Assessment

Please note that you must submit your assignment via Blackboard and on Turn-it-in

Essay

Write a 3,500 word essay on how contemporary international firms practice the following international management functions: political risk management, ethical behaviour, and human resource management. See essay structure/content section below for specifics.

The central purpose of your essay is explaining and discussing the above international management functions. However, you must also identify:

• Any relationships or connections between the functions (ethics, political risk management and HR management)

• Any changes or new patterns of corporate behaviour that have emerged in each of these areas.

The essay should include relevant academic literature/research in support. This means your explanations and discussions have to be supported with citations and/or quotes. Although you will be able to identify relevant studies in the reference list in the lecture slides, you are strongly advised to identify and collect other studies through own research efforts on google scholar and/or through the e-journal portals within library gate (such as pro-quest, emerald, business source complete).

But you should further support your discussion with recent corporate examples (from the last three years).  Use brief vignettes of corporate examples, and not to overboard the essay with examples. Please ensure your examples are relevant to the argument (s) you are making and are sourced/referenced.

Required Essay Structure and Content

• Introduction (between 150 and 200 words)

• Main section:

The main thrust of the essay should include a discussion on the following topics:

A. Explain and contrast the strategies to manage international political risk.

B. Explain and contrast the purpose and implications of two ethical theories for managing ethics within international business.

C. Explain and contrast the various approaches to staffing (including the ethnocentric, polycentric and geocentric staffing models, and the choice of women managers).

The space afforded to A, B and C should be fairly balanced but does not have to be exact.

• Conclusion (between 150 and 200 words).

Answers to potential questions?

What do you mean by explain and contrast?

Within the respective functional area (e.g, political risk management), explain the various approaches with adequate detail as opposed to a simple listing of the approaches. Then, contrast the approaches – identify some points of difference and/or commonality.

Can I offer some critique of the approaches within the respective areas (political risk, ethics and IHRM)?

Yes, you can. Pointing out some advantages and disadvantages is always useful for explaining and comparing.

How many corporate examples do I use?

No precise number but make sure each topic area (A, B and C) has at least two examples.  I would aim to avoid having too many examples overall because this will only reduce the flow of discussion and quality of content. We should see more academic literature/citations than corporate examples.

What should I do when I cannot find a corporate example for a specific approach?

Don’t worry about it. It is not necessary to assign an example for each approach.

Are there any other rules about using corporate examples?

Yes. They must be in the last three years. Following good practice for any formal document, please also provide a source to the information on the example within the essay. The corporate examples can be from any sector, nationality,and size of company. But if you want to use examples from the same sector or nationality, then that’s fine.

What do mean by connections or relationships between the topics/themes?

This simply means where one theme impacts the other. For example, the company’s primary approach to ethical management in foreign operations should impact their foreign staffing and vice versa.   

How do I present the material which teases out some connections between the topics?  

It is best to state the connection within the relevant section and possibly cross-reference to the other related section.  Do not have a stand-alone section for this material. Rather the connections between the topics (e.g., HRM and Ethics) should be integrated within the essay.

How many connections do I identify?

It is difficult nor unnecessary to state a precise number of connections. But suffice to say, the bulk of the essay should be based on explaining and discussing the approaches in parts A, B and C. Even so, aim to identify several connections between political risk management, ethic approaches and the IHRM issues of staffing.

However, rather than seeking to list many, concentrate more on making credible connections with relevant support from the literature (if possible). Quality over quantity!

How do I present the material on new developments or patterns of behaviour in the area?

Aim to integrate the new developments within sections A, B and C.  For example, when explaining political risk management strategies, you may identify how a political risk strategy has been increasingly emphasized over others; maybe because of new developments in the political environment. Or you may identify combinations of behaviour, or the use of certain strategies in certain situations. It is one goal of the essay for you to check if any new developments exist and their nature.  

Do I use the report format for this assignment?

No. It is an essay.

Do I write in the first or third person?

The format of writing does not matter. It is up to you.

Can I use tables or diagrams?

Yes. These are not included in the word count.

What’s also not included in the word count?

References.

Can I go below or above the word count?

Yes, by 10% below or above the 3,500-word cap.

Submission of Assignments

Please check blackboard for assignment deadline notification around the beginning of the module. Late submissions without good reason will be penalised as per university regulations.Make sure you keep a copy of all work submitted.

How will student feedback be obtained on this module and how will this be used?

Marks and feedback for assignments will be available via grade centre.

EXTENSIONS

These may be granted, but ONLY by the Student Support Officer and NOT by the Module Leaders or seminar tutors. Please contact the student support officer for your course or speak to SHIP

SUPPORT FOR YOUR WORK

Do not hesitate to contact your tutors and module leaders for advice and guidance regarding successfully completing the module.

REFERENCING

This must be carried out thoroughly, and all work must be fully referenced in the APA style. Detail on APA style referencing is available on Library website.

This is an academic programme of study and failure to reference and acknowledge sources could be deemed as academic dishonesty or plagiarism and penalised.

?