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London School of Business & Finance

(LSBF)
MBA

Module

Cross Cultural Management

Assignment
Title
Evaluation of the key Cross Cultural Management
influences at Barclays PLC
Assignment Type Individual Assignment
Word Limit 4000 (+/-10% allowed)
Weighting 100% (Pass marks: 50%)
Issue Date 4
th
August
Submission Date 8
th
September
Issued by (Assessor) B Botes
Internal Verifier Nabil Ahmed
Plagiarism When submitting work for assessment, students should be aware
of the LSBF guidance and regulations in concerning plagiarism. All
submissions should be your own, original work.

You must submit an electronic copy of your work. Your
submission will be electronically checked.

Harvard Referencing The Harvard Referencing System must be used. The Wikipedia
website must not be referenced in your work.

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students should be able
to:
1. Discuss critically the concept of culture and approaches
to the study of culture, explaining its usefulness and
relevance to a range of issues of management and
organisation.
2. Provide a critical account of the main theoretical
approaches to cross-cultural management.
3. Use these theories to analyse problems and issues of
organisation and management in a context of increasing
cultural diversity, and to recommend how they may be
addressed.
4. Evaluate the implications of culture and/or language for
business communication.
5. Identify the effect of global communications on
disparate cultures.
6. Appraise the problems of managing across cultures and
propose considered solutions.
PLEASE READ THE FOLLWING SECNARIO & GUIDELINES
SECTION VERY CAREFULLY
Scenario








You are an aide to the management team tasked with integrating the
Barclays and Lehman Brothers cultures post the acquisition of Lehman
Brothers.

Based on the case study of Barclays and Lehman Brothers, supported
by your own research you are asked to do the following.

1


Your Task

Referring to the 6 levels of cultures normally found in a business context
and considering the main theoretical influences and models in the field
of cross cultural management, write a report where you discuss the
challenges faced by Barclays PLC after the acquisition of Lehman
Brothers. As part of the report you are also asked to provide
recommendations on how the management of the newly formed
organisation can effectively move forward without losing key
management staff, intellectual property and knowledge created at
Lehman Brothers while they were still operational.

The report will include the following:

1- Background of the businesses involved, highlighting some of the
key cultural influences and challenges that management may be
facing. (LO1, LO2)
2- Critically evaluate prominent theories and models on the topic
and linking this to the business in question with the view of
making effective recommendations to the team. (LO2, LO4,
LO5, LO6)
3- With justification, identify the key management actions that can
be taken to address the issues highlighted in 2 above, which will
ensure the business is able to leverage the acquisition effectively
in order to gain competitive advantages for the business. (LO1,
LO2, LO3, LO4)

Guideline

Please ensure that you reference material which you take from text books,
published documents, internet, etc. in the main body of your report, as
well as listing the publications in an appendix. Also, try to evaluate and
critique this material and the experience you get from applying and using
it.

This is an individual assignment.
The assignment is based on the supplied
case study and should be supported by your
own research onto both the business
involved as well as the main theoretical
models referring to the topic.
You can choose any general academic report
structure but there needs to be clear
evidence that the theoretical subject matter
is understood and is integrated with the
practical elements of the task.

Key issues that will be taken into consideration
are:
Presentation and Style
Evidence of Reading / Application of Theory
Discussion of Topic

2

Use of Applied Examples in Context
Recommendations and Conclusion

In addition your submissions will be expected to
demonstrate the following qualities:

1. Answering the central focus of the
assignment topics.
2. A critical appreciation and application of
relevant literature and theories to support
argument substantiate model(s) and other
aspects of the assignment.
3. Taking ownership of the content, being
prepared to debate and argue a personal
position, evidences evaluative skills. A
submission made up of extracts from
published sources which is descriptive and
just theoretical, is not acceptable.
4. Your submission must have interpretation
and consideration of the challenges and
issues of taking theory into practice (using
cases and/or personal experience).
5. Ability to analyse relevant theoretical
concepts in a critical manner, evaluation of
material.
6. Logical flow of ideas and treatment;
imaginative approaches; appropriate
selection of real world factors related to the
model(s) or specific assignment topic.
7. Evidence of additional personal research and
the ability to analyse material from a variety
of appropriate relevant perspectives.
8. A clear listing of references using the
Harvard referencing method.
9. Presentation, structure, appropriateness of
methodology, breaking into section
headings/subheadings, tidiness.
10. A strong conclusion.
Please ensure that you reference material which you take from text
books, published documents, internet, etc, in the main body of your
report, at the place you use it, as well as listing the publications in an
appendix. Also, try to evaluate and critique this material and the
experience you get from applying and using it. The assignment should
be written from a third-person perspective.

Note The assignment should be in the format of a professional Business Report ( one
that you would be expected to submit to the Senior Management Team of an
organization were you to be in a real-life business situation)








3


GRADING CRITERIA




Criteria
Weighting
100% 70%+100 60-69% 50-59% 0 -49% Fail
Generic skills:
communication
and
presentation.



Comprehensive and
correctly structured
assessment. Style of
writing is very fluent
and develops a
coherent and logical
argument. Excellent
referencing.
Well-structured
report which
follows appropriate
format but some
aspects of layout
and referencing
could be
improved. Style of
writing is fairly
fluent. Good
referencing.
Good report in most
aspects but suffers
from variations in
quality and the layout
contains some
inadequacies. Style of
writing is satisfactory.
Referencing needs
improving.
Very poor report
which is incorrectly
structured and
contains major errors
and omissions. Style
of writing lacks
coherence and
fluency. Poor
referencing.

Knowledge &
Understanding

Demonstrates
excellent knowledge
of theory and
provides critical
theoretical
underpinning. Very
good interpretations
and summarising of
main themes.

Wide range of
knowledge
demonstrated and
evidence of good
understanding of
the topic.

Ability to interpret
and summarise
succinctly.
Good range of
knowledge
demonstrated but
weaknesses in key
areas. Some
understanding
displayed of the topic.

Summary and
interpretation are
satisfactory.
Very poor range of
knowledge
demonstrated and
there are major
weaknesses evident
in interpretation and
understanding.

No clear interpretation
of main themes.
Analysis

Excellent use of
theoretical and
conceptual models to
guide analysis linked
with a critical
discussion of main
themes.
Deconstructs the
major themes used in
the argument.
Very good use of
the theoretical and
conceptual models
with good critical
discussion and
application.

Good evidence of
deconstruction.
Use of theory and
concepts limited but
relevant. Application
could be improved and
there is a tendency
towards description.

Must provide more
evidence of
deconstruction.
Very poor use of
theory and very little
application of
concepts.

Very little description
with not much
evidence of analysis.


Synthesis/
Creativity/
Application

Logical presentation
of themes with
appropriate examples
being demonstrated.
Very good
demonstration of
synthesis. Models
have been clearly
applied to the
argument.
Very good account
of main themes
with sound
application. Good
attempt at
applying models to
the argument.
.Fairly good
attempt at
synthesising the
salient points.
Good account of main
themes with some
attempt at application.
Limited
evidence of synthesis.
Very poor account of
main themes with little
or no application. No
links between models
and argument.
Evaluation

Shows clear evidence
of in-depth critical
reflection and
evaluation of the
argument by
providing a robust
defence of the
opinions presented in
the assessment.
Shows evidence of
critical reflection
and evaluation
and a fairly
cohesive defence
of the argument
Shows some evidence
of critical reflection but
could have been
developed.
Shows little or no
evidence of critical
reflection and needs
to be much more
developed. There is
no defence of the
opinions presented.