In May Joseph Laval was appointed managing director of the French–Thai joint venture mobile telephony company Siammobile. The personnel in the joint venture were people who had transferred from the local partner (a traditional telephony firm) plus recruits from the local workforce. Joseph reported to the French parent company Gallicom, at regional headquarters in Singapore.

Gallicom implemented a global human resource management system. One part of the system evaluated the performance of personnel on a 1 to 5 scale (1 = Low performer, 5 = Outstanding performer).

On that basis, bonuses were attributed and for low performers some painful lay-off decisions had to be made. A few months later, Joseph had to review the performances of the various departments.

One case that came to Joseph’s attention was Sarawong, a senior client relationship manager who was one of the personnel transferred from the local partner to the joint venture three years previously.

Sarawong was very devoted to the company, while his colleagues appreciated his kindness.

In his early fifties, he was a senior person in the company. Over the years he had always had good evaluations; in Siammobile his rating was always 4 (High performer). This was satisfactory for him since his character was not to be an aggressive money-making manager. In practice his performances were not really so good. Joseph was surprised to see that his predecessor granted a 4 to Sarawong. He decided to give him a 3 (Average performer) even though he thought that a 2 would be more appropriate.

Sarawong was devastated when he received his evaluation. How could he keep face in the office with his colleagues? What did he do wrong?

He asked for a meeting with Joseph who rationally explained to him that the results of his departments were not on a par with others and that the company evaluation guidelines were very clear.

Joseph, as a senior member of staff, talked to Michel Journaux, the previous managing director of Siammobile with whom he had a good relationship, and who was now the head of Gallicom’s Singapore regional office.

Questions:
1 What do you think of the situation?
2 What would you do if you were Journaux?