Case: John Higgins

Case: John Higgins

1. How would you describe Higgins’s and Prescott’s attitudes toward implementing U.S. personnel policies in the Japanese operations?

Higgins and Prescott both have different opinions toward implementing U.S. personnel policies in the Japanese operations. I would describe Higgins’s attitude more against the U.S. personnel policies and more toward the Japanese ways of doing things, considering he would rather spend his time in Japan. I would describe Prescott’s attitude more for the U.S. way of implementing the personnel policies in the Japanese operations, since he really did not like the way Higgins handled situations.

2. What are the major reasons for the differences in attitude?

Well Higgins would rather be in Japan then he would in the U.S. He wanted the opportunity to improve the “ugly American” image the he believe held abroad. Higgins had taken to the Japanese culture. He married a Japanese woman, moved to a strictly Japanese neighborhood, and was active in different activities throughout his neighborhood. Higgins was known to register complaints and demands for many of the employees. He also transferred an employee that was actually fired, and said that he had done what was expected of a superior in any Japanese company by assuring a subordinate’s continued employment. Now Prescott on the other hand, was trying to stick by the U.S. policies. He believed that Higgins was taken to the Japanese culture to such a degree that he had lost the U.S point of view. Prescott believed that there were dynamic changes occurring in traditional Japanese customs and culture, and he was confident that many Japanese were not tied to existing cultural patterns as rigidly as Higgins seemed to think they were. Prescott felt that the company’s real contribution to Japanese society was in introducing innovations.

3. If you were the Weaver corporate manager responsible for the Japanese operations and the conflict between Higgins and Prescott came to your attention, what would you do? Be sure to identify some alternative first and