1. Mary Putnam, the president of a Boston publishing company, had been working for several months with a French architectural firm that was designing the company's new printing facility in Fontainbleau, France. However, Mary was becoming increasingly frustrated with the many delays caused by the French architects. When the preliminary plans for the building - which the architects had promised by a certain date - had not arrived, Mary called to inquire when she would be receiving them. The architects, somewhat indignant that she had called, felt that Mary doubted their integrity to deliver the plans. Mary was equally annoyed because they had missed the deadline, and what was worse, they didn't seem to be the least bit apologetic about it. By the end of the phone call, Mary was convinced that her company's relationship with the French architectural firm had suffered a major setback. How might you explain the conflict in this case?
2. Sam Lucas, a construction supervisor for an international engineering firm, had been chosen to supervise construction on a new hotel project, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, primarily because of his outstanding work record. On this project, Sam supervised the work of about a dozen Americans and nearly one hundred Saudi laborers. It was not long before Sam realized that the Saudi laborers, to his way of thinking, were nowhere as reliable as the workers he had supervised in the United States. He was becoming increasingly annoyed at the seeming lack of competence of the local workforce. Following the leadership style that held him in such good stead at home, he began reprimanding any worker who was not doing his job properly, and made certain that he did it publicly so that it would serve as an object lesson to all the other workers. He was convinced that he was doing the right thing and was being fair, for after all, he reprimanded both Americans and Saudis alike. He was troubled, however, by the fact that the problems seemed to be growing worse and more numerous. What advice might you give Sam?
3. Captivated by the beauty of East Africa during a three-week safari, Jeff Walters and his wife decided to sell their Philadelphia bookstore and start a book-distribution company. Over the first four years, Jeff put together a professional and administrative staff of 18 local Kenyans; his successful enterprise involved supplying books from all over the world to eastern and southern African countries. One day Jeff found that he was behind schedule in preparing a lengthy proposal for a possible government contract due in the USAID office in Nairobi the next day. The deadline was so critical that he had to work very closely with some of his staff to make sure that it was met. In the final hours, Jeff found himself helping the secretaries make copies, collate, and assemble the multiple copies of the proposal. But minutes after pitching in to help, he noticed that his staff became very noncommunicative, and he seemed to be getting a lot of cold stares. Jeff couldn't understand why his attempts to be helpful were so unappreciated. How could you help Jeff understand this cross-cultural problem?