Managing People and Organizations

HRMG 6200

Managing People and Organizations

Assignment:

Read the Karen Leary (A) case, and write-up answers to the following questions.  Please upload your write-ups to Blackboard before the start of class on March 19, 2016.

What is your evaluation of Chung’s performance?  

I think Chung’s performance has been satisfactory and he should be rewarded in other ways. I don’t believe Chung has contributed as significantly as he was expected for the amount of time he has been at Merrill Lynch. A private office needs to be earned and it doesn’t just take performance. Performance is a major factor in determining any rewards but it also takes longevity, commitment, and a strong influence in the culture of the company. It seems to me that Ted is motivated by power as well as promotion opportunities. He’s not just seeking a new office simply for what he has achieved during the short period of time he’s been with the company. His performance meets expectation in my opinion but it hasn’t exceeded or reached the level that should grant him a promotion and his own office.

If you were Leary, how would you respond to Chung’s request for a private office?  What factors would you consider?  What specific actions would you take to improve Chung’s performance, as well as her working relationship with him?

I believe there are multiple factors contributing to Karen and Chung’s approach. Culture and Leadership style contribute the most to their miscommunications. I’ve learned about high-context cultures and I believe Taiwanese tend to get their message across in a high-context way. Whereas Karen is more direct. She wants to communicate and make her point. She’s very rule oriented. She prefers to have one on one sessions with FCs then having group interactions. Chung is from a culture that thrives from building Long term relationships.  He works hard to develop an interpersonal relationship with all potential business partners because that’s pivotal in his culture.  Chung is more likely to take uncalculated risks whereas Karen takes a more organized and rule oriented approach. This really affects their working relationship which explains Karen’s lack of trust in Chung. She feels the need to check in on him as often as she does. Karen tends to verbally communicate her thoughts and expects the same in return. Chung isn’t as explicit as she wants him to be so she doesn’t really have a way of knowing where his mindset it. A great example of this is how Karen was initially more open to giving Chung the freedom to develop the Taiwanese market but as time went on she became worried due to Chung’s lack of communication. This led to a lack of trust in Chung.  She wants him to present a structured plan of how he’s going about developing new accounts but Chung insists he’s building relationships. Due to the importance of that in his culture, he will not put a timeline on that.