UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE
Faculty of Management
Introduction to International Management
MGT 3650N
Course Outline Summer 1, 2007
Instructor: Intan Osman
Office: D-441
Telephone: 329-2646
E-mail: intan.osman@uleth.ca
Office hours: Tuesdays: 10am to 12 noon, or by appointment
Course objectives: This course provides:
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an overview of the political, legal, economic, technological, social and cultural
forces that influence international management
an understanding of and using strategies that can be adopted by organizations and
individuals to assert themselves in a global environment
an understanding of what it takes to be a global manager and leader; and how to
motivate, hire, train, appraise and enhance career of human resources across
cultures.
knowledge and approaches in doing business and across cultures.
Course pedagogy: A variety of approaches including lectures, case studies, exercises,
videos and student presentations are adopted to explore and analyse various international
management issues and to provide students with basic international management skills.
E-mail: I would like to assume we communicate regularly by e-mail.
Required text:
Deresky, Helen (2006). International Management: Managing Across Borders and
Cultures. USA: Pearson Prentice-Hall.
References
Hodgetts, R.M. & Luthans, F. 2003. International management: Culture, strategy, and
behavior. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Supplementary readings:
Christopher, E & Dennis Meadows (Eds) (2000). Games from Many Nations for
Mangement & Leadership Training. Institute for Policy & Social Science, University of
Hampshire & Japan Foundation for the Fusion of Science & Technology (FOST).
Other supplementary readings will be provided during the course of the semester. They
are an integral part of the course and will be included in the exams.
Evaluation:
Class attendance and participation
10%
Group assignment 1
25%
Group assignment 2
15%
Exam 1
25%
Exam 2
25%
Grading scheme:
86 – 100%: Excellent
86 – 89.9: A90 – 94.9: A
95 – 100: A+
74 – 85.9%: Very good
74 – 77.9: B78 – 81.9: B
82 – 85.9: B+
62 – 73.9%: Satisfactory 62 – 65.9: C66 – 69.9: C
70 – 73.9: C+
50 – 61.9%: Pass
50 – 57.9: D
58 – 61.9: D+
Class attendance and participation:
You are expected to attend classes and to be an active participant in the discussions. Full
attendance entitles you to 5 points of the 10% participation mark. The remaining 5%
depends on the extent to which you make meaningful comments on the chapters, cases,
supplementary readings and individual readings of the business press. Make sure you
complete class requirements when scheduled, so that class time can be used effectively.
Exams:
Exam 1 covers chapters 1 to 6 (inclusive) mostly of multiple choice and an essay.
Exam 2 covers chapters 7 to11 (inclusive) mostly of multiple choice and an essay.
The exams require you to answer a variety of questions related to a short case and/or the
readings, videos, cases and exercises covered in the course. Please note the date of the
exams on the outline, as missing an exam for reasons other than extenuating
circumstances beyond the student’s control will result in a zero for the exam. No makeup exams will be given.
Group assignments: There will be two group assignments
 The first assignment, worth 25% of the course grade, has an oral and a written
component. An experiential exercise (a game from many nations) has been
assigned to your group. You need to choose your own players or resources and
play the game outside class hours. Play as many times as you need to in order to
achieve the objectives set by the game. Someone from the group needs to observe
and make notes on the process, organization, dynamics, problems and difficulties
encountered, how the group solve the problems, settings, background of the
players and the like. Your group is required to make a presentation or conduct a a
debrief related to the exercise in no more than thirty minutes of class time. You
also need, as a group, to provide the instructor with a written report on the
exercise. Due date and presentation on Week 6 (Wed).
 The second assignment, worth 15% of the course grade, also has an oral and a
written component. It requires the group to choose 2 articles from the business
press, journals, or magazines. The group is required to relate the articles to the
concepts addressed in the course. You need to write 6-8 pages on the concepts
addressed and how they are related to the articles. The report has to be
handed in to the instructor and present the summary plus the critique in power
point slides. You need to attach the original articles together with the report. Due
date and presentation on Week 7 (Wed).
Late work carries a penalty. More information on the assignments will be provided
during the semester.
Peer evaluation:
All group assignments are subject to peer evaluations. Group members need to discuss
and agree on the contribution that each member should make to the group assignment. If
you think all your group members contributed their fair share to the group assignment,
you do not need to fill out a peer evaluation form. However, if you think that one or more
of the members did not contribute their fair share, then you need to fill out the peer
evaluation form that I will forward to the class before I allocate the assignment grades. I
reserve the right to question your justification for giving a lower rating to a colleague.
Note: University policies in the 2007 Calendar apply in this course.
Below is a tentative course schedule. During the semester, we may need or decide to
make some changes to the outline. Any changes will be announced in advance.
Tentative schedule
Week 1
Introduction and contracting course assignments/requirement
1 &11
Week 2
1 & 11
Week 3
1
Chapter 1: Assessing the Environment
Chapter 2: Managing Interdependence
Video: Ethical Issues
Case: Chap.1 Main text
Chapter3: Understanding the Role of Culture
Video: McDonald’s everywhere
Chapter 4: Communicating Across Culture
Case: Chap. 2 main text
Chapter 5: Cross Culture Negotiation and Decision Making
Moto: Coming to America (Japan)
Chapter 6: Strategy Formulation
Case: The International Cola Alliances (Group), Hodgetts pg 570
References
Additional
cases/exercises will
be provided as &
when the needs arise
Deresky, Chap 1;
Hodgetts, Chap 1, 2
&3
Deresky, Chap 2;
Hodgetts, Chap 5, 6,
&7
Deresky, Chap 5:
Hodgetts, Chap 8
Deresky, Chap 6;
Hodgetts, Chap 9
Week 4
1 & 11
-Softbank Corp.: Internet & Web-Related Acquisitions
-Chapter 7: Global Alliances & Strategy Formulation
Exam 1 (Chapters 1– 6)
Case: Chap. 4 main text.
Deresky, Chap 7;
Hodgetts, Chap 11
Week 5
1 & 11
-Supplementary reading: Balancing immigrants’ customs with human rights
-Chapter 8: Structure & Control Systems
Market Expansion & Global Strategy in 2001/2002 (Setting: Japan)
Case: Chiba International, Inc (Group), Hodgetts pg 549
Deresky, Chap 8;
Hodgetts, Chap 12
Week 6
1 &11
-Chapter 9: Staffing & Training for Global Operations
Case: Who to Hire, Hodgetts pg 574
Week 7
1 & 11
Chapter 10: Developing a Global Management Pool
Case (in supplementary material): Fred Bailey in Japan: An innocent abroad
– (Group)
-Exercise: Canadian subcultures – (Group)
-Video: Body language
Chapter 11: Motivating & Leading
Case: Chap 7 main text.
Review
Deresky, Chap 9;
Hodgetts, Chap 14,
15 & 16
Deresky, Chap 10;
Hodgetts Chap 16
Week 8
1
Final Test (Chaps 7-11)
All cases indicated are in-class group exercises presented using Power
Points on Wed of each week except for weeks 4, 6 & 7, Monday will be
used instead of Wed.
10 ( 4 June/07)