Mr. Y. Hiraki is construction chief of International Urasa Consulting Engineers Company Limited of Japan (IUCEJ), currently working in Nepal. Culture differences and unstipulated work assignments have created tension between the cultures, and deterioration in the IUCEJ’s authority. Hiraki tries to balance his duties and roles, all the while keeping with his values.
Conflict arises between he and his subordinates, and if not handles, he may risk losing his job.Issues and Theories a. Jobs and tasks are not being completed Role Overload and Role Conflict Hiraki has role overload when he is given more responsibilities and job requirements than he originally agreed to when taking the job. Too much is expected from him and he is unable to complete his primary task. FIRO-B TheoryHiraki and his counterpart engineers have trouble relating to each other because they have different needs and expectations from their work. The group’s effort is wasted on interpersonal conflicts.
b. Cultural differences create a divide between the Japanese and Nepalese workers iii. Importing Societal SubgroupsDiffering values and job assumptions created a ‘clash of cultures’ between the Japanese and the Nepalese workers. Hiraki and the Japanese workers created a subdominant counterculture that was forced to work within the Nepalese social system. GLOBE Theoretical ModelJapan and Nepal have different societal culture norms, which entail different views of what an effective leader and worker should behave like. Hiraki’s cold leadership style is rejected by the counterpart engineers, who prefer a relaxed work atmosphere, which is in turn seen as lazy to Hiraki.
c. IUCEJ Authority has no power or respect from the Nepalese workers v. Acceptance of AuthorityThe counterpart engineers do not accept the IUCEJ as authority because they do not fully understand, they are not mentally capable of carrying out their job, they believe their work to be irrelevant to the purpose of the project, and their work conflicts with their personal interests to have fun. vi. Status IncongruenceThe IUCEJ is leading consulting firm worldwide, yet they have no authority to take action over the counterpart engineers’ misbehavior because they do not want to hurt relations with the Nepalese government.
Analysis Hiraki feels mistreated throughout the case. He begins to feel confused when in addition to his technical responsibilities, he has to train counter engineers, a job position much lower to the one he holds. Hiraki begins to feel Inter-role Conflict when he cannot meet the demands of both roles, Construction Section Chief and Subordinate Mentor. He has trouble balancing both roles, affecting his ability to complete his original job, and creating tension with his trainees who are to him, the source of his stressHiraki is a married man and has a family, although he does not completely enjoy his job, he works hard so that he can support his family, even if it means making sacrifices and moving away from them.
The Nepalese counterpart engineers were recent graduates that did not see much importance in their work, within the organization and within their long term career. Symptoms of group incompatibility are shown when counterpart engineer Manu Manandhar and Hiraki have a confrontation in front of the whole group about their feelings towards the work. Hiraki has trouble concentrating because he is so frustrated with the noise the Nepalese are making. The Nepalese are also unable to do their work because Hiraki has not had enough time to properly train them. The counterpart engineers have no motivation to complete their work, turn up on time, or take their job seriously.Hiraki is a diligent worker that prefers to work in an orderly fashion in silence.
Nepalese culture allows for mixing socializing with work. Hiraki assumes that they will change to the IUCEJ’s methods and atmosphere, and when this does not happen, he begins to withdraw himself. Divisions become very evident when there is a New Year’s part organizaed by the IUCEJ and there are no Nepalese attendees. The Japanese and Nepalese communicate minimally, so much so that when Hiraki has a problem about the classroom noise, he talks to his ‘in-group’ superior, rather than the instigators themselves. Hiraki has come to accept the societal divisions that allow the Nepalese workers to be undisciplined.
Nepalese and Japanese culture practices follow through to their organizational practices. When their organizational practices conflicted, tension was created and the project was divided based on work style and attitude. Hiraki’s directive leadership behavior did not involve the counterpart engineers in the project, making them feel little obligation, investment, or connection with their work and the project.Although subordinate in rank, the counterpart engineers have little respect for the IUCEJ authority. Chester Barnard’s ‘Acceptance of Authority’ implies that the counterpart engineers do not follow or accept the Japanese senior management’s directives and policies for the following reasons. Firstly they do not understand the directive; they are unfamiliar and untrained in what they are meant to be doing, rendering them incapable of completing the task.
The counterparts do not believe that their current directive of writing reports is of great purpose to the project, and it is inconsistent with their original duty, to supervise construction. Furthermore, their personal interests, to go home and see family and friends, are more important than their work.Japan and Nepal are high power-distance cultures, the Nepalese view their government as the highest authority, disregarding the IUCEJ. It becomes a power struggle between Hiraki wanting to assert himself and being shut down by fears that it will lower morale, anger the Nepalese government, or lose his job. Outside of Nepal, the IUCEJ is recognized as a leading engineering consulting firm.
In Nepal, they are unable to take any action against recent graduates that have little to no experience in their field. The original IUCEJ members feel uncomfortable in proceeding with their work, and have difficulty working as a group, and dealing with the less respect than they are used to.SolutionThere needs to be Internal Integration between the Nepalese and Japanese workers. Creating a collective identity will help them work together, and complete the project. Job requirements and expectations should be formally written, with open channels for communication and feedback. A trainer should be hired for the incoming counterpart engineers, if this is not possible, in the future only experienced engineers should be hired.
All workers will need to be treated equally and fairly, in regards to rewards and discipline.In order to remove the divide between the groups, a retreat or activity outside of the workplace should take place. Activities that allow individuals to get to know one another and find similarities will create friendships and bring together the organization as a collective identity. One of the activities should be an education on both cultures, to create appreciation and acknowledgement of both. The Nepalese workers should be more respectful to Hiraki, but he should also give allowances for some level of socialization.
In order to create a valid form of authority, all of the workers will collectively decide on the organizational structure, allocating power to the appropriate places. Only when there is a clear set of policies, practices, and requirements, will there be a positive organizational environment and successful project completion.
