Luc Legrand, five-year management trainee in Global Solutions' office in Marseilles, France, is scheduled to work a two-year assignment in Global Solutions' Chicago office. Luc's Chicago supervisor, Sherri Crownover, is aware of various work-related differences between French/European and American professional cultures, so she is planning accordingly. One of the ways that she is planning to deal with these differences is
A)to "throw him in to the deep end" by having him experience American business meetings without any up-front coaching.
B)to reinforce her expectation that Luc will immediately embrace an American workaholic schedule, including work on weekends.
C)to avoid face-to-face conversations with Luc in favor of heavy email communication.
D)to assign Jack Spear, Vice President of Production, as Luc's mentor, given Luc's respect for wisdom gained through experience.
E)to lavish positive feedback and praise on Luc, far in excess of what he would be comfortable with if working in his Marseilles office.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Assigning Jack Spear, Vice President of Production, as Luc's mentor would be the best choice as Luc's respect for wisdom gained through experience will likely make him receptive to Jack Spear's guidance. This would be a good way to bridge the cultural differences and help Luc adjust to the new working environment in Chicago. Option A would be a high-risk strategy as it could lead to Luc feeling overwhelmed and isolated, while option B would reinforce negative stereotypes of American work culture. Option C would be counterproductive as it could inhibit effective communication, while option E could be seen as insincere and inauthentic by Luc.

Luc Legrand, Five-Year Management Trainee in Global Solutions' Office in Marseilles