general class discussions
  1. Contribute during small group and partner discussions.

Throughout the module you will be asked to split into small groups or to work with a partner in class on cultural adaptation exercises. By participating actively and enthusiastically in these sessions, you can earn credit towards your participation grade.

Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class. All missed classes will be noted. The policy on missed classes is to allow each student one (1) absence, no questions asked. All further absences over the limit will reduce the student’s overall class grade by ½ grade (e.g. from a B to a B-) for each class missed. Students with an excessive number of absences are at risk to fail the course. Habitual lateness (or leaving class early), for whatever reason, will be noted as evidence of low course commitment and will be penalized.

Culture and class participation:

I am aware that some people come from cultures in which participating in a class discussion was not expected. In some cases, it may have even been considered inappropriate. If you do not feel comfortable participating in class, please let me know and we may be able to find alternative methods of participating. If you do not contact me, I will assume that you feel comfortable participating.

GLOBAL DEXTERITY PERSONAL PROJECT (80% TOTAL)

This is your major assignment for the course. During the module, you will choose a situation outside your own personal comfort zone to work on. You will apply the tools and techniques from Global Dexterity to this situation, with the goal of beginning to feel more comfortable and competent.

The situation must have the following characteristics:

(1)Challenging: The situation you choose should and must be something that you find very difficult to do because you lack the knowledge and skill, and because you feel inauthentic (and perhaps also resentful about either having to adapt or about the type of behavior you have to engage in in order to adapt).

(2)Motivating: The situation should be one you really care about – something important to you, and where you really want to improve.

(3)Professionally oriented: We’re at a business school, after all, so the situation ideally has something to do with work, or could take place in a work setting.

Examples of situations you might choose include (but aren’t limited to):

  • Promotingyourself at an informal networking event
  • Learning to make small talk with strangers
  • Delivering a formal presentation
  • Interviewing for a job
  • Being pro-active with your boss
  • Giving constructive criticism
  • Speaking up in class (which in many ways is similar to speaking in a meeting)

These are just examples, but your project should be of a similar scope and style.

HOW THE PROJECT WILL UNFOLD

You will go out into the “real world” (in other words: outside our class) and perform your chosen behavior at least 3 times. This has to happen in real, naturally occurring situations. In other words, you can’t “pretend” with a friend and count that as an example. You have to actually go out and perform these behaviors for real. Each time you adapt your behavior, you will complete a diary entry about your experience.

FINDING A MENTOR

As part of your project, you also must find a mentor-- someone who is familiar with your situation and who can offer you feedback. This person will help you throughout the project, helping you diagnose the “cultural code” for your situation and also offering you performance feedback along the way. This person can be a fellow student, staff member, TA, or professor at IBS. It could also be someone from outside the school. However, in all cases, it must be someone who is knowledgeable about your particular situation and who can offer you useful feedback.

COMPONENTS OF YOUR PROJECT

There are two key components of your final project:

1)A personal project portfolio of written reflections, analyses and descriptions that you will create, compile and eventually hand it by the end of the term

2)A final digital interactive presentation about your experience that you will share with us during one of the final two class sessions

I now describe each of these in detail:

1. PERSONAL PROJECT PORTFOLIO [45% FINAL GRADE]

This is an electronic/virtual folder in Microsoft Word that you are going to create, which will include all the elements of the project that I am about to describe. You must “hand in” (via email) this folder and all its components on the last day of the semester. Once you have chosen your situation, you should immediately create this project folder on your computer where you can easily store all the files for this project.

There are several elements that must be included in your portfolio:

1. Situation Proposal:

Aone-page written description of your Global Dexterity situation. You need to explain what your situation is, why it’s important for you, why it’s difficult for you, how the rules differ from your native culture (or are in conflict with how you’d naturally and comfortably behave) -- and who your “mentor” will be for your project. Each person must find a mentor who can provide you feedback about your situation and who can also comment on your progress (more about that below).

*** You must describe this situation in writing (1 page), and bring it to class by Session #2 (for me to approve). If you fail to produce this document by Session #2, I reserve the right to penalize you on your final grade at my discretion.***

2. Diagnosis of the New Cultural Code:

To develop global dexterity in a particular situation, you need to learn the rules – or the “code” – for performing this situation successfully. You will use the materials provided to you in the Global Dexterity book to diagnose the new “cultural code” for your situation. You must consult with at least one, but ideally two different native-born “mentors” or “experts” who can help you understand these rules. You will include a final write-up of these cultural rules to be included in your project portfolio.

3. Diary Entries (at least 3 entries):

You will adapt your behavior 3 times (at least – you can do more) during the module. These should be spaced out across several weeks’ time so that you can take what we learn in class and then apply it back to your experiences adapting behavior.

Every time you go out into the real world to adapt behavior in your chosen situation, you will complete a diary exercise,which consists of answers to the following questions, which focus on the ways you integrate your “native cultural self” into the new behavior you’re learning to perform. You will complete this exercise each time you adapt behavior and include the results in your final project portfolio.

Questions to Answer for Each Diary Entry:

1)Using the scales provided on p.39-40 of the Global Dexteritybook, what was your level of competence, authenticity and resentment challenge during this particular situation?

2)In general, and with as much specific detail as possible, please describe how you integrated or involved your “native cultural self” in the behavior you were doing. Answer each of these questions:

  1. Did you create a mix between your native cultural style and the American style, and if so, describe with as much detail as possible what that mix looked like
  2. Did you shift even within the situation from one style to the other (and, if so, what did that look like?)
  3. Did you do something else to integrate your native cultural self? (and, if so, what did that look like?)
  4. How much of your native cultural self did you integrate? A great deal of it? A moderate amount? A little bit?

If you didn’t involve your native self at all, please explain that as well. What did your behavior look like? Why did you decide not to involve your native cultural self?

3)What were the difficulties or challenges you experienced trying to integrate your native cultural self into the behavior? These could be difficulties around actually doing the behavior; it could be difficulties inside your mind, difficulties related to the (imagined or real) reactions of others… or anything else. If you didn't integrate or involve your native cultural self, why did you decide not to? At what point did you make this decision? What were some difficulties or challenges you experienced as you tried enacting the behavior without involving your native cultural self?

4)What advice would you give someone else about integrating (or not integrating) their native cultural self into their new behavior? What challenges would you advise them to look out for?

5)What did it feel like, inside yourself, as you were trying to integrate your native cultural self into the new behavior? Please write down three specific emotions that you experienced:

  1. Emotion 1:
  2. Emotion 2:
  3. Emotion 3:

6)Please answer the following questions about the emotions you experienced when trying to integrate your native cultural self:

4. Mid-Point Status Report:

You will include this in your final portfolio and also email or hand into me on November 12th. Include information about how many times you have adapting behavior to this point, how challenging it has been over time, and what you have learned so far and been able to apply about Global Dexterity to your situation. Also: provide me with a short update on the progress with your digital interactive presentation. This will be part of your final project portfolio, and therefore part of your final grade.

5. Final Reflections:

At the very end of the module, after you have finished your project, you will write answers to the following questions and include them in your project portfolio

  1. What was the biggest challenge for you in learning to develop global dexterity in your particular situation?
  2. What were the difficulties or challenges you experienced trying to integrate your native cultural self into the behavior?
  3. What are the most important lessons you gained from this experience that you might be able to apply to other situations requiring global dexterity?
  4. Anything else you’d like to share about the project.

On the last day of class, you will email meyourFinal Project Portfolio, which must include all of these elements.

Grading of Your Personal Project Portfolio

Your personal project portfolio will be graded in terms of its thoroughness and thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness means that you have reflected on your experience in a serious way, have worked hard and seriously on the project and have applied what we have learned in class to your situation. Thoroughness means that you have completed all of the necessary portions of the project detailed above.

Please note: I am not grading you on how successfully you have been at learning to act outside your comfort zone. You can struggle with the new behavior and still receive an outstanding grade in the class. What’s important is how thoroughly and thoughtfully you document your experience.

2. YOUR DIGITAL INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION[35% FINAL GRADE]

You are not just documenting your experience for yourself. You’re also documenting your experience for others. You will be developing a creative, digital interactive presentation about your experience that you will share with others in the class. The format will be like a career fair or a “poster session” at an academic conference rather than a typical “presentation” in an IBS classroom. You will bring your laptop to a corner of the classroom with your digital presentation ready to display, and everyone else in the class not presenting on that day will come by to learn from your experience.

This presentation can take multiple forms.

1) Video:

An editedautobiographical documentary “before and after” video documenting your experience learning to adapt behavior throughout the module

This video might include:

  1. Video footage of you performing your chosen behavior at “Time 1” (before you have started to apply the tools in our class to your situation)
  2. Video footage of your own self-reflections and commentary about your experience. You can do this in various ways.
  3. You can video yourself watching your own video on a different screen and commenting on it.
  4. You can have someone interview you.
  5. You can speak into the camera in a video diary like format. Video footage of your at the end of the process – as something to compare your original first video footage to.
  6. Video footage of another outside “expert” or “mentor” familiar with the behavior commenting on your performance and experience.

2)PowerPointPresentation:

You can create a PowerPoint presentation about your experience adapting during the semester. This might include images and embedded video as well. It might also include elements of your structured diary exercises. Do not make this a “typical” PowerPoint session (dry, boring, but informative). Make it engaging, inspiring, personal, educational. Really wow us!

3)Other Creative Method:

There are many options out there for portraying your experience in a compelling, engaging, and creative way. You could develop and create a digital comic book. You could create an interactive game. You could produce a website or a blog. You can create a movie.The options are endless!

Take a chance and really immerse yourself in this project. Do NOT make this an afterthought that you work on only during the last few days of the term. That will be clear to me and you will be evaluated accordingly.

Note: To receive an A on this assignment, you must go above and beyond. It must be something exceptional, not ordinary.

Grading of Your Digital Interactive Presentation

Your digital interactive presentation will be graded in terms of its thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and creativity --- how you portray your adaptation experience in a thoughtful, moving, creative, and potentially even inspirational way. Again, you will not be graded on how “well” you were ultimately able to adapt your behavior. Instead, your evaluation will be based on how thoughtfully and creatively you make sense of – and ultimately communicate --this experience.