Case Study
Charlotte is being groomed for a future position at an executive level within a multinational organization in the petrochemical industry. She has performed a variety of roles within the company, all of which were located in her home country, and in non-technical areas. The organization’s policy is for each individual on its fast track to occupy at least one position overseas, running a subsidiary or overseas office.
Charlotte was offered a position in Algeria, a predominantly Arabic-speaking and Muslim North African country. It was a relatively new location for the organization. It had opened an office there because oil had recently been discovered offshore and there was a great opportunity to drill for oil and share in the proceeds with the government. Charlotte had not been briefed in any way about the country, its security concerns or politics, only about the exciting oil partnership deal. She had decided that as it was located close to Europe, she could fly back to her home country fairly easily if required. With a husband willing to take a leave of absence from his job, and her young children excited for the "new adventure," she was all set.
A few weeks before starting her new assignment, Charlotte travelled to the country in question. Her first meeting was with the US ambassador, (as there was no UK embassy in the country), who warned her that her forthcoming appointment was already widely known about, and not just in a positive way. She was already apparently on the radar of Al-Qaeda, which was known to be operating within the country. What’s more, her place of residence was right next to the TV station, which had been taken over recently during a coup d'état. To make matters worse, on meeting with the newly appointed oil minister, he announced that the formula for the royalties split was being amended, so that her organization would receive less than what had been agreed upon initially, so it seemed she would face a tough challenge in dealing with the government. Charlotte met with a couple of locally recruited staff to get acquainted with them in advance of her assignment. The employees turned out to be contractors, and all appeared to be relatives of government ministers, their appointments ratified by the government. None spoke English and no one had any expertise in the oil industry.
Finally, the employee discovered that there were no schools which provided schooling in English or even French. Arabic was the national language. With small children, she had assumed there would be plenty of English-speaking nannies and teachers. As for her husband, who had planned to take leave of absence from his job, it transpired that the government was not granting entry visas for anyone other than direct employees working for organizations that had contracted with the government.
Question
In the absence of pre-departure training, discuss some aspects of Algerian culture, society, language, etiquette, manners, protocol, etc. would Charlotte likely experience that could lead to culture shock and psychological disorientation should she accept this international assignment? [15 marks]
