Business

“Cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making – particularly, how quickly decisions should be made and how much analysis is required beforehand (Brett, Behfar, Kern).” Originally Leary was okay with the latitude Chung requested in developing the Taiwanese market. However, when he had not opened an account after three months she became increasingly uncomfortable with Chung. Leary has a very aggressive approach to sales and compliance (the American system) while Chung operates according to the Taiwanese culture. Chung spends a considerable amount of time attending social events away from the office in order to build trusting relationships with his prospective clients. Likewise, the Taiwanese culture tends to make agreements by general trust which is indicated by Chung’s statement that his client was from the same village and would only be willing to work with him. This is opposite of the American culture which tends to conduct business on a very specific contractual basis. While Leary is considering Chung to have a “stiff” personality as it pertains to his desk and the items he has brought in for display, Chung uses these displays of his importance as a tool of trust and professionalism with his Taiwanese clients. Chung displays himself as a formal, business professional and does not really ever have a reaction to Leary’s “informal” meetings. Chung never questions Leary’s management practices, but his silence and distancing himself leaves her claiming to “never really know the whole person.” Further, it is evident that frustration was starting to set in as well as interpersonal conflicts beginning to arise between Leary and Chung due to the cultural language barrier. Even though Chung assures Leary that his account is being handled appropriately and that his Taiwanese client is fully aware of the details, Leary insists on meeting with the customer. During this meeting, Leary cannot communicate with the client except through Chung who has to translate. This meeting proved to be very ineffective in what Leary was trying to accomplish (to confirm with the client the extent of his involvement with the account) and only hindered the relationship between her and Chung. Because Leary is unfamiliar with the culture norms and the language; she becomes more suspicious of Chung and checks his trades every morning. In turn, Chung becomes annoyed and angry. Also, as a result of the differing cultural norms, Chung may feel he is being treated disrespectfully, which is counterproductive. Hypothesis 2 It may be Karen Leary and Ted Chung has different linguistic styles.