Case: Tell The Kids We’Re Moving To Kenya

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This case in chapter four talks about a General Motors Corp’s employee, Mr. Dale Pilger, who has become the new managing director for the Kenyan branch. Mr. Pilger and is family living in Ohio, now have to move to Kenya for Mr. Pilger’s new position. All the family members are really worried about moving to Kenya. They had to attend a three day cross-cultural training. Although, the family have to go through cross cultural training to learn about Kenyan culture, so that they can minimize cultural shocks, the family is still afraid of going to a new country, where they don’t really know much about the culture, and where they will have to adjust to almost everything. 1- I think that Pilger’s son Eric has an ethnocentric attitude. He opposed to moving to Kenya because he thought there was no way he could live in Africa, and without all the good things he has here in the U.S. For instance he doesn’t want to leave his brand-new car here in the U.S to ride in buses in Kenya. He thought going to Kenya was a death sentence. 2-I would consider Kenya as a polychromic culture because Mr. Noah Midamba told Mr. Pilger not to be surprised if while trying to get his coworkers and employees together, the guests arrive an hour early, an hour late, or announce their departure four times. That statement means that Kenyans perceive time as flexible, elastic, and multi dimensional, which are the characteristics of polychromic time. 3-I think that Mr. Pilger should use the polycentric style because by doing so, he will be able to manage his employees very well, since he doesn’t know much about the Kenyan culture. He should avoid the ethnocentric style because that view assumes that the country’s personnel and ways of doing things are best. The ways of doing things of the home country might be best only to the eyes of the home country, not necessarily to the eyes of another

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