Situation 4

Answer the questions

Situation 3

Answer the questions

1. Do you feel surprised? Why?

2. Why do you think your colleagues behave this way?

3. How would you cope with this situation?

4. Would you agree to supervise programmers and tell them what they should do?

5. Would you speak with programmers and explain to them what they should do and why and what they are responsible for?

You are an expatriate adviser working in an AIDS education program in a developing country. Your sponsoring organization has designed a peer teaching project that involves training high school seniors in basic AIDS prevention techniques, which they then teach to younger teenagers in special after-school workshops. Research in your own culture has shown that when teens get this particular message from other, older teens, they pay much more attention than when an adult lectures them on this topic.

Your organization has conducted a number of training ses­sions around the country for the seniors, a cadre of whom has already begun to hold the after-school workshops. At a meeting with an official from the Ministry of Health today, you heard that there have been numerous complaints about these work­shops from teachers around the country. The teachers maintain that to have high school seniors holding classes undermines the teachers' respect and credibility. Apparently, there have already been discipline problems in some schools. "We put teachers on a pedestal in our culture," this official explained to you, "because of the high regard we hold for knowledge and a sound educa­tion. To have students teaching other students makes our teachers look bad." Now what?

1. Why do you think Ministry of Health behaves this way? What are the real reasons for it?

2. What would you say to the representative of the Ministry of Health in this situation?

3. Would you continue to implement your project or prefer to quit it?

4. Do you really think that your project could make teachers look bad? Why? Why not?

You are an expatriate from a low power distance culture living in a high power distance country. You were about to return to your home culture when a large corporation in the overseas country hired you. They were looking in particular for the kind of marketing expertise your company is famous for. Now that you have been on board for a few months, you're not having a good time. Although these people say they hired you for your marketing know-how, whenever you try to make suggestions or changes in the way your new company does business, you meet with resistance.

Today your boss has had an unusually frank discussion with you, laying out the reasons for the trouble you're having. He says your problem is that you are too outspoken and don't know your place. You disagree with your superiors in front of others and sometimes correct them in front of others when they say something wrong. You also make too many decisions without checking with other people, even though, as your boss admits, you know more about the subject than those people do.

Now you're confused. You thought you'd been hired for what you know, but whenever you try to put what you know into practice, your supervisors seem offended. What do you do now?

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29