25...1 – Sample Story: Vishvakarma Pooja
You are a U.S. American, Herbert Nelson, who has recently been appointed as the Plant Manager of a 50-year-old Indian manufacturing unit located in a remote part of eastern India. This factory was recently acquired by a U.S.-based engineering company, and your assignment is to turn it around within a year, rationalize its processes, and make it an efficient member of the company’s global operations.
In your initial interactions with your Indian management team and the employees, you find them very open and accepting about the change in ownership, and highly motivated and enthusiastic about the factory becoming part of the global operations. Your initial suggestions for changing and improving systems have been accepted and implemented without much resistance.
Today you have just noticed that one of the weekdays this month is shown on the factory calendar as a holiday for Vishvakarma Pooja. On enquiring, Hari Kumar, your Personnel Manager, explains that this is a local holiday for worshipping Vishva
karma, the god of tools and machines. Though it is not a national holiday and therefore not mandatory for companies, it has been customary to close the operations on that day. While no work is performed, the workers and their families visit the factory to worship the machines with traditional rituals.
You tell Hari that this is out of the question because it would interfere with the already planned production and delivery schedules. Moreover, performing worship with families inside the factory cannot be permitted. You instruct him to announce to the employees that from this year onward, the company will not give this holiday. Although Hari tries to advise you against this decision, you insist that abolishing the holiday will be beneficial for the company in the long run.
The next day, two trade union representatives come to your office and request that you reconsider your decision. They say that the company’s recognition of Vishvakarma Pooja is a long-standing custom, and should not be done away with without consultation with workers. You tried to reason with them-though not very successfully-that you cannot let the personal religious beliefs of people interfere with work. You tell them that, if essential, employees can apply for official leave, which will be granted according to the company’s policies. After a lot of discussion-though without any resolution-the trade union representatives leave your office.
Two days later, upon arriving at the office in the morning, you are astonished to find that the workers have gone on strike.
Hiring during downsizing
You are a manager born and raised in former East Germany, with valuable experiences with the former Soviet bloc elite. You have recently been relocated to Nanjing to restructure your company’s branch there. You must begin by laying off a considerable number of local people who hold middle- and lower-level managerial positions. The general manager is a charming and loquacious Taiwanese Chinese who studied in the United States and has been running the Nanjing branch for several years. He has asked you to consider hiring his nephew, who lives in Shenyang, to be your assistant. You believe the timing for such a hire is not auspicious. And, if you were to hire an assistant, you believe that the person who takes the position should be chosen on the basis of merit.
An office party
An American manager by the name of Bill Morris worked for an American multinational firm. One year he was transferred to France. When he began working in the French office, he wanted to get to know his employees and show them that he was friendly and interested in a good work relationship. He decided to throw a party for the whole office. He thought it would be a good way to get acquainted with everyone in a less formal environment. He invited everyone in his office, including secretaries and executives, for a big party in his elegant apartment. Everyone accepted the invitation. He was pleased that no one had declined his invitation.
At his apartment, Morris served a buffet of snack foods and drinks.
The employees could help themselves to whatever they liked. The manager liked this casual style of parties. As an informal and relaxed host of the party, he could show them that he was an open person and easy to talk to. Morris .feels these are important qualities of a manager and boss.
The party, however, was not a success. The employees were very uncomfortable as guests. They felt they didn’t know Morris well enough to be in his home. They thought he was showing off his money by inviting them to his elegant apartment. They also were not comfortable with one another because they were not used to socialising together.
- Why did Bill Morris decide to throw the party?
- Why did Morris want the party to be casual?
- According to Morris what are good qualities of a manager and boss?
- Why were the employees uncomfortable at Morris’s party?
Now your teacher will give you a group task to complete.
A SAUDI-GERMAN ENCOUNTER
There are many ways of giving and accepting gifts, as this Saudi German encounter illustrates.
Bouchaib Alsadoun, a Saudi businessman, invited Johann Wuerth, a German businessman, to dinner at his house. Johann entered the elegant house and offered his gift of a bottle of Scotch whiskey and a box of butter cookies to his host. Bouchaib was embarrassed by the gifts and quickly put them away. They then sat down in the living room area. Bouchaib offered Johann a cup of coffee, which he quickly accepted. Bouchaib thought his guest was a bit rude. As they drank coffee Johann complimented Bouchaib on an art book on the living room table. The Saudi businessman responded by offering him the book. Johann, embarrassed, said, “No thank you! It is very kind of you, but I can’t accept it!” Bouchaib was offended by his guest’s behaviour. Although Johann sensed this, he couldn’t imagine how he had offended Bouchaib. What three actions offended Bouchaib? Why do you think these offended him?
Discussion
1. What three actions offended Bouchaib? Why do you think these offended him? (After you discuss this, read the explanations
2. What can Johann do now that he has offended his host?
3. Can a misunderstanding like this one really affect the business relationship? If so, how?
Your point of view
Answer the following questions about gift-giving in your culture. Share your answers with a classmate, if possible someone from another culture.
1 On what occasions do you give gifts?
2 What kind of gifts do you expect from colleagues?
3 How should a person respond when given a gift?
4 Should the person open the gift in front of the giver or wait to open the gift when alone?
5 How do you thank someone for a gift?
6 On the same occasion what is the difference between an employee‘s gift to a supervisor and a supervisor‘s gift to an employee? Who gives the bigger gift? Why?
Activity: What is a good friend?
You are riding in a car driven by a close friend. He hits a pedestrian. You know he was going at least 35 miles per hour in an area of the city where the maximum allowed speed is 20 miles per hour. There are no witnesses. His lawyer says that if you testify under oath that he was only driving 2O miles per hour it may save him from serious consequences.
(based on F. Trompenaars/C. Hampden-Tumer (2012): Riding the Waves of Culture. Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. New York: McGraw-Hi/1, pp. 45f.)
Questions
- What right has your friend to expect you to protect him?
- My friend has a definite right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
- He has some right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
- He has no right as a friend to expect me to testify to the lower figure.
- What do you think you would do in view of the obligations of a sworn witness and the obligation to your friend?
- Testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.
- Not testify that he was going 20 miles an hour.
- How do you define the following? What do they mean to you? Does this affect your answers?
- a close friend
- badly injured
- serious consequences
- How would you answer the questions? Discuss your answers with a partner or in the group.
Have you got any questions about it, e.g. How close a friend is he? How badly was the pedestrian hurt?
- Do you think your answers are typical for your culture?
- What conclusions can you draw from the answers given in the group?
Sourcing in Seoul
Waldtraut Braun a 30-year-old procurement manager for a world-brand German company was on her first trip to Seoul. Accompanied by her assistant, Paul Schmidt, she was there to negotiate a major purchase of industrial components. She was the first woman from her company to visit this vendor, but since the Korean manufacturer had been a supplier to the German company for several years Frau Braun expected the discussions to proceed without particular difficulty.
However, that is not the way things worked out. Throughout the meeting, the Korean negotiators ignored her completely addressing all comments and questions to Paul Schmidt.
Furthermore, when Schmidt excused himself for a comfort break the Korean negotiators fell silent and acted as though she wasn’t there at all.
Frustrated by the way she was being treated, Frau Braun returned to her Singapore regional office determined never to do business with Koreans again. Shortly thereafter, this very successful manager arranged for a transfer to another division of her global company.
Discuss with your partner
- What went wrong in this episode?
- How could the situation have been prevented?
- What could be done to re-establish a positive relationship among the business partners?