Blog Post #2: Resolving interpersonal conflict: When East meets West

I did an internship last year with a local shipyard, working on a few ship repair projects, each lasting a few weeks. Normally, each project would require a team of local shipyard staff to liaise with the ships’ owners over its duration. On one particular project involving a French navy ship, a team of French engineers was hired to represent the navy.

After the initial niceties, working relations between the local shipyard and French teams became increasingly strained due to differing work ethics and cultures. The local shipyard’s practice was to finish a task by the pre-arranged by hook or by crook, with strict adherence to timelines. The French on the other hand, preferred ensuring every single detail was perfect before progressing to the next task, which usually led to delays. The French also usually came to work at 9.30 instead of the pre-determined 8.30, and had 2-hour lunches instead of the shipyard staffs’ allocated 1 hour.
(Lazy French: Common misconception or merely cultural differences?)

Naturally, the difference in working styles was causing a lot of friction, and I haven’t even mentioned the language problems yet! None of the local shipyard staff spoke a word of French save ‘Bonjour’. The French, with their already limited grasp of English, if any, could barely understand the locals’ heavily accented English. All this made for an extremely combustible atmosphere during the morning meetings, which normally ended with both teams shouting at each other. Obviously, things were not going well.

From the local shipyard team’s perspective, considering the number of ships waiting to enter the docks for repairs, it was imperative that the job be finished on time. Any delays would lead to losses in profits. They felt frustrated by the French’s slow pace and tendency to nitpick. In contrast, the French team felt attention to detail was more important than sticking to the schedule. Both teams’ different attitudes towards time were definitely causing a lot of friction. The French too, could not understand why people were always shouting at them and rushing them to complete their tasks. The French were feeling confused due to the fast-paced working environment and put off by what they perceived as shoddy workmanship due to the pace at which the jobs were completed.

If you were mutually appointed by either team to manage this project, how would you have done it? Bear in mind the different priorities of the respective teams. Next throw in the language issue. Remember that hiring a translator is an expensive task, and many would have been required for each French engineer. Was this an unfortunate clash of working cultures that cannot be resolved and should be avoided in future? Or could steps have been taken to avoid this. I would like to hear your piece, please. Merci.