ORIGINAL BUSINESS DISCUSSION 2
The executives of GDD are meeting to consider three finalists for a new position: Division Head of the Middle East. The winning candidate will be in a high- profile job. Although GDD usually lets Division Heads choose their management staff, a unique opportunity allowed GDD to acquire a small local company with training in the delivery field. The average age of the all-male group is 39.
The effectiveness of the person in this new lead position is of utmost importance for GDD's future. GDD is also aware that certain cultural differences will make developing the division harder than usual. GDD needs a candidate who will know how to work with the Yemen employees and at the same time has some knowledge of the customs and language of the country. After carefully reviewing résumés, the board selected six candidates for the first round of interviews, after which the list of finalists was narrowed to two. Both candidates seem to have the intellect and experience to handle the job. One candidate is female and the other male. The male candidate is 34 while the female is 36. Both candidates are attractive and single.
Before the second-round interview, Rockfish has decided to ask you to devise a set of questions that will help elicit information as to how familiar the candidates are with handling the cultural diversity issues the job will present.
In addition to using the course reading for the week you may want to research some of the cultural bias issues unique to the Yemen culture (Hint: consider women in the Arab workplace).
Course reading:
Leading Cultural and Generation Diversity
• Diversity and how it Improves Leadership
• Leading Four Generations
Leading and accumulator of knowledge
• Why Knowledge Management Is Important to The Success Of Your Company
• Importance of Knowledge to a Growing Business
Leading Innovation
• How to be an Innovative Leader
• Closing the Innovation Gap
Leading Sustainability
• Business Takes the Lead in Sustainability
• Why Making Your Business More Sustainable Doesn't Have to Be Expensive Or Hard
• 5 Lessons from The Companies Making Sustainability More Profitable Than Ever
PLEASE RESPOND TO EACH STUDENT
STUDENT 1:
• Alexander Lan.
• Women in the Arab's work environment have always been a topic of discussion. In many instances, the opinions regarding the future of women seem to be conflicting based on who is presenting the arguments. Nevertheless, it is widely accepted that gender equality in the Arab workforce is almost nonexistent (Rosenberg, 2013). Based on this scenario, the two candidates could be asked the following questions:
1. Tell us what you think about Yemeni social orders?
2. What is your contemplations about sexual orientation and gender disparity in Yemen?
3. Let us know of a period when you undertook the development or redevelopment of business?
4. Tell us about your experience where you worked and dealt with a diverse group of employees?
5. Regarding issues surrounding women in the Arab work environment, what is your plan with respect to addressing discrimination confronted by the women in the Yemen offices?
6. What are your thoughts concerning the current all-male group, and would you focus on gender diversity?
7. In Yemen society, women face serious violence on a daily basis. If you are selected to lead this American-based firm, which strategic initiatives would you put in place to ensure equality for all employees?
References:
Rosenberg, D. (2013). Working women? Not in the Arab world. The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved from https://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Working-women-Not-in-the-Arab-world.
STUDENT 2
• Marjory Ber.
• In order to determine how familiar the candidates are with handling the cultural diversity issues the job will present, the very first question would be to gauge each candidate's understanding of the Arabic language. The following questions would be centered around each candidate's knowledge of corporate and social interaction in Yemen.
1. Do you speak Arabic? How proficient are you?
2. What are your experiences working with other cultures?
3. How will you fit into the culture of Yemen?
4. Are you knowledgeable about the Yemeni culture such that you could mentor other staff?
5. Describe a conflict you have had with someone of a different cultural background. How did you handle it? How would you handle a conflict with Yemeni national of the opposite sex?
6. Describe a time when you adapted your leadership style to work more effectively with someone from a different cultural background.
7. How do you ensure effective communication with someone from a different cultural background?
8. Describe a time when you had to abide by a policy that you did not personally agree with.
9. How would you respond to an employee who made a culturally insensitive remark?
10. Describe a time when you did something that may have been culturally insensitive and how you took responsibility for it.
Having different cultural experiences often result in having high integrative complexity (Maddux, 2013). According to Suedfeld, Tetlock, and Streufert (as cited in Moss, 2016), the more one is exposed to different cultures, the more one is able "to adopt and to apply a variety of perspectives to appreciate an issue" and "to recognize connections and similarities across divergent perspectives." It is important that the candidates for this position already have key insights into Yemeni culture, to understand the high importance that Yemenis place on couth and politeness, respect of personal space, avoiding confrontation, and being conservative in both religion and attire (Moran, 2014). Yemenis do tend to have a bit more stringent expectations of their women, such as avoiding direct eye contact, avoiding physical interaction with the opposite sex in public, and dressing more modestly than men (2014). So while it may seem there may be more cultural obstacles for a female candidate, gender matters little as long as the person hired for the position has the ability to respect Yemen's societal norms and adapt to its culture, regardless of how it aligns with his or her own.
References
Maddux, W. M. (2013, July 24). Multicultural experiences: Making the world creative, innovative...and flat!
Retrieved March 1, 2017 from https://knowledge.insead.edu/innovation/entrepreneurship/multicultural-experiences-making-the-world-creative-innovativeand-flat-2555
Moran, A. (2014, September 5). How to master business etiquette in Yemen. Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
https://www.careeraddict.com/master-business-etiquette-in-yemen
Moss, S. (2016, June 28). Integrative complexity. Retrieved March 1, 2017 from
https://www.sicotests.com/psyarticle.asp?id=297