Columbia

Emotion has been debated, analyzed, and researched across disciplines. Emotions are universal phenomena for humans, and yet culture is very much at play in the emotional world. The norms of culture and society affect how emotions are experienced. Consequently, different cultures with different norms can express, perceive, react to, and regulate emotion in very different ways.

In this Assignment, you will imagine the needs of a person traveling to another country for a business meeting and to attend the funeral of a business colleague in that country and culture. You will research a country and culture of your choice. Then you will propose a sensitivity training course for the business traveler that will address typical responses within the focus culture to the emotional experience of death, typical death rites or funeral customs within the culture, and how using the training can help in understanding the culture better.

To prepare:

• Review the Week 3 Learning Resources that relate to emotion. Pay special attention to Chapter 6 in the course text, focusing on emotion recognition, preceding events, emotional expression and display rules, and emotions in cross-cultural contexts. Also review the article “Cultural Similarities and Differences in Display Rules” in the Learning Resources.
• Explore the website eDiplomat.com in the Learning Resources and select a country to complete this Assignment.
• Explore the website Funeralwise in the Learning Resources and search for information on death rites and funeral customs that relate to your selected country. Focus on the dominant culture, such as the dominant customs or religion, that informs the emotional response to death and death rites/funerals in your selected country.
• Conduct your own research in the Walden Library and other sources appropriate for the selected country and the emotional situation of a death and death rites/funeral. (Refer to the Week 3 Optional Resources for additional sources of information to consider.) Keep in mind your research focus is on the emotional experience and expression in this situation. For this case, the preceding and contributing events would include religion and cultural beliefs about death. Look for information and analysis on cultural display rules.
• To prepare for the business meeting that is separate from the funeral, use the Learning Resources to search for key information about customs and etiquette of the selected country to include in your sensitivity training course. In particular, look for any mourning customs that would be important for the business traveler to know.
• Review the Walden Writing Center PowerPoint template for guidance in preparing your Assignment.

Submit a PowerPoint presentation of 6–10 slides that is part of a cultural sensitivity training course. Address the following points in preparing your presentation:

• Create a title slide with the name of the country you selected and the purpose of the cultural sensitivity training course.
• Briefly describe the selected country and its dominant culture.
• Summarize key points of difference between your culture and the selected country in terms of death rites/funerals and mourning customs.
• Summarize key points of difference between your culture and the selected country in terms of emotional experience and emotional display in response to death and death rites/funerals.
• Provide general cultural sensitivity suggestions and recommendations for business travelers to your selected country.
• Summarize the importance of cross-cultural understanding of emotional expressions around an event such as death.
• List references in APA style for all information in your cultural sensitivity training course.