ANT 3850 CULTURE AND BUSINESS

This course is an in-depth, hands-on exploration of the interplay between elements of culture, social institutions and business settings. The instructor will guide students through an understanding of the concepts of culture and social institutions. Students will investigate, through research and reflection, how the culture and social institutions of a particular country or world region of their choosing are essential to various aspects of business, such as product development, marketing, and preparation for an international business trip and/or meeting.             

Credits

4

Cross Listed Courses

SOC 3850

Offered

• Fall
• Spring

Course Outcomes

1. Course Objectives: Throughout the course students are expected to:
   
   • Read, think critically, discuss and write about the interconnectedness of world economies, cultures and societies.
   • Understand various contrasting value systems, such as individual versus collective, egalitarian versus hierarchical, change-embracing versus change-fearing, linear-time versus flexible-time, consensual versus top-down, task-based versus relationship-based, and how they influence people’s thinking, leadership styles and the conduct of global business.
   • Distinguish between high-context versus low-context societies and how their differences affect the process of cross-cultural communication, partnership, persuasion, negotiation, and evaluation.
   • Analyze why cross-cultural communication (verbal and nonverbal) sometimes gets short-circuited in spite of our best intentions.
   • Identify and analyze on how culture is acquired through learning and social institutions and is constantly undergoing change in the twenty-first century.
   • Distinguish between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism and how each influences the conduct of global business.
   • Learn and demonstrate --through research, reflection, writing and presentation-- how insights, concepts, theories, and methods of cultural anthropology and sociology have been applied to local, national and global business management, negotiation, consumer research, product development and marketing.