BUU33802 Intercultural Management II 2025/26

(5 ECTS)

Lecturer:                  

Nick McIlroy                                                 

E-mail: mcilron@tcd.ie 
Office Hours: By appointment       

Available to Visiting Students

Module Description

This module explores how global management practices need to be modified and adjusted 
when working in a cross-cultural context. The focus of this module is on identifying cultural 
differences, understanding cultural biases, and appropriately adjusting management styles 
accordingly. The module demonstrates that a good level of cultural intelligence (CQ) is required 
to operate effectively around the globe. Learners gain the knowledge and understanding of 
various cultures in business to improve CQ. 

Managers with cultural intelligence (CQ) ensure: 

• better communications among and between managers and teams
• drive better solutions for innovation 
• facilitate high performance management in a global setting

Learning and Teaching Approach

This class will be conducted face-to-face with some hybrid elements on Blackboard for you to 
complete. You are required to take accountability for your study and timely progress throughout 
the class. You are also responsible to check Blackboard at least twice a week to ensure that you 
stay informed on due dates or changes that may occur. The module maintains a strong applied 
approach to learning with the inclusion of a team-based cultural research project. This allows 
students to draw from the material presented throughout the sessions and use the content as the 
backbone for their project. There will also be an individual assignment to ensure that you 
understand and have the ability to critically analyse the key concepts delivered within course.

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module, the student should be able to:

1. Perform systematic comparative research, allowing them to identify patterns and 
   distinctions of management practices in various cultural settings, and the risks they 
   present; 
2. Have a heightened awareness of how management practices both affect, and are affected 
   by, the cultural environment in which the manager operates; 
3. Critically assess the leading theories and concepts of this field of study; 
4. Develop enhanced cultural awareness and the ability to self-reflect on one’s own cultural 
   identity;
5. Augment an understanding of certain specific cultural contexts, thereby allowing them to 
   become less ethnocentric and more tolerant of other cultures; 
6. Identify cultural etiquette, gestures, and symbols across the globe which will equip them 
   to manage and negotiate at an international level.

Relation to Degree

This module draws from several Programme-Level Learning Goals for the Global Business 
Programmes including: Identify, critically evaluate and synthesis the substantive theories, 
frameworks and models that are used in cultural management; Analyse and solve a variety of 
problems from a multi-disciplinary knowledge basis of theories, tools and techniques; 
Communicate effectively in oral and written modes in professional and academic settings; Apply 
knowledge and understanding of the social and ethical dimensions of management and research 
in both the public and private sectors of society and to apply this knowledge effectively in 
management and research contexts; Work effectively as an individual and in teams; and 
Demonstrate the ability to engage productively with a changing social, cultural and technological 
environment.

Workload

This course carries 5 ECTS credits.

Each credit corresponds to circa 10-15 hours of work, amounting to about 150-200 hours in total workload. This includes the time spent attending lectures, reading the course texts in preparation for exams, working in groups for the assignment, and presentations.

Textbooks and Required Resources

Required textbooks: Logan, Dave, King, John, Fischer-Wright, Halee (2011) Tribal Leadership Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization.

Recommended reading: Browaeys & Roger Price (2015) Understanding cross-cultural management 3rd ed.  ISBN: 978-12920- 15897 (or later edition).

Each week I will upload articles on Blackboard for you to read along with the course content. Please make sure that you read these as they will be of immense value to you when preparing your group project.

Assessment

In addition to attendance and class participation, there are two areas that you must pass in order 
to successfully complete the class 1. the group project report and 2. an individual assignment. 
Points cannot be carried over to make up for a lower grade in one section. Student assessment 
and due dates are found in the Table below. More specific information follows, and detailed 
instructions and grading rubrics are located on the Blackboard page for this module. Students 
have 14 calendar days from the release of feedback/grades for each assessment to arrange a 
meeting with the professor pertaining to further understanding the grade and feedback given. Any 
requests after this timeline will not be granted.

Attendance & Class Participation 10%:  All students are expected to attend lectures weekly and 
to engage in class discussions and activities. In-class discussions with your peer-group forms an 
important part of cross-cultural learning and development. In line with TBS policies, regular poor 
attendance may be grounds for students not passing the module. The module leader should be 
informed by email ahead of the lecture (where possible) if a student cannot attend. 

Individual Case Study Assignment 55%:  You are required to analyse and write up a case study 
report (2,000 words excluding appendices) on the documentary film “American Factory”. Further 
assignment information will be presented on blackboard. You are required to submit your paper 
via blackboard and Turnitin in week 8 of term. 

Group project report 35%: Each group selects an Irish based company that is domestic. You 
are required to design and develop a report for the board of directors of that company assessing 
the likelihood for success if set up a subsidiary abroad. Once you decide on the company, the 
lecturer will give you a country market to enter. Your report will pay particular attention to the 
cultural differences of the country you are entering. All lecture sessions that we cover will feed 
directly into this project. Once your group decides on a company you must run it by the lecturer 
to ensure it is an appropriate choice. Once it has been approved, you will be given a country that 
your company will look at entering. Your job as a group is to research and evaluate the cultural 
issues that you may have to overcome while trying to enter the country. At the end of the report, 
and based on the information you provided, you will recommend whether or not the company 
should open in the country. You will be assessed on the information you provide to support your 
decision and not the decision itself. So, for example, if is it clear that the company would fail in 
the chosen country then you need to address why, and you will be graded on your justification as 
opposed to the point that it would fail. 
Company selection is on a first come first serve basis. I will post a list of groups and companies 
as they come in on Blackboard for you. I will also include the Country that I have allocated for 
each group. Your group must check this information on a regular basis when deciding on your 
company to ensure it has not been taken already. Additional information along with grading rubrics 
can be found on Blackboard. 

TURNITIN 
Assignments in this course will be checked for plagiarism using Turnitin, a Web-based resource 
that compares the text of student papers to an extensive electronic database. You are not allowed 
to submit a report that you have submitted or partially submitted to another module. If this happens 
the group will receive a Fail grade. 

LATE SUBMISSION POLICY 
Late group assignment submission will be penalised by 10% off the assignment grade for each 
overdue day, unless prior authorisation was given by the lecturer. 
If there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from sitting the test/presentation please 
contact the lecturer prior to the submission date. If contact has not been made with the lecture 
prior to date of submission, no resit will be permitted. This is a hard rule to ensure fairness to all 
students in the class

Biographical Note

Nick McIlroy is a Teaching Fellow within the Trinity Business School. In addition to 
having several years lecturing experience as Visiting Professor at the triple-accredited 
ESSCA School of Management’s Shanghai campus, he has a broad range of 
management experience in both Public and Private sectors, practicing in a global 
business environment. Nick has lived and worked in East and Southeast Asia, 
Australia, Europe and the USA. His research and consulting interests focus on EU-Asia 
trade and investment relations, agribusiness, and migrant networks and 
entrepreneurship. Nick is a graduate and scholar of Trinity College, and a fluent 
speaker of Mandarin