Course Goals and Objectives for the Business Job Shadow in Mexico:

The goal of this course is for each student to develop an understanding of international business and culture. The requirements for this course provide the opportunity to experience first hand how business is conducted in Mexico at a specific firm

 The specific objectives of this course are for each student to be able to:

• Gain an understanding of key aspects of Mexican history, culture, politics, and economy and how each of these elements affect current business activities in Mexico,
• Encounter several aspects of Mexican history and culture,
• Experience the culture and economic dynamics of the Mexican market place,
• Have first-hand interaction with Mexican business professionals,
• Expose Students to real international business situations related to their field of study
• Alert students to the need for cultural awareness and language skills.

Study of business,  the economy, and culture of Mexico.  Course will include  pre-tour workshops, activities in Mexico, and a post-tour session.  The pre-tour workshop will focus on business in Mexico, the relationship between business and Mexican culture, and the importance of interpersonal communications for business professionals.  The principal activity in Mexico will be a three-day job shadowing experience with a Mexican corporation.  Other scheduled events in Mexico consist of cultural immersion activities, visits to businesses, and presentations by experts on Mexican business.  Students are required to complete several pre-tour assignments, a  journal of their Mexican experiences and write a paper on a specific topic related to doing business in Mexico.

Study location(s): Mexico City

A more detailed description of the Business Job Shadow in Mexico activities can be found at http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/coba/international/mexico.htm

Grading Criteria and Tentative Dates:

• 20%  Daily Journal/logs while in Mexico due April 15, 2002
• 20%  Pre-tour Assignments and presentation
• 40% Term Paper/Project:
• Undergraduate Term Paper due on April 15, 2002
• Graduate Term Project  due on April 15, 2002
• 20% Participation

If you do not agree with a grade that you receive, you have three-weeks from the posting of the grade to contest it. For the final course grade, you have three-weeks from the postmarked date on your semester grades to contest. After three-weeks, I will not be willing to spend time with you discussing your grade (unless you have a documented reason for not having a conference within the allotted period).  Students have the responsibility of verifying  that the various components of your grades are correctly recorded.

1. Examinations:  No exams are required during this course.

2.  Assignments: Several short assignments will be given during the pre-tour sessions. Assignments are designed to prepare students for the business study tour and to keep students up-to-date with material being covered in class. Students may be required to turn in an assigned homework  to count as a quiz grade.  The required assignments as described below:

1.  Summarize two articles on the Mexican Economy.  Pick two short-articles or find two web sites that describe the current state of the Mexican Economy.    At least one of your sources should discuss Mexico's key export.  At least one source should describes the impact of the U.S. Economy on the Mexican Economy.  Turn in a paragraph summary for each article and the article at our first academic pre-tour session (2/20/02).

2.   Presentation and written summary of assigned topic during pre-tour session.  Each student will be assigned a group of topics to present and report on for one of the pre-tour sessions.   Each group of topics will include:  a historical time period, a cultural attribute and a management style.  The oral presentation portion should be limited to 15 minutes.  A summary report (1 to 2 pages) should be provided to other students.  This  report should summarize your key findings and provide a list of  sources and the type of information that is available at each source.  Students should also pick at least one comment from the Mexican Business Culture Section of  The Guide To Mexico For Business that relates to their topic group. Students will be assigned days and times to present during the pre-tour sessions.

3.  Participate in discussions relating to the letters found in Eva Kras's Management in Two Cultures (Distributed prior to first meeting on 2/6/02 or 2/14/02).  Turn in a one page written summary of how  Mr. Smith failed as a manager in Mexico and what he should have known about cross-cultural management as it relates to each student's assigned topics.  In your one page typed summary include discussion related to cultural traits and management styles as discussed by Kras (see one page handout).

4.  Summary report about company/organization where you will be doing your job shadowing.  Include a one page summary of their U.S. and Mexican operations, products/services, names of key managers in the US and Mexico and a financial summary (if available).  Review the organization's web site or other information and copy or print out information that you believe to be relevant to your job shadow experience.  Turn in a copy of this information along with your one page summary by March 8, 2002.

5.  Peer review/critique of student projects.  Each student will turn in 2 copies of their project (or one electronic copy).  One copy will be evaluated by the instructor.  The second copy will be reviewed by another student.  The peer reviews are due on April 29, 2002.  Students should not summarize the paper they are reviewing.

The one page review should:

• list the strengths and weaknesses of the paper,
• describe what the reviewing student would have done differently,
• provide one example from your Mexican experience that either confirms or is inconsistent with an issue discussed in the paper your are reviewing,
• indicate what the student learned from reading the student paper.

4. Paper/Projects: All final reports for each project are required to be typed. A brief description of each project is found below.

6.  Contact with me: As we proceed through the course, you may have difficulty and/or questions with some of the assigned course material. If you do not understand the material after it has been covered in class I encourage you to contact me during my office hours (or by appointment). E-mail will assure that I receive the message; i.e., HUFFMAN@uwosh.edu.

7. Citations: Several assignments and projects require that you properly cite sources of information. References to publications in the text should appear as follows: Brown and Warner (1985) report that . . . . At the end of the paper the complete list of references should be listed as follows or cites that are consistent with a style manual:

Online style manuals

 For journal articles:

Structure
Author. Title of item. [Online] Available http://address/filename, date of document or download.

Examples
DiStefano, Vince. Guidelines for better writing. [Online] Available http://www.usa.net/~vinced/home/better-writing.html, January 9, 1996.

Yule, James. The Cold War Revisited: A Splintered Germany. [Online] Available http://usa.coldwar.server.gov/index/cold.war/countries/former.soviet.block/G/germany.html, November 5, 1996.

For citing other internet sources such as e-mail or online images click here

8. Footnotes in the text must be numbered and typed at the bottom of the page where the footnote is made or on a separate page following the text (i.e., endnote). A footnote or endnote should be used to clarify the text, define terms, make comments, or to list additional sources. Footnotes provide additional information that would detract from the subject being discussed in the body of the text.

  9. Plagiarism Policy: You are required to do your own work. If you use the ideas or writings or others as your own, then you are plagiarizing. Avoid plagiarism by properly citing sources of information. If it is determined that your work contains plagiarized material, then your work will not be graded and you will be subject to disciplinary procedures as described in the student handbook.

10. Academic Integrity

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is committed to a standard of academic integrity for all students. The system guidelines state: "Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others’ academic endeavors." (s. UWS 14.01, Wisconsin Administrative Code). Students are subject to disciplinary action for academic misconduct, which is defined in s. UWS 14.03, Wisconsin Administrative Code.

Announcements

CLUBS

International Business Club has recently been formed. You can find more information at: http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/coba/international/homepage.html