Individual Differences

Jepsen Corporation is a renown Danish brand in producing and selling home and office furniture. Due to the trend of globalisation, Jepsen is acquired by a fast growing corporation from China, QD Corporation. After six months of acquisition, QD first took over the Finance, Human Resource (HR), and Sales Department of Jepsen Corporation.

The new Finance Director, Mr. Lee (from QD) discovered that the finance personnel of Jepsen allows many debtors to repay their debts longer than the dates stated in the sales invoice. For example, the previous Finance Director of Jepsen (Mr. Edvard) allowed some of the customers to pay the bills in 90 days, instead of 30 days as stated in the sales invoice. Mr. Lee was very displeased. To rectify this issue, Mr. Lee circulated a memo, instructing all the Finance personnel to collect all the outstanding debts in 60 days. Any staff who is found unable to complete this instruction will either be given warning letters or will be terminated. A few Finance personnel walked into the office of Mr. Lee separately, trying to explain to him, but Mr. Lee sternly informed them to follow the instruction from the top management accordingly. Mr. Lee strongly emphasised to all the staff in the Finance department on the importance to complete this instructions from the immediate superior and discouraged excuses. Mr. Lee also reminded the staff in Finance department to discuss with the immediate superior first before taking any actions individually.

The new HR Director, Mr. Chen, took over the HR department from his predecessor, Mr. Soren. Since the day he took over the department, Mr. Chen worked around the clock. He managed to scrutinise all the HR policies in Jepsen Corporation, and also incorporated the new policies from QD Corporation. Mr. Chen did all these diligently and carefully in seven days. During the meetings, Mr.Chen assertively inform the staff of HR department to implement the new policies according to the time frame stated by the management. Mr. Soren was displeased by the decision of Mr. Chen, because Mr. Chen did not provide any avenue for the staff to input any feedback regarding the new policies. However, Mr. Soren did not show his dissatisfaction in his facial expression. Mr. Soren remain calm, and Mr. Chen did not realise the change of emotions of Mr. Soren.

The new Sales Manager, Mr. Lin, took over the Sales department from his predecessor, Ms. Astrid. Mr. Lin and Astrid made a connection instantly when Mr. Lin realised Astrid was his junior (which he never met) in Yale University. From then on, Mr. Lin and Astrid worked closely in aligning the sales matter with the requirement of QD Corporation. In the eyes of Mr. Lin, Astrid always looks attractive, vibrant, professional and hardworking. Mr. Lin plans to recommend Astrid to be posted on a one-year overseas assignment in Shanghai. After the overseas assignment, Mr. Lin plans to increase the salary of Astrid.

There were a lot of changes happening in Japsen Corporation as a result of QD acquisition. The working morale and motivation of the overall staff of Japsen Corporation was rather low. Almost 90% of the staff in Jepsen planned to resign once they obtain a job.

Question 1

Based on the five-dimension of Hofstede culture study, discuss with suitable examples or evidences on the cultural dimension clashes between Jepsen Corporation and QD corporation. Chapter 1 and 2 Organisation Culture

Question 2

Compare, contrast and analyse the different personalities of Mr. Chen and Mr. Soren. You may choose any personality theories that you have learnt.

Chapter 3 Individual Differences and Work Behaviour

Question 3

Discuss with detailed explanation and examples, the favourable behaviour of Mr. Lin toward Ms. Astrid. Comment whether Mr. Lin behave professionally by applying theories that you have learnt.
Chapter 4 Perception and Attribution

Question 4

Discuss and recommend suitable reward(s) to be given the staff of Jepson Corporation. Justify your answers. Chapter 5 Motivation