Dr. Jhansi Rani M R, Case study on International HRM, Case study on IHRM, Case study on Cross Culture management, Case study on multiculturalism, case study on cross culture conflict, case study on pharma company

1. A Case Study on
Cross Cultural
Conflict
Dr. Jhansi Rani M R

2. Alpha is an enterprise owned by a major pharmaceutical company in Switzerland.
The initial business of the firm was to render technical services such as facility
management exclusively to the
owner.
The management of ALPHA consists of
COO – Chief Operating Officers
CIO – Chief Information Officer
CFO – Chief Financial Officer
Tarik – a team head controlling reports to the CFO
THE DIFFICULTIES OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE COLLEAGUES AND OF
THE MEDIATION STRATEGY ADOPTED TO HELP OVERCOME THIS.

3.  In the year 1997, the owners of alpha decide to expand Alpha’s
business activities.
 In the same year , the management of Alpha decided to upgrade
existing business software release I order to lose maintenance
support from license.
 Management considered this to be a good time to adapt the
software transactions to the new business needs and to add sales
module of SAP “SD” in (= Sales and distribution) in order to support
the new business cycles.

4.  The CIO was nominated as the project leader.
 Tarik since he was very familiar with the business software
regarding the finance and control modules, he was nominated
as a stream head.
 Additionally, he was entrusted to implement the SD module, since
the sales function was still vacant at that time.

5.  One year later in 1998, the new software went live.
 At the same time, the CFO left the company and a new CFO
took over the job.
 Sara started her career with Alpha as sales controller.
 Sara, who was recruited by the previous CFO was mainly
responsible for analyzing and reporting sales development.
 Sara and Tarik has to directly report to CFO.

6.  From now on, Tarik had to produce reports about the profitability
of rendered services on different levels of aggregation, and Sara
had the task to produce reports showing profitability by
customers, markets and business services.
 A deadline was agreed by when the tasks were to be
completed.
 In the following meetings conducted by CFO, no progress was
reported by the subordinates .

7.  Tarik used alleged reasons to excuse the delay and started to
blame his colleague for the postponement.
 He claimed, that the reports are available but one should be
familiar with SAP but obviously, Sara is not able to manage it.
 Sara, on the other hand, argued, that she knows well hoe to use
SAP, but the system is not set up in a way to retrieve the required
data.
 The CFO realized a communication problem between them.
 He realized this communication problem needs to be solved for
the sake of company and its goals.

8. Identification of potential for
effective resolution by mediation
 The CFO liaised with the HR department and asked for advice on how
to solve such problems.
 The HR Manager proposed not to be involved personally, due to many
reasons.
1. The CFO was relatively new to the company and shouldn’t give the
impression that he cannot handle interpersonal conflicts.
2. If HR gets involved in this conflict, the issue may seem more important
than it really was which is not good for the HR reputation.
3. If CFO can solve the problem by himself it would strengthen his
position sustainably.

9.  After a discussion on various communicative practices for the
augmentative interaction with the subordinates they agreed to
use a combination of mediation and arbitration.
 Mediation, is used in order to let the opponents empty
themselves and learn most about the root causes of the conflict.
 Arbitrator is the one who directs the subordinates towards
business goals.

10. Analysis of parties and issues and
elicitation of real interests
SARA
 A woman, marries in swiss
 She studied Business Administration
 Worked as a Region controller in
an international Swiss company.
 She has good experience with
SAP, particularly with the SD
module.
TARIK
 A male, is swiss too, but originally
born in Turkey.
 Tarik who has both passports, is
divorced from a Swiss woman.
 He is sort of techy and likes to
customize business software.
 Sara and Tarik are more or less of
same age.

11.  CIO is used as mediator and he confirmed that the business
requirements were fully driven by Tarik.
 Even in the next meeting conducted Sara and Tarik started to
shift the blame from one to the other.
 CFO listened the argument from Sara and Tarik’s point of view.
 During the discussion, CFO observed that Tarik was more relaxed
when talking to him but became aggressive when answering
Sara’s questions.

12.  CFO understood that Tarik obviously felt attacked by Sara.
 CFO conducted an other meeting with Tarik and CIO. The
meeting with him was relaxed and the discussion went smooth.
 CFO was confused with the Tarik’s reactions.
 To understand much about Tarik’s behavior CFO called a friend
who’s woman is from Turkey in order to learn more about Turkish
behavior

13.  From the two discussions with the CIO and his Turkish friend CFO
observed that the first issue is related to business wherein, Tarik
followed the instructions of his previous boss and engaged
himself to achieve the set targets.
 Secondly, there was a human issue.
 A few years ago Tarik came from Turkey to Swiss. He tried to
adapt to his new culture, behaved fair and wanted to deliver
excellent working results in order to be appreciated by his Swiss
colleagues.

14.  And then, all of sudden, his new female swiss tries to tell him what
he is to deliver, this brings Tarik into a precautious situation.
 He doesn’t want to lose his face because he didn’t devote
appropriate attention to the sales cycle when customizing the
business processes.
 Deep in his heart, Tarik is a Turk, and for Turk men, it is
inconceivable to admit a mistake, especially in front of women.

15. Identification of potential for
effective resolution and arbitration.
 Another meeting is scheduled by CFO with Sara and Tarik.
 CFO explained bis findings from the previous meetings with CIO and
Tarik and stressed that Tarik had clear instructions from his previous boss
and due to limited resources and time constraints the SD module was
implemented but with a reporting functionality.
 Then CFO came back to the current task and asked his direct reports
when can they deliver what has been requested.
 Tarik immediately offered his help and it might take one week to
customize the system.

16. THANK YOU
Source: https://www.mic.usi.ch/conflictual-situation-
among-counterparts-pharmaceutical-company-cs-en