Assignment task: Andrew, an American businessman, attended a trade fair in Japan in search of business opportunities in the country. He was successful in his country and prided himself on his efficiency and persuasiveness. At the trade fair, he identified a company as a potential business partner belonging to an experienced business person Mr. Yamanoto. Andrew decided to approach the owner of the company. Since he had read somewhere that Japanese business people like to know a person before getting into business with them, Andrew decided to use a different approach. He chose to begin with a firm handshake followed by a casual conversation that would lead to the topic of his products and how the two companies would benefit from one another. He suggested that he would arrange a meeting with Mr. Yamamoto and provide more details about his business. Andrew wanted the meeting to be soon since he knew he only had a few days in the country. Mr. Yamamoto informed him in reasonably good English that it won't be a calm week at the office. Andrew casually suggested that they meet the next morning at 10 o'clock. But in a somewhat low and different tone, the Japanese businessman agreed. The next day, Andrew went to the company at the agreed time only to find that Mr. Yamamoto was busy with some other business meetings. Andrew waited for 30 minutes and quickly became offended at Mr. Yamamoto's behavior for not respecting his time. He wrote a blaringly critical email to Mr. Yamamoto expressing his disappointment with the situation to which Mr. Yamamoto replied politely explaining how the week was busy and without directly using any apologetic language. Andrew replied to that email setting another meeting at 10 am the following day. The next morning at 9 o'clock, Andrew noticed that Mr. Yamamoto had not replied to his email but he decided to show up for the meeting nonetheless. Later when he arrived at Yamamoto's office, he discovered that Mr. Yamamoto was visiting a factory site and was not present at the office.
Problem 1: What do you think went wrong in the communication between Andrew and Mr. Yamamoto? Consider the verbal, nonverbal, and written communication between the two people.
Problem 2: What could Andrew have done to make the communication more effective?
Problem 3: How can Andrew fix this problem going forward? What actions can he take to establish a better working relationship with Mr. Yamamoto?