PGMT 728-001

Jayant Meshram
CASE FRAMEWORK for Charles Sends an Email

Requirement
1. What is the problem? What was Fosters intention in sending the email?
Answer:
Problem The demand for the new disk drives (XD19) is more than the
supply. It may eventually result into loss of market share if not handled
immediately and effectively. There is a problem with the forecasting;
manufacturing is shipping products in volumes below the run-rates. The
version 08 of the firmware does not provide true three-wire control in
keypad mode (Lane, H.,2009).
Fosters intention Initially Foster wrote an email to Richard Howe (VicePresident of Sales of High Technology) to inform him about the concerns
regarding the current situations in the company most especially
reservations on the V8 for the XD19 drives. Foster was intending to inform
about the problems in forecasting and how the long lead-times in the
manufacturing of XD19 may make it impossible to respond to sudden
swings in the market or new opportunities for their products (Lane,
H.,2009).
2. Who cares about the problem? How did each recipient interpret the
email?
Answer:
Who cares Based on the Case Study it is clearly visible that Charles and
Richard, both are the most concerned ones about the problem. Maurice
seems to be concerned about the problem but also demonstrates a bit of
authoritative nature which results into an immediate reaction to the mail
by Ahmed (Lane, H.,2009).
Recipient Interpretation There are 3 recipients who either directly or
indirectly received the mail.
Richard Howe Richard responded positively to the message by
expressing his gratitude for bringing the situation to his attention
and promised to probe further (Lane, H.,2009).
Maurice LeBlanc Maurice received the email indirectly as it was
forwarded to him by Dick. Maurice later forwarded it to Ahmed
and a tone of anger and the authoritarian nature can be sensed in
the email forwarded to Ahmed. He asked expressed his concerns
about the activities of JV and asked Ahmed for explanations on

Your Mark

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Instructor Comment

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the allegations raised by Charles (Lane, H.,2009).

Ahmed He received the email indirectly from Maurice. He
responded to the email by calling Charles and speaking to him in a
tone of anger and the exercise of authority. He demanded
explanation from Charles regarding the allegations raised by the
email (Lane, H.,2009).

3. How did the problem come about? Provide some background. What
cultural assumptions underlie Fosters email and the phone call and email
from Hassan?
Answer:
Upon receiving the email from Maurice, Ahmed called Charles and
demanded explanation to the allegations made by the mails. According to
the Hofstedes cultural dimension theories, 3 cultural assumptions seem
to be the cause of Charless initial email and Ahmeds response. The
cultural assumptions under Individualism, Power Distance and Long Term
Orientation form the basis of the situation. Ahmed reacted the way he did
firstly, because he is culturally not inclined to be individualistic and he
expected Charles to contact him directly instead of sending an email to his
boss even if indirectly. Also, because of power distance, Ahmed perceived
that he has been proven inferior in front of a powerful person, who is his
boss, resulted in obvious anger (Lane, H.,2009).

4. What are the opportunities for solving the problem? How should Foster
respond to Hassan?
Answer:
While talking to Ahmed, Charles should try to calm him down by enquiring
about what the problem was. Charles should try to detail out Ahmeds
grievances without judging him and Charles should not only allow him to
vent but also explain what has actually happened and what the main
context of the email was (Lane, H.,2009).

5. What are the requirements or criteria that need to be considered when

trying to find a solution?
Answer:
While finding the solution the 3 cultural assumptions that underlie the
problem should be considered. It has to be considered that under
individual USA, France and UAE scored 91, 71 and 25 respectively. A low

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score in this category represents more of collectivism than individual

attitude. Also, under power distance USA, France and UAE scored 40, 68
and 90 respectively. The high score under this category means that the
society accepts inequality on the basis of power and authority. Since
Ahmed is from UAE and his been in France for a while, his long term
orientation also needs to be considered (http://geert-hofstede.com).
6. List three possible solutions, including advantages and disadvantages of
each option.
Answer:
a) One of the possible solutions is that Charles talks to Ahmed and tries
to know what exactly the reason is for him being angry. This will help
to calm Ahmed down and also help to make him understand the
intent of the message. But, this can also backfire and result into more
misunderstandings if Ahmed gets angrier by the questions (Lane,
H.,2009).
b) Richard could call for a general meeting and discuss the concerns
brought forward by Charles. This would help in addressing the
situation and avoid any further grievances. If Richard called for a
general meeting based on Charless informal relations and the current
situation it would seem that Richard favors Charles and is partial
(Lane, H.,2009).
c) The company should provide training sessions on Hofstedes cultural
dimensions for its executives. This will allow the executives to
consider different dimensions while interacting with people from
different cultures. But, over-exposure to the information may hinder
the executives from original message while trying to avoid being
sensitive (Lane, H.,2009).

7. What would you recommend?

Answer:
According to Lane and Maznevski (2009), An assumption is an
unquestioned, taken-for-granted belief about the world and how it
works. The situation resulted due the executives of the company being
unaware of these assumptions. I recommend that the company provides
its executives with training in cultural skills, strategy and change which
will be based on Hofstedes cultural dimensions. After all, prevention is
always better than cure.

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Jayant Meshram

8. Readability, presentation, grammar, spelling, flow.

9. What theories apply to this case? Why?
Answer:
Under Hofstedes cultural dimensions the theories of individualism, power
distance and long term orientation apply to this case. The people involved
in this scenario are from three different cultures. When compared USA to
France and UAE we found the following results:

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Based on the above comparison now we know why Ahmed reacted to the
message the way he did. The higher scores in power distance indicate that
Ahmed had accepted a degree of inequality in his society whereas Charles,
based on his cultural orientation, considered himself equal to his superior.
The higher scores in individualism indicate that the society has more of I
approach than WE. Hence, Charles being from USA is more
individualistic than Ahmed, who is from UAE. Ahmed expected Charles to
treat him as a part of the family by contacting him directly. Also, it is
significant that UAE does not even stand in long term orientation, which
indicates that the society in UAE prefers to maintain traditions and norms
while viewing change with suspicion (http://geert-hofstede.com).
10. Total

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