George McDonald was a chief engineer for a machinery manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. His company had recently signed a contract with one of its largest customers in Japan to upgrade the equipment and retrain mechanics to maintain the equipment more effectively. As part of the contract, the Japanese company sent all 10 of its mechanics to St. Louis for a three-month retraining course under George's supervision. Although George had never lived or worked abroad, he was looking forward to the challenge of working with the group of Japanese mechanics because he had been told that they were all fluent in English and tireless workers. The first several weeks of the training went along quite smoothly, but soon George became increasingly annoyed with the constant demands they were making on his personal time. They would seek him out after the regularly scheduled sessions were over for additional information. They sought his advice on how to occupy their leisure time. Several even asked him to help settle a disagreement that developed between them. Feeling frustrated by all these demands on his time, George told his Japanese trainees that he preferred not to mix business with pleasure. Within a matter of days, the group requested another instructor.

identify the source of the conflict and suggest how it could have been avoided or minimized.

GIVE REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS

GIVE FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

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