Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

This particular incident was recounted to me by a Thai tutor, of my Human Resource Management class.

In a Toyota car manufacturing plant in Thailand, an engineer from USA was just posted to the plant as a manufacturing engineer. One of his first tasks was to lead the Thai technicians under him to accomplish part of the manufacturing operations. After giving a briefing to the local technicians, he asked,

“So do all of you understand your tasks on hand? Any clarifications needed?”

He looked around; smiles were hanging on all local technicians’ faces. He asked one more time, the same reaction. “Great!” he thought, it seemed like he was getting along well with his new team, and communication seemed to be perfect.

Sadly, when the American engineer next checked with the team again, all the work which was accomplished by the team was not what he wanted. Essentially, all the technicians had not really understood what he said, but out of courtesy, they did not question his instructions during the previous meeting with him.

Well, what can we learn from this saga? Personally, I think it was a case of a foreigner lacking in understanding of local culture. Thailand, being a “Land of Smiles”, is a place where people try to be courteous to everyone, especially to foreigners. This could potentially be a double-edged sword. In American cultural context, it might be the case that when there is no questioning, and coupled with a smile on the face, it is a sign of “Roger that boss, I got you loud and clear”. Questioning in American culture might be just a normal gesture which means no form of disrespect.

On the other hand, in Thailand, it might be considered rude to question one’s superior, especially a new foreigner boss. The unsuspecting American engineer, not foreseeing this possibility, and based on his own cultural assumption, went on to interpret that as a sign of understanding.
It might not be possible to thoroughly understand all the various countries’ cultures.

Nonetheless, it is only prudent to keep in mind that differences in cultures will spell differences in communication norms and practices. It will pay to be extra cautious about potential communication loopholes in a new workplace with a different culture.

A Reply to a Service Requst....

Dear Mr. Lee,

Thank you for writing in to tell us the problems you faced with the use of your new machine.
At KSE engineering, we pride ourselves as a provider of good after sales services. As such we will try to arrange a service appointment asap.

However, as you did not state in your previous email to us what are the dates and times which our service engineers can go to your company to do servicing, the arrangement for servicing on your machine can only commence after you have do that.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Ms Sherlyn Loh
Customer Service Officer

The above appended letter is a business correspondence letter between 2 companies. KSE engineering, was writing in response to an earlier email from another company (written by Mr. Lee) which was asking for technical assistance for the purchase of a new machine from KSE engineering.

The writer of the letter started off brightly by adopting a You-attitude (refer text book page 45), as the thanking sentence had the focus on the customer who wrote in about the new machine. The letter was also concise in conveying the message which the writer intended.

However, the writer could be a little more apologetic towards the customer since they had encountered problems with the machine not long after their purchase. Furthermore, as the writer progressed to explain the problem they faced in arranging a service appointment for the customer, the tone employed (by focusing the blame on the customer’s last email) seemed to be a tad impolite. From the customer’s point of view, it must be none too pleasing since the new machine was spoilt, having to write in more than one time to arrange for a service appointment definitely would irritate the customer even more.

As such, it might be more appropriate if the writer could write in a more positive tone and to improve clarity and concreteness, offer other alternative help options to the customer. An example might be to offer several available service time slots and dates for the customer to choose from. By doing this, besides showing that KSE really had the customer’s satisfaction in mind, it might also convey the message that they are truly apologetic over the problems which the customer faced.