Case Studies
 | Case Study: How can such a slob become the boss
Part I: Mr. Böge from Germany works as a technical consultant for his Chinese customer Mr. Li. In the beginning it looks like both Mr. Li and Mr. Böge get along very well with each other. Mr. Li is very interested in the German technology and the country's culture. From time to time they even go out and have a beer together after work.
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| Mr. Böge is known for his orderniless and a structured working approach. For him self-management goes withou saying and he carefully follows all his previously planned working steps. He is absolutely organised. | |
| Mr. Li, however, is the exact opposite. He lives for the moment, takes an interest in various subjects and ideas and likes to try different things. Though Mr. Li is aiming at something big, his goals are hardly noticeable for his employees. His work methods are chaotic. He permanently changes his instructions and his team hast to adapt to the new situation every time. Mr. Li's motto is: "We have to stay flexible in order to be able to adapt to a new situation easily. Since everything changes due to new conditions, there is no static moment. That's why nothing can be really planned." | |
| Mr. Böge finds it difficult to work together with his Chinese boss. At first Mr. Li is enthusiastic about Mr. Böge's suggestions, but he very quickly changes his mind and wants to do everything in a different way. From time to time Mr. Böge has the feeling, that proposals are rejected only because they were made by him. Due to the bad organisation of Mr. Li, Mr. Böge has to deal with more and more work, yet most of it turns out to be dispensable in the end. This is the reason why Mr. Böge has been unmotivated for several weeks. He regularly has to do overtime until late as he must change the blueprints again and again. | |
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| a) Have a private conversation with Mr. Li and ask him to commit himself to a plan as otherwise a co-operation wouldn't be reasonable any longer b) Ask Mr. Li for an assistant as you are not able to manage the workload | |
