Jeni DiSalvo

350 Carver Hall

Iowa State University

 

disalvo@iastate.edu

 

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English 314 Assignment

  English 314 Syllabus English 314 Schedule English 314 Grades  

Letter to Instructor

 

 

Culture Report

 

 

Due Date

See latest version of the schedule.

 

 

Objectives

This assignment is designed to enhance your ability to

  • Work effectively in a collaborative writing environment,
  • Write, design, and develop a solicited report,
  • Interact in a diverse cultural environment, and
  • Present information effectively in a boardroom setting.

 

Tasks required to complete this assignment include

  • Interview
  • Progress Report
  • Boardroom Presentation
  • Complete, formal Report

 

 

Description

Your organization will be participating in a global project that involves personnel from many different countries and parts of the United States.  You have been asked, as a committee, to research the various cultures that will be represented by the personnel who will be visiting our organization or to where we will be sending our personnel to work.  You must report to the organization regarding the business culture (and possible cultural differences) that will impact our organization as we work with these people.

We must avoid making cultural mistakes during this project, or we jeopardize the success of the project and the image of our organization.  You must ensure your material is not only pertinent for the situation but reliable.

You are NOT writing a marketing report for the area, so avoid statistics and information that will determine feasibility of doing business in that area.  You only need information that will allow your colleagues to work in that business atmosphere or to work with personnel from that culture.

Your responsibilities include

  • Determining what adjustments (i.e. clothing, non-verbal communication, color trends, gender biases, etc.) you will need to make to present a successful proposal to people from that culture,
  • Defining what elements will create a convincing argument for people from that culture, and
  • Reporting back to me, your boss, on the decisions that you made for success in that area.

Your final report should be submitted to me in the format you know (from your notes and readings) is appropriate for this type of communication between you and your colleagues, including the CEO of your organization.  Be sure to include all pertinent research in your report.

Each member of the group will research his or her own culture, but the group will present a single, unified report with cover page, table of contents, and appendix.

You will present your findings in a boardroom presentation.

 

 

Evaluation

The report is worth 100 points:

  • 50 pts. for content (including 15 points for annotated bibliography--submitted as part of the appendix),
  • 20 pts. for application,
  • 20 pts. for mechanics,
  • 10 pts. for preparation and creativity.

The group will present the information for the report as a group in a “board room” setting.

Group presentation of this report is worth 50 points:

  • 20 pts. for personal presentation,
  • 20 pts. for content,
  • 10 pts. for group interaction and planning.

      

Your personal rewrite of your own segment of this report will be work another 100 points in accordance with the point values specified below.

Content 45-50 points 35-44 points 25-34 points 0-24 points
  Excellent content and audience/purpose driven approach to meet the needs of the organization and situation. Good content and connection to audience/purpose, but lacking elements that give your organization effective tools for the meeting. Some good content but lacking audience or purpose connection or important information for effective communication in that culture. No, or few, aud/purp driven details.  Weak or inappropriate delivery.
Application 18-20 points 13-17 points 8-12 points 0-7 points
  Appropriate use of text and lecture material and a clear intuition of aud/purp driven document. Document is usable and interesting. Demonstrates good use of text and lecture material with good execution. Document is effective but lacking format or minor informational points that might be important. Demonstrates some concepts of text or lecture in content, but missing important elements of aud/purp. analysis or formatting. Inappropriate format and content for aud/purp. of document.
Mechanics 16-20 points 12-15 points 6-11 points 0-5 points
0-1 punctuation or grammar error per page. 2 punctuation or grammar error per page. 3 punctuation or grammar error per page. 4 or more grammar errors per page.
Creativity & Prep. 9-10 points 5-8 points 3-4 points 0-2 point
Demonstrates creativity and forethought.  No typos or editing errors. Demonstrates some creativity and no editing errors. Demonstrates some creativity and one editing error per page. Demonstrates little or no creativity and contains 2 or more editing errors per page.

 

To see a Sample Culture Report (not necessarily an "A" paper).

 

 

Memo to Instructor

Project Management Plan

Culture Report

Boardroom Presentation

Vacation Letter

Proposal

PowerPoint Presentation

Web Page