The Caribbean Team "Vibes" or "Not":Another Day in the Life of a Call Centre In a rare moment alone in her office, Jennifer Ames reflected on the past 10 years of hercareer at GerberGoodstart Corporation (GGC) She could easily chart her successes: She had taken on challenges and producedresults where her colleagues had failed; she had increased the diversity of the work force in every unit she had led; she hadsuccessfully launched new products and developed several new markets. In fact, just a few months before, Ames had been part ofa team that had led a highly successful launch of several GGC product lines into the Latin American market. That success and theensuing demand for its products drove GGC to centralize customer support in a call center in Kingston, Jamaica-and to createAmes's new position: senior director for global customer support. Ames had studied other call-center models and created a team offour as a prototype for customer support. She had a goal of scaling up as the business expanded. But as she sat in her office, lookingat the latest financials and mentally reviewing the events of a disturbing meeting earlier that morning, she saw the failure of herprototype looming large. The call response times were on an upward trajectory that would quickly plunge her budget into the red ifthe trend continued. Even worse, only one short month into her new position, Ames was worried that her team was stonewalling her.She was deeply troubled by the interaction she had just observed: there was friction among her staff members that was dividing themalong Jamaican-versus-non-Jamaican lines. The team consisted of three Jamaicans from the Kingston, Jamaica, headquarters andone Costa Rican from the Central American sales office. The three Jamaicans, already thinking about customer support, had spentthe past few months working with product developers to create the web-based training videos that provided step-by-step product useinformation, as well as testing competitor products. The employee from Costa Rica had also spent time with the product developmentteam and had been an outstanding sales representative. She had transferred from the Central American sales office to join theKingston call center. The problem was that the Jamaicans were angry about the work habits of the Costa Rican member whose calltimes were longer than theirs, so they accused her of effectively lowering their pay. During that morning's meeting, things haddeteriorated into a verbal onslaught that culminated in one of the Jamaican members calling the Costa Rican member a "chattyDoub Latina." After that, the conflict got personal and highly emotional. Was this the "cultural iceberg" she'd heard so much about? Andwhat exactly should she do to steer the team away from it?Products in the Baby SpaceWhen Ames had joined GGC 10 years earlier, it was a small U.S. company selling baby formula. Since then, it had expanded to sellvarious maternal and infant-care products. Aside from baby formula, GGC's most profitable product lines included phototherapydevices for the treatment of jaundice (often called light boxes) and a sophisticated line of neonatal heart and breathing monitors.GGC's institutional customers included hospitals and nongovernmental organizations that cared for at-risk populations. The companyalso sold smaller versions of the phototherapy devices and baby monitors to families at home and for midwives to use. Allmanufacturing and distribution took place in the United States. By 2011, GGC executives were ready to expand sales of phototherapyand monitoring devices into Latin American markets. The decision was based largely on the region's lack of competitors in thematernal and infant-care product segments and a low entry barrier. Ames had been part of the team that executed the launch. Theyhad decided to hire locals in each of their markets to create a Latin American sales unit and to focus on direct-marketing distributionchannels to institutional customers (hospitals and NGOs). The channel choice was important because many internationalorganizations, such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization, had international codes of responsible marketing that GGC haddecided were in line with its values. The codes, which primarily targeted food and milk-substitute products, were not law in the UnitedStates, but they offered guidelines that GGC considered good business practices; they would be used to guide executive decisions,avoid bad press (there were many international watchdogs in the baby product space), ensure the correct use of GGC products, andavoid international lawsuits. Following these codes meant adopting practices such as never marketing directly to mothers or families,training retailers and asking them to provide a point-of-purchase demonstration of the equipment, and having customer supportavailable after the point of purchase to provide training and consistent and objective advice, and further information includinginformation about the potential benefits of competing products. The product rollout to institutional customers in Latin America was a

Question

The Caribbean Team &#34;Vibes&#34; or &#34;Not&#34;:Another Day in the Life of a Call Centre In a rare moment alone in her office, Jennifer Ames reflected on the past 10 years of hercareer at GerberGoodstart Corporation (GGC) She could easily chart her successes: She had taken on challenges and producedresults where her colleagues had failed; she had increased the diversity of the work force in every unit she had led; she hadsuccessfully launched new products and developed several new markets. In fact, just a few months before, Ames had been part ofa team that had led a highly successful launch of several GGC product lines into the Latin American market. That success and theensuing demand for its products drove GGC to centralize customer support in a call center in Kingston, Jamaica-and to createAmes's new position: senior director for global customer support. Ames had studied other call-center models and created a team offour as a prototype for customer support. She had a goal of scaling up as the business expanded. But as she sat in her office, lookingat the latest financials and mentally reviewing the events of a disturbing meeting earlier that morning, she saw the failure of herprototype looming large. The call response times were on an upward trajectory that would quickly plunge her budget into the red ifthe trend continued. Even worse, only one short month into her new position, Ames was worried that her team was stonewalling her.She was deeply troubled by the interaction she had just observed: there was friction among her staff members that was dividing themalong Jamaican-versus-non-Jamaican lines. The team consisted of three Jamaicans from the Kingston, Jamaica, headquarters andone Costa Rican from the Central American sales office. The three Jamaicans, already thinking about customer support, had spentthe past few months working with product developers to create the web-based training videos that provided step-by-step product useinformation, as well as testing competitor products. The employee from Costa Rica had also spent time with the product developmentteam and had been an outstanding sales representative. She had transferred from the Central American sales office to join theKingston call center. The problem was that the Jamaicans were angry about the work habits of the Costa Rican member whose calltimes were longer than theirs, so they accused her of effectively lowering their pay. During that morning's meeting, things haddeteriorated into a verbal onslaught that culminated in one of the Jamaican members calling the Costa Rican member a &#34;chattyDoub Latina.&#34; After that, the conflict got personal and highly emotional. Was this the &#34;cultural iceberg&#34; she'd heard so much about? Andwhat exactly should she do to steer the team away from it?Products in the Baby SpaceWhen Ames had joined GGC 10 years earlier, it was a small U.S. company selling baby formula. Since then, it had expanded to sellvarious maternal and infant-care products. Aside from baby formula, GGC's most profitable product lines included phototherapydevices for the treatment of jaundice (often called light boxes) and a sophisticated line of neonatal heart and breathing monitors.GGC's institutional customers included hospitals and nongovernmental organizations that cared for at-risk populations. The companyalso sold smaller versions of the phototherapy devices and baby monitors to families at home and for midwives to use. Allmanufacturing and distribution took place in the United States. By 2011, GGC executives were ready to expand sales of phototherapyand monitoring devices into Latin American markets. The decision was based largely on the region's lack of competitors in thematernal and infant-care product segments and a low entry barrier. Ames had been part of the team that executed the launch. Theyhad decided to hire locals in each of their markets to create a Latin American sales unit and to focus on direct-marketing distributionchannels to institutional customers (hospitals and NGOs). The channel choice was important because many internationalorganizations, such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization, had international codes of responsible marketing that GGC haddecided were in line with its values. The codes, which primarily targeted food and milk-substitute products, were not law in the UnitedStates, but they offered guidelines that GGC considered good business practices; they would be used to guide executive decisions,avoid bad press (there were many international watchdogs in the baby product space), ensure the correct use of GGC products, andavoid international lawsuits. Following these codes meant adopting practices such as never marketing directly to mothers or families,training retailers and asking them to provide a point-of-purchase demonstration of the equipment, and having customer supportavailable after the point of purchase to provide training and consistent and objective advice, and further information includinginformation about the potential benefits of competing products. The product rollout to institutional customers in Latin America was a

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Case Summary-
Jennifer Ames, Senior Director for Global Customer Support at GerberGoodstart…