Swedish Culture | homework crew
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CASE STUDY1. Conduct some research on Swedish culture. Briefly describe Swedish culture, and how it differs from American culture.2. Based on the research you conducted, can the problem described in the case be attributed to cultural differences between the Swedish employees and the American manager? Why or why not? Please be specific.3. What should Peter Jones do next to resolve the conflict between Mr. Miller and his team? Be specific. Describe both short-term and long term actions that you recommend to be taken, and explain why these recommendations will help.4. You can use this website for your some research ( https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) as well as at least two other sources.Paper format: Use Times New Roman, pt. 12 font, double-spaced. Your report should be 3 pages long. Be sure to answer all the questions thoroughly.Notes:** Try to identify some of the following areas (as they might apply): Some areas to look at as you view culture.a. How do people communicate with each other (e.g. they talk less than you would expect, they are more/less direct and/or loud than you think is appropriate, they express more/less emotions than you would expect, are they too candid, etc.)b. How do people relate to those who are older than them or have higher status than them (e.g. they are too deferent in your opinion, or not deferent enough, etc.)c. How do people relate to their family and community (e.g. are they much more likely to live their life according to their family’s wishes than you think is appropriate, do they care excessively about the opinion of family members/society, etc.)d. Do male and female roles in the culture seem to be flexible or rigidly defined (e.g. how are women dressed, what is their role in the family and/or at work, are there strong expectations in that society about the roles of men and women)?e. Other (e.g. social class distinctions, quality of life, do people seem happy, etc.)?Mr Peter Jones Vice President-Europe Computex Corporation San Francisco I USAGoteborg, May 30, 1985The writers of this letter are the headcount of the sales depart- ment of Computex Sweden, AS, except for the sales manager.We have decided to bring to your attention a problem which, if unsolved, probably will lead to a situation where the majority among us will leave the company within a rather short period of time. None of us want to be in this situation, and we are ap- proaching you purely as an attempt to save the team for the benefit of ourselves as well as Computex Corporation.We consider ourselves an experienced, professional, and sales-oriented group of people. Computex Corporation is a com- pany which we are proud to work for. The majority among us have been employed for several years. Consequently, a great number of key customers in different areas of Sweden see us as representatives of Computex Corporation. It is correct to say that the many excellent contacts we have made have been estab- lished over years; many of them are friends of ours. These traits give a very short background because we havenever met you. What kind of problem forces us to such a serious step as to contact you?Reprinted by permission of the author.56 Martin HilbProblems arise as a result of character traits and behavior of our general manager, Afr Miller. Firstly, we are more and more convinced that we are toolsthat he is utilizing in order to “climb the ladder. ” In meetings with us individually, or as a group, he gives visions about the future, how he values us, how he wants to delegate and involve us in business, the importance of cooperation and communica- tion, etc. When it comes to the point, these phrases turn out to be only words. Mr Miller loses his temper almost daily, and his outburstsand reactions are not equivalent to the possible error. His mood and views can change almost from hour to hour. This fact causes a situation where we feel uncertain when facing him and conse- quently are reluctant to do so. Regarding human relationships, his behavior is not acceptable, especially for a manager. The extent of the experience of this varies within the groupdue to our location. Some of us are seldom in the office. Secondly, we have experienced clearly that he has variousmeans of suppressing and discouraging people within the or- ganization. The new “victim” now is our sales manager, Mr Johansson.Because he is our boss, it is obvious that we regret such a situation, which to a considerable extent influences our working conditions. There are also other victims among us. It is indeed very diffi-cult to carry through what is stated in our job descriptions. We feel terribly sorry and wonder how it can be possible forone person almost to ruin a whole organization. If this group consisted of people less mature, many of uswould have left Computex Corporation already. So far only one has left the company due to the above reasons. From September I, two new sales representatives are joiningthe company. We regret very much that new employees get their first contact with the company under the present circum- stances. An immediate action is therefore required. It is not our objective to get rid of Mr Miller as generalmanager. Without going into details, we are thankful for what he has done to the company from a business point of view. If he could control his mood, show some respect for his colleagues, keep words, and stick to plans, we believe that we can succeed under his leadership.We are fully aware of the seriousness of contacting you, and we have been in doubt whether or not to contact you directlyComputex Corporationbefore talking to Mr Miller. After serious discussions and considerations, we have reachedthe conclusion that a problem of this nature unfortunately can- not be solved without some sort of action from the superior. If possible, direct confrontation must be avoided. It can only make things worse.We are hoping for a positive solution. Six of your sales representatives in Sweden57Peter Jones let out a long sigh as he gazed over the letter from Swe- den. “What do I do now?” he thought, and began to reflect on the problem. He wondered who was right and who was wrong in this squabble, and he questioned whether he would ever get all the infor- mation necessary to make a wise decision. He didn’t know much about the Swedes, and was unsure whether this was strictly a work problem or a “cross-cultural” problem. “How can I tease those two issues apart?” he asked himself, as he locked his office and made his way down the hallway to the elevator. As Peter pulled out of the parking garage and on to the street, hebegan to devise a plan to deal with the problem. “This will be a test of my conflict management skills,” he thought, “no doubt about it!” As he merged into the freeway traffic from the on-ramp and began his commute home, he began to wish that he had never sent Miller to Sweden in the first place. “But would Gonzalez or Harris have done any better? Would I have done any better?” Few answers seemed to come to him as he plodded along in the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
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