CASE STUDY

1. Conduct some research on Swedish culture. Briefly describe Swedish culture, and how it differs from American culture.

2. Based on the research you conducted, can the problem described in the case be attributed to cultural differences between the Swedish employees and the American manager? Why or why not? Please be specific.

3. What should Peter Jones do next to resolve the conflict between Mr. Miller and his team? Be specific. Describe both short-term and long term actions that you recommend to be taken, and explain why these recommendations will help.

4. You can use this website for your some research ( https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) as well as at least two other sources.

Paper format: Use Times New Roman, pt. 12 font, double-spaced. Your report should be 3 pages long. Be sure to answer all the questions thoroughly. 

Notes:

** Try to identify some of the following areas (as they might apply): Some areas to look at as you view culture.

a. How do people communicate with each other (e.g. they talk less than you would expect, they are more/less direct and/or loud than you think is appropriate, they express more/less emotions than you would expect, are they too candid, etc.)

b. How do people relate to those who are older than them or have higher status than them (e.g. they are too deferent in your opinion, or not deferent enough, etc.)

c. How do people relate to their family and community (e.g. are they much more likely to live their life according to their family’s wishes than you think is appropriate, do they care excessively about the opinion of family members/society, etc.)

d. Do male and female roles in the culture seem to be flexible or rigidly defined (e.g. how are women dressed, what is their role in the family and/or at work, are there strong expectations in that society about the roles of men and women)? 

e. Other (e.g. social class distinctions, quality of life, do people seem happy, etc.)?