1
Case Study: An Australian Manager in an American Company, pp 142-144 of the
Deresky Text.
Case Study: An Australian Manager in an American Company
“Qantas Flight 23 to Sydney is now boarding. Please have your boarding passes and passports ready
for the attendant at the gate.”
Les Collins picked up his briefcase and started toward the jet way. He paused to look around the
waiting area and, as had been the case so often here in Houston, he saw nothing to indicate that he
was in a foreign country. Certainly the accents were different from in Sydney, but the language was
English and readily understandable. This superficial familiarity, he concluded, must help explain why
he had had difficulties adjusting to his role at the Global Oil Company office in Houston.
Global Oil Company, or GOC, was headquartered in Houston, Texas, with partners and subsidiaries in
countries around the world. Les had worked at GOC’s Sydney office for eight years before being
offered the chance to work at Houston headquarters for two years. His boss, Jim Branson, had
encouraged Les to apply for the job in Houston because he knew it would enhance Les’s chances for
promotion within GOC-Australia. Although Les’s family—his wife and two middle school-age children
—was not very enthusiastic about the move, he reluctantly applied for the job because he knew it
was critical to his success at GOC.
As he settled back in his seat on the flight to Sydney, Les thought back to the day he arrived in
Houston over a year ago. Les had left Sydney on a hot, humid day in January and arrived 30 hours
later to find Houston almost closed down due to a sleet and ice storm. That juxtaposition of seasons
probably should have alerted him that there would be many differences between Australia and the
United States. When he hailed a taxi outside the terminal at IAH, the driver looked at him in
amazement when Les opened the door to the front seat and sat down next to the driver.
During his first few weeks at the Houston office, everything seemed to go well. He met with his staff
to introduce himself and his goals for his two-year assignment. Everyone seemed friendly enough,
although he didn’t get much feedback at that meeting or in subsequent meetings on his request for
their ideas and input on how he could fit in and be effective. Thinking that maybe he needed to get
to know the staff in a more informal setting, he invited them to join him after work one day at a local
pub. Several staff members begged off, citing personal commitments, and the three senior managers
who did come were clearly uncomfortable and left after about 30 minutes of awkward conversation.
Over the next six months, Les stayed busy learning operations for his area at GOC headquarters. He
met often with his Houston boss, Tom Sanchez, to discuss the changes Tom wanted Les to help him
realize during his tenure there.
“I’m counting on you, Les, to help me bring the staff around on the changes we’ve discussed. Your
group hasn’t moved nearly as fast as I think they could and that’s partly due to the staff’s reluctance
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to change the ways they’ve always done things. I’m confident that a new leader, especially someone
from a completely different country, will convince them of the soundness of what I’m proposing.
“Keep me posted on your progress,” Tom concluded, as he walked Les to the reception area outside
his office.
One of the things Les noticed soon after arriving in Houston was how many more management levels
the U.S. operation had than comparable offices in Australia. The hierarchy seemed excessive to Les,
and he sought to break down some of the communication barriers he perceived by meeting with all
staff members in one large meeting.
At one of these meetings, Les brought up the proposed changes in procedures that he had discussed
with Sanchez. “I know that some of you may not be in favor of the changes we’re proposing and I’d
like to know your reasons for this. Let’s have an open discussion of the changes in general and see
where our major disagreement lies.”
After a few minutes of silence, one of the senior managers explained his reasons for resisting a
change in their reporting procedures for expenses. “I’m not sure that the new method will capture a
true picture of expenses and outlay if we change what we’re doing now. I’m not opposed to making
changes that improve our work—I just am not convinced that the new method will be better.”
“Okay, I’d like to hear from others on that specific change. Let’s table this discussion,” Les said.
The managers and staff at the table looked at each other in confusion at that point. No one said
anything for several minutes, and Les concluded that no one else had an objection or concern on this
particular point. The meeting continued for another hour as Les moved through the list of changes
he was charged with making and when no one offered much objection or proposed any alternatives,
he concluded that his predecessor and Sanchez had misinterpreted the staff’s resistance to the
changes.
A week later, in a meeting with Bill Crosby, one of the senior managers in his department, Les
decided to get his manager’s views on how to involve junior managers in decisions and how to
encourage their ideas on various topics.
“I notice that in most meetings only the senior managers seem to participate in discussions,” Les
began. “I’m eager to have more input on some ideas I have for a new marketing plan, and I’m
wondering how I can get junior managers and staff to contribute in our meetings.”
