You are the senior manager of a small team that has been sent to Country X in order to close a 100 million dollar

deal. Your company has been working to land this contract for over a year. Nancy is the senior engineer on the project. She is the one that has done the bulk of the work and she has a good working relationship (via email and phone calls) with her contacts in Country X. Tony is the junior engineer. He came on board four months after Nancy began her work. He crunched a lot of numbers and ran tests for Nancy. Tony is very personable and he gets along well with everyone.

The problem began at the very first meeting. In Country X people greet each other by clasping each other’s arms and then kissing each other on both sides of the face. The kisses are perfunctory and are devoid of any sexual meaning. You could see Nancy flinch and pull away from contact with your hosts. You hoped they did not notice, but when it was time to leave and it happened again you know that they did. You tried to diplomatically bring this up at dinner but Nancy dismissed it with a laugh, “I’ll do better tomorrow. I just don’t like being touched.”

But it was actually worse the next day with Nancy making a face that signaled her distaste. During a break you take Nancy aside and the time for diplomacy was over. You are tense as you say, “Nancy, you had to have known this was part of their culture. What did you think was going to happen? You have to get over this. I notice a distinct change in their attitude toward us. You’ve worked too hard to mess this up now.” She agrees with you. But when it is time to leave she actually hangs so far back it is almost as if she has left the room. Meanwhile, Tony has fallen into a vigorous discussion with your hosts and you can tell they like him.

That night you get a call from your counterpart from Country X. He is uncomfortable making this call he tells you. He says they respect you and like the work you have done. They understand Nancy is the more senior engineer but when it comes time to implement the project they would prefer to work with Tony. You try to explain that Nancy is the one that did the bulk of the work. “I’m sure once you get to know Nancy you will be very happy working with her”, you say. There is silence for a moment and then he says, “I am sorry but we feel quite strongly about this. I am afraid we will not be able to sign the contract unless your engineer Tony is our contact person. He is qualified is he not?” You admit that he is. You try and convince him to change his mind for the next ten minutes but you can tell you are doing more harm than good. You tell him you will talk to your company and will have an answer for him tomorrow.

The question is: what will you do? Present an argument to defend your position. Once this situation is explained to Nancy what should she do? Why?

Looking for a Similar Assignment? Order now and Get 10% Discount! Use Coupon Code "Newclient"