Dealing with Performance Review Issues as an Expatriate in Venezuela

The Problems to Be Resolved

Richard Hoffman, a Quebec chemical engineer working for a Canadian-based energy firm, was given a three-year expatriate assignment in Venezuela as a technical liaison and environmental protection manager. His local project supervisor was John, a French engineer who had lived in French Guiana and then Venezuela for over 20 years. At the same time, Richard had asked that his former manager in Toronto act as his mentor as required. This had been agreed willingly.
Richard thought that as a French speaker from Quebec, he and John would be able to build a quick working relationship. Richard sent John an early email (in French rather than the usual corporate standard language of English) containing what he thought were the five most important goals associated with his assignment – similar to the management by objectives section of the standard performance review forms he had used for years during earlier assignments in Edmonton, Toronto and at corporate head office in Montreal.
After several months with no response from John, Richard found John in the hallway between meetings and asked him about the email and his progress to date. ‘Don’t worry about that’, John responded blandly, ‘Just keep working to the deadlines and I will check with your co-workers and other project managers on your work. Where did you go to engineering school by the way?’    
Richard waited another six months and was becoming increasingly anxious as the firm’s annual review week approached. He finally caught up with John on a rainy Friday in the lobby of the office building as they both waited for their drivers to arrive. When asked about the upcoming performance review, John snorted and said, ‘it’s all been taken care of’. Make an appointment with my assistant Louisa next week and we can go over the report we have already sent to Head Office’.
As John stepped out into the carpark, Richard thought back to the last few weeks with his team, the sometimes loud disagreements with his fellow project managers and wondered if it was too late in the day to speak to his mentor in Toronto or to complain to the HR Director in Montreal.  Richard feels a sense of injustice and a lack of fairness. He also feels that John’s actions are quite unethical.

TASK
You are Richard’s mentor.
1.    What do you think the problems are here that need to be resolved?
2.    What would your advice be to Richard about how to resolve this issue?