MULTICULTURAL

DIVERSITY IN
THE WORKPLACE
FOR TOURISM
ROMANO, GREGORY LOI P.
BSHM-3D
CASE STUDY
• Mr. Conrad Rafferty, an American, was assigned by a multinational company to act as a general manager of their branch office
in the Philippines. Being used to the Americans way of managing, he emphasized that "TIME IS GOLD" and, therefore, everyone
must be able to do their task efficiently and must be punctual in reporting their office, which is open from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm,
and in attending company meetings/activities. Some Filipino cultural orientations are ningas cogon, mañana habit, and the so-
called Filipino time. In ningas cogon, leaders, or workers show a lot of enthusiasm at the start of a project, however this intent t
dies down after some time and the project is neglected. The mañana habit pertains to procrastination or putting off for tomorrow
what can be done today. Meanwhile, Filipino time refers to the habit of accepting 15 to 30 minutes of tardiness, as a common
practice in appointments, meetings or reporting for work. All these go against Mr. Rafferty's "time is gold" policy. Conflict due to
cultural differences resulted. There was a fast turnover of Filipino managers and workers because of Mr. Rafferty's inability to 'us
to the abovementioned cultural orientations; the Filipinos too, could not understand why Mr. Rafferty was almost always angry.
They interpreted his behavior as a form of racial discrimination and this general feelings against their American boss negatively
affected their work performance, productivity and ultimately, their company's income generation. To remedy the situations, Mr.
Rafferty was transferred to another country, after three years of trying to manage their Philippine branch. The situations, Mr.
Rafferty was transferred to another country, after three years of trying to manage their Philippine branch
QUESTIONS:

• Define “culture shock”. Did Mr. Rafferty experience this?

Explain your answer
• Will you apply the same solution to the abovementioned
problem? Explain.
TAKEAWAYS?