Reference no: EM133403511

Question: New Millennium Groceries has three stores with 100 employees and makes a nice profit. The executive team, which consists of the CEO, Marketing Director, R&D Director, and HR Director, meets weekly for an hour. Take a moment at this time to read profiles of each executive on pages 100-101 of the textbook. The issue that faces the management team in today's meeting is whether to offer an innovative "food on the go" program for busy consumers. The Marketing Director is all for it; the R&D Director is hesitantly supportive; the HR Director is opposed; and the CEO wants a decision. Refer to specific terms and concepts from Chapter 4 as you answer the questions below.

What are the communication styles (see pages 80-86) of each executive? How might their styles clash and lead to challenging or harmful conversations about starting a "food on the go" program?

In their social environment, how might the executive team structurate (see pages 88-90) as a group and thus arrive at a way to (a) understand the "food on the go" issue, (b) take the action that is "proper," and (c) use power in influencing the decision?

The CEO, Marketing Director, and R&D Director were raised in an individualistic culture (see pages 94-98) where low-context communication and low power distance are norms, while the HR Director was raised in a collectivistic culture (again, see pages 94-98) where high-context communication and high power distance are norms. In light of these cultural differences, reread the executives' profiles on pages 100-101. How might their cultural differences lead to intercultural conflicts (see pages 97-8) over the "food on the go" issue?

Because the CEO is from an individualistic low-power-distance culture, he wants to survey all the employees and get their thoughts and recommendations about starting a "food on the go" program. But the HR Director, who is from a collectivistic high-power-distance culture, opposes surveying the employees and believes management has the responsibility to make the decision. How would doing a survey, or not doing a survey, about "food on the go" impact the larger conflict system that ultimately includes all employees?