Mgt502 solution

Cultural differences
Culturally speaking west believes more on working and achieving goals
individually.
They feel proud and happy for their achievements independently.
Mr. Ahmad is working as a “Manager” in a Multinational Software development
Company “Softronix” in USA. He uses to distribute all the tasks amongst the
employees
individually. Everyone was happy to work for the goals attainment of the
organization
and personal fulfillments. The organization was one of the leading profit
generators in
USA. All the employees were happy working with the organization under Mr.
Ahmad’s
supervision.
With this mind set and experience of USA, he was transferred to Japan, where
emphasis
is given to working collectively. Collectivism is the main feature of
eastern culture. Mr.
Ahmad adopted the same strategy in Japan and distributed the tasks
individually. It was
the point where problems begin to create for the company. Gradually the
productivity of
the employees decreased, resulting in low profits and difficulties in
achieving the goals
effectively and efficiently. The employees were dissatisfied with the job
and gradually
turnover increased.
The top management of “Softronix” decided to find out the causes of bad
performance
despite of being a successful manager in USA.

Q.1: As CEO of the “Softronix” what reasons do you see for the poor
performance in
Japan? (10)

Q.2: Keeping in view the GLOBE framework for assessing the cultures, what
other
considerations should Mr. Ahmad look at in order to assess the two totally
different
cultures? (10)

*Answer Q.1:*

As CEO of “Softronix”, I’ve come to conclusion that Mr. Ahmad is no doubt a
good
manager but he missed few tricks to be successful in Japan. The following
are the main
reasons for his poor performance in Japan
• Non-compliance to local culture.
• Not understanding the difference in culture.
• Applying wrong strategies
• Lack of cultural knowledge
• Lack of adaptation to the cultures differently.
(2 Marks for each point with elaboration)

*Answer Q.2*

As matter of fact the manger must have been given proper training and
briefing before
leaving for Japan. Apart from Collectivism and Individualism he also has to
consider the
following points:
• Power distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Assertiveness
• Future orientation
• Gender differentiation
• Power distance
• Humane orientation
(2 marks for each point with application to the scenario)