You will be required to answer TEN (10) identifications, FOUR (4) short answers, and ONE (1) long essay. The identifications are worth up to 5 points each, the short answers are worth up to 25 points each, and the long essay is worth up to 50 points. The entire midterm exam is worth up to 200 points.
The exam covers lecture, discussion, course readings, videos (“The Harvest”, Jim Crow Museum virtual tour), and other coursework. You are expected to integrate this course information as well as appropriate examples (including lifelong learning, Haitian/Honduran/Paraguayan group interactions, etc.) into your answers; the best answers will do so.
Part I: Identifications (who, what, when, where, and why [as appropriate] in relation to the course):
You are required to identify TEN (10) of the following terms. Cleary indicate which terms you are answering. Each identification is worth up to 5 points apiece (as a guideline, about 1 robust paragraph (5-6 sentences) in length with appropriate examples).
<50 Points possible>
Acculturation/Assimilation
Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, Pelados
Borderlife Project
Caricatures of racism
Cloud of witnesses
Colonias
Contact hypothesis
Cultural bias
Discrimination
Cultural agility
Diversity
IB blunder(s)
Jim Crow
South Texas/LRGV
Maquiladoras
Mexican street children
Diversity
High/Low Context Culture/Language
Migrant cycle
Race/ethnicity (as categories)
Racism/Racial Framing/Prejudice/Bigotry
Rotoo (bewilderment)
Protocol
Cultural imperative
Social equality/inequality
Spiritual education (seishin kyooiku)
Stereotypes
Stigma of inferiority
Structural bias
Vicious Circle of Inequality (the Theory of
Cumulative Causation)
Part II: Short Answer Questions
You are required to write short answers to FOUR (4) of the following short answer questions below. Answer one question each from the designated areas (as a guideline, roughly 3 to 5 robust paragraphs in length with appropriate examples). Each short answer is worth up to 25 points apiece. <100 points possible>
Area A:
Answer ONE (1) of the following questions. Clearly indicate the question you are answering.
1. Compare and contrast cultural avoidance, cultural dominance, cultural compromise, cultural accommodation, and culture synergy in navigating cultures. Provide several examples throughout your answer based upon course readings and materials.
2. Within the cultural context of Blunders in International Business,
a. What are some of the major “causes” of blunders? Explain.
b. What are the primary “tools” to avoid such blunders? Explain.
Describe using at least five specific stories from the text in your answer.
3. Ricks suggests six areas for concern (potential blunders) for multinational institutions: adaptation, nationalism, promotion, translation, English as the global business language, and market research. Recalling the entire book, is this list complete? Why or why not? Discuss (illustrate with appropriate examples.)
Area B:
Answer ONE (1) of the following questions. Clearly indicate the question you are answering.
4. Why are colonias a unique feature of South Texas? Are colonias blight, criminal havens, and health hazards or are colonias integral to achieving the American Dream? Explain (utilizing appropriate examples from course readings/materials).
5. What makes South Texas unique? [See for example foundational histories [including the eras laid out as segregation, post-WW II, Chicano, and the post-Chicano], Hispanic population, population growth/demography, geography, socio-economic performance (e.g., education, poverty, well-being, work, and unemployment), la frontera [the border], violence, displacement, police interaction, access to medical care, connection to Mexico, immigration.] Explain.
6. Describe the managerial traits (or style) attributable to Mexicans and Americans according to Kras in Management in Two Cultures (e.g., work/leisure, direction/supervision, theory/practice, control, staffing, loyalty, competition, training and development, and time and planning). How is this helpful in navigating business cultures? Explain.
Area C:
Answer ONE (1) of the following questions. Clearly indicate the question you are answering.
7. Evaluate this statement in the context of South Texas: “Domestic labor has been described as an occupational bridge that may foster acculturation and social mobility of immigrants and migrants from traditional societies on the one hand, to an occupational dead end that traps and exploit’s them on the other” (p. 106).
8. Describe the interplay between push/pull, and hold/repel forces in the migration decision for undocumented maids. Illustrate with appropriate examples from course readings.
9. Describe the role of class, culture, and ethnicity (i.e., “the structure of social situations and the cultural definitions of this situation”) play in the treatment of maids in South Texas. Illustrate with appropriate examples from course readings.
Area D:
Answer ONE (1) of the following questions. Clearly indicate the question you are answering.
10. Why is inequality a larger concern than poverty in South Texas/Northern Mexico borderlands region? Discuss fully with multiple appropriate examples.
11. In relation to the first part of the Batos book, connect bigotry, cultural bias, exploitation, and structural bias within the South Texas-Northern Mexico borderlands region (see Table CI.1, p. 178). Discuss fully with multiple appropriate examples.
12. Are Mexican maquiladora workers exploited or valued workers in the global economy? Explain within the context of the South Texas-Mexico borderlands. Illustrate with appropriate examples from course readings.
13. Discuss South Texas migrant farmworkers within the various contexts of structural bias, workforce diversity, discrimination, bigotry, and exploitation. Illustrate with appropriate examples from course readings and materials.
Part D: Long Essay Question
You are required to write ONE long essay (as a guideline, roughly 7 to 10 robust paragraphs in length with appropriate examples). The long essay is worth up to 50 points.
14. Compare and contrast the cultural dimensions offered by Hofstede (power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, femininity vs. masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long run vs. short run time orientation, indulgence vs. restraint), Hall (the silent languages of time, space, things, friendship, and agreements), and Adler (individual, world, human relations, activity, time, space). How might these frameworks be employed to navigate cultures, manage diversity, and enhance one’s cultural agility in the business arena? Explain (be sure to utilize various appropriate examples from the course and life experience).