Reference no: EM131821635

Jennifer Ellis, vice president of a North Carolina knitwear manufacturer, was sent by her company to observe firsthand how operations were proceeding in their Korean plant and to help institute some new managerial procedures. Before any changes could be made, however, Jennifer wanted to learn as much as possible about the problems that existed at the plant. During her first week she was met with bows, polite smiles, and the continual denial of any significant problems. But Jennifer was enough of a realist to know that manufacturing operations always have some problems. So after some creative research, she uncovered a number of issues that the local manager and staff had not acknowledged. None of the problems was particularly unusual or difficult to solve, but Jennifer was frustrated that no one mentioned them. "If you don't acknowledge the problems," she complained to one of the Korean managers, "how do you expect to be able to solve them?" And then just today when a problem was finally brought to her attention, it was not mentioned until the end of the workday when there was no time left to solve it. How could you help Jennifer understand the dynamics of this situation?