INDU1033 Managing Across Cultures Term 2 Module Handbook 2026-27 | UoG

INDU1033 Module Handbook

Module Details and Learning Outcomes

Host faculty: Business

Host school: Business, Operations and Strategy Number of credits: 15

Term of delivery: Term 1

Site of delivery: Greenwich Maritime Campus
 
Pre-requisite modules: N/A

Co-requisite modules: N/A

Aims:

The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of leading, managing, and developing people across national cultures. The module content is analysed at the individual, group, and organisational levels of organisations and examines the main theoretical frameworks and models that address motivation, communication, negotiation, leadership, multicultural teamwork, and diversity in cross-cultural contexts. At the same time, students are encouraged to engage in regular reflection and read empirical research to develop competencies and practical skills for effectively leading, managing, and developing people across cultures.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to:

• Critically evaluate the impact of national cultures on organisational practices from various theoretical perspectives
• understand and adequately interpret culturally conditioned managerial behaviours, attitudes and values
• develop personally successful methods to function effectively in a culturally diverse environment, both locally and globally
• Identify opportunities and challenges of cultural influences on human resource management practices regarding communication, negotiation, motivation, leadership in the global environment, and obtain skills to manage a multicultural workforce.

Glossary:

• A pre-requisite module must have been completed successfully before taking this module.
• A co-requisite module must be taken alongside this module.
• A learning outcome is a subject-specific statement that defines the learning to be achieved through completing this module.

Key Dates

2025/2026 Term Dates

Please note that dates may differ depending on when you start your programme of study and where you are studying. Please refer to https://docs.gre.ac.uk/rep/sas/term-dates for full details, and details of university closure dates.

Academic Calendar 2025–2026

Employability

Several employability skills are embedded in the curriculum. In the seminar, all three categories of employability skills will be formatively assessed through interactive activities. In the summative assessments, your cognitive skills, personal capabilities and organisational awareness will be assessed.

Cognitive Skills

Being exposed to a comparison of national cultures confronts students with the international environment they will most likely experience after graduation. The module directs students to the way in which these different systems and cultures impact the way individuals and organisations operate across borders and across cultures.

Generic Competencies

Group work and presentation skills, setting goals including influencing, planning, questioning, listening, persuading, and interpersonal sensitivity, will be used in the seminar. Group work in the seminar involves the capability to integrate tasks and communicate.The first module assessment also has substantial written elements that emphasise clear formatting, spelling, and grammar within a clear, well-reasoned narrative.

Personal Capabilities and Organisational Awareness

Students may be confronted with outside speakers and gain the opportunity to develop employability skills outside the classroom. Also, opportunities are offered to find out about organisations and the way they deal or could deal with expats and how individuals can best cope with the demands of such a role, a feature of a possible career where students may want to pursue.

In addition, students will be presented with researchers and research in the field, which could involve opportunities for research into current trends in HRM and how MNCs operate globally.

Information about the Career Centre is available at: Employability and Careers | University of Greenwich

You can find out more about the Greenwich Employability Passport at: Greenwich Employability Passport for students.

Information about the Career Centre is available at: Employability and Careers | University of Greenwich.

You can also use LinkedIn Learning to gain access to thousands of expert-led courses to support your ongoing personal development. More information can be found at: LinkedIn learning | IT and library services

Schedule of Teaching and Learning Activities

• Teaching methods used in this module include lectures, role play exercises, case studies, interactive group discussions, self-assessments, videos, online quizzes, and discussion fora. Learning in this module requires the student’s constructive participation and active involvement in both class discussions and small group discussions. The module is designed to facilitate academic and student involvement in research, analysis, and dialogue. Small group discussions are a key mechanism for facilitating learning from other group members.
• This module emphasises student-centred learning. We have a long history of high student evaluation of the module, especially on the module organisation and the teaching team’s knowledge, expertise and student support. Students have found it appreciative that learning analytics were used to audit their learning progress. Please check your timetable, https://timetable.gre.ac.uk/, every week to learn what form of class to attend.

There are 12 weeks of sessions overall. Each session will comprise a lecture presentation to discuss a topic area, and a seminar where students will work in groups to analyse case studies, execute practical exercises and/or deliver presentations. There will also be assignment help sessions for case analysis and the exam. In the seminar, the teaching team will guide the case discussions and reflections on self-assessments. Students will contribute by analysing case studies and engaging with practical exercises in learning sessions and reflecting upon the self-assessments. In addition, there is a self-directed learning session where students are required and/or recommended to read/watch learning materials (articles, case studies, texts, videos) by the recommended deadlines and prepare notes for each session. Self-directed learning materials are available on Moodle.

In addition to the teaching and learning activities within the module, additional study support can be seen at Academic Skills. You are encouraged to book 1-2-1 appointments with Academic Skills tutors to help brush up on your academic writing skills. 

Assessment

Assessment schedule

Case Analysis (70%)

You are required to conduct a thorough analysis on one of the two assigned case studies: American Factory (a Netflix documentary of 1 hour and 50 mins. Subscription required) or Time for a Change: Managing Cross-cultural Issues in Barbados (a written case). 
  
There is no exact way of doing a case study analysis. However, it is strongly recommended that you use the Tompkins (2002) case analysis guideline provided in your second seminar, as it is simple yet effective. Additional resources about case analysis will also be made available on Moodle.

Once you select and read a case study, link your analysis to the key theoretical concepts covered in weekly topics covered throughout the module. By key theoretical concepts, we mean concepts covered in the lecture, seminar, and self-directed learning. You should not simply mention those concepts; instead, you need to apply the Ruane & Chappel (2018) IDEAL framework in writing. The IDEAL framework is found to be a useful technique to improve the quality of written work.

You should view your job similar to a cross-cultural management consultant considering why problems occur (or may occur) in your client’s company, and what factors should determine what recommendations should be used. Remember, though case analysis is a very practical approach, you are expected to do your analysis in proper academic style and with adequate engagement with the cross-cultural management of literature. You may look for ways to include both qualitative and quantitative analysis, graphs, and other visuals to support your analysis, and the various tools and insights from this module. Appropriate case study and empirical materials means evidence most likely to come from searching using academic databases, directly from journals or from other sources suitable to academic study. It does not include descriptions of company policies drawn from the internet. These might be used in an illustrate way to support a point, but would need to be supported with relevant, quality evidence.

Previously, students who achieved well on case analysis demonstrated abilities to integrate their understanding of information of the case, theoretical explanations, and feasible solutions informed by the literature. The teaching team will be looking for 1) rigour of analysis (depth and support), 2) breadth of coverage (number of issues), and 3) style (uniqueness of analysis, creativity).

The final product should be in the essay format. That is, you should use full sentences and paragraphs in writing; avoid using bullet points as bullet points do not help with argument development.

Exam (30%)

You will be tested to measure your learning for the entire module at the end of the term. Your exam will take place during the exam period specified above. Details of exam arrangements will be provided closer to the time (in Seminar 10 or 11). The examination is in the format of multiple- choice questions (MCQ) on Moodle. You have 2 hours to take the exam, but you can only attempt ONCE and you can neither skip any question nor be able to go back to a previous question once you proceed to the next page. To be successful in the examination, it is imperative that you review all lecture and seminar materials (including all exercises) and self-directed learning thoroughly.

• You will be supported towards your assessment in class through in-class activities that will practice some of the skills you will be applying to your case analysis. There will be seminars dedicated to preparation of the final Case Analysis and your Exam.
• Feedback: Feedback on your Case Analysis will be provided in written form through the rubric and general feedback highlighting areas you have done well in, what could be improved and what you can take forward to future assignments. Generic feedback on your exam will be provided via Moodle within 15 working days.

Marking Rubric

Your Case Analysis is assessed according to the following marking rubric:

Coursework is marked on the understanding that it is the student’s own work on the module and it has not, in whole or part, been presented elsewhere for assessment. Where material has been used from other sources, this must be properly acknowledged in accordance with the U  regulations regarding Assessment Misconduct.

Marking, Feedback and Next Steps

To pass this module, you must achieve 50+.

For coursework, the marks and feedback will normally be provided to students within fifteen working days of the submission deadline. In exceptional circumstances, where there is a delay in providing feedback, you will be informed by the module leader.

If you do not pass a module at the first attempt, you will likely be eligible for a resit opportunity on the failed assessments. The Progression and Award Board (PAB) will decide whether you will be offered an opportunity to resit. Note that marks on resit assessments are capped at 50% unless an extenuation has been applied for and granted.

The marking is a rigorous process that includes the following stages:

• The module leader provides tutors with a clear marking scheme, the same as that you can find in the module handbook.
• Mock grading: The module leader meets with the team of tutors and discusses the marking criteria; then, a mock grading exercise takes place. Every tutor independently marks the
• Standardisation: After grading, tutors discuss the breakdown of the marks awarded to each piece of work they have graded and the marks are compared across tutors. This standardisation process ensures that everyone is marking within the agreed marking scheme and that everyone is providing same quality of feedback.
• Real grading: After the mock grading and standardisation process, the real grading occurs. Each tutor marks the allocated scripts. After first marking, the module leader then sends a list of all grades and a sample of the graded scripts to a moderating tutor. The sample must be representative of the grades in that cohort. The teaching team use a feedback sandwich approach to provide written feedback in the turnitin general comments box.
• Moderation: The moderating tutor will check that the sample is marked consistently and accordance with the marking scheme discussed in the mock grading meeting. The moderating tutor will send back their comments on the distribution of the grades.

Academic Misconduct

Coursework is assessed on the understanding that it is the student’s own work for this module and that it has not, as a whole or in part, been submitted previously for assessment. Any material taken from other sources must be properly acknowledged in line with the University’s Academic Misconduct Regulations.

Students are expected to take responsibility for the integrity of their own work. Any improper behaviour or activity that may give you an advantage in a summative assessment is an act of academic misconduct. This includes, but is not limited to, using published work without reference, copying another person’s work and bringing unauthorised material into an examination. 

A useful guide to how plagiarism is defined, why and how to avoid it is available online.  https://www.gre.ac.uk/articles/ils/credibility-and-avoiding-plagiarism

As an additional risk reduction measure related to increasing use of Artificial Intelligence, tutors reserve the right to randomly select students for in- person interviews to verify students’ knowledge of their case analysis. If a student fails to deliver a presentation on request, their work will be reported for plagiarism investigation at the time of assessment.

Further information, including the procedure for investigating an alleged offence and the penalties that may be applied, can be found in the Assessment Misconduct Policy and Procedure.    

https://docs.gre.ac.uk/rep/sas/academic-misconduct-policy-and-procedure-taught- awards

If your assessment submission is viewed as a potential case of academic misconduct, you will not see a mark on the mark release date. Also, your module leader (or in some cases, module tutor) should have reported your case to the Conduct Team, and they will explain to you in the Turnitin general comment box the reason why your submission is not marked. You will then be invited to an investigative interview with a panel on a mutually agreed date and time. After the interview, the panel will decide, and the Conducts Team will process your case. Depending on the severity of your case, the decision may be ‘not upheld,’ ‘partially upheld- penalty applied,’ or ‘academic offence- failed.’ Then you will see your mark after a decision from the investigative interview.

Resit Assessments

Assessment Schedule:

If you do not pass a module at the first attempt, you may be eligible for a resit opportunity on the failed assessments. This will be confirmed after the Progression and Award Board (PAB). The PAB date will be communicated in the future. An official results letter from the University will be available via Portal within 10 days of the PAB.

Once your results letter indicates a re-sit opportunity, you can contact the Module Leader (see Section entitled ‘Key contacts’) and receive an online session to prepare for the re-sit assignment. If you are not able to attend the online session, you can watch the session recording in your own time.

Before submission you should seek feedback from your tutor to ensure that the new submission will pass. Your resubmission should be prefaced with a short (200 word) commentary outlining how the resubmission has been revised. Please send the draft to your tutor at least 5 working days before the re-sit submission deadline. For any late submission draft, your tutor has a right not to provide feedback to you.

A re-sit Turnitin submission link will appear on the module Moodle site and please submit your work by the specified deadline.

Note that marks on a re-sit assessment are capped at a pass mark (i.e., 50%) unless extenuating circumstances has been applied for and accepted in the first-sit. All resit coursework received after the submission deadline will be treated as a non-submission and given a grade of 0% or fail, unless an EC claim is submitted and approved. For further details, see your programme handbook.

The re-sits assessments will be the same piece of work for the case analysis. However, for the exam, there will be different questions covering all module topics in MCQ format.

The resit PAB is scheduled to take place on TBC.

For further details on resit assessments, please see section on Resit assessments below. The assessment and feedback policy can be accessed at Assessment and Feedback Policy.

For resit guidance please, refer to the original assessment guidance. Module teaching team will be available for one round of consultations based on the feedback provided by the markers in the first round.

Resource Recommendations

The following are suggested readings for the module. Additional, more detailed reading recommendations will be provided for the module topics.

You can check availability of the resources by using  the  search tool LibrarySearch at
https://librarysearch.gre.ac.uk.

The following are core textbooks for the module. You are expected to get a hard copy of the Meyer (2016) book. Additionally, links of e-book chapters and journal articles listed in Section entitled Weekly Schedule will be available on Moodle.

Additional module Information

Activities:

To help you make the most out of this module, we recommend that you follow the module’s 1-2-3 engagement model: Every week you are expected to invest 1 hour in attending the lecture, attend  1 hour live seminar according to your timetable, and spend 3 hours in engaging with Self-directed Learning (SDL) tasks. Your attendance at the lecture and the seminar will be recorded.

You are also expected to regularly check module updates made by the teaching team via Microsoft Teams and the module’s Moodle page.

Resources:

The teaching team members hold weekly office hours (See Section entitled Key contacts). INDU1033 students are welcome to attend their office hours for additional queries and support. Additional study support can also be seen at: Academic Skills. You are encouraged to book 1-2-1 appointments with Academic Skills tutors to help brush up on your academic writing skills.

Almost all module recommended book chapters and journal articles can be accessed via LibrarySearch and Online databases and academic journals.

Costs:

To maximise your learning experience in the module, there are two additional costs associated with learning in the module. First, you are expected to get a hard copy of the Meyer (2016) book (Available for purchase on Amazon.co.uk). Second, a video case study may be used in the module and students are expected to have a thorough analysis of a documentary, TBC.

Changes to the Module

At the University of Greenwich, we value feedback from students as well as External Examiners and other stakeholders, and we use this information to help us improve our provision.

Important note: The University of Greenwich will do all that it reasonably can to deliver the module and support your learning as specified in our handbooks and other information provided. However, under some circumstances, changes may have to be made. This may include modifications to the:

• content and syllabus of modules, including in relation to placements
• timetable, location and number of classes
• content or method of delivery of your module
• timing and method of assessments.

This might be because of, for example:

• academic changes within subject areas
• the unanticipated departure or absence of members of university staff
• where the numbers expected on a module are so low that it is not possible to deliver an appropriate quality of education for students enrolled on it
• industrial action by university staff or third parties
• the acts of any government or local authority
• acts of terrorism.

In these circumstances, the university will take all reasonable steps to minimise disruption by making reasonable modifications. However, to the full extent that it is possible under the general law, the university excludes liability for any loss and/or damage suffered by any applicant or student due to these circumstances.

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