Joe Willis Feeling the Heat of Tailand
Cross-cultural Management 380
Assignment One ; Joe Willis Feeling the Heat of Thailand
By
Cécile Branco-cote
Due on October 7 1- Reading the case study, there is two challenges that stakeholders have identified as a threat to the efficiency of Thailand’s Fasco Motors subsidiary. The first one is the lack of trust between the three new executives and the Thailand’s team members. The second challenge, deriving from the first, is the lack of affective communication between members. The three new comers believe that the rest of the group feels skeptical towards them because they might be fired too. As Willis mentions, coming from the internal audit staff, workers fear him more than trust him. Consequently, this has affected communication between him and the workers who kept essential information for them. In addition, they think that their inability to work at the office the four first weeks has delayed the moment when they could start building new relationship with the team. From the perspective of the three executives, these are the reasons for their difficulties to manage efficiently. However, the causes they identify as challenging their ability to build trustful relations come from their own cultural script (Thomas, D.C, 2008). It doesn’t take into account cultural values and underlying assumptions behind Thai behavior (Thomas, D.C, 2008). If one would have took a Thai perspective, the root causes might have been different. In fact, this explains the difficulties they face and the failure of their attempt to solve the problem. 2- Three Thai culture’s dimensions can help us understanding the causes for the lack of trustful relationship; feminine/masculine and diffuseness/specific cultural dimension and vertical collectivism. Based on Hofstede’s cultural model, Thailand can be defined as a “Feminine” culture. It is less competitive, quality of life is rewarded and conflict and direct confrontation need to be avoid. This means that when Willis
Assignment One ; Joe Willis Feeling the Heat of Thailand
By
Cécile Branco-cote
Due on October 7 1- Reading the case study, there is two challenges that stakeholders have identified as a threat to the efficiency of Thailand’s Fasco Motors subsidiary. The first one is the lack of trust between the three new executives and the Thailand’s team members. The second challenge, deriving from the first, is the lack of affective communication between members. The three new comers believe that the rest of the group feels skeptical towards them because they might be fired too. As Willis mentions, coming from the internal audit staff, workers fear him more than trust him. Consequently, this has affected communication between him and the workers who kept essential information for them. In addition, they think that their inability to work at the office the four first weeks has delayed the moment when they could start building new relationship with the team. From the perspective of the three executives, these are the reasons for their difficulties to manage efficiently. However, the causes they identify as challenging their ability to build trustful relations come from their own cultural script (Thomas, D.C, 2008). It doesn’t take into account cultural values and underlying assumptions behind Thai behavior (Thomas, D.C, 2008). If one would have took a Thai perspective, the root causes might have been different. In fact, this explains the difficulties they face and the failure of their attempt to solve the problem. 2- Three Thai culture’s dimensions can help us understanding the causes for the lack of trustful relationship; feminine/masculine and diffuseness/specific cultural dimension and vertical collectivism. Based on Hofstede’s cultural model, Thailand can be defined as a “Feminine” culture. It is less competitive, quality of life is rewarded and conflict and direct confrontation need to be avoid. This means that when Willis
Bibliography: Backman Michael and Charlotte Butle. “Know the firm, know the family: dealing with Asian family”, Ch.1, Big in Asia; strategies for business success, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 Backman Michael and Charlotte Butle. “Corruption the business practice that dare not speak its name strategy”, Ch.1, Big in Asia; strategies for business success, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 Guirdham, Mauren. “Cultural Differences at Work”, Ch.2, Communicating Acress Cultures, 3rd edition 2011 Palgrave MacMillan Thomas, D.C. “Describing Culture: What it is and where it comes from,” Ch.2, Cross-Cultural Management Essential Concepts, 2008, Thousand Oaks, Ca; Sage