Karen Leary Case
1. What is your evaluation of Chung's performance?
Chung has been operating under what he feels are the established norms for his culture. Ted's relationship with the Taiwanese client exhibits the Chinese management principles of paternalism, particularism, and insecurity. The patron-client relationship is based in a sense of mutual obligation, where the client is expected to defer to Ted's expertise and Ted is expected to trade the account responsibly. (Moorhouse, 2005) Ted also used social networking to establish himself in the community which is expected in the Chinese culture. By attending events Ted increases his “visibility and prestige” which contributes to the face that is needed to be considered a trustworthy business partner in the Chinese community. (Moorhouse, 2005) Karen had trouble understanding these differences in culture which is the root of the problem in this case. As stated in the case study Ted was in his early forties were stable and responsible. Karen admitted that she didn’t really know the whole person (referring to Ted) but wrote it off to the fact that he was Asian and she was not. Karen would not be described as someone with much “Cultural Intelligence” defined by the text as “the ability to accurately interpret ambiguous cross-cultural situations” (Robert Kreitner, 2008) Figure 4-2 in the text defines the differences between Low and High-Context cultures with China being a very High-Context culture and North American countries being Low-Context. Below list the traits of each type culture: High-Context Low-Context
Establish social trust first Get down to business first
Value personal relations and goodwill Value expertise and performance
Agreement by general trust Agreement by specific, legalistic contract
Negotiations slow and ritualistic Negotiations as efficient as possible (Robert Kreitner, 2008)
One of Karen’s goals was to develop the Taiwanese market but she did not take the time to do any research on the
Chung has been operating under what he feels are the established norms for his culture. Ted's relationship with the Taiwanese client exhibits the Chinese management principles of paternalism, particularism, and insecurity. The patron-client relationship is based in a sense of mutual obligation, where the client is expected to defer to Ted's expertise and Ted is expected to trade the account responsibly. (Moorhouse, 2005) Ted also used social networking to establish himself in the community which is expected in the Chinese culture. By attending events Ted increases his “visibility and prestige” which contributes to the face that is needed to be considered a trustworthy business partner in the Chinese community. (Moorhouse, 2005) Karen had trouble understanding these differences in culture which is the root of the problem in this case. As stated in the case study Ted was in his early forties were stable and responsible. Karen admitted that she didn’t really know the whole person (referring to Ted) but wrote it off to the fact that he was Asian and she was not. Karen would not be described as someone with much “Cultural Intelligence” defined by the text as “the ability to accurately interpret ambiguous cross-cultural situations” (Robert Kreitner, 2008) Figure 4-2 in the text defines the differences between Low and High-Context cultures with China being a very High-Context culture and North American countries being Low-Context. Below list the traits of each type culture: High-Context Low-Context
Establish social trust first Get down to business first
Value personal relations and goodwill Value expertise and performance
Agreement by general trust Agreement by specific, legalistic contract
Negotiations slow and ritualistic Negotiations as efficient as possible (Robert Kreitner, 2008)
One of Karen’s goals was to develop the Taiwanese market but she did not take the time to do any research on the