Fred Bailey Case Analysis - Essay Example

?Fred Bailey Case When Fred and Jenny moved to Japan, they did not properly prepare for the move and challenge of working in a culturally different environment. Any organization sending an employee on a foreign assignment must take steps to familiarize the employee with the country’s culture and basic dos and don’ts. Once in Japan, Fred tried to get quick results and assumed that American style of working would also work in Japan. When he got vague answers from the Japanese employees he did not try to pursue it further to understand why the answers were vague. Fred seemed to be in a hurry to show results and did not show the patience and understanding that was needed in getting work done in a foreign culture. At an individual level, neither Jenny nor Fred tried to understand Japan’s culture or make efforts to familiarize themselves with the language, food and other aspects of Japanese culture. All these factors made it difficult for Fred and Jenny to adjust in Japan. 2. Unlike Americans, Japanese are not as direct and straightforward and avoid confrontation. Also, Japanese take a lot longer to open up and express their opinions. Being unaware of these cultural peculiarities, Fred called a meeting on his very first day at work and expected the Japanese to openly voice their opinions. This was not easy for Japanese since in Japanese culture, people first get to know each other and free conversation takes place only after a certain amount of familiarity is established. He made the same mistake when interacting with Japanese clients and instead of trying to know them batter, immediately launched into the project details. He also made no efforts to learn about the Japanese culture from the one American employee who had some knowledge of the Japanese culture. Fred’s lack of patience and his attempt to get results quickly rubbed the Japanese the wrong way and resulted in his feeling frustrated and unable to get any work done. 3. When selecting employees for oversees assignment, it would be a good idea to look for someone who is familiar with the local language. Also, person’s who have traveled widely are usually much more open to other cultures and adapt easily. People who have been brought up in households where they were exposed to more than one culture may also adapt better in foreign cultures. Besides a person’s cultural predisposition, it is also important to look the family. Usually, a person with well settled family may resist leaving everything and going to a foreign country. As a result, it is best to send employees who do not have many family obligations. If such a person is not available for a senior position, an organization may send junior employees and allow them to get to know the local culture, while a senior employee can make periodic visits and use the local experience of the younger employees to interact with the locals. 4. Fred’s organization could have given Fred and his family cultural adaptations classes to get them ready for their Japanese assignment. 5. As Dave Steiner, if I receive such a call from Fred, I would advice Fred to hang in while I explored the options. Next I would call other employees in Japan to understand what the problem was. I could also talk with the person who was at the position before Fred and ask him about his opinions. Once I understood what the problem was, I would ask Fred to go through a cultural acclimatization course and to hang in there for a few more months. If, after taking all these steps, Fred still insisted on returning, I would have no other option but to agree. But before that, I would advise Fred to better understand the Japanese culture and give it some more time. The case study presented here is related to the cultural problems faced while conducting international business. Hence, the two articles selected for this essay are both concerned with cultural issues in international business settings. The first article is titled “The Effects of Cultural Adaptation on Business Relations: Americans Selling to Japanese and Thais” (Pornpitakpan, 1999). The aim of the research is to find how Japanese and Thai people react when Americans try to adapt to their culture. The research is a follow up of an earlier research that found that when Japanese became over-enthusiastic about adapting to American culture, their behavior seemed to threaten Americans. However, Pornpitakpan hypothesized that since Thai and Japanese are both collectivistic culture, they would perceive over-adaptation by Americans positively. The second hypothesis was that Thais and Japanese would be more attracted to Americans once they adapted. The third hypothesis states that Thais and Japanese would see Americans having more favorable outcomes as they adapted to local cultures. For the purpose of the study, Japanese and Thai executives were randomly divided into four groups and each person was given a questionnaire asking them to respond to a story of Americans trying to sell to them. There were four types of story each reflecting a different level of cultural adaptation. These four levels of adaptations were None, Moderate, High with English language and High with Local language. For the Japanese sample, the study recruited 101 professionals and out of them, 31 participants were given the questionnaire of high adaptation using native language, 21 were given the questionnaire regarding high adaptation using English, 24 had moderate adaptation questionnaire while 25 had no adaptation questionnaire. For the Thai sample, the study recruited 145 professionals; 40 were given high adaptation using native language questionnaires, 36 had high adaptation using English, 44 for moderate adaptation and 25 for no adaptation. The moderate level of adaptation involved using simplified English with no idioms, being less time conscious using a mixture of native and American manners and limited acceptance of invitation to drinks or dinner. High levels of adaptations involved having a restrained manner and showing no impatience, using native mannerism, and accepting all invitations to drinks and lunch. The results showed that the more the Americans adapted to the local culture, the more favorable responses they got from the Japanese and the Thais. Also as hypothesized, neither the Japanese nor the Thais felt threatened by high degree of cultural adaptation on part of the Americans. In the case of Thais, the results showed that the more the Americans adapted the more favorable response they got. On the other hand, for the Japanese, the favorability of the response does not increase beyond a moderate level of adaptability, although it did not decrease either. This suggests that when interacting with Thais over a long period of time, Americans may benefit by learning the native language. However, if the interaction is going to short, a moderate level of adaptation is sufficient. For interacting with Japanese a moderate level of adaptation seems to be enough to get favorable response. When we apply the results of this study to the case at hand, we find that Fred might have achieved much better results had he even tried to understand the Japanese culture. Japanese culture focuses on establishing relationship before doing any business. However, Fred, with his American style of doing business, went straight to the point instead of trying to establish relationships. He also showed a lot of impatience and did not give the Japanese enough time to respond. Fred was also oblivious of the indirect communication methods and often misunderstood what the Japanese were really trying to say. All these problems could have been easily avoided if he had spent even a few hours understanding some of the peculiarities of the Japanese culture and made an effort to reach out to the Japanese employees and clients. The study shows that Americans need try and learn the Japanese language or show very high degree of cultural adaptation in order to get favorable response. This means that Fred can easily reverse the situation he found himself in. All he needed to do was show some patience and try and develop relations instead of trying to get quick results. As such, the study has some very favorable implications for the case and the problems faced by Fred. However, the study is concerned with business transactions and does not address the problems faced by Fred’s wife. Jenny would have to learn a little more about Japanese language and food habits if she hopes to get settled in Japan. The second article researched for the purpose of this essay is titled “Conceptions of Self and Performance related feedback in the US, Japan and China” (Bailey and Chen, 1997). The study is based on the differences in the way feedback is sought by Americans, Chinese and Japanese. The concept here is that Americans, who come from an individualistic culture, are more likely to seek feedback to emphasize success since in an individualistic culture the emphasis is on highlighting successes. On the other hand, Chinese and Japanese culture that has predominantly collectivist culture, individuals seek feedback that is negative. This is because in a collectivist culture, failure of an individual can result in the failure of the team. Also, highlighting one’s successes in a team environment can be misconstrued as arrogance while accepting failure is seen as a sign of humility. Based on this concept, the study hypothesizes that people from the US will desire feedback that highlights success while those from China and Japan will desire feedback that highlights failure. Another hypothesis in the study is that Americans will show more initiative in seeking feedback when compared to Chinese and Japanese. The fourth hypothesis is that Americans feel that their job environment provides more individual performance feedback when compared to Chinese and Japanese. Finally, the study hypothesizes that regardless of nationality, individuals who desire self appraisal will take more initiative to seek performance feedback and will perceive their job environment as providing more individual feedback when compared to those with a low desire of self appraisal. For the purpose of study, 216 individuals, 77 from US, 57 from Japan and 82 from China were recruited. The respondents were given questionnaires to measure their Desire for Self Appraisal. The questionnaire measured individual’s desire for success and failure feedback, feedback seeking initiative and perceptions of feedback from job environment. A problem with the results obtained was that the questionnaire was on a self rating scale of people from different cultures. People from certain cultures may be hesitant to answer on the extreme ends of the scale and this could harm the overall results of the survey. To counter this, the authors carried out a within-subject standardization procedure. The results proved to be consistent with the initial hypothesis and people from collectivists culture showed less initiative to seek out feedback when compared to people from individualistic cultures. However, the Chinese showed certain peculiarities and proved to be unpredictable. While Americans preferred success feedbacks and Japanese preferred failure feedbacks, Chinese seemed to be concerned with both success and failure feedbacks. These results show that cultures are complex and defy simplistic interpretations. Although the study had several limitations, it has some important implications for international business. Americans interacting with Japanese and Chinese often have trouble predicting their behavior. This trouble could be from lack of appreciation for the thought process of the Japanese and Chinese. The study looks at the type of feedback that Japanese and Chinese may covet and help the Americans to tailor their feedback accordingly. Such a tailoring of feedback would also show that Americans are sensitive to the needs and concerns of the Chinese and Japanese and help smooth the relations. When we look at the findings of this study in light of the present case, we find that Fred could have had a much better success rate with the Japanese if he had stopped to think the Japanese thought process. In American culture, where individuals are focused on success, people often ask a lot of questions to ensure that they have got the right message and try their best to meet deadlines. If an individual feels that he or she might be unable to meet a deadline, they may say so at the outset. However, in the Japanese culture, where failure may be seen as a way to improve, the Japanese subordinate did not think it necessary to ask questions. It is possible that when given a direct order by Fred, the Japanese thought that he would try and meet the deadline and if he failed, he would seek the failure feedback to help improve his work. However, Being unaware of the Japanese culture and thinking process, when he gave the order, Fred expected the Japanese to everything possible to meet the deadline. Learning at a much later stage that the Japanese did not think he could meet the deadline from the start, Fred could not understand such a slack behavior. Being aware of Japanese though process would have helped ease out this interactions. Thus, we see that being unaware of the local culture and local thought process can cause a lot of problems from expatriates in a foreign country. When going to a foreign country, individuals must take steps to understand the local customs as well as possible. Also, organizations must expend some resources to train their employees and families about the local culture to avoid setbacks at a later stage. Works Cited Bailey, James R. and Chao C. Chen. “Conceptions of Self and Performance related feedback in the US, Japan and China” Journal of International Business Studies. 1997: 605-625. Pornpitakpan, Chandrika. “The Effects of Cultural Adaptation on Business Relations: Americans Selling to Japanese and Thais.” Journal of International Business Studies. 1999: 317-337. Read More