Critical Incident One

IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR THE IRISH

Incident:

Henry Lee from Hong Kong was assigned by his company to live in the United States in order to examine the possibilities of joint business ventures. Henry had a specific place to go, an organization in Boston whose representatives had earleir visited Hong Kong and who had suggested the idea of a person like Henry visiting the Boston organization for an extended period. Henry was made to feel at home. This was his first time out of Southeast Asia, but he had done some reading about the United States. He was invited to a cocktail party at which many of the important figures in the Boston organization would be present. Henry remembered from his reading that important conversation, which later might lead to actual business decisions, were held at cocktail parties. Henry was anxious to make a good impression. Sure enough, at the party he was introduced to Sean O'Neil, a company vice-president. Recognizing the name as Irish and remembering from his reading that a good way to get others into a conversation is to discuss matters they know about, Henry brought up matters like the Irish immigration in the mid-1800s, which had Boston as a major target; Roman Catholicism; the distilling of Irish whiskey; and the current struggle in Northern Ireland. Henry also brought up a few facts about the plans of his organization in Hong Kong. Mr. O'Neil kept the conversation as short as possible and moved on to others at the party. Henry sensed that the conversation did not go well and that he had not made a good impression with the vice-president.

What mistake did Henry make?

(1) He should have met Mr. O'Neil's wife before talking to the vice-president.

(2) He should have met others lower in the organization hierarchy before meeting O'Neil.

(3) His English was not good enough to keep up the conversation.

(4) He used a stereotype in choosing topics for conversation.

(5) The previous material he read about business at parties had been wrong-one should not discuss business matters.


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