MULTICULTURAL TEAMS ASSIGNMENT

You are the US employee of a US company. 

You are the LEADER of the team which is to outline what the business concept would be to take the existing business to Japan. It would involve a project lasting several months. Half of the time would be spent living in Japan using experts, associates, and senior consultants from a consulting firm in Tokyo and also some of their retail experts throughout the world. Your team will do everything from consumer research to competitive analysis to considering mergers and acquisitions.

The Team: You and three older men from the company. A consultant from Germany, who is fluent in English, and has lived in the U.S. the last three years. A consultant from India. Two consultants from Japan. (As well as the experts from Japan.)

1. Challenge: The Japanese would definitely not participate when the group got bigger than a few. They would not talk on topics that were not their responsibility.
2. Challenge: The need to follow the direction from the top is explicit in Japan. If the president or leader of the company mandates an action, process, procedure, or policy, it is considered law. This is true even if it causes complications or hardships.
3. Challenge: You do not have a timeline. The India consultant said it would take a year and a half. One of the Americans said it would take four or five months.
4. Challenge: There are differences in communication and perceptions. The Japanese consultants, since they are from the culture in question, have preconceived ideas of what they should find. The rest of you have other preconceived ideas of what you should find. It is difficult when interpreting data about what the data really meant or what was the most important issue. You do not know what their assumptions are.
5. Challenge: Even though you are the leader, you are the youngest person on the team and have the least experience. Others on the team, including the Americans, have reservations about your ability to lead, but your boss believes that you are talented and are capable of overseeing this project.

As the leader of the team, discuss and explain in a WORD document how you will deal with each challenge. (1-2 paragraph each for each challenge)

*If you feel the need to do some additional research to do this assignment, that is fine, but if you use someone else’s work or another source, be sure to cite it. (MLA format) (12pts, Times New Roman) (1-inch margins)