Read the following scenarios and select the most appropriate option.

Explain why you picked this answer and HOW you decided on this answer (decision-making process)

 

George Tailor works as a supervisor for an engineering company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the UK he had a reputation for speaking his mind and by doing so getting the best out of his staff. At the current project in Riyadh, he supervises 12 British staff and nearly 50 Saudi staff. After a few months, George has become increasingly frustrated by what he sees as a less than effective Saudi team. Their lack of competence and slow work pace is worrying George. What should he do to try and bring the Saudi staff back into line?

a)Publicly reprimand a few of the Saudi staff to ensure the message gets across to them all. By doing so he will also establish who is boss

.b) Pick one member of the Saudi staff to explain his worries to. This staff member will then be used to relay George's opinions to the rest.

c) Speak to as many members of staff individually or in small groups, explaining his viewpoint and encouraging them to better their work practice and enthusiasm.

d) Report them to his manager, a Saudi national, and let him deal with them.

(d) Report them to his manager, a Saudi national, and let him deal with them.

It is one of the responsibilities of a supervisor to monitor and evaluate the performance of staff and workers. Prior to that responsibility, he must perform his role by directing reporting his observations and feedback to senior management . George should not keep on insisting to fulfill his duty by assuming managerial role specially for staff which are not having the same nationality like him.           

Please take note that he is working in a diverse culture organization and his manager is a Saudi National.  Explaining his viewpoint directly to individual staff which are having different culture might find it biased against their nationality. This can be a starting point of having organizational conflict between staff and the management, and it is not a good idea that his manager will receive negative feedback as reported by others, not from George himself that his Saudi National staff are not performing well as he expected them to be.

George may provide formal written report with supporting documents or outcome, to inform his manager about his observation to all personnel. The words to be used must be in  gentle manner, so as not to hurt the ego of his senior manager, considering that your common observation included his fellow citizens. The report must have explanation in details that your feedback is for common goal of the company.  

For fair treatment among all staff, George may suggest to his manager,  to provide his staff a team building workshop which will lecture all employees the importance of competence and enthusiasm in their works.

The manager has the major responsibility to decide what is the best possible action to this matter. He can give direct order to his supervisor for personnel training, offer his staff an incentive to increase productivity or whatever positive decision he can implement for better outcome. 

Step-by-step explanation

I finally arrived at my answer which is letter d. I have made a detail explanation why I made the correct answer.  I explained it based on the actual duties and responsibilities of the supervisor and the manager. The answers should not be biased against or in favor of any nationality. There should be a fair treatment among staff, which is likewise the best option to consider among choices given the case. 

Based on real world scenario, the manager has the major responsibility to decide what is the best possible action to this matter. He can give direct order to his supervisor for personnel training, offer his staff an incentive to increase productivity or whatever positive decision he can implement for better outcome. There should be a chain of command in every organization and this hierarchy should be observed and followed all the time.