Ellen_Moore_(a)__Living_&_Working_in_Korea

I. Executive Summary The major problem facing SCG Project Manager Andrew Kilpatrick is the inability for the Korean and American teams to effectively collaborate on the project under the lead of Jack and Ellen. We recommend that Andrew take the following course of action to remedy this problem: he should defer to his superiors since they have greater authority to implement changes and a more objective role in the organization. His superiors should proceed with a reorganization of the SI team to override the informal organization and create venues for conflict management. After reorganization, the entire SI team should participate in an off-site team-building session to integrate the two cultures, form greater bonds among the employees, and allow channels for feedback. The recommended solution was chosen over alternative actions because the solution was most effective in terms of timeliness, acceptability to the teams, and minimization of financial and human resources. Moreover, the above solution targeted each cause of the problem and was most promising in terms of creating enduring harmony among the team. II. Statement of Problem Short term Problems The final confrontation in the case between Andrew and Mr. Song is an outcropping of the most pressing, short-term problem facing Andrew: namely, the breakdown in social cohesion of the group. Their conversation ended with Mr. Song accusing Ellen of causing the project delays and Andrew, in turn, seemingly threatening to take Mr. Song off the project when he announced, “It doesn’t matter what has been agreed… We can start from scratch.” Andrew must find a way to bring both the North American and Korean teams together, working towards the same goal in order for this project to meet its completion deadline. Other related short-term problems are the waste of scarce project resources on tasks outside of the scope of the contracted work and the power struggle between Mr. Kim and Ellen that is causing confusion and delay among the other team members. Long term Problems The long-term problems facing Andrew are those that will affect the team beyond the completion of this project. Though SCG does not have plans to develop business in Korea, winning this project bid has made its parent company, JVI, has become the largest systems implementer in Korea and has had tremendous media coverage as a result. Therefore, an amicable future relationship with current and potential future Korean coworkers should be a priority for Andrew. So, a long-term problem emerging from the SI project is the lack of effective communication between the North American and Korean team members. Clear symptoms of these communication problems revolve around the power struggle between Ellen and Mr. Kim as the two work towards diverging goals and the resulting inefficiency of the team. Potential Root Causes Similar causes can be identified for both the breakdown in team cohesion and the miscommunication between North American and Korean team members. The informal organization is impeding on the effectiveness of the formal organization. The cultural differences between North American and Korea are causing tension and confusion for all. The observations offered in the case are those of the North American team members and may be hindering Andrew’s ability to understand Mr. Kim’s point of view. Finally, Ellen may not be as well received or respected as a male in her role due to a lack of gender diversity and equality in the Korean workplace. Decision The immediate decision facing Andrew is which team members to involve in the project moving forward and how to align everyone’s goals in order to complete the project within the available timeframe and with the available resources. III. Causes of the Problem Informal Organization: Group Norms and Informal Leaders Based on the overt Formal Organization in this case: the goal of implementing and recommending systems, the project timeline of seven months, and the authority structure giving Mr. Kim and Ellen equal seniority, should be moving the project along efficiently. However, the unofficial and less visible Informal Organization (Nelson 7) is creating roadblocks. Though the team presumably has the same formal goal, the Korean team members have acted in line with their Informal group norms such that the North American consultants to feel they are not properly focused on the task. The Korean consultants refused to interview clients for fear of disturbing them, while North American consultants see this process of getting information from clients and ‘managing client expectations’ as vital to their work process. Similarly, Korean consultants often worked on unscheduled or unrelated activities upon their clients’ request, which caused North American consultants frustration. Andrew’s evaluation, when he arrived in Korea in August, was in fact that Mr. Kim was not appropriately managing the client’s expectations. Informal leaders also appear as a result of the Informal Organization. Though Mr. Kim and Ellen are formally in the same role and level of authority, the Korean team members prioritize Mr. Kim’s instructions over Ellen’s, who had a hard time redirecting team members’ activities and encountered controversy with Mr. Kim over “stepping upon each other’s territory” (Case 10). Informal elements of the organization like employee moods and emotions influence critical outcomes like job performance and teamwork (Nelson 8). Jack’s anger upon returning from his trip to North America to find employees following Ellen’s instructions and his self-deprecating speech at the team dinner are clear examples of this. Cultural Differences Koreans generally follow Confucian values, which emphasize loyalty to hierarchical structure of authority and strict rules of conduct including complete obedience of superior-subordinate relationships (Case 6). The Korean consultants manifest these types of beliefs by refusing to leave the office before a superior even when they themselves have no work to finish and in their hesitance to ask questions even when something is unclear to avoid insulting the instructor. These ideals would place Korea high in Power Distance on the Hofstede’s scale (Nelson 19-21). Ellen, being from a low power distance country, may need to be more sensitive to Mr. Kim and the other team members’ feelings when stepping in and giving orders that contradict those of Mr. Kim. The motivation behind Mr. Kim’s market study initiative may be to regain some of the power and respect he feels he has lost since Ellen has joined the team. The expectation that team members eat lunch together and go out for drinks after work indicates a strong emphasis on the group and social frameworks, placing Korea high in Collectivism, while North America is very high on Individualism (Nelson 19-21). Ellen seems to be making efforts to fit in by paying attention to customs such as the proper way to exchange business cards and proves she is able to participate in their drinking games. However, cultural diversity in the workplace has been shown to have negative effects such as lack of cohesiveness, communication problems, and interpersonal conflicts (Nelson 27). These are exactly the issues that the SI project team is experiencing. It is clear that SCG needs to exert more resources on cultural training since Ellen was sent to Korea with no prior work experience in East Asia and the company provided only a flawed document for her to review in preparation for the project. Perceptions According to Mr. Park, Ellen and ineffective instructions are the cause of the team’s problems, while Andrew blames the Korean team’s inexperience and improper direction. Not surprisingly, there is a divide, with Andrew supporting Ellen, his senior North American consultant and Mr. Song supporting Mr. Kim, his Korean senior consultant. This could be because familiarity with a person can mean that a Perceiver screens out information that is inconsistent with his or her prior beliefs about the Target (Nelson 48). Understandably, Andrew and Mr. Song both feel they put forth their best people for this project so they will be hesitant to believe otherwise. Their convictions could be what led to the shouting match between these two. More open-mindedness and objectivity in discussions could be beneficial moving forward. A misunderstanding of Ellen’s intentions and judgment about the North American team’s verbal communication may cause Mr. Kim’s to perceive their team as threatening to the Korean team’s social network (Nelson 48). After all, Scott shouted at a consultant and questioned his competency, Ellen publicly interrupted Mr. Kim’s presentation about the market research, and the last encounter with Andrew has him yelling at Mr. Song. Most of the case observations are from Ellen’s point of view, thus when she describes conflicts, we cannot tell if she has actually committed a cultural insult or if it the other party who is behaving inappropriately. Perceptions, emotions and motivations triggered by workday events, referred to “Inner Work life”, can often affect an employee’s behaviour and performance (“Inner Work Life” 75). If Mr. Kim does believe Ellen was sent to replace him or that her authority indicates some incapability on his part, he may be falling into a habit of Selective Perception, distorting situations so that his fears are confirmed (Nelson 50). This may be what is preventing him from actively collaborating with her. This resistance on Mr. Kim’s part may then be creating the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby his conduct is making Ellen more defensive and seemingly aggressive about getting the team to complete the tasks she assigns, which further fuels his fears (Nelson 51). These fears manifested themselves at the team dinner when Mr. Kim was inebriated and insulted his own abilities to gain confirmation from his employees that he was still respected and capable. This display is a manipulative form of impression management: an attempt by Mr. Kim to control the impressions the other team members have of him (Nelson 51). All of these underlying insecurities, if they do exist, need to be exposed through open and honest communication so that Mr. Kim and Ellen can realign their goals and lead the team effectively. Gender Bias An integral cultural difference at play in this case is the way that women’s roles are viewed in Korea. Before Ellen arrived in Korea, American consultants working in Korea told Andrew that it would be “impossible to send a woman to work in Korea.” Scott also observed that gender differences in the Korean workplace were quite apparent as the only women in the office were young and in entry-level positions. Once Ellen arrived, it seemed as though the other team members were making an effort to include her in social events that women were not normally welcome to, due to her position as senior consultant. Even so, Ibarra and Obodaru’s study shows that women in leadership roles may get less credit for their “visions” and that they often lack the presumption of competence accorded to their male peers (67-68). These beliefs could be causing the team members to defer to Mr. Kim’s instructions instead of Ellen’s and may be leading Mr. Song to insist that Ellen was the problem in this project through the unconscious process of emotional contagion (Nelson 63). IV. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions Alternative solutions must create objective management goals that will prevent further disagreements based on the above mentioned causes: informal organization, cultural differences, perception and gender bias. The viability of the alternative solutions will be measured against the following criteria: timeliness, acceptability to both cultural groups, and minimization of financial and human resources. Fresh Perspective Andrew’s presence in Korea may have a positive effect on the team environment by providing fresh perspective and guidance. By reintroducing him for extended periods in Korea as Jack and Ellen’s superior, Andrew can provide formal leadership to set a direction for the goals, re-align the team toward the new direction, and motivate the group to work together harmoniously (Nelson 187). This solution may not take long or require significant company resources, but it may fail on acceptability to both teams. By arguing with Mr. Song, Andrew may already seem biased toward his employee, which would undermine his leadership and maintain the informal organization. To prevent a perceived bias, cultural barriers, and informal influence, a third party can be hired to provide the requisite guidance. However, the new manager must be hired and endorsed by higher management from both sides to ensure his/her effectiveness and neutrality. Hiring another individual may strain financial resources, but it would prevent delay and costs associated with delay, also would improve team communication. Planning Session An alternative solution is to host a planning session to re-align the goals of the Korean and North American teams. One of the main issues in this project is that the goals are not properly defined (Nelson 208). Ellen and Jack each make decisions regarding the direction of the project, which seems to change depending on which of them has the team’s attention. Establishing super-ordinate goals with higher management will prevent self-serving goals from hindering progress. Furthermore, creating goals that are specific and challenging will lead to higher task performance (Nelson 91). While this solution alone may be cost-effective and timely, it may fail again on acceptability in the event of a conflict. Other reasons for conflict such as cultural barriers may threaten the overall productivity of the group even though goals may be properly defined. Team-building session A third alternative could be to hold a team-building session. As mentioned, there are cultural barriers, perceptual differences, and potential gender bias that are preventing the team from being cohesive. The entire organization can attend a team-building session that includes icebreakers, team-building exercises and cultural activities to re-familiarize the Korean and American counterparts. Furthermore, empowering the associates to voice their opinions through 360 feedback (Nelson 96) will help gain more varied information from multiple perspectives about the underlying issues and provide a forum for negotiation (Nelson 217). Since Korean culture may prevent some of the team members from freely expressing dissatisfaction, the process would have to be anonymous. This alternative should be more acceptable to both cultural groups and need not use an excess of time or financial resource. Removing Jack or Ellen from His or Her Respective Post The last alternative would be to remove either Jack or Ellen from their position and hire replacements, or have the remaining individual take over the entire process. Both propositions are unacceptable because they do not target the underlying causes mentioned and could polarize and alienate the other side. Furthermore, all four issues could still be present if another person was hired. Alternatively, cultural barriers may prevent progress if one consultant was lacking from each side. V. Recommended Solution, Implementation and Justification We suggest a two part solution. Reorganization of the Si Team The SI team’s reporting structure should be reorganized to establish a more functional and straight forward organizational hierarchy. One full-time leader should be chosen to be held responsible for the organizational overarching goals and timelines, whereas mid-level managers should be assigned SMART goals. Reorganization and setting timelines can provide a challange for the organization and the leaders. This creates a feeling of eustress (Nelson 80) for the individuals involved, which would generate energy and motivation to achieve organizational goals. The leader should be permanently based in Korea for immediate advice. By assigning a leader and forcing upon the organization a structure to follow, the group eliminates the factor of differing perceptions (Nelson 48) and power struggles. It also eliminates a degree of projection (Nelson 51) that is the result of the collectivism in Korea . The establishment of clear leadership would help put the formal organization (Nelson 7) into a more visible and empowered position, so as to overrule the possible dominance of Korea’s informal organization. Furthermore, allowing Jack and Ellen to work on different projects also give Jack a chance to prove his worth without the interference of Ellen, which would help lower the possible first-impression error (Nelson 51) that Ellen had formed when she found out that Jack lacked experience. Reorganization will provide a clear chain of command that will make operations more efficient and will also help maintain stronger team cohesion as the team members will no longer be pulled in different directions by the demands of two bosses. Implementation Senior management of JVI should meet with the leadership of the SI team as soon as possible to address this issue. Aspects of technical merit, leadership abilities, and cultural fit should be considered in appointing a leader for this team. This leader should be someone who is able to bring in a fresh perspective to and who has adequate experience and managerial competencies to resolve the current situation in a timely and effective manner. This process should be conducted with the utmost sensitivity towards the history of the SI team and be carried out in a open and visible manner, so as to avoid any possible misunderstandings regarding the selection process. Senior management should then discuss their decision with Jack, Ellen and Andrew to acquire their support, at which point an official announcement should be made to the entire SI team. Jack and Ellen should be then be appointed to team leader positions within the SI team under the leadership of the newly appointed manager. The new manager should capitalize on the varying backgrounds and abilities of Jack and Ellen and functionally assign goals and responsibilities that they will have within the team. The spheres of responsibility for Jack and Ellen should not intrude into each other’s domain (Nelson 215). Contingency If appointment of leadership cannot be accepted either Andrew, Ellen, or Jack, then a leader should be appointed by upper management and those in disagreement should be removed from the project team. The success of the project team outweighs the possible loss of talent. Undergo an Off-site Team Building Exercise An off-site team building exercise will be largely beneficial after a reorganization because it will provide an opportunity for the expatriate American employees to learn more about the high power distance and collectivism of Korean culture (Nelson 19). It will similarly help the Korean team better understand the American team members’ culture, which would eliminate a level of uncertainty (Nelson 21). The team building exercise will work to solve misunderstandings created by a difference in perception and provide a venue for open and frank communications between managers and team members. Personalities such as Andrew would be able to gain better understanding to the importance of respect that the high power distanced Koreans leaders expect from their employees and why they should not shout at his Korean superiors, and Jack would be able to communicate his issues with Ellen. The team building event will also build the overall self-efficacy of the project team (Nelson 41). In realizing that they can effectively work together, the team members will have more confidence as the project progresses to perform better on the job. Moreover, increased open-interaction between the male and female team members will help combat any latent gender bias. This would increase job satisfaction for the team members and result in better performance (Nelson 58). A high job satisfaction and a general willingness to spend time with coworkers (Korean and American) would translate, especially in a collective culture, to affective commitment to the organization (Nelson 61). Team building can also help create positive emotional contagion (Nelson 63) for the group as a whole, which would improve working relations. Implementation Senior management should work with the SI team and plan an off-site team building session as soon as possible. This session should be conducted by professional team building coaches. Senior management should be sensitive to the high power distanced Korean culture when conducting this team building exercise by ensuring that all employees are not afraid of speaking up in front of their superiors in voicing their opinions. This team building exercise should focus on the topics of culture sensitivity, interpersonal communication, time and resource management. Leaders of the organization should also participate in leadership skill training activities. Senior management should communicate the importance of this session towards the employees and provide give evaluation to the employee’s performance after undertaking this exercise. Contingency If professional team building coaches cannot be hired locally in Korea, an effort should be taken to hire such services from the U.S.A. Management should meet with employees who remain ignorant to the topics addressed in the team building exercise to determine the cause of the issue and find ways to provide more training.