Johannes

GM 963

GM 964

23.05.2001

JOHANNES VAN DEN BOSCH SENDS AN EMAIL

JOHANNES VAN DEN BOSCH RECEIVES A REPLY

Teaching Note

by Joseph J. DiStefano

Copyright © 2001 by IMD - International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland. Not

to be used or reproduced without written permission directly from IMD.

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GM 963 & 964 TN

Summary of the Cases

The two cases consist of the emails between partners of a Big Five firm, one in

the Netherlands and the other in Mexico. The Dutch partner is in charge of a

global client who is unhappy with the delays in closing accounts. Although the

client’s subsidiary in Mexico appears to be part of the problem, after trying in

vain to get information from his Mexican partner, the Dutch partner-in-charge

sends a follow up “stick to the facts” email. He gets a hostile reply and takes his

original email to two of his Dutch and Belgian partners for their assessment. They

can’t see anything wrong with the original email and are puzzled at the Mexican’s

reply.

The two mini-cases (two pages each) are designed to be used sequentially, as part

of a longer class.

Teaching Objectives

•

To illustrate cultural differences in relationships and directness in work

situations involving emotions and conflict.

•

To illustrate the effects of the medium for messages, especially those

involving complexity.

•

To encourage the reader to develop more effective processes for checking

cultural sensitivities and for taking action to solve cross-cultural

misunderstandings.

Teaching Plan

The cases are written to complement the introduction of conceptual or theoretical

material on cultural dimensions in the workplace (refer to Exhibit 2: Sample

Profile of Cultural Perspectives Questionnaire (CPQ); and Figure 1 below: the

MBI Model of High Performance).

They can be used either before the use of cultural maps to test the participants’

sensitivities to cultural variables, or after the...