The JET Participation Program - Case Study Example

The JET Participation Program Student’s Name: Grade course: Tutor’s Name: Date: Introduction The selected character for the purpose of this report is Kelly. Kelly had always desired to work or rather she always had a great interest in Japan as she had studied Japanese from her high school days and also had visited Japan and always wanted to go back so as to advance her understanding of the Japanese language. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MIBT) decision making theory shall be used to explain the decision making while the attribution theory shall be used to explain the perspective of Kelly. Kelly made various decisions such as joining the JET participants program, buying a mountain bike so that she could be able to go for rides around country, she also deicide to join a local Kendo club so that Mr Higashi could be satisfied that she had finally decided to get involved in something that was traditionally Japanese and stop pestering her to sign up for the Japanese culture, declining to sign up for the Japanese culture program, the decision to tour the various parts of the island as well as the declining to sign for the paid leave instead of the sick leave just like the way Mr Higashi wanted. Kelly, Mark and Suzanne wanted Mr Higashi to honour the terms that were stated in the contract but Mr Higashi wanted them to things like they were done by the Japanese as way of honouring their employers something that the JET participants differed. This decision did not go down well with Mr Higashi. Kelly also decided to take the matter to a higher level as well as involve CLAIR so as to resolve the issue (Heller, 2012). Kelly’s Character Personality is considered as a the measurable traits that an individual portrays such as aggressiveness, shyness, ambitious, lazy, hard working as well as the way the individual interacts as well as reacts to other individuals. The personality is determined by the heredity of an individual, age, as well as the environment. The values are considered to be the things or the character that the society approves or hold moral and ethical considered (Brattton & Gold, 2009). Perception is considered as a process through which the individuals categorise as well as interpret their physical impersonations so as to be able to give connotation to their environments. The perception is regarded as an outcome of the perceiver, the target or the perceived as well as the situation or the context at which the perception is taking place. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MIBT) theory explains Kelly’s personality in decision making. Kelly decided to go to Japan so as to get a chance for understanding more of the Japanese language at the same time enjoying the island environment. This is due to her character as an extrovert mainly because she desires more to act on the environment and also she likes to work with people in the delivery or in teaching of the English language to the Japanese people. When Kelly arrived in Soto she decide to buy a mountain bike so that she can exercise and tour the island when she was not working over the weekends this makes her an extrovert. Kelly makes her decision based on the details and also tends to very practical in her decision making. She also pays a lot of attention to the things that can be seen as well as experienced more than felt (Joshi, 2013). This can be seen when she made the decision not to sign the paid leave instead of the sick leave as suggest by Mr Higashi as she referred him to the contract that they had signed. This there shows that she is more of a sensing decision maker. Kelly is also a thinker when it comes to decision making mainly because, when she refused to sign the paid leave instead of paid leave, she did this based on the reasons, facts as well as logical analysis from the contract of the JET participants. She also insists that the Mr Higashi should be fair while making that decision of the paid leave and also he should be logical and integrity (Hodgkinson & Starbuck, 2007). Kelly is also a judger when it comes to decision making mainly because she prefers to engage in pleasure or rather leisure activities after she has completed her scheduled work in the office. Kelly also declined Mr Higashi offer of signing for the Japanese culture program mainly because she felt that she first needed to finish the teaching project before embarking on another program or project. Therefore, she becomes judger in decision making. Kelly is affected by the perception bias of the halo effect that is the inclination to make a general impression involving a person based on one single characteristic of the individual. This is clearly seen when she views Mr Higashi as a father than a boss mainly because, he help her to settle in her new place of work by answering her questions when she approached him, and also for his understanding. The psychology perspective of Kelly’s decision can be explained using the attribution theory. The attribution theory mainly focuses on the way in which various people explain the causes of their actions as well as their outcomes. For instance, the way the in which the perceiver utilizes the information in order to arrive at an unpremeditated for the actual events. According to this theory the individual mainly explains their behaviour based on three main causes that is the person, time as well as the entity (Heller, 2012). This theory is clearly portrayed when Kelly tries very hard to explain to Mr Higashi what contributed to her absence in the place of work that is sickness. Hence, she wanted the Mr Higashi to consider her sick leave as it was stated in the contract and not as he wanted to state it as paid leave due to what he considered as a respect to the employer (Hodgkinson & Starbuck, 2007). Kelly is more affected by the fundamental attribution error that is the predisposition of an individual to look at another person as the main cause of the individual behaviour rather that the situation that the behaviour occurred in. For instance, to ignore the external factors that causes the behaviour and focus more on the internal factors. This is clearly portrayed when Kelly ignores the external factors that caused Mr Higashi to decline the sick leave and term it as a paid leave due to the respect that the Japanese people have on their employers and focus more on the internal factors such as the terms of the contract which states the that any JET participants should be given a sick leave when they fall sick as opposed to what Mr Higashi considered (Brattton & Gold, 2009). The strengths and weaknesses of Kelly’s decision making Strengths Kelly’s decision not to sign the sick leave as a paid leave, like it was suggested by Mr Higashi shows her ability as a thinker of ensuring that there is fairness, logic as well as fairness in what she was doing. This is portrayed by her ability to take make this decision based on the facts, logical analysis as well as reasoning. This shows her strength in decision making (Joshi, 2013). Kelly’s decision not to sign up for the Japanese culture as suggested by Mr Higashi and opting to join local Kendo club shows her strength of making firm decision. Mainly because she felt that the Japanese society was male dominated and Mr Higashi would not have insisted that she sign up so as to fit in if it was a male employee who was involved. This mainly influenced by her stereotyping perceptual bias of viewing individuals based on an individual’s ability to judge someone based on ones perception of the group that the individual belongs to. Kelly’s decision not sign the sick leave is also influenced by the goal framing effect which shows that something is chosen depending on whether the message insists on the positive or whether the message insists on the negative (Shapira, 2002). Weaknesses Kelly’s decision not to sign the sick leave as a paid leave, just like Mr Higashi wanted shows her weakness in the decision making mainly because, she is supposed to adjust to the Japanese culture since, she is supposed to fit in and learn from the Japanese people (Heller, 2012). Also Kelly’s decision to decline to sing up for the Japanese culture after she was requested by Mr Higashi also shows her weakness in decision making. Mainly because, she says that Mr Higashi insisted she join the Japanese culture due to the fact, that she was female employee and he could not have done that if she was male. She also suggests that, Japanese society was male dominated one and therefore, Mr Higashi insisted her to fit in because she is female. This is not true given the fact that Mr Higashi wanted her to fit in mainly because; he had noticed that she knew Japanese well than her counterparts and she had been to Japan before. This mainly influenced by her stereotyping perceptual bias of viewing individuals based on an individual’s ability to judge someone based on ones perception of the group that the individual belongs to. Kelly’s decision not to sign the paid leave despite the explanation that was given to her by Mr Higashi shows her weakness in the decision making mainly because, she already had the reason as to why she was supposed to do that this is based on the attribute framing effect where items which have a positive proportion are usually considered favourable than items which have negative proportion (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). Recommendations One of the recommendations to the misunderstanding between the JET participants and Mr Higashi is that, Mr Higashi need to understand that the JET participants are guided by the terms of contract that that they signed when they came to Soto. He also needs to understand that there are guidelines that govern how the JET participant should be treated or rather handled as well as how they do their work and in case of any misunderstanding there is a channel that was supposed to be followed. Therefore, he should abide to the rules and regulation that are set by the CLAIR and in case of any misunderstanding he should contact a higher authority who can explain or rather clarify the matter to the JET participants (Joshi, 2013). Mr Higashi also needs to understand that Kelly, Suzanne as well as Mark are not Japanese and therefore, they should not be treated in the same way the Japanese are treated when it comes to matters involving the sick leave as well as paid leave of the participants. This way he shall be able to avoid the misunderstanding and ensure that the program runs smoothly while at the same time ensuring that the JET participants does their jobs efficiently. Mr Higashi should put into consideration the sick note that Kelly brought to him after returning from the sick leave. Mainly because it clearly indicates that she had suffered from flu and therefore, she was eligible to sick leave and not the paid leave like he was putting it (Brattton & Gold, 2009). Another recommendation is that Kelly together with the other JET participants needs to understand that when they volunteered to work in this program mainly because they wanted to learn more about the Japanese culture as well as the language. Therefore, if the people they are working with do not take sick leaves but instead takes paid leaves so as to show respect to the employer, then they should abide to that so as to ensure smooth running of the program. Kelly should carry out research or should enquire from other employees about the claim by Mr Higashi that, when the Japanese people fall sick, they do not take the sick leave but rather they take paid leave so as to show respect to their employer (Mathis & Jackson, 2007). This is due to the fact that, Mr Higashi had a tendency to give wrong information to new JET participants whenever they asked him questions, which they later found out later to be wrong. Kelly should also ask for help from her colleagues whether reporting the matter to CLAIR is a good choice as well as contemplate on the effect the decision that she shall take will have on her as well as other individuals working in the JET program. Also she should contact CLAIR for advice as opposed to her take to report Mr Higashi to the higher authority mainly because it may have serious effects on Mr Higashi as well as other JET participants and the program at large (Shapira, 2002). References Brattton, J. & Gold, J., 2009, Human Resource Management, Lawrence Erlbaum: London. Heller, F.A., 2012, Decision Making and Leadership, CUP Archive: New York. Hodgkinson, G. P & Starbuck, W. H., 2007, The Oxford Handbook of Organisation Decision Making, Oxford Handbooks Online: London. Joshi, M, 2013, Human Resource Management, New Delhi: Pearson Education. Mathis, R.L & Jackson, J., 2007, Human Resource Management, Stamford: Cengage Learning. Shapira, Z., 2002, Organisational Decision Making, Cambridge University press: London. Read More