Charles Foster Sends an Email

What was the initial intention behind sending the email?

The initial email was sent out to Richard Howe (Vice-President of Sales of High Technology for Techco US) to inform him of ongoing situations in the company most especially reservations on the V8 for the XD19 drives brought to attention by Mark. Dick was informed that there seems to be problems with forecasting, that manufacturing does not believe marketing’s forecast and by adopting theirs they are shipping products in volumes below the run-rates, and that the manufacturing of the XD19 has such a long lead-times that it will be impossible to respond to sudden swings in the market or new opportunities for their products. Finally that there are issues with the firmware of the XD19, that the version 08 firmware has a bug that does not provide true three-wire control in a keypad mode, which they at HQ (USA) consider a major safety issue.

How did the recipient interpret the email?

There are actually 3 people that either directly or indirectly received the email.

Richard Howe: He responded to the email by first expressing his gratitude to me for bringing the situation to his attention and promised to investigate further. Secondly, he contacted Maurice LeBlanc of the French office. He informed him of he’s concerns and asked Maurice to contact the JV to expedite its manufacturing process. He then referred Maurice to the other concerns identified.

Maurice LeBlanc: He indirectly received the email because it was forwarded to him by Dick. He responded to the email by contacting Ahmed. A tone of anger and the exercise of authority can be detected in the email sent to Ahmed. He demanded explanation to the allegations raised by the email and also expressed his concerns about the activities of the joint venture (JV).

Ahmed: He also indirectly received the email because it was forwarded to him by Maurice. He responded to the email by contacting me. Ahmed’s tone was obviously that of anger and a bit authoritarian in nature also. He demanded explanation to the allegations raised by the email and also expressed his concerns about his perception of my view on the activities of the joint venture (JV).

What cultural assumptions underlie the initial email and why did Ahmed react to the email the way he did?

According to Lane and Maznevski, “An assumption is an unquestioned, taken-for-granted belief about the world and how it works” (1). Assumptions according to the authors, assumptions influences how we interpret events and behaviors and the meaning they have to us and the more our assumptions are shared by others, the more communication becomes effective. Putting this into the context of this case by using Hofstede’s cultural dimension theories, 3 assumptions can be seen to underline the initial email and Ahmed’s response