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Listen to a conversation between a student and her international business professor. (P = Professo7, S = Student)
P: Hi, Diana. What can I do for you?
S: Hi, Professor Bloom. Um, look, I was wondering if I could talk to you about the final project for your international business class.
P: Of course. Um, I’m guessing you need help with research. I can probably suggest a couple of books, but, um… can you remind me what your topic was again?
S: Well, I appreciate that, but what I really wanted to talk about is the format of my project. So, you know, everybody had the choice between writing a paper individually or doing a group project?
P: Right. I’m trying to remember… are you doing a group project?
S: Yes, I’m working with Sam, Jared, and Abby. But I’m not so sure it’s a great idea anymore. I was hoping… um, I wonder if it would be OK for me to switch and do a paper instead.
P: Well… I don’t understand, Diana. Is there some sort of problem with your group?
S: No, not at all! In fact, my group is great. When we’re able to get together, we do good work. The thing is… well, my schedule just isn’t very flexible. See, I work at the Blue Cafe most nights. Unfortunately, the only time that all three of them are available is in the evenings, when, um…
P: When you’re working.
S: Uh-huh. Honestly, I would love to do my project with them, but my schedule makes it really hard. And because that’s the case, I think doing an individual project would be easier for all of us.
P: Well, one issue is, urn, well, they were depending on you to do a portion of the project. Will they be able to finish the project on time if you drop out of the group now?
S: I think it should be fine—I mean, we haven’t gotten that far, anyway.
P: But have you already spoken with them about this?
S: Oh, yes, yes, I… I’ve already talked to them. In fact, we all decided that this was probably the best way to go.
P: So they’re OK with it? Good. I mean, as long as your group members have agreed to it, I don’t really have a problem with it, either. Um, but assuming that they still plan on working together, may I suggest that you give them whatever research you’ve already prepared for the group topic? I’m sure they’ll appreciate it, especially since they’ll have one less person to divide their work amongst now.
S: Oh, of course! I already e-mailed them all of my notes and a list of the sources I had planned to use. Hopefully that will be helpful.
P: I’m sure it will be. Um, OK, now that we have that straightened out, I’m wondering, have you given any thought to a topic for your paper?
S: Yes, well, I have an idea, but I don’t know… um, I want to write about the kinds of conflicts that international businesses face.
P: Hmm… that’s a pretty broad topic. Maybe you can narrow it down by focusing on one particular [problem?
S: Well, I kind of wanted to concentrate on cultural differences—like how international businesses deal with cultural differences. What do you think? Is that OK?
P: I think that’s great. Actually, I’ve read a book about this recently. Basically, the author described how businesses that have international ties deal with cultural differences. It’s funny, because I think it’s something that business owners don’t really think about when they’re making the decision to expand into a foreign country.
S: Good… so you said there are books written on the subject, right? Because, well, my hesitation in picking that as a topic is that I haven’t found a lot of good sources for it.
P: Yes, definitely. There’s the book I just mentioned, and a couple of articles also come to mind. I can’t think of the titles at the moment, but I’ll look into that and send you an e-mail with the titles and the authors. You should be able to find all of it in the library.
S: Great… I appreciate that. I guess I’ll go down there now and see what else I can find on my topic so I can get started on my paper. Thanks for your help!