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Closing Case-1 Troubled Team

The project manager assembled a team of Indians and Americans to develop a new software product. From the start, the team disagreed on the delivery timeline. The Americans estimated 2-3 weeks while the Indians predicted 2-3 months. As problems arose, the Indian team was reluctant to report setbacks, which the Americans only learned about later. Cultural differences contributed to tensions over timelines and communication issues. The project manager had to intervene frequently to resolve small disputes, taking away from his overall management. As a result, the project fell hopelessly behind schedule and the team never worked well together.

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Altaf Kondakamarala
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189 views

Closing Case-1 Troubled Team

The project manager assembled a team of Indians and Americans to develop a new software product. From the start, the team disagreed on the delivery timeline. The Americans estimated 2-3 weeks while the Indians predicted 2-3 months. As problems arose, the Indian team was reluctant to report setbacks, which the Americans only learned about later. Cultural differences contributed to tensions over timelines and communication issues. The project manager had to intervene frequently to resolve small disputes, taking away from his overall management. As a result, the project fell hopelessly behind schedule and the team never worked well together.

Uploaded by

Altaf Kondakamarala
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CLOSING CASE-1 Troubled Team

When a major international software developer needed to produce a new product quickly, the project man-
ager assembled a team of employees from India and the United States. From the start, the team members
could not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the work could be done in two
to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would take two to three months. As time went on, the Indian team
members proved reluctant to report setbacks in the production process, which the American team members
would find out only when work was due to be passed to them. Such conflicts, of course, may affect any team,
but in this case, they arose from cultural differences. As tensions mounted, conflict over delivery dates
and feedback became personal, disrupting team members’ communication about even mundane issues.
The project manager decided he had to intervene—with the result that both the American and the Indian
team members came to rely on him for direction regarding minute operational details that the team should
have been able to handle itself. The manager became so bogged down by quotidian issues that the project
careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic schedule—and the team never learned to work together
effectively.33

Case Questions
1. What mistakes did the project manager commit while constituting the team?
2. Which of the strategies ? do you recommend to bring the team back on track? See Table to Answer This
Question

CLOSING CASE-2 Waiting in New Delhi

Richard was a 30-year old American sent by his Chicago-based company, to set up a buying office in India.
The new office’s main mission was to source large quantities of consumer goods in India: Cotton piece-
goods, garments, accessories and shoes, as well as industrial products such as tent fabrics and cast iron
components.
India’s Ministry of Foreign Trade (MFT) had invited Richard’s company to open this buying office because
they knew it would promote exports, bring in badly-needed foreign exchange and provide manufacturing
know-how to Indian factories.
Richard’s was, in fact, the first international sourcing office to be located anywhere in South Asia. The
MFT wanted it to succeed so that other Western and Japanese companies could be persuaded to establish
similar procurement offices.
The expatriate manager decided to set up the office in the capital, New Delhi, because he knew he would
have to meet frequently with senior government officials. Since the Indian government closely regulated all
trade and industry, Richard often found it necessary to help his suppliers obtain import licences for the semi-
manufactures and components they required to produce the finished goods his company had ordered.
Richard found these government meetings frustrating. Even though he always phoned to make firm ap-
pointments, the bureaucrats usually kept him waiting for half an hour or more. Not only that, his meetings
would be continuously interrupted by phone calls and unannounced visitors, as well as by clerks bringing
in stacks of letters and documents to be signed. Because of all the waiting and the constant interruptions,
it regularly took him half a day or more to accomplish something that could have been done back home in
20 minutes.
Three months into this assignment Richard began to think about requesting a transfer to a more congenial
part of the world–“somewhere where things work.” He just could not understand why the Indian officials
were being so rude. Why did they keep him waiting? Why didn’t the bureaucrats hold their incoming calls
and sign those papers after the meeting so as to avoid the constant interruptions?
After all, the Government of India had actually invited his company to open this buying office. So didn’t
he have the right to expect reasonably courteous treatment from the officials in the various ministries and
agencies he had to deal with?34
Multiculturalism 69

Case Questions
1. Why is Richard not able to jell with local conditions?
2. If you were Richard, what would you do?

References
1. The Economic Times, dated July 23, 2006.
1a. Gary A. Ferraro, The Cultural Dimension of International Business, Pearson, 2007, p-20.
2. Nancy J. Adler, International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour, South Western, 2002, p 15.

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