Java Python MCD1540 Intercultural Business Communication
Assessment 4 Home Culture Analysis
Task Description:
You will conduct an analysis on your home culture, discuss how it is changing, and reflect on how your personal attitudes and values align with it. You are required to answer the questions using an academic writing style and provide citations and references according to the APA referencing system. There is NO need for an Introduction or Conclusion. In particular the writing should:
• answer a question relevant to the task;
• express an academic, educated and informed answer to the question;
• develop an argument consistently, logically and coherently;
• provide evidence for the position taken, with appropriate references;
(adapted from Q Manual p.59 - https://www.monash.edu/data/assets/pdf file/0005/506345/qmanual.pdf)
Questions
1. Describe your home culture using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Hall’s High and Low Context Cultures (500 words)
2. Discuss how has your home culture evolved or is changing over the last 10-20 years. Link to the aspects of Hofstede and Hall that may be impacted (400 words)
3. Reflect on your personal behaviours, attitudes, and values. Discuss how they align or differ from your home culture as analysed in questions 1 and 2 (300 words)
Assessment 4 Guidelines
DO NOT copy the questions in your assignment answer. You may use Q1, Q2, Q3 when structuring your answers. There is NO need for Introduction and Conclusion. Just answer the questions but write in paragraphs. Refer to the Student Q Manual pages 61 – 63 on Steps 7 and 8 to help make your writing clear https://www.monash.edu/business/current-
students/study-resources/qmanual.pdf
You are required to provide citations and references according to the APA 7th edition referencing system and more information can be found at:
https://guides.lib.monash.edu/citing-referencing/apa7th . You can also refer to the APA 7th Update and APA6th_condensed_guide_2015.pdf that is included in your Moodle MCD1540 > Assessment folder. You may also use the resources available on
https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines to support you in your writing and referencing.
Writing Guidelines
1. Describe your home culture using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Hall’s High and
Low Context Cultures (500 words)
The response to this question should be largely theoretical and based on research. You may use Hofstede Insights (https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) to help you with the analysis. Minimise the use of your personal observations or anecdotes. Focus on research that is available to support the analysis on your home culture. Both academic and non-academic sources can be used for this question.
A typical paragraph may look like this:
TEEL Structure | Examples | Notes |
Topic Sentence
(Write a sentence introducing the main idea or major claim discussed in the paragraph) | My home culture in Antarctica is described to be Individualistic (Hofstede, 2011) OR According to Hofstede (2011), Antarctica is largely an individualistic society. | Use any of the concepts from Hofstede and Hall here. You MUST use an academic source here |
Explanation
(Define or explain the concept you used) | Hofstede (1984) defines Individualism as … .. OR An individualistic culture is described as … . (Hofstede, 1984) | You MUST use an academic source to first define the concept You may use other non-academic sources to further elaborate on the concept |
Evidence/Examples | In Antarctica, it is a norm for people to … .. (Eskimos, 2015). | Examples here can be drawn from non- |
(Clarify how your examples support the topic sentence) |
However, Bigfoot (2014) argued that people in Antarctica demonstrates Collectivist behaviours when … | academic sources e.g. blogs, news articles, travel websites etc. You may offer alternate or differing views here to enrich the discussion |
Link/Conclusion (Conclusion or a Linking sentence to the next paragraph) | Overall, people in Antarctica are … | Provide summary and evaluation to what has been discussed You may provide some personal observations/ evaluation here |
2. Discuss how has your home culture evolved or is changing over the last 10-20
years. Link to the aspects of Hofstede and Hall that may be impacted (400 words)
Focus on how certain aspects of Hofstede and/or Hall’s research of your home culture have changed or is changing in the last 10-20 years. This writing should be largely based on recent and contemporary research, that may include latest academic research (in the past 10 years), news articles, blogs, websites, along with some personal observations and opinions.
Reflect on the elements in both Surface and Deep culture. Are there changes to the Surface culture – changes to language, dressing, behaviours, traditions, customs? Do these changes reflect a change in the Deep culture - changes in values, stereotypes, attitudes, priorities, roles in relation to age, sex, class?
Hall’s Iceberg Model
Surface Culture (External, Visible and Conscious)
Environment, symbols, language,
dressing, music, behaviours, customs
Deep Culture (Internal, Invisible, and Subconscious)
Beliefs, assumptions, values, stereotypes, attitudes, priorities
E.g. Roles in relation to age, sex, class, occupation etc