Fred Bailey: An Innocent Abroad
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| Phases of Cultural Adjustment, (Cuevas et al. 2011) |
An interesting case study illustrating the adverse effects of an organization failing to recognize cultural diversity. In this particular case, Fred is not only struggling with running the Japan office, his personal life is also being affected. And if that wasn’t enough, the organization is experiencing poor performance. There are many factors to consider in order to determine why and what went wrong for the organization, Fred, and his family. The organization along with Fred need to accept some of the responsibility for this failed endeavor as effective leadership and cultural sensitivity is not only the organization's obligation but the leaders as well.
Identification of the Issues
After moving his family to Japan, Fred had started to experience problems immediately in his new assignment. The first of these problems was during his introduction and inspirational speech on his vision for the Tokyo office. A situation which left him wondering why the Japanese seemed not to care. The next problem Fred encounters is the error he made in trying to push a potential client to accept a new proposal. The Japanese value personal relationship and this is one criteria they utilize to help make business decisions; Fred had failed to make this connection, leaving the potential client wondering why Kline & Associates would be a good fit for them. A third mistake Fred made was when delegating a project to a Japanese subordinate, failing to understand how the Japanese perceive personal relationships and how this affects business dealings. In all three of these problems Fred experiences, at the end they all relate to one major deficiency; Fred’s inability to recognize cultural diversity.
External Factors
Upon analyzing the case study for external factors, we learn there are a few which help to foster and expand the problems Fred faces. The first major problem was the lack of cultural training for Fred and his family. It is clear, not only did Fred’s wife not want to move to Japan, she is also struggling to understand the culture and fit in. This is adding stress to Fred’s already stressful days at work. After almost half a year, Fred is wondering if they made the right decision to move.
Internal Factors
My analysis is; not only has the company fail to discuss the differences in cultures, they also failed Fred and his family by not providing the cultural sensitivity training “needed to meet the challenges and issues he would possibly face.” (Cuevas, Beda-Andourou, Bernal, Bolivar, & Mujtaba, 2011). An interesting point Cuevas et al., (2011) make is after a short period of time, why did the previous director last less than a year. Was there additional information about the assignment withheld for fear Fred would decline the offer?
Opportunities
In my analysis of the case study, there are some immediate steps the company could take to help Tokyo office, Fred, and his family. Pre-training on the cultural differences should have been offered to both Fred and his family. It’s important to note, even though this training was not offered, the Bailey’s would still benefit from cultural training now seven months later, (Alder, 2014). Fred should be given every opportunity to succeed in this assignment. Fred needs to start asking the following questions, to what should I pay attention? and what does it mean? (Alder, 2014, p. 278, para 2). Part of these questions is how he needs to recognize the cultural differences in the workplace, as well as discuss these with his wife so she may work through these differences with Fred’s help.
Culture Shock
Culture shock is the “frustration and confusion that result from being bombarded by too many new and uninterpretable cues”. (Alder, 2014, p. 277). The four different phases of adjustment are “honeymoon, culture shock, adjustment and mastery”, Figure 1. Phases of Cultural Adjustment, illustrate the relationship between these four phases, (Cuevas et al. 2011). Culture shock is an important phase which all expatriates will experience when working in a new culture. If Fred and his family were to begin culture sensitivity training they would begin to emerge from the culture shock phase which according to figure 1, usually takes place around ten to twelve months. While culture shock is not an enjoyable aspect of this type of move, there is some indications Fred and his family will emerge from this phase.
Severe culture shock is often a positive sign indicating that the expatriate is becoming deeply involved in the new culture instead of remaining isolated in an expatriate ghetto. Experienced expatriates therefore should view culture shock as a sign that they are doing something right, not wrong. For them, the most important question is how best to manage the stress caused by culture shock, not how to avoid the culture shock itself. (Alder, 2014, p. 278, para 1)
My analysis show there is an adjustment period for expatriates when exposed to working conditions in new cultures. The average time to rebound from honeymoon to culture shock and back to the same level of acceptance as the honeymoon phase is about twelve months, (figure 1.). This is interesting considering the previous director which Fred replaced was in Tokyo less than a year. A step the company should have included in pre-move orientation is to connect the Baileys with an experienced expatriate, preferably one living in Japan, a mentor who could help them understand the four phases of cultural adjustment as well as what could be expected in each phase.
Conclusion
Although Fred should have been given a pre-move orientation which would have prepared him and his family better for the culture change, it would have also given him some of the tools he would have required to successfully change his leadership style and begin to lead a multi-cultural team.
I believe there is still time to turn this situation around. The company has a few options which would deal with the current situation; they could simply chose to ignore everything and transfer Fred and his family, or provide leadership and cultural sensitivity training, accompanied with a mentor to not only help Fred professionally but socially as well.
Ignoring everything
Ignoring the situation may be the easiest tactic for the company, however if Fred doesn’t emerge from the culture shock phase it may cost the company more in moving expenses, finding a replacement to take over the Tokyo office and possible an increase in the turnover of employees. This tactic could also quite possibly give Fred doubts about his career choice.
Transfer
This is an option the company could consider as they may have experienced a similar situation with the previous director. Although we do not understand what the previous situation entailed, we do know based on the four phases of culture adjustment, the previous director would likely have still been in the culture shock phase. This would create a cycle which would most likely cost the company financially with transfers every six to twelve months.
Provide training
Providing the training for Fred and his family would be the best option in this situation. Fred has a proven track record leading successful projects, (Fred Bailey case study, 2010). The training would provide Fred with a better understanding of the Japanese culture and what is required to do business there. This would not only benefit Fred and his family but the company itself. Some of the benefits the company would see would include increased performance of the Tokyo office as culture differences would become an asset and Fred would better understand what is involved in signing on new clients, as well as what is required to keep employees motivated. The company would also see cost savings as they would potentially not need to replace their directors on an annual basis.
My analysis shows there is a benefit to providing training and orientation to all involved parties, “Sixty percent of companies offer some type of cross-cultural pre-departure training; however, such training is mandatory at only a quarter of the companies.” (Alder, 2014, p. 275, para 1). These numbers reflect the increased need for cultural sensitivity training; seventy-five percent of organization feel there is no need for training which raises the question, why? Is it because of cultural blindness, attempts to save money, possibly their confidence in their leader or maybe an individual would refuse such training out of fear the organization would see them as the wrong candidate as they believe they require additional training.
References
Adler, N. (2010), International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, 5th edition. Cincinnati: Southwestern College Publishing. ISBN: 9780324360745
Cain, S. (2012), The Rise of the New Groupthink, retrieved form
http://www.nytimes.com/2 012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Cuevas, P., Beda-Andourou, A., Bernal, M., Bolivar, and M., Mujtaba, B. (2011), Lessons from
Fred Bailey’s Expatriate Experience in Japan: Proactively Preparing Employees for
International Assignments, Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 2011, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp.
Fred Bailey case study. (2010), Fred Bailey: An Innocent Abroad, [Case study], University of Evansville Global Case Competition
