Org Communication

Samantha is in an environment that clearly values individualism, yet she comes from a society that values the collective. This means that each person in the society where Samantha finds herself is expected to more loosely attend to their own individual needs and maintain their own individual ideas(Hofstede, 1983). This would be very different from the practices of a collectivist society where the ideas and needs are both tied to an extended family, tribe or other group. It also implies that the country where Samantha is working is likely to be a wealthier country than the one from which she came.

Her colleagues may not see the need to share more about their families or their personal lives with Samantha because they may view the nature of what Samantha wants to share to be private. Many assume that the idea of public and private draw on the notions of political versus non-political (Weintraub & Krishan, 1997, p.36). Coming from a collectivist society, Samantha would be more comfortable discussing collective rights and well-being (Cultural Competency, nd). Discussing family or personal life would be a public conversation for Samantha.

Samantha would do well to use her knowledge discovery skills to research her new environment and increase her behavioral flexibility. Similarly, it would help if one or more of her colleagues had more empathy for Samantha and respected her otherness enough to communicate in a way that made Samantha feel more comfortable. Excellent

Critical Incident #3: One of Tim's employees is always late.  Besides being late, he tends to go on and on when talking and wastes valuable time at work. Sometimes Tim has to cut him off. The employee seems to feel offended and thinks Tim is being rude. Tim believes that they are on a strict schedule and things have to be done by a certain time; as well, things are scheduled to take a certain amount of time.

Tim is monochronic. Having a monochronic point of view means that he views time as something that can be wasted and must be managed, measured and used properly (Giancarlo & Di Prata, 2009). Coming from this point of view, Tim reminds his employee that he is wasting time, even cutting him off when he witnesses the waste happening. Tim feels he is acting in the interest of productivity and the bottom line of the company is to make sure things get done in a timely fashion.

Meanwhile, the employee is polychronic. Having a polychronic point of view means that he views time as less tangible. Instead, he places a higher priority on relationships, multi-tasking, the involvement of people and the completion of transactions (Giancarlo & Di Prata, 2009). With a polychronic point of view, the employee would choose to be late instead of rushing someone to finish a conversation; or cutting them off like Tim did to him. Instead of short-term goals like punctuality, the polychronic society where the employee is from values traditions and long-term goals (Cultural Competency, nd).

This creates a conflict because the priorities of the two people do not match. Both men would do well to engage in empathy and respect for otherness to assist in this particular situation. However, in order for the working relationship to thrive, there must be behavioral flexibility on the part of one or both people in order to come to an agreement of how to move forward in harmony. Excellent

Critical Incident #6: Robert has been sent overseas to a new office. When he arrives at the office, one of his first tasks is to select some local hires for office positions. Robert is looking for people who are bilingual and have office experience, especially is customer service. However, he is told that one of the applicants is the manager's nephew and should be given special consideration. Robert is offended and does not want to even interview that person. The manager reports back to the parent company that Robert is inflexible and disrespectful.

Robert seems to have been sent to a collectivist society. In a collectivist society, people are born into collective ingroups, and they are expected to look out for one another (Hofstede, 1983, p.79). Robert was expected to understand that the recommendation to hire the nephew of the manager was actually an instruction. When he did not comply, his reaction was taken as an offense because it was outside of the norm for that society.

Refusal to hire the nephew was also offensive because of the high- power differential at work where Robert was sent. This is evident by the fact that the manager complained to the parent company in such a harsh way, a significant reach up the hierarchy. These two issues go hand in hand because collectivist countries usually have a high-power difference. (Hofstede, 1983, p.81)

Robert may come from a society where there is a low power distance because he assumed that customer service was an important element for the hiring process. Societies with a low power distance like the United States do not tolerate inequality very much (Cultural Competency, nd). Robert must recognize that, with the presence of a high power-distance, customer service may not be as important the keeping the management and parent company happy. It is true that Robert lacks behavioral flexibility and respect for otherness. Because he is in their environment, it would have been important for him to exercise greater competency in knowledge discovery prior to beginning the hiring process for this company. Excellent, although if it is a U.S. owned company, he needs to coach the manager on possible discrimination charges as well.

References

“Chapter 16” (n.d). Intrapersonal and interpersonal business communication. Retrieved from https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/326604/viewContent/12796344/View