Premium Essay

Cultural Boundary

In:

Submitted By syiqarafie
Words 5008
Pages 21
Proceedings - LEAD 2009 Conference

CULTURAL BOUNDARY SPANNING IN GLOBAL PROJECT NETWORKS
Melissa Di Marco, 1 John E. Taylor 2 and Pauli Alin 3
ABSTRACT
Projects are increasingly global in scope and outsourcing on projects increasingly common.
Along with globalizing trends in projects, the workforce is also globalizing. It is common for engineers to move to other countries as expatriate workers or as emigrants to pursue job opportunities in other firms. Where much is known about global networks of engineers collaborating on projects, little is known about the mediating role played by individuals that share the same nationality as an international partner on a project. In this paper, we examine two project teams executing complex, reciprocally interdependent design projects in India. One team was comprised of Indians and Americans. The other team was identical, but also contained an
Indian national who had studied and worked in the U.S.A. Both teams worked on similar design schedule optimization problems. Over the duration of three days we examined the interactions of the teams assembled to finalize their designs. Through quantitative network analyses and qualitative observations of the cross-cultural interactions, we found the Indian expatriate to play a cultural boundary spanning role resolving cross-cultural knowledge system conflicts and increasing collaboration effectiveness. We induce a propositional theoretical model of cultural boundary spanning in global project networks.
KEYWORDS: Boundary spanning, cultural issues, globalization.
INTRODUCTION
As the engineering workforce globalizes, a growing number of engineers have lived and worked in multiple countries and can speak multiple languages (Haas 2006). As differences between the cultural origin of individuals and that of the country in which they are working emerge, conflicting

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

August Wilson’s Fences

...English A Barrier Intended to Mark a Boundary Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines fence as “a barrier intended to prevent escape or intrusion to mark a boundary”. August Wilson’s Fences portrays the barrier around the Maxson family. “The setting is the yard which fronts the only entrance… The yard is a small dirt yard, partially fenced, except for the last scene…” (0.1-0.3). Throughout the play Wilson uses the description and placement of the fence to change the mood in the scene or the attitudes of the characters. “Much of the conflict… arises because the characters are at odds with the way they see the past and what they want to do in the future”(sparknotes.com). Whether the fence is too keep people in or out, there is always a struggle to know what is on the other side. Corresponding to the text, August Wilson’s own life is exemplified. Wilson uses “the settings of all but one of the plays [in] the Pittsburgh ‘hill district’” (Edgar 1328). During the early part of his life was spent living in poverty. Wilson’s father soon left the family by the time he was five leaving his mother, Daisy, to care for the six children. She later remarried and moved to the Hill District. Wilson felt the pressure of being one of the only African-American students and dropped out of school to teach himself in the library. “He educated himself so well that eventually the Library granted him a degree”(Edgar 1328). When writing Fences, Wilson pulled from the 1950s and the Civil Rights...

Words: 1132 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Bodies Out of Bounds

...The body transgresses many boundaries; no matter how hard it tries to confine itself to its perfect dimensions.  Dana, the protagonist in the novel Kindred by Ocatvia Butler, travels back in time to a different era in which she must learn to adapt or suffer dire consequences.  The nameless narrator in the novel Bodies Out of Bounds by Jeanette Winterson leaves her lover when she finds out the latter has cancer.  As pointed in the article, “Unbearable Weight” by Susan Bordo, society has hardwired into us that there is such a thing as the perfect body. All of these characters try disparately to attain perfection in their lives. There are various boundaries being crossed in Kindred.  The most obvious being the different time eras.  Dana is transported to the antebellum South where she meets her ancestors.  She does not want to be there.  However, she knows that if she does not keep saving Rufus, her very own existence is threatened.  So she will do anything, however awful, to ensure that Hagar is born. Dana hopes that Rufus will not grow up to be like his father.  The question of whether Dana can save hime from his culture is always omnipresent.  Although she would much rather stay and live in her comfortable home in California, she is willing to leave it behind to save Rufus.  Dana does not belong in this era and yet the fate of her family and her very self depend on her. The second obvious boundary that Dana crosses is landscape and geography-wise.  California still was not part...

Words: 1629 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Statistics

...upper class and the lower class. From the data we have been given above the true value end points are 128.5-137.5. Making 128.5 the lower class and 137.5 the upper class. Therefore; Class Interval = 137.5-128.5= 9 Class Interval=9 * Class limits are 129 -137, 138- 146, 147-155, 156-164, 165-173, 174-182, 183 * 137+138 2 137+138 2 Class boundary is the sum of the upper class limit of one class to the lower class limit of the next higher class. And then dividing the sum by two. The first class upper class limit is 137 and second class lower class limit is 138. Therefore; class boundaries = = 137.5 146+147 2 146+147 2 The second class upper class limit is 146 and the third class lower class limit is 147. Therefore; class boundary= = 146.5 The third class upper class limit is 155 and the fourth class lower limit is 156 155+156 2 155+156 2...

Words: 379 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

One Day to Live Between Two Continents

...Van Nguyen Paige Talbot English 099/101 Essay 1 Rough Draft April 17, 2016 One Day to Live Between Two Continents Have you ever traveled to different places that are far away from your homeland? There are many reasons why you should leave your home for a short or long period of time. It can be a trip to local areas or foreign countries. Everyone has particular emotional feelings when they experience their first times to go and live abroad. These experiences affect people’s lives positively. I am definitely not an exception because I also experienced the boundary day that shaped me into a different person when it was the first times for me to fly to and live in America. The warmful weather of summer in Seattle recalls continuous flowing of memories about my homeland. I spent most of my childhood time within this cherished area in South of Vietnam. Because our area belongs to Cuu Long Delta where its topography is crossed by many big rivers, my village includes many rambling old farmhouses that are embraced by a river on their front. At the rear of my village as well as my house, there are an immense number of rice fields spreading thoroughly to the horizon. These rice fields are believed to be the places where our village’s farmers work at. Seasonally, when it is time for harvest, the rice fields carpet turn into yellowish. Also, flying nest builders work hard to build their temporary homes by combinations of leaves and branches. Day after day, everything keeps going on...

Words: 753 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Not Yet

...Customer satisfaction level for online shopping using ACSI’s with respect to Indian shopping trends ABSTRACT Today is the Era of Globalization and the consumer is not bound within boundaries of a particular place to access products available in the outer world, now he can go beyond the boundaries of any market area where he lives, to access the things of his interest. But this virtual connectivity known as “ONLINE SHOPPING OR E-TAILING” is really a challenge for Indian customers to be associated with; they face some real time problems related to trust and quality. But the Indian shopping trend shows some rigid type of behavior towards online shopping. They do not trust this shopping style as they have to see and choose a product virtually and pay for it, without any kind of physical touch, which was really difficult to be done in Indian market, but in past 2-3 years the trends have changed at least in metros and big cities. This paper is aim to measure the customer satisfaction level using ACSI (American Customer’s Satisfaction Index), which will give us a deep insight of the market potential available in Indore for online shopping. It has been observed that Indore is adapting the changes in shopping trends in metros very quickly, they love to shop from home and enjoy online shopping. So the process of analysis of factor affecting customer satisfaction levels was initiated, ACSI Model uses the three manifest variables: Customer’s Expectation, Perceived Values and Over-all...

Words: 305 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Tumbang Preso

...HISTORY OF TUMBANG PRESO Tumbang Preso (pronounced as: tum-bahng preh-so) or presoan (tumba-patis in most Visayan regions). Is a traditional Filipino children's game. The tumbang preso is still played by the more active kids today. Even adults sometimes play it too, bringing back memories of their childhood. This is a very common game among the youth all over the Philippines. Played in backyards, parks or even in streets with very little vehicular traffic. When the Philippines hosted the World Robot Olympiad in 2010, the game "Tumbang Preso" was played. The equipment needed are an empty milk can, and a slipper or a piece of flat stone as a pamato for each player. To make the game enjoyable and exciting, there should be no more than 9 players. One player guards the milk can (the IT) while the others stay behind the toe-line with their pamatos. The object is for the players to hit and knock down the milk can with the pamato, and for the IT to put back the can inside a small circle a few meters away from the toe-line. When a player is tagged while recovering his pamato, he becomes the IT. HOW TO PLAY 1. An IT, the one to guard the milk can is chosen by throwing the pamato to the toe-line by all the players. Whoever's pamato is farthest from the toe-line is the IT. 2. The hitters will line up at the back of the toe-line and at a signal from the IT, game starts. 3. The pamato must be retrieved immediately once the can is knocked down; otherwise once the IT has placed...

Words: 689 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Conformal Mapping

...SOME PROBLEMS IN CONFORMAL MAPPING D. C. SPENCER 1. Introduction. Attention will be confined to a group of problems centering around so-called schlicht functions—that is, functions regular in a given domain and assuming no value there more than once. The type of problem we consider involves determination of precise bounds for certain quantities depending on the function/, as ƒ ranges over the schlicht functions in question. Since, for suitable normalization of the functions at some fixed point of the domain, the resulting family of functions is compact or normal, the extremal schlicht functions always exist and the problem is to characterize them. Interest was focused on this category of questions by the work of Koebe in the years 1907-1909, who established for the family of funct i o n s / o f the form ƒ(z) = z+a2Z2+aszz+ • • • , schlicht and regular in \z\ < 1 , a series of properties, among them the theorem of distortion bearing Koebe's name. This theorem asserts the existence of bounds for the absolute value of the derivative ƒ'(s), these bounds depending only on \z\. Further efforts were directed toward finding the precise values of the bounds asserted by Koebe's theorem, but success was not attained until 1916 when Bieberbach, Faber, Pick and others gave a final form to the theorem of distortion. At the same time the precise bound for | a2\ was given, namely 2, and the now famous conjecture was made that \an\ ^n for every n. Since 1916 this group of problems has attracted...

Words: 3481 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Umuc - Hcad 670 Health Care Administration "Capstone" Course Final Examination

...important than the length of the response or the number of words. Please post your responses in your personal assignment folder under "Final Exam". All examinations are due no later than Wednesday, August 15, 2012, at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time. (But I will be happy to get them earlier than the deadline!) Good luck! Examination Questions A. Short Answers. (45 Points) Please respond to three of the following four (4) questions. (15 Points for each response). Responses are limited to eight (8) typed pages. 1. Employing the contemporary fable "The Ambulance in the Valley" (see below) as a case study, respond to the following questions: a) How was the boundary set and how did this decision define "the problem"? How else could the boundary have been set? b) How does the establishment of the boundary establish the preferred interventions? c) In debating the choice, how was the success/failure of the intervention assessed? 2. The manager's essential job is to solve organizational problems and fulfill human needs through people working cooperatively. Unfortunately, schools, professors, and books can help you prepare...

Words: 1130 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Zoning Notes

...husband maintained the land up to the fence line since they acquired the property in 1987. We readily acknowledge that Carl Nolen testified that he maintained his property on the other side of the boundary line after the fence's  [**6] construction. However, the opposing witnesses disputed that assertion.  [*P13]  HN4A trial court, as the trier of fact, is free to believe all, some or none of the testimony of any witnesses. Nolen v. Rase, 2013-Ohio-5680, P12-P13 (Ohio Ct. App., Scioto County Dec. 17, 2013) we find no error in the trial court's ruling regarding the boundary of the two properties. Accordingly, we hereby overrule both of appellants' assignments of error and affirm the trial court's judgment. | The doctrine of acquiescence is applied in instances when adjoining land owners occupy their respective propereties up to a certain line and mutually recognize and treat that line as if it is the boundary that separates their properties. See Robinson v. Armstrong, Guernsey App. No. 03CA12, 2004 Ohio 1463, at P35; McConachie v. Meeks (Sep. 21, 1999), Richland App. No. 98CA90, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 4736; Turpen v. O'Dell (Oct. 14, 1998), Washington App. No. 97CA2300, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 4909. Acquiescence rests on the practical reality that oftentimes, the true boundary [**9]  line location is uncertain and neighbors may...

Words: 863 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Plate Tectonics

...Associate Level Material Plate Tectonics Worksheet Answer the lab questions for this week and summarize the lab experience using this form. Carefully read Ch. 8 of Geoscience Laboratory. Complete this week’s lab by filling in your responses to the questions from Geoscience Laboratory. Although you are only required to respond to the questions in this worksheet, you are encouraged to answer others from the text on your own. Questions and charts are from Geoscience Laboratory, 5th ed. (p. 133-150), by T. Freeman, 2009, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Reprinted with permission. Lab Questions: 8.4 Which has the greater proportion of Iron, Magnetite, or Hematite? Magnetite 8.7 When the reverse switch of a drill is thrown the drill rotates in the opposite direction. How does that affect the drill’s circuitry? It causes a negative current causing the drill to turn in the opposite direction 8.9 Name the 2 other spheres. Hydrosphere- all the water on or near the earth Atmosphere- the air surrounding the earth 8.11 As Columbus’s fleet sailed westward the discrepancy between magnetic north and celestial north changed. Did it increase of decrease? The discrepancy increased because as they sailed the magnetic field decreased. 8.12 Explain the difference in the orientations of the inclined compass needles in figure 8.18. Toward which cardinal direction is the observer facing? East 8.16 During which of these 5 geologic...

Words: 866 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Nevado Del Ruiz Research Paper

...The Nevado del Ruiz is a volcano in Colombia. The volcano is located in the Andes volcanic chain on the andean volcanic belt. Nevado del Ruiz was formed by subduction on the nazca oceanic plate boundaries. Subduction is “a geologic process in which one edge of one crustal plate is forced below the edge of another.” The Nevado del Ruiz is known as an active stratovolcano. ”A stratovolcano is a tall, conical volcano composed of one layer of hardened lava, tephra, and volcanic ash.” Stratovolcanoes have lava that is very viscous and magma that is acidic, making the eruption very violent. The viscosity increases as the silica content increases. Since stratovolcanoes are very viscous, the lava flows slower and only covers very small areas. Magma...

Words: 427 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Computational Aeromechanics of Airships

...stability analysis. 1 Introduction Recent renewed interest in airships with varied applications in the field of advertisement, cargo transport, surveillance, communication systems, extending Internet access in remote areas is the primary motivation for this study. The estimation of aerodynamic characteristics is important for the design of control and propulsion systems of the airship. Airship analysis has traditionally been done using inviscid potential flow methods coupled with boundary layer corrections based on integral momentum methods have been used to estimate the drag coefficient of airships [1-4]. However, the application of these methods is strictly restricted to non-separating flows and flows at zero or small angles of attack. In real-life applications, the airship does encounter flow separation at large angles of attack, both of which have critical influence on the aerodynamic characteristics of the airship. Though some attempts have been made earlier to develop advanced boundary-layer methods, which can capture some flow separation effects [5], their success has been limited to merely capturing some qualitative features of the flow. Previous work carried out by Suman et al. [6]...

Words: 2552 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Essay On Plate Tectonics

...• They are low, with mildly sloping sides. • They are form because of eruptions of runny, thin lava. • Eruptions are usually regular but relatively mild. Composite volcanoes • Made up of alternating layers of ash & lava (other volcanoes consist of just lava). • They’re typically located at destructive boundaries. • The eruptions from these volcanoes tend to be a pyroclastic flow (a mixture of hot steam, ash, rock & dust.) rather than a lava flow. • A pyroclastic flow can roll down the sides of a volcano at extremely high speeds & with temperatures higher than 400°C. Volcanic eruptions can have overwhelming effects on the environment & people Although, unlike earthquakes, volcanoes can also have a positive impact on an area. Positive + & negative - effects of an eruption Positive + Negative - Extra income could be brought to an area, because tourists are attracted to the dramatic scenery created by volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions usually lead to many lives being lost. Valuable nutrients may be provided to the soil when lava and ash (from...

Words: 1769 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Tectonic Hazards

...due to movements or deformations of the earth’s crust with the potential to cause damage to lives and properties. E.g. earthquake and volcanic activities. The impact caused by tectonic hazards on lives and properties are mainly determined by physical factors, vulnerability factors and affected region’s capacity to cope. These factors are parts of the risk equation, which is used to measure the level of hazard risk of an area. Which I will be using it to explain why the impacts of tectonic hazards vary from place to place. One of the main reason why some place suffers more than the others is the global distribution of earthquakes, this is due to the margins of tectonic plates. It is commonly known that earthquakes happen on the plate boundaries. However, at some plate margins, earthquakes are more destructive and frequents, for example, Eurasian plate and Pacific plate, where Pacific plate sinks under the Eurasian plate. The impacts of tectonic hazards seem to vary significantly in countries with different economic development. This is evident in 2010, with an earthquake reached magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale, struck Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, with 316000 people being killed. Whereas in 2011, an earthquake reached magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale struck Japan caused just 20896 deaths. The significant difference of death toll reflects the huge financial gap between the two country, which accounts to a country’s capacity to cope. Haiti is one of the poorest...

Words: 787 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Continental Drift Vs Sea-Floor Spread

...Plate tectonics is the theory that the earth’s crust is divided up into a dozen plates. Continental drift is how geologists explain that the continents have moved over time. Sea-floor spreading is when two tectonic plates move away from each other and magma come up to form new ocean floors. Plate tectonics, continental drift, and sea-floor spreading have some similarities and differences. They can be contrasted based on boundaries. They could be compared based on what caused the process to happen. Plate tectonics, continental drift, and sea-floor spreading are similar in many ways, here are three ways that they are similar, by theories, or even what causes them to happen. One way that continental drift and sea-floor spreading are similar...

Words: 608 - Pages: 3