Question

Please answer all questions, I will rate you a thumbs up:))

Purpose

One of the biggest challenges in doing global business is communicating with people from all over the world. The difficulty, of course, doesn’t have to do with making phone calls or sending emails, but finding the right time. With offices and personnel in multiple time zones, it can be quite a challenge to find one time during which people can sit down for a conference call. This case will give you an opportunity to think about how best to communicate across multiple time zones.

1. “Imagine for a moment that your best friend or significant other has moved to China. The time difference is 13 hours, but you need to find a good way to communicate regularly. How would you do it?”

Talking Across Time Zones

In the beginning, your company was run out of a small, drab building in the middle of Ohio. With just five employees, your little “factory” produced just a single product—small boat engines. Five years later, against all odds, you somehow landed a lucrative government contract to supply the U.S. Army with small engines for its unmanned vehicles program.

That date would prove to be a turning point, as the company would transform from a small local business into a global powerhouse. Gone are the days when the entire company was housed in a small, cramped, converted farmhouse. The entire manufacturing operation was moved to China several years ago. The R&D and engineering division operates out of a sparkling new building in Berlin, Germany. The marketing staff works out of Los Angeles, and the sales and customer service call center is based in Mumbai, India. As for the little farmhouse that you started out in, it is long gone, replaced by a glamorous modern building that is home to executive management.

With facilities located all over the world and an international staff, there have been few challenges that your company has not been able to overcome. It has been able to create low-cost, reliable engines that have been a hit in developing economies. Its alternative fuels research division is among the largest in the world and is poised both to introduce a hydrogen-powered engine and create an infrastructure to give consumers easy access to refueling stations. However, there remains one issue that your company has struggled with for some time. It has nothing to do with dealing with environmental groups, suppliers, or competitor firms. Instead, it is about communication.

Your company has always emphasized speed—speed in discussing issues, speed in coming to decisions, and speed in executing them. And all this speed requires a great amount of efficient communication within the company. Back in the day, of course, this simply meant that Jo in engineering would walk across the hall to talk to Sam in marketing. But now that you have offices all over the world, it has become more difficult to make quick decisions and plans, because it is hard to find a way to get people together to talk. If it is 10 a.m. in Ohio, it is 7 a.m. in Los Angeles, 11 p.m. in Beijing, 8 p.m. in Mumbai, and 4 p.m. in Berlin.

So, how can we talk to each other quickly and efficiently? That’s the question that the senior management team has been gathered to try to resolve. Their task is to find, or even create, a communication system that will allow timely, clear, and effective communication throughout the organization without forcing people to wake up at 3 a.m. for a videoconference.

Questions

1. In your opinion, what communication method would be ideal for an organization that has offices in many different countries? Why? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different types of communication you have learned about?

2. Is it necessary to sacrifice speed in communication for the sake of a global presence? That is, can a company have both a global presence and an efficient, timely means of communication?

3. What cross-cultural issues should you keep in mind as you create a new communication system?

Answer 1

1. In your opinion, what communication method would be ideal for an organization that has offices in many different countries?
   
   While students’ responses will vary, they should reflect awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of the two kinds of communication media that are discussed in the chapter. Oral communication includes face-to-face and group meetings through telephone calls, videoconferencing, or any other means of sending and receiving spoken messages. Oral communication is also a rich communication medium because it allows managers to receive and assess the nonverbal communication that accompanies spoken messages. It is also advantageous since you don’t need a personal computer and an Internet connection. Clearly, however, oral communication presents challenges in a global setting, since it is quite difficult to have face-to-face meetings. What is more, the time difference can make telephone calls a challenge.
   
   The other form of communication, written communication, such as email, is well suited for delivering straightforward messages and information. Furthermore, with e-mail accessible at the office, at home, and on the road managers can use e-mail to stay in touch from anywhere at almost any time. And, since e-mail and other written communications don’t have to be sent and received simultaneously, messages can be sent and stored for reading at any time. However, email often lacks the formality of paper memos and letters, and it is often sent before it is fully thought through. Another drawback to e-mail is that it lacks nonverbal cues, making e-mails very easy to misinterpret. E-mail is also not well suited to complex, ambiguous, or emotionally laden messages.
2. Is it necessary to sacrifice speed in communication for the sake of a global presence? That is, can a company have both a global presence and an efficient, timely means of communication?
   
   Students’ responses will vary. While some may argue that a global presence makes communication difficult, other may argue that most, if not all, of the challenges can be solved through technology. Tools such as email, social networking, and video conferencing allow people to communicate with others all over the world instantly.
3. What cross-cultural issues should you keep in mind as you create a new communication system?
   
   As discussed in the text, there are a number of things that a savvy manager should do to find success in cross-cultural communication. The manager should be familiar with a culture’s general work norms, determine whether a culture is emotionally affective or neutral, develop respect for other cultures, and understand how address terms and attitudes toward time differ from culture to culture.
   
   The manager should also be aware of some of the difficulties using e-mail and similar forms of communication. As noted above, e-mail is often sent without a lot of forethought, and it is very easy to misinterpret what is sent in an email. Therefore, when communicating across borders (and possibly in different languages), managers should take care to make e-mails as clear and explicit as possible.