Read the dialogue and explain what mistake Mr. Patterson has made. Complete the dialogue.
Mr. Patterson, an American manager working in Korea, is meeting with his supervisor, Mr. Wyman, who is also American. Mr. Patterson reports to Mr. Wyman about some changes he has made within several of his sales teams.
Later, Park Young Sam, their Korean counterpart, enters into the dialogue.
Mr. Patterson:
Good morning, Mr. Wyman, thanks for meeting with me this morning. As you know, our division has been doing very well this quarter. In fact, our numbers are up across the board.
Mr. Wyman:
Yes, I’ve seen your quarterly reports. Nice job!
Mr. Patterson:
Thanks. In order to recognize their hard work, I’ve made some changes in our sales teams. I’ve created team leaders in each group. In our product group, I promoted Lee Young Sam. In the marketing group, I promoted Chun Tae-woo, and in the technology group, I promoted Choi Mino. All of them have been real leaders. I think this idea will really motivate them. In fact, I met with the groups individually and announced the promotions.
Mr. Wyman:
Good job, Patterson. I can see you’re really on top of things. Good work.
Two Months Later Mr. Patterson, Mr. Wyman, and Park Young Sam, a Korean manager, are discussing the poor performance of Mr. Patterson’s sales teams.
Mr. Wyman:
Well, just look at these dismal results. The numbers for this quarter are way down from last quarter. What’s happened?
Mr. Patterson:
I don’t know. Ever since I introduced the team leader concept, the groups’ productivity has really plummeted. I thought it was a great idea. I guess I chose the wrong people to lead the teams. I’ll assign new leaders tomorrow.
Park Young Sam:
Well . . . you may select new leaders if you desire, but the men you chose were all very capable. However, by elevating them, you …………..
Mr. Patterson:
I guess I should …………..
4.Comment the situations.
a) A Saudi working in the United States wakes up ill. He sends his younger brother to work for him that day. The U.S. employer, sends the brother home. What has happened?
b) A market research firm conducted a survey of tourist agencies around the world. The questionnaires came back from most countries in less than a month. But the agencies in the Asian countries took months to do it. After many telexes, it was finally done. What was the reason?
Using all information given above create simulations for hiring employees in the collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Recognize how differences between these cultures may play out in interviewing situations. Adapt interview questions so that people from both individualistic and collectivist cultures feel comfortable answering.
V. Skills Roundtable Discussion: “Individualistic and collectivistic cultures:
their advantages and disadvantages».
Follow the structure and some guidelines for a roundtable discussion:
- Facilitator’s self-introduction and welcoming of the group.
- Explanation of facilitator’s role and process.
- General expectations/objectives of the roundtable .
- Discussion of issues related to schedule, timing and ground rules. Revision of planned roundtable format (what? how? how long? why? what’s in it for you?).
- Participant introduction.
- Collection of preliminary discussion questions and their record.
- Communication of the main ideas and sub-ideas.
- Discussion: (this will be the bulk of the time and the time should be managed carefully).
Speaker should communicate a clear message and solicit specific feedback as well as moderate the discussion and engage each participant at the table. Audience should be directed to answer specific, but open-ended questions.
- Consensus achievement and summary of roundtable objectives and ground rules.
- Conclusion: thank participants for attending and engaging in the discussion, let them know whether you will follow-up and state when the next roundtable discussion will take place.
Useful language
Setting aims and objectives
Today I want to consider ...
The subject of this talk is ...
The purpose of this talk is to ...
Introducing your group/team
I'd like to introduce ....
Can I introduce ...
Our first team member is, …..
Asking for reactions
What do you think about ...?
What are you views on ...?
How do you feel about ...?
What's your opinion of ...?
Agreeing
On the whole, I think the speaker's arguments are fair.
I think you're absolutely right.
You've got a very good point there.
Disagreeing
I take your point, but ..
Yes, but on the other hand ....
All the evidence suggests that ..
I think that's debatable.
I agree to some extent, but ....
Asking for clarification/more information
Sorry, but I'm not quite clear on what you're saying.
Could you be more specific about ..?
Could you give an example of… ..?
What exactly do you mean?
Exemplification - giving examples
For example/instance, ..
And as proof of that, ..
To illustrate my/our point ....
Controlling the discussion
Let's start by looking at ....
Does anyone have any comments/ questions/opinions?
Do you agree with what ….. has just said?
Dealing with interruptions
Could you let him/her finish?
Sorry to interrupt, but …
Excuse me, but could I say .…
Could you just hang on a moment, please?
Speeding up
Can we move on to the next point, please?
Can we come back to that?
The next point is ...
Slowing down
Hold on, we need to look at this in more detail.
I think we should discuss this a bit more.
Summarising
OK, let’s go over what we’ve agreed.
Right, to sum up then …
We couldn't agree on ...
Opinion was divided on …
After some discussion we reached a consensus on …
VI. Self-Assessment Multiple Choice Tasks