Friday, December 3, 2010

A test of influence?

In the past few weeks, I have become increasingly frustrated at trying to close out some items before we head out to Switzerland. One particular item is the visa. The situation is as follows:

1. Holding a Singapore passport allows me to go to Switzerland without a visa
2. After consulting with members at the Swiss Consulate in Chicago, my wife applied for a family reunification visa at the end of July
3. The process is supposed to take 8-12 weeks
4. At the 12th week mark, we started to inquire about the status
5. It turns out her visa is "In Process"
6. The Swiss consulate cannot contact Switzerland to inquire about this visa
7. We are recommended not to contact Switzerland
8. My wife cannot fly while her visa is "In Process"
9. It is recommended that the school inquires to get more information

It is at number 9 where my frustrations come in. How do I get more information? I cannot just wait, without knowing an end or what to do next! The first email out was at the end of October, but it is now December and the only information I've received is still "In Process". By putting myself in the shoes of the support staff, I try to understand the difficulty in getting an answer.

1. Perhaps the support staff is extremely busy
2. Perhaps the consulate in the canton is extremely difficult to deal with
3. Perhaps no one really knows what's going on with the visa except for this one person that went on vacation

These may all be possible, but the last one I've considered is this:

Perhaps, this is all a big case study on how to influence someone to perform a task with urgency while minding cultural differences and priority levels. This is a business school after all, specializing in leadership. And we all know that leadership IS influence, no more, no less.

I really hope this is all a "test" or case of some sort and we will get answers from IMD as well as a visa from Switzerland before December 21st, when we are supposed to fly out...

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