Lester Crane: Getting Approval After the Fact

Mark Schaub
Director, Freshman Writing Program
The American University in Cairo
mschaub@acs.auc.eun.eg

Contents

      Sample responses

     Analysis of sample responses

     Teaching objectives

     Additional assignment

Sample Responses

Sample A: Project Strategy Memo

MEMORANDUM

To: Dr. Marcus Zone, Instructor
From: Melanie Sauer
Date: March 20, 0000
RE: Project Strategy Memo for Lester Case

This memo addresses my decisions for solving the Lester Company crisis.

I chose to try to recruit Fritz Canmeyer to help with the negotiations because it seemed like I am a good friend of his. This does not necessarily mean that I am friends with his wife, but I addressed it as if I were. It seems like in this type of situation, especially in a country where women are generally not favored to work with in business, that I was going to need all the male help that I could get. Fritz also is well connected with the US Embassies in the Middle Eastern region and seems like he may be able to push for some kind of quick approval. Unfortunately, as Americans, we are very pushy people and want our contracts just like we want our Big Macs: quick and easy, and at some times, we will go to any length to obtain them.

For this reason, I also chose to fax a memo to Latif Abdel-Messih. He probably is not one of the best people to try to be doing negotiations with since he has in the past been very instrumental in negotiating contracts, unfortunately, at a bribery expense. However, it seems as if this matter is pretty critical and we don't have much time to work with it.

As for Jeff Fern, I was able to take care of calming him by having Sally Alvarez send him copies of previous approvals and asked Sally to tell him that I would be back in Cairo negotiating the approvals as quick as possible. I also wanted to reassure Sally that I appreciated everything she had done for me in the past and that she's doing now.

Sample B: Project Srategy Memo

To: Marcus Zone, Instructor
From: Donald Huebner
Date: March 20, 0000
RE: International case, project strategy memo

The purpose of this memo is to explain audience, gender, and content decision made in creating the documents used in this international case assignment.

Overview

The problem in the Lester Cranes international case was that for one reason or another Lester Cranes thought they had approval to ship their cranes to Saudi Arabia when in reality they did not. In the midst of the Saudi Arabians' holiest time of year it was my job to find a way to gain approval in order that the cranes could be delivered by June 30, the delivery date that was specified in the contract with Gulf Equipment.

Assumptions

In working out the Lester Cranes international case I made several assumptions that had to be true in order for my plan to work. These assumptions were:

• All the people that I do business with have easy access to email and fax machines.
• Due to the time restraints, all documents would be sent by fax or email.
• Nasser el-Rifai is anxious to get his cranes and will in fact be in need of them even during the time of Ramadan.
• Sally Alvarez responded to Howard Stibb with a memo similar to the one I wrote to Jeff Fern.
• I called Henry Frederick, my boss, and got permission to find possible storage areas for the finished cranes.
• Due to Mr. el-Rifai's large business, I assumed Mohammed el-Shafie knew who Nasser el-Rifai was.

Case Plan

The plan I made in solving the problem was to try to influence key people in Saudi Arabia so that the order #GulfE 13 would be approved before the start of Ramadan. The reason that I wanted to get this done before Ramadan is because nearly 100 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia is very involved in celebrating this holy time and during Ramadan they put all other activities on the shelf. Also, the letter from Mohammed el-Shafie indicated that during this time, family and serving Allah is top priority. Waiting until after the start of Ramadan would result in late delivery and possibly contract penalties to be paid by Lester Cranes. The people that I attempted to influence were selected for specific reasons. The following is a listing of the people in my sphere of influence and an explanation of why they were not used.

Case Documentation

In solving this problem I used several different documents to communicate to one party or another what it was that needed to be done. In this section I will introduce each documents and explain the purpose and the decisions made in writing it. The documents consisted of a memo to Jeff Fern, a memo to Sally Alvarez, a letter to Nasser el-Rifai, and a letter to Mohammed el-Shafie.

Memo to Jeff Fern - The purpose of the memo to Jeff Fern was to inform him of possible delivery dates so that he may plan production of the remaining 12 cranes accordingly. In the memo I informed him of the situation and of the plan that I was taking in order to solve the problem so that he would know that something was being done. I also let him know that even if we could not immediately solve the problem, I would rent a storage area for the finished cranes so that production would not be interrupted. In the conclusion I attempted to give him the feeling that we were all in this mess together so that he might be a little more patient in working with me while I tried to solve the problem.

Memo to Sally Alvarez - The purpose of the memo to Sally Alvarez was to get her to write a letter to Prince Mazen for me to sign, since Mazen does not like to do business with her because she's a woman. I tried to put a little influence on Sally by appealing to her as a friend and thanking her for her work. In the memo I explained to her the type of person that Prince Mazen was and gave her advice on ways in which to write to him. I also let Sally in on how I planned to get approval and tried to stress to her the importance of time restraints we were under.

Letter to Nasser el-Rifai - The purpose of the letter to Mr. el-Rifai was to convince him that we could both gain from early approval of the order. Mr. el-Rifai was a very important person for us to talk to because he was the only person who had personal interest in finding a solution to the approval problem. In the letter I started by talking about his family and the Ramadan time and towards the middle I moved into a more business-like dialogue. At the end of the letter I offered Mr. el-Rifai a discount, (bribe), if her were successful in advancing approval of the order. I tried to back the bribe up by saying that the money we would save in storage and production costs would more than compensate the cost of the bribe. In the conclusion I tried to let him know that my interests at this time were towards his family and his religion and I told him that either way I look forward to seeing him in the future.

Letter to Mohammed el-Shafie - The purpose of this letter was to try to get Mr. el-Shafie to reconsider his decision to wait until after Ramadan to pass the order. Often times in the middle east people will say no initially, but after some influence, will change their minds. I attempted to be friendly in the beginning of the letter and, of course, appeal to his family and religion. I tried to show that I respected the Ramadan celebration and attempted to compare religious family time with American religious activities to show him that I can relate to his religious explanation in the initial letter. I also tried to show a personal relationship with our client who is a well-know business owner in Jeddah and who also has some political clout. Finally, in the end of the letter, I assured him that we would be most cooperative and that approval would have minimum impact on his religious time. As in the letter to Mr. el-Rifai, I concluded by wishing him a holy religious time and let him know that I was looking forward to seeing him.

Conclusion

I think that by influencing the three people that I attempted to influence, the result will be an early approval of the order. I attempted to hit the government officials from several different sources in hopes that one or more of these sources would be successful in making possible the approval of the order. In doing this assignment the biggest lesson I learned was that when you consider a culture, you have to make careful consideration of their religion, and this means that you should have some understanding of what the religion means to them and what kind of religious activities are taking place throughout the year.

Sample C, part 1: Sauer's letter to Canmeyer

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

June 4, 0000

Fritz Canmeyer
American Commercial Attachò
Middle East Region
U.S. Embassy Offices, Suite 351
Cairo, Egypt

Dear Fritz:

I hope all is well in Cairo. It's been a while since I last spoke with you and Judy. I think it's finally time for a needed vacation, unfortunately that won't be happening any time soon. I'm sure you and Judy feel that same way, but you know how business can be.

Fritz, Lester has run into some recent problems that have come to my immediate attention. We have a shipment of five cranes that were supposed to be shipped on June 5th. The order was placed in February, but due to some other contracts that have taken top priority, we were not able to attend to the needs of the Saudi governmental contractual approval needed for this shipment. Sally tried to make arrangements with Mohammed el-Shafie, the supervisor of the Jeddah bureau of the Saudi Royal Ministry of Construction and Land Management to help speed the approval process. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get much help from him. With Ramadan coming soon, I think it will be very difficult to get much movement so we need to work fast before everyone leaves to spend times with their families. I've got the Production Manager worried about this shipment and there is a total of 20 cranes that have been ordered by Gulf Equipment. They're supposed to receive 5 cranes consecutively until August 1.

I need you help in trying to speed governmental approval. I really appreciate everything you've done for Lester in that past. I think we both agree that we need to help the U.S. government maintain good relations since business has been so successful in this region.

I'm leaving for Cairo tomorrow to meet with some officials for another business deal. I would like to get together with you as soon as possible when I arrive so we can hopefully get this matter taken care of. I'll be staying at the Hotel Nikko in Cairo. If you need to talk to me before I leave, I'll be in my office late this evening, or you can try my cellular phone number: 011-30-000-427-5479. I look forward to seeing you. Tell Judy I will try to extend my stay if everything works out. We haven't had a chance to spend some time together in my previous visits.

Sincerely,

Melanie Sauer

Sample C, part 2: Sauer's memo to Alvarez

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

MEMORANDUM

To: Sally Alvarez
From: Melanie Sauer
Date: June 4, 0000
Re: Gulf Equipment Shipment approval

I just returned from Cairo this evening and noticed the crisis on our hands now. I'll be taking the next flight back to Cairo early tomorrow morning. Sally, first of all, I would like to thank you for following up on the Gulf Equipment shipment approval so quickly. You've been doing an excellent job lately and I'm glad you know these accounts as well as I do, or I couldn't do this without you. I can't believe we neglected to obtain Saudi governmental approval on this shipment. However, that part of the issue is besides the point. I'm glad you were able to fax a letter to Mohammed el-Shafie and get a quick response. I forgot that Ramadan was approaching quickly. With all the negotiations I've been working on for the Egyptian approval coming to an end, I haven't had a chance to notice anything else.

I just faxed a letter to Fritz Canmeyer here in Cairo and I'm going to have him and Life Abdel-Messih help me in obtaining a quick approval for this Gulf approval. I need you to fax me all type and machine approvals for the Sprint 60s that have come into the country before. This will help in expediting the approval immensely when they see the paperwork and know that we have been able to ship this equipment before. The fax number at the Hotel Nikko is 011-00-000-34-9875. If you need to get hold of me, your best bet is to try my cellular phone number.

Also, if you could make copies of those approvals and send them to Jeff in Production and make him aware of the fact that I'll be in Cairo working on obtaining those approvals, I'm sure it will calm his nerves a little. Hopefully that will hold him off. I'm hoping that Fritz, Latif, and I can meet as soon as I get in. I'm hoping that I can get a positive answer back to Jeff within the next day or so.

Once again, thanks for all your help. This organization runs on the team-oriented philosophy and without team players like you, Lester would not be the successful international organization that it is today. I'll be in touch and keep you updated!

Sample C, part 3: Sauer's memo to Abdel-Messih

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

To: Latif Abdel-Messih
From: Melanie Sauer
Date: June 4, 0000
Re: Gulf Equipment Shipment approval

I just returned from Chicago only to find out that we have a crisis on our hands with the Gulf Equipment account. It seems as if we neglected to obtain Saudi governmental approval when the order was placed in February. Now we have a shipment that is supposed to go out tomorrow, and Jeff Fern, our Production Manager, has brought it to our attention that we don't have that approval to ship. It looks as if I'll be leaving on the next flight back to Cairo to negotiate this approval.

I faxed a letter to Fritz Canmeyer, the American Commercial Attachò in Cairo and requested that he aid us in expediting the approval negotiations. I am aware of the fact that Ramadan is quickly approaching, however, I would like to stress the importance of obtaining this approval. Gulf Equipment has ordered 20 cranes and we are supposed to ship them 5 at a time over the period from June 5th to August 1st.

I'm requesting that you be present at these negotiations because of your excellent results in the past. I'm faxing all the previous approvals that we have obtained in the past which will hopefully also help expedited this matter.

I haven't found out yet what time I am arriving, so I will either call you >from the plane or reach you when I get in. I was hoping that Fritz, yourself, and I could get together as soon as I get in an collaborate on our plan. Please take some time to look over these old approvals and hopefully we can just reuse one of them with a few minor changes. I look forward to seeing you again when I arrive in Cairo.

Sample D, part 1: Huebner's memo to Fern

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

To: Jeff Fern, Production Manager
From: Donald Huebner
Date: June 3, 0000
Re: Government Codes approval for order #GulfE13

Overview

Today we received a response to our request for code approval on order #GulfE13 from Mohammed el-Shafie, the Supervising Manager of the Royal Ministry of Construction and Land Management. In the response, Mr. el-Shafie informed us that they are too busy finishing work in preparation for Ramadan to begin code negotiations at this time. He also said that because of the importance of their religious season, he does not want to meet with us for negotiations until July 20, 0000, or later.

Plan

I know that the delay in the code approval also causes a delay in the production of the Sprint 60s and that you need to get the mini-booms off the production floor. I am going to write letters to several influential people in the Saudi economic area in an attempt to have the codes passed as soon as possible. If all goes well, I hope to have the codes approved by the end of this week. I addition Henry Fredercik will receive a memo from me asking permission to rent storage areas for the completed mini-booms if that should become necessary.

Conclusion

We are all running into difficulties caused by the code approval problem. Please bear with us while we resolve this problem. In the meantime, I will keep you updated with any developments that are pertinent to the production of the Sprint 60s. If I have overlooked anything or if you have any questions, please send me an email memo at salvarez@slick.lester.com.

Sample D part 2: Huebner's memo to Alvarez

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

To: Sally Alvarez
From: Donald Huebner
Date: June 3, 0000
Re: Government codes approval for order #GulfE13

Hello Sally, it's good to be back in the U.S., although things don't seem to be going as well here as they did in Cairo. Thank you for working on the #GulfE13 code approvals while I was away. I read a copy of the letter you wrote to Mr. El-Shafie and I also read his response. I think that if we are going to get approval quickly, we need to go through more channels than just Mr. el-Shafie. That is where I need your help.

Overview

There is a prince in Saudi named Hisham Mazen who has been able to win quick approval for Lester Cranes in the past. I am not sure who he deals with, but I do know that when it comes to the Saudi government he seems to have a great deal of power. Unfortunately another of Mr. Mazen's dominating characteristics is that he does not like to deal with women who are involved in business. Because of this, I want you to write a letter to Mr. Mazen for me to sign, in an attempt to negotiate a solution to our code approval problem.

Plan

Write a letter to Mr. Mazen and try to establish a working relationship with him. Let him know who we are and what we could do for him. Try to find out if he is in need of anything that we could use to barter with in exchange for him governmental influence. Do not bring up our code problem initially. After you have established this relationship, send him another letter asking for his influence and make him an offer of exchange for his help. Show utmost respect for the upcoming religious season and open your letters with discussions about his family and mine.

Conclusions

Ramadan starts in 3 or 4 days, so you will have to do all your communicating by fax or email. If you have any questions please see my in my office or send me an email. Thank you for your hard work Sally!

Sample D, part 3: Huebner's letter to el-Rifai

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

Mr. Nasser el-Rifai
Gulf Equipment
3625 Kalib el-Camel Malahab
00000 Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
June 3, 0000

Dear. Mr. el-Rifai:

I hope you and your family are enjoying your preparations for the Ramadan holy time and I hope that all is well with your family. I trust you and your family have a lot to get done before this religious time begins, as do all the people of Saudi Arabia.

I understand that you will be spending as much time as you can with your family while you are serving Allah. In our country, we also enjoy spending as much time as we can with our families during religious celebrations. By doing this, we all grow closer as a family and we also grow closer to our religion.

You will be pleased to know that, before the start of Ramadan, 8 or the 20 cranes you ordered are completed and waiting to be delivered to you by June 30, 0000, the date specified in the contract. Unfortunately, we have not been able to deliver these cranes to you because your government has not approved the cranes for their codes. They would also prefer to wait until after Ramadan to have the order approved, but have said they would be happy to approve it then.

Your government might be influenced to finish approval before the Ramadan holy time if you were to talk to them about such a possibility. If you would be kind enough to do this I would be more than happy to compensate you with a four thousand dollar discount on each of the cranes that we sell to you. You would benefit from this discount and you would also get your cranes earlier than planned. I would benefit from a steady flow of production and reduced storage costs. Please consider what I have offered you and feel free to notify my if you have any questions or comments.

If I do not hear from you by Ramadan I would like to wish you and your family a most holy celebration. I look forward to meeting with you in the future.

Thank you.

Donald Huebner,
Manager, International Sales for the Middle East

Sample D, part 4: Huebner's letter to el-Shafie

Lester Crane Company
8899 West North Avenue
Chicago, IL 00000

Mr. Mohammed el-Shafie, Supervising Manager
Royal Saudi Ministry of Construction and Land Management
Jeddah Bureau
200 Sharia Malik Faisal, Suite 1
00000 Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
June 3, 0000

Dear. Mr. el-Shafie:

Thank you for your letter to my colleague, Sally Alvarez, in regards to the #GulfE13 order that is in need of approval. I hope that your preparations for the Ramadan season are going well and that you and your family will be able to spend a lot of time together during this holy season. I, too, enjoy taking time to spend with my family during our religious celebrations.

I can imagine that everyone in your department is also busy getting things done for the Ramadan holy time. We do business for another man in your country who is also trying to get some business finished before the start of the holy season. I believe that you know Nasser el-Rifai. We have made a contract with Mr. el-Rifai to provide his company with 20 of the cranes for which we seek code approval. Mr. el-Rifai and I would like very much to have the code approval for the Sprint 60 mini-boom cranes completed before Ramadan, and we would both be flexible in making arrangements for such approval.

The Sprint 60s were approved for temporary use in December of 1994 and were shipped to your country until April of 1995. During this time, the cranes were field tested by your country in the construction of prefabricated concrete runways and proved themselves reliable in a time when your country could not be let down. The performance of the Sprint 60 in this time of need is a testimony to the quality engineering put into each crane we produce.

Please reconsider your decision to wait until after Ramadan to approve the #GulfE13 order. I would like to assure you once again that Mr. el-Rifai and I would be most cooperative in providing for you and your government, in a most timely manner, anything that you would need in order to approve the code for the cranes Mr. el-Rifai has ordered. I look forward to seeing you very soon and I wish you a most holy season of worship.

Sincerely,

Donald Huebner,
Manager of International Sales, Middle East Region

Analysis of Sample Responses

The Sample A project strategy memo does an adequate job of showing what the writer hopes to accomplish by writing to those readers she chooses, but her memo does not justify how her three documents will potentially work to solve the crisis. Both of these tasks are done far better, and in much more detail in Sample B. In that project strategy memo, the respondent provides an excellent rationale for his decisions relating to choice of audiences as well as rhetorical strategies for persuading these audiences effectively.

Teaching Objectives

• Identifying aspects of a business communication problem
• Determining audiences for documents that work towards solving problems
• Writing to a variety of different audiences
• Prioritizing writing tasks
• Making communication choices relating to gender and cultural issues

Nature of the Communication Problem

Though how it happened, when it happened, or who is to blame for it happening is not clear, there is a very serious problem at Lester Crane Company, concerning the order by Gulf Equipment. There was a breakdown in communication, where several departments and individuals assumed all was well--that proper code approval had been secured--when in fact it hadn't. The problem becomes apparent to the International Sales office when Sally Alvarez receives Howard Stibb's email query.

There is no clear solution to the crisis; any number of communicative strategies, involving a variety of audiences, might lead to successful business communication. The variety of characters which respondents might involve or address allows for freedom in establishing what Bochner (1984) would call "interpersonal bonding" across different cultural groups. Several of the cast of characters might be addressed, with whom respondents might fulfill Bochner's five functions for this cross-cultural communication: "(1) to foster favorable impressions; (2) to organize the relationship; (3) to construct and validate a conjoint world view; (4) to express feelings and thought; and (5) to protect vulnerabilities" (p. 583). In this Lester case, respondents can choose Arab audiences, for example, with whom they may discourse and build common ground in these areas.

The broad cast of characters or "players" provides a possible framework for international writers; their decisions for writing are made on a set of experiences (direct or indirect) with these individuals, albeit experiences that are condensed in the case description.

The directive (in assignments 2 and 3) that respondents must address at least one audience that is Arab, allows instructors to introduce the general cultural differences between what Mary Munter (1993) calls "low-context cultures" like the U.S., and "high-context cultures" like Chinese or Arab cultures.

The fact that Sally Alvarez, and quite possibly also the respondent in the role of the International Sales manager, is female, forces writers to acknowledge issues of gender in a business writing situation. The situation in the Lester Crane Co. case is complicated by the fact that the communication is with individuals in a culture, where, in general, women in professional or managerial positions are significantly more rare than they are in North American business culture. The case itself, as well as articles like Jolie Solomon's (1989) Wall Street Journal piece, can be useful in prompting classroom discussion on gender in business, and help respondents to investigate ways in which a writer may deal with it. For example, should Alvarez be asked to "duck out" of the situation in order to accommodate a certain readership, or should she carry on as a professional who is better able to do the job than anyone else in the Lester Middle East office?

Beginning discussion of case

Assignment 1, “mapping” the case, can be done as a class, and is a good way to get respondents to analyze the variety of relationships involved. One way to diagram the various characters is to place them on a chart, and then discuss the nature of the relationships between these characters and how these relationships come into play in potential solutions to the Lester Crane crisis.

Also helpful in discussion of the case, is an investigation of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing documents (figures 1-4). For example, a look at Alvarez’s letter to el-Shafie (figure 2) reveals her efforts at writing to an audience in a high-context culture. She uses an indirect method of organizing the letter, with the “point” of the letter reserved for the end, and early in the letter establishes the common ground of her relationship with the letter’s recipient. What the letter fails to do, though, is provide details about the urgency of the situation, why speed is of the essence, and what she means by “soon.”

Potential Difficulties

The most dangerous strategy (and for some respondents the most tempting) is to assume that one memo, to the "right" person, will take care of the problem. They need to be aware that in a complex crisis, several avenues to solutions need to be undertaken simultaneously.

Some respondents will probably have difficulty in imagining Arab readers. The best way to alleviate the hesitation by those respondents is to stress the importance of locating the most significant values of the audience and then drafting document(s) what work on building the common ground that Bochner lists. For example, American writers would want to mention the close allegiance--economic as well as military--between their own country and Saudi Arabia. This common ground can be as simple as the fact that both capitalist nations value development (and construction of things like airports) and as complex as the fact that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have shared common enemies, like Iraq's S. Hussein. This strategy is not without its own pitfalls, of course; certainly not all Americans were unified in their support for the war against Iraq and it would be likewise foolish to assume all Saudis were universally similar.

Pronunciations of names of Arab characters in case

Latif Abdel-Messih (lateef ahbdil mess-say)

Mohammed el-Shafie (moe-hah-med el-sheffie)

Nasser el-Rifai (nah-sser el-riff-fye)

Additional Assignment: "Project Strategy Memo"

Assignment: In a "project strategy" memo to your teacher, review each of the documents you will draft, and summarize the needs of the audiences for each. Consider, for example:

• what information will the reader(s) require? what other goals do you hope to accomplish with this document (e.g., gain reader's trust or goodwill, soothe their irritation or fears, ask for assistance)
• how long must the document be?, i.e. can you effectively accomplish your communication goals in a page-long letter? a short email message?
• how friendly or how professional must the tone of the document be for this audience?
• what kind of cultural expectations are you considering as you write for certain audiences? how will these expectations specifically affect your document(s)?
• how might gender come into play in the planning and drafting of your documents.?

[Note: The audience for at least one of your documents must be an Arab or Arabs. You can assume that your audience is fluent in the primary language for international business in Saudi Arabia: English]

References

Bochner, A. (1984). The functions of human communication in interpersonal bonding. In C. Arnold & J. Bower (Eds.), Handbook of rhetorical and communication theory. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lamb, David. (1987). The Arabs: Journeys beyond the mirage. New York: Vintage.

Lippman, Thomas. (1990). Understanding Islam: an introduction to the Muslim world. New York: Mentor.

Munter, M. (1993). Cross-cultural communication for managers. Business horizons, 36, 69-78.

Solomon, J. (1989, 2 June). Women, minorities and foreign postings. The Wall Street Journal. p. B-1.