Cross-cultural stresses and strains can turn a plum foreign assignment into a nightmare. Here are some guidelines for planning and managing assignments that will make everyone happy. He was a Korean assigned to report to an American manager. From the outset, their working relationship was rocky. He refused to respond to requests she regarded as entirely reasonable. Finally, she went to the C.E.O. They assumed the core problem was he resented reporting to a woman. Actually, it had to do with a cultural expectation. In Korea, managers are expected to be older and have more tenure. He was humiliated by being told to report to someone who was both younger and had fewer years of service with the company than he had. In another case, he was an American technical specialist interviewing candidates for an IT group. She was a Filipino Area Manager who had prescreened the candidates. He quickly realized the candidates lacked the necessary technical background. She was frosty: "Maybe your manager should do the interviews." He became angry because he felt she was questioning his authority to make hiring decisions. She became angry because she felt he was questioning her competence. In both cases, the companies-and the managers and professionals they sent abroad-lacked needed cross-cultural information, training, and preparation. Instead, the focus was on the practical arrangements of transfer-booking flights, finding a place to live, getting to work. Why?
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