Allan, an American senior manager in his late 40s, was heading the operations department of A2Z Advertising Company in New York, when the company acquired a German-based advertising company Schumark Marketing in Berlin, Germany. In a meeting headed by the CEO of A2Z Advertising, Allan was taken by an absolute surprise when the CEO offered him a position to head the operations department of the newly acquired Schumark Marketing in Berlin. Although, Allan was keen to take on the new position, however, he had mixed feelings about the work environment in Berlin. Allan had heard about strong German work attitudes that could pervade the work environment, much to the confusion of Allan.

One area of confusion Allan was particularly concerned about was teamwork and the boundaries of job descriptions. As per American culture, an incumbent to a role or a department, will get extensive training for the first few months on the job. With this background, Allan naturally expected that Margrate, his new German Colleague from Schumark Marketing in Berlin, would be a significant source of learning in his new role, especially as there was no initial formal training.

However, to much frustration and surprise to Allan, this was not the case when he resumed his role in Berlin. Although, Margrate provided him some initial assistance (when asked though), she conveyed it very clear that providing any training to Allan is not in her job description. This left Allan in a great deal of challenging situation to understand the operations and work requirements. Allan was extremely worried about the situation. How could he gain the knowledge he needed to be effective in this new job? He needed Margrates knowledge to become proficient in his job. This gap also brought hesitation to Allan to develop strong working relationship with Margrate, that Allan considered fundamental for companys success.

Another concern for Allan was working overtime. Berlin was six hours ahead of New York. As the Berlin office was in frequent contact with the head office in New York, Berlin staff had to stay later because of the time difference. Allan understood right from the start that he would be required to do overtime because of the time difference. Moreover, Allan also thought that it was quite usual for an executive to work overtime in coordination with offices in different countries with different time zones, as he was doing in New York. Margrate, however, did not think the same way. She thought her work responsibilities finished at 5 pm, a routine she strictly adhered to.

Question 1. What different aspects of the Trompenaars Relations to the others dimension are applicable to the dilemma presented in this? 

 

Question 2. Using the Trompenaars model of reconciliation, how can Allan and Margate resolve the dilemma in order to enable them to work together successfully?