Karen Leary Case Essay Example

One of Karen’s goals was to develop the Taiwanese market but she did not take the time to do any research on the culture.

If you look at the above traits the problems Karen is having with Ted can be directly tied to the differences in their cultures. Although Ted is doing business in what he perceives as his cultural norm this doesn’t mean he has done everything orrectly either. Ted should also be aware that cultural differences exist and if he would have been willing to communicate those differences to Karen things may not have escalated to the point they did in the case. It is a must in all forms of business today if you are to succeed that you make yourself and your organization aware of cultural differences and have some sort of program set up to address these differences to allow multi-cultures to work together as a single unit. 2.

If you were Leary, how would you respond to Chung's request for a private office?It is unfortunate that we are now at a point that an ultimatum has been given to Karen. Karen has now been backed into a corner and the best she could do at this point is to negotiate over the private office. If Karen’s goal to develop the Taiwanese market is to happen she must find a solution to bridge their cultural differences. Ted may be willing to negotiate with Karen as long as it does not appear that he is losing face.

If they can agree on a set of goals or terms of service once met that will give Ted his private office then it

will be a win/win for both sides.Karen at this point cannot give Ted the office or she will lose respect in the office, on the other hand Ted’s culture will not allow himself the appearance of losing face. Unless they can come to agreeable terms of some sort Ted will have to leave the office. If Karen would have taken into consideration a training plan for the organization to understand the differences between cultures working together many of her problems that now exist could have been prevented.At a minimum Karen needs a mentor to train her on the Chinese culture if she hopes to successfully develop the Taiwanese market.

It would do her good to learn a lesson from this experience also that if you plan on going into a market that is of a different culture ensure you make yourself knowledgeable about the culture and they way they conduct business. 3. What are the particular challenges and dilemmas in managing relationships with those who have different cultural backgrounds and working styles from yours? How do you, personally, deal with such differences?I personally take pride in my ability to work in a multi-cultural environment; this ability did not come overnight or without learning by mistake. I spent 21 years in the U.

S. Navy working with many cultures. I moved to Hawaii in 1982 and that is where my ability to understand and work together with different cultures was developed. I normally do not believe in stereotypes but found that military personnel and families stationed in Hawaii either love it or hate it here, there is very little middle ground. For the ones who hate

it in Hawaii I seem to always see a common thread between them.They come to Hawaii from one of many cultures on the mainland and think that the people here should conform to their culture and lifestyle, when this does not happen they say how screwed up Hawaii is and can’t wait to get back to the mainland.

The families that come here and understand that there are cultural differences from what they are used to and try to learn from them not only like it here but in time start to understand the meaning of Aloha and Ohana. When working with different cultures it is a must to understand the differences in the cultures.This does not mean that one culture is correct and the other is wrong, it just means that if both sides know what the differences are it gives both cultures the understanding that they view things differently. An example of this from the case is when Karen had doubts about some of Ted’s account strategies she wanted to meet with the client to ensure Ted was doing the clients wishes. If Karen understood in the Chinese culture that building trust with your business associates was one of the most important aspects of business she would have never asked to meet with the client.A few years ago my daughter Megan showed me how cultural diverse she has grown up.

Megan was born in Ventura, California but moved to Hawaii at the age of 14 months. Since moving to Hawaii we have lived in only Hawaii and Guam. She has danced hula since the age of 4 and competitively since age 7. A

couple of years ago we went to see my family at Christmas, on Christmas Eve we all went to the family church.

While sitting together during the service I noticed Megan kept looking around and seemed uncomfortable.I asked her if something was wrong and she turned to me and asked “Daddy, why is everybody in here white? ” She has grown up in such a multi-cultural lifestyle she is out of her comfort zone when she is placed in an environment of a single culture. Moorhouse, A. (2005, November). International Management Organizational Behavior.

Retrieved October 16, 2008, from University of California Berkley: http://www. ocf. berkeley. edu/~matran/Files/proKarenLeary.

doc Robert Kreitner, A. K. (2008). Organizational Behavior.

New York: McGraw- Hill Irwin.