PGMT 728-001
Jayant Meshram
300821022
CASE FRAMEWORK FRAMEWORK for Charles Sends an Email
Requirement 1. What is the problem? What was Foster’s intention in sending the email? Answer: Problem – The demand for the new disk drives (XD19) is more than the supply. It may eventually result into loss of market share if not handled immediately and effectively. There is a problem with the forecasting; manufacturing is shipping products in volumes below the run-rates. The version 08 of the firmware does not provide true three-wire control in keypad mode (Lane, H.,2009). Foster’s intention – Initially Foster wrote an email to Richard Howe (VicePresident of Sales of High Technology) to inform him about the concerns regarding the current situations in the company most especially reservations on the V8 for the XD19 drives. Foster was intending to i nform about the problems in forecasting and how the long lead-times in the manufacturing of XD19 may make it impossible to respond to sudden swings in the market or new opportunities for their products (Lane, H.,2009). 2. Who cares about the problem? How did each recipient interpret the email? Answer: Who cares – Based on the Case Study it is clearly visible that Charles and Richard, both are the most concerned ones about the problem. Maurice seems to be concerned about the problem but also demonstrates a bit of authoritative nature which results into an immediate reaction to the mail by Ahmed (Lane, H.,2009).
Recipient Interpretation – There are 3 recipients who either directly or indirectly received the mail. Richard Howe – Richard responded positively to the message by expressing his gratitude for bringing the situation to his attention and promised to probe further (Lane, H.,2009). Maurice LeBlanc – Maurice received the email indirectly as it was forwarded to him by Dick. Maurice later forwarded it to Ahmed and a tone of anger and the authoritarian nature can be sensed in the email forwarded to Ahmed. He asked expressed his concerns about the activities of JV and asked Ahmed for explanations on
Your Mark
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Instructor Comment
PGMT 728-001
Jayant Meshram
300821022
the allegations raised by Charles (Lane, H.,2009). Ahmed – He received the email indirectly from Maurice. He responded to the email by calling Charles and speaking to him in a tone of anger and the exercise of authority. He demanded explanation from Charles regarding the allegations raised by the email (Lane, H.,2009).
3. How did the problem come about? Provide some background. What cultural assumptions underlie Foster’s email and the phone call and email from Hassan? Answer: Upon receiving the email from Maurice, Ahmed called Charles and demanded explanation to the allegations made by the mails. According to the Hofstede’s cultural dimension theories, 3 cultural assumptions seem to be the cause of Charles’s initial email and Ahmed’s response. The cultural assumptions under Individualism, Power Distance and Long Term Orientation form the basis of the situation. Ahmed reacted the way he did firstly, because he is culturally not inclined to be individualistic and he expected Charles to contact him directly instead of sending an email to his boss even if indirectly. Also, because of power distance, Ahmed perceived that he has been proven inferior in front of a powerful person, who is his boss, resulted in obvious anger (Lane, H.,2009).
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4. What are the opportunities for solving the problem? How should Foster respond to Hassan? Answer: While talking to Ahmed, Charles s hould try to calm him down by enquiring about what the problem was . Charles should try to detail out Ahmed’s grievances without judging him and Charles should not only allow him to vent but also explain what has actually happened and what the main context of the email was (Lane, H.,2009).
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5. What are the requirements or criteria that need to be considered when trying to find a solution? Answer: While finding the solution the 3 cultural assumptions that underlie the problem should be considered. It has to be considered that under individual USA, France and UAE scored 91, 71 and 25 respectively. A low
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PGMT 728-001
Jayant Meshram
300821022
score in this category represents more of collectivism than individual attitude. Also, under power distance USA, France and UAE scored 40, 68 and 90 respectively. The high score under this category means that the society accepts inequality on the basis of power and authority. Since Ahmed is from UAE and his been in France for a while, his long term orientation also needs to be considered (http://geert-hofstede.com). 6. List three possible solutions, including advantages and disadvantages of each option. Answer: a) One of the possible solutions is that Charles talks to Ahmed and tries to know what exactly the reason is for him being angry. This will help to calm Ahmed down and also help to make him understand the intent of the message. But, this can also backfire and result into more misunderstandings if Ahmed gets angrier by the questions (Lane, H.,2009). b) Richard could call for a general meeting and discuss the concerns brought forward by Charles. This would help in addressing the situation and avoid any further grievances. If Richard called for a general meeting based on Charles’s informal relations and the current situation it would seem that Richard favors Charles and is partial (Lane, H.,2009). c) The company should provide training sessions on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions for its executives. This will allow the executives to consider different dimensions while interacting with people from different cultures. But, over-exposure to the information may hinder the executives from original message while trying to avoid being sensitive (Lane, H.,2009).
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7. What would you recommend? Answer: According to Lane and Maznevski (2009), “ An assumption is an unquestioned, taken-for-granted belief about the world and how it works”. The situation resulted due the executives of the company being unaware of these assumptions. I recommend that the company provides its executives with training in cultural skills, strategy and change which will be based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. After all, prevention is always better than cure.
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PGMT 728-001
Jayant Meshram
8. Readability, presentation, grammar, spelling, flow. 9. What theories apply to this case? Why? Answer: Under Hofstede’s cultural dimensions the theories of individualism, power distance and long term orientation apply to this case. The people involved in this scenario are from three different cultures. When compared USA to France and UAE we found the following results:
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Based on the above comparison now we know why Ahmed reacted to the message the way he did. The higher scores in power distance indicate that Ahmed had accepted a degree of inequality in his society whereas Charles, based on his cultural orientation, considered himself equal to his superior. The higher scores in individualism indicate that the society has more of “I” approach than “WE”. Hence, Charles being from USA is more individualistic than Ahmed, who is from UAE. Ahmed expected Charles to treat him as a part of the family by contacting him directly. Also, it is significant that UAE does not even stand in long term orientation, which indicates that the society in UAE prefers to maintain traditions and norms while viewing change with s uspicion (http://geert-hofstede.com). 10. Total
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