Question

The German marketing manager of a major car producer was finding it increasingly difficult to work in Japan. In meetings, the Japanese colleagues hardly ever said anything. When they were asked if they agreed to his suggestions, they always said ‘Yes’’, but they didn’t do anything to follow up the ideas. The only time they opened up was in a bar in the evening, but that was getting stressful, as they seemed to expect him to go out with them on a regular basis.

Please the following questions:

1. What is the main intercultural problem in this mini-case?

2. Please justify behaviour of the German and Japanese colleagues using main theories/models of intercultural management and communication that you’ve learned in this course.

3. How would you handle this situation if you would be in a position of the German marketing manager?

The German marketing manager of a major car producer was finding it increasingly difficult to work in Japan. In meetings, the Japanese colleagues hardly ever said anything. When they were asked if they agreed to his suggestions, they always said ‘Yes’’, but they didn’t do anything to follow up the ideas. The only time they opened up was in a bar in the evening, but that was getting stressful, as they seemed to expect him to go out with them on a regular basis.

Please the following questions:

1. What is the main intercultural problem in this mini-case?

2. Please justify behaviour of the German and Japanese colleagues using main theories/models of intercultural management and communication that you’ve learned in this course.

3. How would you handle this situation if you would be in a position of the German marketing manager?

Answer 1

1. What is the main intercultural problem in this mini-case?

The main intercultural problem in this mini case is that Both Manager and Collegues are from different culture so the cultural barrier is causing the problem in this case. Cultural problem arise when there is gap between views, language,communication between members of different culture. Marketing manager from German cultur is not able to understand and connect with japanese cultural collegues.

2. Please justify behaviour of the German and Japanese colleagues using main theories/models of intercultural management and communication that you’ve learned in this course.

The behavior of German is Low context in which German manager is more upfront and likes to communicate in direct manner.German manager rely on verbal communication like he ask directly from Japanese collegues if they understood what he said. There is no room for non verbal communication. On the other hand, Behavior of Japenese Collegues is high context who relies on a lot of unspoken information and non verbal cues that can cause misunderstanding like Japanese colleagues did not open to soon in front of strangers as they do with their family and friends.

3- 3. How would you handle this situation if you would be in a position of the German marketing manager?

I would handle this situation by getting to know more about japanese culture because i want to remove all cultural barriers and communication issues so i would learn more about it. I will watch videos about japanese culture, get some training on it. I also try to connect with Japanese culture by going out with them so that they can be more open with me. I will make my mind open and culturally aware so that i can deal with this situation.