Imagine that you work for the law firm Dewey, Wright, and Howe as an intern. With a team of employees, you are working on an orientation program for new interns. Part of your plan is to have interns do research online about the firm before their date of hire. You believe this research, which will take about two hours, will give new interns a jump start before they start working.
In response to your draft Orientation Plan, you receive two emails from partners in the firm€”the first from the German office and the second from Japan. From these messages, you realize that Mr. Yamashita misunderstood your intent: he thought your plan was for interns to come to the office before their start date, whereas you meant only for them to do research online.
Working in small groups, discuss how you interpret these messages. What feedback are the partners giving you? Consider cultural differences discussed in this chapter.

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Email Deiata lunkpy plyl Forward Prnt o Do To: Team Members From: Karla Zimmermann, Managing Partner, Berlin Office Cc: Akira Yamashita, Managing Partner, Tokyo Office Sondra Simmons, HR Manager, Corporate Office Subject: Feedback on Your Proposed Orientation Plan for Interns I do not like having interns spend time on Dewey business before their start date. We would need to pay them for work before they are officially employed. The rest of your plan is acceptable to me. KZ Email Roply Rapty All Forward Pant To Do To: From: Co: Team Members Akira Yamashita, Managing Partner, Tokyo Office Karla Zimmermann, Managing Partner, Berlin Office Sondra Simmons, HR Manager, Corporate Office Subject: Re: Feedback on Your Proposed Orientation Plan for Interns Many thanks for sharing your Orientation Plan for us to review. Your hard work and dedication to this project is indeed appreciated. I believe that the way you have the activities structured works very well before interns begin working with Dewey Tokyo, on their first day of employment, and as follow-up one week later. As Ms. Zimmermann expresses, bringing interns to the office before their start date will be difficult for us, as many students travel to our office, and we arrange a start date to coincide with their availability to start work. These plans are a very good way to acquaint interns with our work and what is expected of them. You have done a very good job putting together these activities. Warm regards, Akira Yamashita