Students will utilize the following case study to complete this assignment.

This case is focused on managing cross-cultural communication. When teams consist of people

from different cultures working apart from one another in different locations, social distance or a

lack of emotional connection can cause miscommunication, misunderstanding, and distrust. For

this assignment, student assumes that she/he works as a newly hired manager of a global team

for a multinational organization that is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The companys

executive team has tasked the global team manager with devising an effective plan to

communicate the emergence of a potential pandemic with the firms branches in Italy, India,

United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Brazil. The company needs to be proactive to manage risks

and operational changes that the pandemic could cause locally and globally. The manager must

take into account cultural differences among the global teams and incorporate relevant

implications into the plan for communication purposes.

Student must develop a multilayered plan. In the first section of the plan, student should present

a Cross-Cultural Engagement Framework, which can be a list of 5-8 categories of distinct

practices that enable a manager to understand and communicate more effectively with

individuals from a particular cultural group (e.g., verbal and non-verbal behaviors, approaches to

conflict, communication style). Subsequently, student will utilize the list to guide her/his

research to identify the specific practices relevant to each country mentioned above. For

instance, what is a common approach that Italians utilize to deal with conflict? Student needs to

organize the plan in a manner to dedicate individual sections to each cultural group. Next,

informed by the list of specific practices for each population, student should offer an effective

strategy that can assist her/him to achieve engagement. This section answers the question, Now

that I know about this groups culture, what strategy can I use to effectively deliver the message

about the potential pandemic and its implications? Possible components to address in the

section of Engagement Strategy include a highly customized message to deliver the news to

the group of interest, medium and technology (e.g., email, live meeting, and multiple channels),

frequency of communication, expected response time, managing two-way feedback, expression

of disagreement, and ensuring inclusion, and potential communication barriers and associated

mitigation strategies. The integration of the Cross-Cultural Engagement Framework and