Agents - ex1

Example - Unwitting Agent

Some years ago a Japanese woman designer failed to pay a bill to an American architectural firm that had performed substantial work at her request. After months of hassle the president of the American firm resolved to take action by sending her a "pain" letter (See Pain). In its completed form the letter contained this crucial passage:

"After all the years of building your reputation in Japan as a trustworthy designer--especially difficult for a woman--why would you want to place your reputation at risk (See Discovery Questions) by not honoring your commitments?"

The letter was supposed to have been sent out.

Weeks passed and no response came from the designer. In a strategy meeting to identify options on how to proceed the president circulated a copy of the actual letter that had been dispatched. It contained the following passage:

"After all the years of building your reputation in Japan as a trustworthy designer--why would you want to place your reputation at risk (See Discovery Questions) by not honoring your commitments?"

"What happened to the reference to a woman?" I asked.

"Oh, Sachiko didn't think it was a good idea to include that reference," responded the president.

"Who is Sachiko?"

"She is our "cultural coordinator," responded the president.

In fact, Sachiko is a 25-year-old recent graduate of the Southern California college who specializes in "Japanese communication studies."

"Sachiko says it would be very rude in Japan to write such a letter. The designer would have been most offended by the reference to her work as a woman. That's not the way things are done in Japan," the president explained.

Sachiko was perfectly loyal to the American architects and was sincerely trying to do her best. But she knew nothing about negotiation and unwittingly had become an agent for the designer. So sophisticated is the Japanese system of negotiation that the designer did not have to engage, nor was she even aware that Sachiko was operating on her behalf. Sachiko's response was culturally embedded.

As a result of the unwitting agent, the American architects lost weeks of precious time. Had the agent not been uncovered they might have lost the negotiation altogether.