Case 3: Keep Safe Ducky: Or When Sally met a not-so-nice Harry.

The aim of the case is, first, to reinforce the point that there is more to international HRM than the management of traditional expatriates on long-term assignments. The focus is on what we term a non-expatriate or international business traveller. The fact that the person concerned is a female adds an additional element. As so much of international business involves travel, the second aim is to get students to think about physical risk issues relating to staff who travel into various host country contexts on company business. They may confront situations that may cause them embarrassment and discomfort, and even be life threatening. This short case is designed for use in class as a way of breaking up a chalk and talk session, to facilitate class interaction, or for use in a tutorial. It is not designed for use as a Harvard-style case study. The case contains enough detail for students to be able to identify key aspects without over-whelming them with information that is not essential to the exploration of issues raised by the case story. Students who are operating in English as a second language will appreciate its brevity. It is ideal for small group discussion of about half-an-hour, with about the same time for a full class debriefing session. One option is to get a different group to report to the whole class their answer to one of the four questions, with another group to comment on whether their answer agrees or disagrees with the first groups reported answer. Alternatively, the instructor could go round the various groups and get a full class discussion on each answer. The case could be used in conjunction with Chapter 3 where non-expatriates are introduced and discussed in terms of the stresses and positive aspects of being an international business traveller. Alternatively, it could be used in relation to Chapter 10 in drawing out some performance management aspects.

Suggested ways of handling the case questions. 1. How would you have handled the situation in which Sally finds herself? Answers to this question will vary according to the level of maturity of the students, the group composition (proportion of males to females for example) and their experiences in travelling internationally. For example, younger male students may insist that Sally brought the situation on herself and is therefore to blame. This attitude may reflect genuine opinions on the subject or merely be an act to pose as a Devils Advocate to provoke female group members. Some students will argue that Sally should not have spoken to the other passenger in the airport lounge, as that by engaging in small talk, Sally had signalled that she would

welcome attention. Some may take up the cudgels on Sallys behalf, mentioning that Sally had been working long hours and was tired and not thinking as quickly as she perhaps should have been. Group should address the question of what Sally should do. One suggestion is that she should have gathered up her belongings and moved to another area of the business class lounge as a way of indicating her unwillingness to engage in any form of dialogue. This could lead to a lively discussion along the lines of: why she should be the person to move given she was already ensconced, what would stop the man from simply following her, and why do men think that a woman alone is automatically available? This may result in the group deciding that Sally should simply tell the man that he is annoying her and that if he does not move, she will. Fears of creating a public scene may be raised by some students, though the consensus may still be that Sally should make her feelings abundantly clear despite what other passengers may think. Another suggestion is that Sally seeks help from airport staff. She could ask them to assist her get rid of the unwelcome attention. This is in fact what the real Sally did. She went to the check-in counter at the front of the lounge and explained the awkward situation in which she found herself. It emerged that, unbeknown to Sally, Harry had asked for his flight booking to be altered so that he was seated next to Sally on her flight it was not a coincidence. It was decided that Sally should move into the First Class area of the Departure Lounge until her flight departure time. Harry was not embarrassed or disconcerted when the staff helped Sally to gather up her belongings. Rather, he tried to follow Sally and the airline staff into the First Class area. It was this act that prompted the airline staff to take the matter more seriously. Sally was personally escorted to the aircraft and cabin crew were instructed to ensure that she was not subjected to harassment from Harry. To everyones consternation, Harry still persisted in trying to sit next to Sally. During the flight he kept walking up and down the aisle. On landing, the cabin crew escorted Sally through the exit kept for diplomatic passengers and other VIPs. Sally had a further concern. In the Indian town she was now entering, there were only two hotels where Western business people stayed. Would Harry persist enough to find out where she was staying? He did, though hotel staff followed her instructions and declined to indicate her whereabouts. Some students may ask what was Harrys nationality. He was Indian, a fact deliberately omitted from the case as it was felt it could prejudice class discussion. However, it is up to the instructor to decide if it is relevant to impart this piece of information to the class. It could be introduced during the case debriefing session with the whole class, with a view to explore the impact of stereotypes on our perceptions of situations. For example, one could ask: would your answers have been different if you had known that Harry was an Indian? 2. Would such a situation have occurred if Sally had been a male? This question may be taken with, or come up during group discussion of, Question 1.

The idea is to get students to consider attitudes towards harassment, as well as the role of women in international business as a lead into the discussion on female expatriates in Chapter 4. Unwelcome attention and harassing behaviour is not necessarily restricted to one gender. Males can also be targets, from women or other males. Groups could explore what would a male have done if confronted with Sallys situation. 3. Should Sally report this incident to her line manager, Bill Burton? This question raises the issue of performance management as well as managerial responsibility to employees. In an ideal world, Sally would be able to report the incident to Bill Burton, her line manager. Their discussion would centre on appropriate coping mechanisms should a similar incident occur, without judgements being passed on Sallys handling of the situation or her ability to continue in the job. However, the reality is that, should Sally inform her line manager, it may merely confirm hitherto unexpressed concerns (revealed in the use of comments such as Keep safe, Ducky) about a females suitability for job that entails so much exposure to foreign travel. The incident could be a convenient reason to move Sally into a domestic based position. Given that Sally had worked hard to prove herself in her role, she would be reluctant to take any action that may jeopardise her position within the company. Students may consider whether Sally can rely on her involvement in such an incident being kept confidential. What if Bill Burton mentioned the incident to someone else? The real Sally did not report the matter. She discussed the incident with a close friend and has felt she learnt a valuable lesson. However, whenever the opportunity arises, Sally uses this experience to warn younger females of the need to be alert to situations that may result in misunderstandings or harassment. 14. Should the Australian subsidiarys HR department be made aware of this incident? Answers here should address the issue of the HR departments duties toward all international employees, not just traditional expatriates, as discussed in Chapter 3. In countries where companies are expected to adhere to occupational health and safety regulations, it would be perhaps important that the HR department be informed, though the question would remain as to whether a companys responsibilities extend to the safety of employees waiting in an airport departure lounge in another country. The situation would be outside the companys legal obligations in terms of sexual harassment in the workplace, as Harry is not an employee of Sallys company and the incident took place outside the companys domain. However, in an ideal world, Bill Burton, in his role as head of the Australian subsidiary as well as Sallys line manager, after Sally had discussed the incident with him, would have mentioned the matter to the person in

change of the HR department with instructions to add such a scenario to the companys cross-cultural awareness training programme. Sally was not given any form of training for the international side of her role in terms of coping with cross-cultural situations. As far as the companys HR department was concerned, Sallys line manager was responsible for her performance and job assignments. Moreover, fears of being seen as not coping and having the incident recorded in her performance appraisal file prevented Sally from reporting the matter to anyone in the HR department. ******** These answers were prepared by Denice Welch and Lisa Hewerdine, the case writers.