How would you have handled the situation with Li?

Tang should address the Intel Architecture Development Co., Ltd (IADL) issues of downward and upward miscommunication by first talking to Li’s direct supervisor, Cheng, about the Intel philosophy of "disagree and commit". The Intel strategy should be discussed and linked to Li's skill set and with future assignments. Specifically, recognition should be given to Li's Chinese culture competency skills. All similar organizational and national culture context should be assessed. Tang could then review the different options for the manual project after considering recommendations from Cheng. A pointed conversation between Cheng and Li about the project’s correlation to Intel Strategy should occur to ensure commitment and understanding. Ultimately, a decision by Tang can be made to either cancel ,modify, or reduce Li’a project to a more attainable goal. Guanxi is a Chinese value of how organizations and people build relationships. Li had earned a high level of Guanxi by working with external and internal customers on his project. Face is another Chinese cultural term that means image , social standing and respect. The abrupt end of the manual project was perceived by Li as losing face, being disgraced , embarrassed, and becoming a social outcast. Instead of canceling the project, Tang could prevent Li from being dishonored by considering a negotiation with Cheng and Li about the description of the project. Reducing the size of the project could demonstrate empathy toward Li's past project efforts. If agreed upon the project would then be able return back to the original requested manual size. The timeline of the project could also be changed to be a short term assignment with realistic due dates. Tang attempts to find balance between his past low context culture in the west with his current high context culture in China. Tang should give Li recognition for his Chinese culture skill set of building Guanxi with account holders. The praise given to Li should be specifically directly linked to the Intel strategies. Tang, Cheng and Li should commit to the idea of how best to use Li's skills with current and future accounts.

Do you believe the incident with Li was indicative of broader internal communication difficulties? Why or why not? If so, how could Tang have prevented the problem?

The Incident with Li was indicative of broader internal communicative difficulties. Tang, who is the new marketing programs manager, has returned to China after eight years and the country has changed a lot over that time. He has gained valuable experiences with Intel in wide areas and had brought success for the company in the past. Li, who is new to the company, is the account manager at Tang’s division and his job requires extremely strong people skills and the ability to consistently demonstrate a mature, professional, and diplomatic manner.
Tang has assigned each employee’s role by his best judgment and has ensured that they work towards advancing the strategic goals of the department and Intel in china. Meanwhile, he view Li as a young, new employee who lacks enough experience in the business world and software industry; therefore, he grew some bias judgments toward him.
On the other hand, when Li was informed by Cheng, his direct supervisor, that he should immediately stop the project on hand and will be assigned to a new project, he didn’t care to listen to the rationale behind the decision and rejected her. Li felt that Tang has altered not only one of his projects, but also his responsibilities without any considerations. So consequently, he felt that the managers have undermined his efforts and they have no respect for his work. The way Chang informed Li created a lot of ambiguity and disappointment to him. Therefore, his only reaction was rejection of the plan without even wanting to hear a word about it. This is indicative of lack of proper communications between managers and employees in the organization
Tang could have prevented this problem, Li’s disappointment and his rejection of the change of plan, by considering how Li’s feelings would be affected, both in positive and negative ways, by this decision before informing him. He could have set a casual meeting with Chang and Li to discuss the project and ask li about his progress on it. After that Tang could have explained the drawbacks the project is facing and logical reasons why the company has decided to stop the project. At this point Tang must talk in a soft voice with Li and ensure him that he, as the manager, has considered Li’s emotions and feelings on this change and appreciate the time and effort Li has put forth so far. Also, he could even offer him some sort of reward for his work. This sort of meeting could create a human moment and trust environment, makes Li to feel that his efforts were recognized and valued by the managers and they care about him and his feelings. This way, Li could have a clear image of the limitations the company is facing and understands that this is the best decision for the company and he, as an employee, should respect top manager’s decisions.
Tang must keep in mind that he is managing employees who have no knowledge of western organizational and communicational system and might not be able to understand his mixed western eastern management style. He should be more communicative with the employees in his division and consider individual’s emotions in regard to the changes.
Meanwhile, Li should be more receptive toward managers’ decisions and know that he should do what is best for the company not what is good for him.

3.Tang largely ignores his rank or his experience in the U.S. and hopes that by making it a non-issue it perpetuates a feeling that he is “one of a bunch of Intel employees, working hard to avoid dissonance in relationships.” How realistic do you consider this attitude to be in dealing with the potential for cross-cultural conflict? Why?
This scenario can be viewed both as a cross cultural conflict and also as a typical workplace conflict between an employee and the manager. Tang’s attitude of ignoring his rank and making it a non-issue would potentially reflect negatively on his managerial skills as the one in charge.
In addition, in almost all western corporations the manger has the final say in assigning a project or the direction it is headed, and Tang as an Intel employee needs to follow the same culture. However, this does not mean that Tang should not consult with Li in his decision making process. In the western business culture, decision making is a two-way feedback process, where ideas are exchanged and a final decision is made by the manager, who is usually more experienced. In this case, Tang has great deal of experience about the industry and cultures, both eastern and western.
The first issue is that Tang made his decision without consulting with Li who is a dedicated employee with an excellent track record with the local Chinese software companies.
The second issue is the fact that, Tang is considered as expatriate by his Chinese employees, in this case with Li. Li thinks of Tang as a manager from the western world, who has just stepped in and is trying to take his project away, just because he thinks that the project is not as important. Thus, from Li’s perspective this is a cross-cultural conflict where an outsider does not value the work and effort of the local employees.
In order for Tang to follow the Intel’s culture and to avoid losing his valuable employee Li, He needs to confront Li with the issue and explain his business strategy. This way Li would be aware of Tang’s decision making process, and will be able to provide positive input as one of the Intel PRC corporation employees who has great influence on the local software development businesses.
4. What do you recommend Tang do now in regards to Li?
My recommendation for Tang at this point would be to reinforce the “disagree and commit” philosophy further to not only Li but all his department employees. This way Li does not feel as if he is being individually targeted and at the same time Tang will assure that all his employees are on the same page with him when it comes to principles and philosophies this company was built upon. He then should request a detailed progress report from Li with regards to the project as well as his projected finish date to Chen. Chen would review that report and evaluate if it meets the company’s principles and philosophies. Chen then would report her evaluation to Tang, who would ultimately make one of the following three decisions; first if the project needed to be stopped immediately because it was not meeting the professional code that Intel stood by. Second, he would consider if any possible modifications could make the project more feasible and eliminate his concerns. Twith no changes. Any of those three decisions, once made, should be relayed to Chen so that she can ask her employee, Li to obey and follow. The last option would be to let the project run as it is. Chen however should be addressed individually by Tang before relaying the decision to Li so that she can use proper and appropriate communication skills when relaying either one of those three decisions to Li. Whatever decision Tang makes has to bear enough justification for both Chen and Li to accept. It appears that vertical organization culture of Chinese business is underestimated by Tang in this scenario. Of course, he cannot be blamed for it because of his personal westernized experience during the past several years but he needs to consider what works best when it comes to Chinese employees even if it conflicts with his personal principles.

What should Tang do in general?
As an account manager responsible for grand oversight and business decisions relating to the direction of the company, Tang needs to take measures necessary to take full command of his team. Among the various obstacles in his path, Tang’s biggest challenge is to integrate and be accepted by a team that sees him as an outsider. The issue stems from the fact that Tang has been out of China for the previous eight years, a period during which the culture had seen a large shift. The challenge of being re-integrated into this ever-evolving culture is evident in examples given of others who faced the same scenario. Consequently, despite Tang’s desire to be viewed as a local, he is externally perceived as an expatriate. Nationality aside, Tang faces a second perception bias due to his young age. This bias is evident as Tang’s young age often causes senior management of other companies to not respect his final authority. The culmination of these factors leads to communication biases that undermine Tang’s ability to manage his team.
In essence, Tang must do what is required to improve his external image. The first problem Tang must address is to earn his colleagues recognition as a local rather than an expatriate. Tang could overcome this challenge by increasing his personal communication with his team. By increasing this communication Tang will be able to connect with his colleagues on an emotionally deeper and more personal level. Finally, while Tang may never be recognized as a true national, developing stronger relationships with his colleagues will improve his image and loyalty among his team.
The vertically layered and autocratic style of management in China demands a leader who has complete control of his/her team. This control is foundationally built off of respect for superiors. Thus Tang must do what is required to earn this respect. To overcome his age-related image issues, Tang has developed a tactic in which he portrays himself as the message carrier of a superior. While this tactic has enabled him to maintain control, it has further diminished his image as a decision making leader. Consequently he must gradually transition into earning the respect of elder managers who view him as inexperienced. Such transition is only possible if Tang declares and demonstrates his capacity and authority to make managerial decisions with no superior oversight.