Jim Sanders, a distribution manager for a kitchen appliance manufacturing company in the United States, was recently assigned to work in Guadalajara, Mexico, at the regional manufacturing and distribution plant. His boss, regional manager Carlos Puente, also assigned to Guadalajara, is Mexican as well as all of his co-workers and subordinates. Jim has been in Guadalajara only a few months but he already has several major concerns. He remembers that upon his arrival, he was very excited and optimistic about his job opportunity in Mexico, feeling that he had won the world. Now Jim wonders if he will have any kind of success.
Jim came to Mexico feeling very confident of his management style that had produced many successes in the United States and that would allow him to achieve the same level of performance in Mexico. He had great problem-solving skills, he loved to plunge into problems and attack them openly and directly. Based on his past successes with working groups in the United States, he hoped that by involving all sales personnel in Mexico in the process of determining the best ways to sell kitchen appliances, the company would achieve double digit growth. easily. Certainly the local sales staff would be n the best position to know how to run the business in their respective sales districts.
Therefore, at the first meeting with his sales staff, rather than telling them what he thought should be done, Jim asked the group the question with the intention of opening a discussion. It was then that Jim realized that his Mexican employees could be very quiet. After a while, Jim felt that he needed to generate the discussion and presented his ideas about using more advertising through billboards. The group suddenly revived and enthusiastically supported the idea. Then there was a deafening silence. The process was repeated several times until Jim decided to end the meeting and retreated to his office very frustrated. He felt very unhappy to find himself in this situation surrounded by a group of vague employees, without any initiative or who were incompetent and unable to make good suggestions.
But Jim's employees were not his only concern. His boss, Carlos, seemed to behave in a cold and abrupt manner with him lately-certainly no longer the hospitable and kind person he remembered in his first interactions. Perhaps this change in Carlos' behavior began several weeks ago during a meeting of the regional management group, during which Jim complained about other Mexican managers for arriving 10 to 15 minutes late because of his frustration at not starting the meeting on time. Or maybe he was right to feel a bit of tension during that meeting led by Carlos, the highest manager, when Jim presented some ideas on how to improve several functional areas of regional operations in Mexico, including those that did not belong to his work group. -these ideas had worked very well in the United States. After doing what seemed to him very wise suggestions during subsequent meetings, Jim's relationship with his boss seemed to cool even more.
Jim began to fear that the company's operations in Mexico were destined to fail in an indolent, incompetent and very bureaucratic culture. However, when he monitored the actual performance of the operation, he was amazed that this part of the company showed strong profits and great growth. Jim thought maybe there was something wrong with himself, that he was not good for an international assignment after all. He felt that his three-year assignment in Mexico stretched before him as an eternal potential for failure. Worse still, he wondered how his imminent failure in this important international assignment could damage his future opportunities within the company.
1. What particular cultural differences are of great importance in the problems that Jim is experiencing? What are the sources of the deterioration in Jim's relationship with his boss Carlos?
2. What are the possible causes of Jim's lack of effectiveness in leading his sales group?
3. In a meeting with Jim, what ideas could you share with him about the intercultural differences that could be at the root of his problems? How could Jim behave differently to improve current difficulties in his work?
4. Do you think Jim should give up his job? Do you think it would be an ethical decision?
5. Have you experienced any similar experience indicating that we should be very cautious in interpreting and generalizing intercultural differences?