Can you answer these qoutions
Sergey Vladimirovich, formerly a Russian budget analyst, was in the United States only 6 months when he got a job with the department of budget plan- ning and analysis in a large American city. His work duties were similar to those he had been performing in Russia. Still, he was experiencing some "strange" situations. One of the strangest happened at a meeting his boss conducted the week before.
Sergey had earlier received an e-mail from the head of the department, Laura White, informing him about the meeting. There was an agenda attached. They were going to discuss the possibility of making changes in the current strategic plan. Instead of a 3-year plan, Laura wanted people to think about an alternative 5-year plan that would include some performance indi- cators and be monitored in order to control the efficiency and the effective- ness of the city's departments.
When the meeting started, Laura told the group that the council wanted the department to review the strategic plan. She favored the idea of extending the planning period and felt that the plans should include per- formance indicators for all departments. Her argument was that this department should have a clear picture of how and why money was spent by city agencies.
Although Sergey thought that the department should have more control over spending, he was not convinced that the department should be responsible for performance indicators for programs that other agencies were performing. And, he was not sure whether a 5-year plan, no matter how carefully prepared, would be accurate.
While he was thinking about Laura's proposal, another employee, Ben Hall, started arguing with Laura, pointing out the same concerns with which Sergey was preoccupied. And Ben was not only talking about his concerns openly; he was suggesting that the department should continue with 3-year
with the same indicators. He was even suggesting that they should be more flexible and only be reviewed annually.
Sergey thought Ben was right, but how could he oppose his boss so openly and in front of all these people? Employees are not supposed to dothat! And Laura surprised Sergey, too. Instead of being offended, she said that Ben made a very good point and that at the next meeting they would discuss both alternatives and see what to accept. Americans are so strange, Sergey thought!
Questions.
Why couldn't Sergey understand the behavior of his fellow workers? What, according to Sergey, was Hstrange" at this meeting?
Are our bosses always right? If not, what should we do?