What is this dispute about for Kelly?
The current case is about negative emotions and disruptions in cross-cultural management and communication. Kelly has come to Japan with the motive of perfecting her Japanese and also spend some adventurous and fun-time around before getting engaged into professional life. Based on her four months’ previous experience of Japanese culture, she believed she could adjust well in Japan and adopt its tradition and work practices easily. However, the transitioning to diverse culture of Japan, gender roles, informal societal traditions and communication issues invoked negative emotions in Kelly which distorted her relations with her supervisor Mr. Higashi.
Kelly, however, followed her Canadian work principles and never worked more than what was defined in the agreement. This made Kelly think of Japanese work culture and ethics to be ‘absurd’ because it left the employees with no vacation or free time.
Secondly, Kelly did not attend the pre-departure training organized by the JET program officials because she believed that her previous stay in Japan has equipped her with the necessary knowledge and awareness of Japanese culture to adjust. However, she was under misperception as Osaka where she had lived was altogether different from where she was posted as an ALT now. It came to her as a cultural shock because unlike her stay at Osaka, she got no opportunity to spend quality time in this city which she used to do back in Canada.
Thirdly, Kelly was agitated at the constant pushing of Mr. Higashi to adjust into the Japanese tradition and learn the more women-oriented tasks like flower arrangement and cooking. It made her all the more angry to see that Japan is a male-dominated culture with no female occupying any higher position. She believed in more of gender-equality and Mr. Higashi’s behavior was irritating to her.
Kelly was negatively charged because of the perceptions of other Japanese workers who believed the ALTs to be lacking commitment and team work since they never appeared after 5 in the evening or during weekends. The Japanese counterparts also believed that the foreigner ALTs are too young to occupy such positions where the Japanese have spent more than 20 years of their lives gaining experience.
In this case, the primary issue arose when Kelly’s identity, self-respect and value system was challenged by Mr. Higashi. Firstly, he asked Kelly to bring a doctor’s note for his illness which annoyed Kelly for being treated as a schoolgirl. The matter worsened when Mr. Higashi refused to grant her sick leave which was mentioned in the contract but insisted in counting it under paid leave as per Japanese traditions.
Here, major conflict between individualism (Kelly’s attitude) and collectivism (Mr. Higashi’ attitude) dimensions of cross-culture is evident. Hence, Kelly finds Mr. Higashi’s behavior as ‘unreasonable’ despite his initial liking toward her and being a friendly supervisor in the beginning.
What is this dispute about for Mr. Higashi?
For Mr. Higashi, it is the matter of young, inexperienced and foreign ALTs challenging his value system, authority and self-concept. Mr. Higashi is a pure Japanese who believes in the tradition of honoring one’s commitment towards the employer and hence, never leaves the office before 8 and also attends it on weekends. Secondly, the fact that he has been promoted to achieve his final goal of being a school principal is contingent on his own as well as his subordinate’s performance.
As a result, he wants his sub-ordinates to do whatever his can to improve their performance, be it arranging extra tasks on holidays without informing them or insisting Kelly to develop interest in Japanese traditional activities because he started liking her for her command over Japanese language and interest.
However, the ALTs followed their specific cultural suits and denied the on-spot assignment requests of Mr. Higashi which challenged his authority. Moreover, when three ALTs got sick together, Mr. Higashi doubted their integrity as he believed that it is a trick by the three to extend their weekends. He also tried to deny the clauses of the agreement by not granting sick leave to the ALTs in an attempt to ‘save the face’ and honor Japanese traditions.
Is a compromise possible?
The emotional intensity of the parties in dispute- the ALTs and Mr. Higashi is high because of each group challenging other’s value system, culture, self-concept and authority (Kramer & Hess 2002). Had the two parties sat together and discussed on how they can respect the agreement while also honoring the Japanese tradition; there would have been some possibilities of compromise.
However, the ALTs decided to bring the matter to the attention of CLAIR which will make it complicated and will also lead the Japanese Board of Education to ‘lose face’. Moreover, both the parties are in negative mood and charged by adverse emotions which weakens the chances of any compromise
How is communication across cultures impacted in this negotiation?
Communication across cultures is a complex function of verbal and non-verbal cues and the ability of the parties to identify the zone of possible agreement (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2007). In this case, neither of the parties was ready to engage in a bargaining process through which Mr. Higashi could understand the clauses or the ALT’s compromise with the sick leave. Hence, in this negotiation, it is more important to understand the underlying traditions and values than explicitly mentioned statements or relying on contractual clauses.
What are the tangible and intangible factors in this negotiation? Which are more important?
The tangible factors in this negotiation are the work environment, the contract with which the work policies of ALTs are guided. The ALTs, based on the clauses and their culture—specific dimensions add more value to freedom, leisure time and gender quality. The intangible factors in the negotiation are emotions; the parties’ attitude and behaviors, managerial support which was absent from Mr. Higashi’s side and increased emphasis on fulfillment of personal goals by Mr. Higashi.
References
Kramer, M., W., & Hess J., A., (2002). ‘Communication Rules for the Display of Emotions in Organizational Settings’, Management Communication Quarterly. London: Sage Publications.
Lewicki, R., Saunders, D & Barry, B. (2007). Essentials of negotiation (5th ed.) Boston: McGraw Hill.
Lewicki, R., Saunders, D & Barry, B. (2007a). Negotiation: Readings, exercises and cases (6th ed.) Boston: McGraw Hill.
