Effects of Organizations : Culture Management
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We have examined various cultural values and how managers can understand them with the help of cultural profiles. Now we will turn our attention to the applications of this cultural knowledge to management in an international environment (or, alternatively in a domestic multicultural environment)-especially as relevant to cross-cultural comrnunication (Chapter 4., negotiation and decision making (Chapter 5., and motivating and leading (Chapter 10). Culture and communication are essentially synonymous; what happens when people from different cultures communicate and how can the international manager understand the underlying process and adapt her or his style and expectations accordingly? For the answers read the next chapter.
The predominance of small businesses in China and the region highlights the need for managers from around the world to gain an understanding of how such businesses operate. Many small businesses-most of which are family or extended- family businesses-become part of the value chain (suppliers, buyers, retailers, etc.) within industries in which foreign firms may compete.
Exhibit 3-11 gives a general framework for comparing Western and Chinese cultures; shown are the resulting differences in Chinese attitudes and behavior, culture continues in Chapter 5 in the context of negotiation. Here we will point out some specifics of Chinese management style and practices in particular as they apply to small businesses. It is important to point out that no matter what size company, but especially in small businesses, it is the all-pervasive presence and use of guanxi' which provides the little red engine of business transactions in China. Guanxi means connections-the network of relationships the Chinese cultivate through friendship and affection; it entails the exchange of favors and gifts to provide an obligation to reciprocate favors. There is an unwritten code among those who share a guanxi network.44 The philosophy and structure of Chinese businesses comprises paternalism, mutual obligation, responsibility, hierarchy, familialism, personalism, and connections.45 Autocratic leadership is the norm, with the owner using his or her power, but also with a caring about other people which may predominate over efficiency.46
According to Lee major differences between Chinese management styles and those of their Western counterparts are human-centeredness, family-centeredness, centralization of power, and small size.47 Their human-centered management style puts people ahead of a business relationship and focuses on friendship, loyalty, and trustworthiness.48 The family is extremely important in Chinese culture, and small businesses tend to be run like a family.
The centralized power structure in Chinese organizations, unlike those in the West, splits into two distinct levels-at the top is the boss and a few family members, and at the bottom are the employees, with no ranking among the workers.49
As Chinese firms in many modern regions in the Pacific Rim seek to modernize and compete locally and globally, there is a tug of war between the old and the new-the traditional Chinese management practices, and the increasingly imported Western management styles. As discussed by Lee, this struggle is encapsulated in the different management perspectives of the old and young generations, as shown in Exhibit 3-12. A two-generational study of Chinese managers by Raitson et al. also found generational shifts in work values in China. They concluded that the new generation manager is more individualistic, independent, and risk-taking in the pursuit of profits. However, they also found the new generation holding on to their Confucian values, concluding that the new generation may be viewed as crossverging their Eastern and Western influences, while on the road of modernization.
Understanding how business is conducted in the modern Middle East requires an understanding of the Arab culture, since the Arab peoples are the majority there and most of them are Muslim. The Arab culture is intertwined with the pervasive influence of Islam. Even though not all Middle Easterners are Arab, the Arab culture and management style predominates in the Gulf region. Shared culture, religion, and language underlie behavioral similarities throughout the Arab world. Islam permeates Saudi life-Allah is always present, controls everything, and is frequently referred to in conversation. Employees may spend over two hours a day in prayer, part of the life patterns that intertwine work with religion, politics, and social life.
Arab history and culture is based on tribalism, with its norms of reciprocity of favors, support, obligation, and identity passed on to the family unit, which is the primary structural model. Family life is based on closer personal ties than in the West. Arabs value personal relationships, honor, and saving face for all concerned; these values take precedence over the work at hand or verbal accuracy. Outsiders must realize that establishing a trusting relationship and respect for the Arab social norms have to precede any attempts at business discussions. Honor, pride, and dignity are at the core of shame societies such as the Arabs. As such, shame and honor provide the basis for social control and motivation. Circumstances dictate what is right or wrong and what is acceptable
behavior.
Open admission of error is avoided by Arabs at all costs because weakness (muruwwa) is a failure to be manly. It is sometimes difficult for westerners to get at the truth because of the Arab need to avoid showing weakness; instead a desired, or idealized situation is painted by Arabs. Shame is also brought on someone who declines to fulfil a request or a favor; therefore, a business arrangement is left open if something has yet to be completed.
The communication style of Middle Eastern societies is high context (that is, implicit and indirect) and their use of time is polychronic-many things can be going on at the same time, with constant interruptions commonplace. The imposition of deadlines is considered rude, and business schedules take a back seat to the perspective that events will occur sometime when Allah wills (bukra insha Allah). Arabs give primary importance to hospitality; they are cordial to business associates and lavish in their entertainment, constantly offering strong black coffee (which you should not refuse) and banquets before considering business actions. Westerners must realize the importance of personal contacts and networking, socializing, and building close relationships and trust, practicing patience regarding schedules, and doing business in person. Exhibit 3-9 gives some selected actions and nonverbal behaviors which may offend Arabs. The relationship between cultural values and norms in Saudi Arabia and managerial behaviors is illustrated in Exhibit 3-10.
As an international manager, once you have researched the culture of a country in which you may be going to work or do business, and developed a cultural profile, it is useful then to apply that information to develop an understanding of the expected management styles and ways of doing business that predominate in that region, or within that type of business setting. Two examples follow for Saudi Arabia and for Chinese Small Family Businesses.
I sincerely hope the last leg of your trip home from the five-week fact- finding visit to the United States was pleasant and informative. Although I may not have expressed my sense of exhilaration about your visit through the meager lodging accommodations and barbaric foods we provided, it was sheer joy to spend four weeks with you and Kyung-Ok. (Please refrain from hitting the ceiling. My use of your charming wife's name, rather than the usual Korean expression, your wife or your house person, is not an indication of my amorous intentions toward her as any red-blooded Korean man would suspect. Since you are planning to immigrate to this country soon, I thought
you might as well begin to get used to the idea of your wife exerting her individuality. Better yet, I thought you should be warned that the moment the plane touches American soil, you will lose your status as the center of your familial universe.) At any rate, please be assured that during your stay here my heart was filled with memories of our three years together in high school when we were young in Pusan.
During your visit, you called me, on several occasions, an American. What prompted you to invoke such a reference is beyond my comprehension. Was it my rusty Korean expressions? Was it my calculating mind? Was it my pitifully subservient (at least when viewed through your cultural lens) role that I was playing in the family life? Or, was it my familiarity with some facets of the American cultural landscape? This may sound bewildering to you, but it is absolutely true that through all the years I have lived in this country, I never truly felt like an American. Sure, on the surface, our family followed closely many ritualistic routines of the American culture: shopping malls, dining out, PTA, Little League, picnics, camping trips, credit card shopping sprees, hot dogs, etc. But mentally I remained stubbornly in the periphery. Naturally, then, my subjective cultural attitudes stayed staunchly Korean. Never did the inner layers of my Korean psyche yield to the invading American cultural vagaries, I thought. So, when you labeled me an American for the first time, I felt a twinge of guilt.
Several years ago, an old Korean friend of mine, who settled in the United States about the same time I did, paid a visit to Korea for the first time in some 15 years. When he went to see his best high school friend, who was now married and had two sons, his friend's wife made a bed for him and her husband in the master bedroom, declaring that she would spend the night with the children. It was not necessarily the sexual connotation of the episode that made my friend blush; he was greatly embarrassed by the circumstance in which he imposed himself to the extent that the couple's privacy had to be violated. For his high school friend and his wife, it was clearly their age old friendship to which the couple's privacy had to yield. MK, you might empathize rather easily with this Korean couple's state of mind. But it would be a gross mistake even to imagine there may be occasions in your adopted culture when a gesture of friendship breaks the barrier of privacy. Zealously guarding their privacy above all, Americans are marvelously adept at drawing the line where friendship- that elusive we feeling-stops and privacy begins.
Indeed, one of the hardest tasks you will face as an alien is how to find that delicate balance between your individuality (for example, privacy) and your collective identity (for example, friendship or membership in social groups).
Privacy is not the only issue that stems from this individuality-collectivity continuum. Honesty in interpersonal relationships is another point that may keep you puzzled. Americans are almost brutally honest and frank about issues that belong to public domains; they are not afraid of discussing an embarrassing topic in most graphic details as long as the topic is a matter of public concern. Equally frank and honest gestures are adopted when they discuss their own personal lives once the presumed benefits from such gestures are determined to outweigh the risks involved. Accordingly, it is not uncommon to encounter friends who volunteer personally embarrassing and even shameful information lest you find it out from other sources. Are Americans equally straightforward and forthcoming in laying out heartfelt personal criticisms directed at their friends? Not likely. Their otherwise acute sense of honesty becomes significantly muted when they face the unpleasant task of being negative toward their personal friends. The fear of an emotion-draining confrontation and the virtue of being polite force them to put on a facade or mask.
The perfectly accepted social behavior of telling white lies is a good example. The social and personal virtues of accepting such lies are grounded in the belief that the potential damage that can be inflicted by directly telling a friend the hurtful truth far outweighs the potential benefit that the friend could gain from it. Instead of telling a hurtful truth directly, Americans use various indirect communication channels to which their friend is likely to be tuned. In other words, they publicize the information in the form of gossip or behind-the- back recriminations until it is transformed into a sort of collective criticism against the target individual. Thus objectified and collectivized, the truth ultimately reaches the target individual with a minimal cost of social discomfort on the part of the teller.
There is nothing vile or insidious about this communication tactic, since it is deeply rooted in the concern for sustaining social pleasantry for both parties.
This innocuous practice, however, is bound to be perceived as an act of outrageous dishonesty by a person deeply immersed in the Korean culture. In the Korean cultural context, a trusted personal relationship precludes such publicizing prior to direct, honest criticism to the individual concerned, no matter what the cost in social and personal unpleasantry Indeed, as you are well aware, MK, such direct reproach and even recrimination in Korea is in most cases appreciated as a sign of one's utmost love and concern for the target individual. Stressful and emotionally draining as it is, such a frank expression of criticism is done out of we feeling. Straight-talking friends did not want me to repeat undesirable acts in front of others, as it would either damage our reputation or go against the common interest of our collective identity. In Korea, the focus is on the self-discipline that forms a basis for the integrity of our group. In America, on the other hand, the focus is on the feelings of two individuals. From the potential teller's viewpoint, the primary concern is how to maintain social politeness, whereas from the target person's viewpoint, the primary concern is how to maintain self-esteem. Indeed, these two diametrically opposed frames of reference-self-discipline and self- esteem-make one culture collective and the other individualistic.
It is rather amazing that for all the mistakes I must have made in the past twenty years, only one non-Korean American friend gave me such an honest criticism. In a sense, this concern for interpersonal politeness conceals their disapproval of my undesirable behavior for a time and ultimately delays the adjustment or realignment of my behavior, since it is likely to take quite a while for the collective judgment to reach me through the publicized channels of communication. So many Korean immigrants express their indignation about their American colleagues who smile at thembut who criticize them behind their backs. If you ever become a victim of such a perception, MK, please take heart that you are not the only one who feels that pain.
MK-The last facet of the individualism-collectivism continuum likely to cause a great amount of cognitive dissonance in the process of your assimilation to American life is the extent to which you have to assert your individuality to other people. You probably have no difficulty remembering our high school principal, K. W. Park, for whom we had a respect-contempt complex. He used to lecture, almost daily at morning assemblies, on the virtue of being modest. As he preached it, it was a form of the Confucian virtue of self-denial. Our existence or presence among other people, he told us, should not be overly felt through communicated messages (regardless of whether they are done with a tongue or pen). . . . One's existence, we were told, should be noticed by others in the form of our acts and conduct. One is obligated to provide opportunities for others to experience one's existence through what he or she does. Self-initiated effort for public recognition or self- aggrandizement was the most shameful conduct for a person of virtue.
This idea is interesting and noble as a philosophical posture, but when it is practiced in America, it will not get you anywhere in most circumstances. The lack of self-assertion is translated directly into timidity and lack of self-confidence. This is a culture where you must exert your individuality to the extent that it would make our high school principal turn in hi grave out of shame and disgust. Blame the size of the territory or the population of this country. You may even blame the fast- paced cadence of life or the social mobility that moves people around at a dizzying speed. Whatever the specific reason might be, Americans are not waiting to experience you or your behaviors as they exist. They want a documented version of you that is eloquently summarized, decorated, and certified. What they are looking for is not your raw, unprocessed being with rich texture; rather, it is a slickly processed self, neatly packaged and, most important, conveniently delivered to them. Self-advertising is encouraged almost to the point of pretentiousness. Years ago in Syracuse, I had an occasion to introduce a visiting Korean monk-scholar to a gathering of people who wanted to hear something about Oriental philosophies. After taking an elegantly practiced bow to the crowd, this humble monk declared, My name is. . . Please teach me, as I do not know anything. It took quite a bit of probing and questioning for us to extract something to chew on from that monk with the mysterious smile. Contrast this with an American colleague of mine applying for a promotion several years ago, who literally hauled in two cabinets full of documented evidence of his scholarly achievements.
The cujious journey toward the American end of the individualism- collectivism continuum will be inevitable, I assure you. The real question is whether it will be in your generation, your children's, or their children's. Whenever it happens, it will be a bittersweet revenge for me, since only then will you realize how it feels to be called an American by your best high school chum.
Now I have to stand firmly on my own and think for myself. I wish I had realized this earlier in life. . . . Building my life around the com pan was a big mistake. AKIO KUZUOKA, 40-YEAR EMPLOYEE AT A JAPANESE COMPANY, WALL STREET JOURNAL, DECEMBER 29, 2000. In 2002, we see evidence in cities of changes in Japan's business culture as a result of economic decline and global competition (discussed at the end of this section). However, the underlying cultural values still predominate-for now anyway.
Much of the Japanese culture, and the basis of working relationships, can be explained by the principle of wa, peace and harmony. This principle, embedded in the value they attribute to amae (indulgent love), probably originated in the Shinto religion, which focuses on spiritual and physical harmony. Amae results in shinyo, which refers to the mutual confidence, faith, and honor necessary for successful business relationships. Japan ranks high on pragmatism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance, and fairly high on power distance. At the same time, much importance is attached to loyalty, empathy, and the guidance of subordinates. The result is a mix of authoritarianism and humanism in the workplace, similar to a family system. These cultural roots are evident in a very homogeneous managerial value system, with strong middle management, strong working relationships, strong seniority systems that stress rank, and an emphasis on looking after employees. The principle of wa carries forth into the work group-the building block of Japanese business. The Japanese strongly identify and thus seek to cooperate with their work groups. The emphasis is on participative management, consensus problem solving, and decision making with a patient, long-term perspective. Open expression or conflict is discouraged, and it is of paramount importance to avoid the shame of not fulfilling one's duty. These elements of work culture result in a devotion to work, collective responsibility, and a high degree of employee productivity.
If we extend this cultural profile to its implications for specific behaviors in the workplace, we can draw a comparison with common American behaviors. As shown in Exhibit 3-8, most of those behaviors seem to be opposite to those of their counterparts; it is no wonder that there are many misunderstandings and conflicts in the workplace between Americans and Japanese. For example, a majority of the attitudes and behaviors of many Japanese stems from a high level of collectivism, compared with a high level of individualism common to Americans. This contrast is highlighted in the center of Exhibit 3-8 by maintain the group, compared with protect the individual. In addition, the strict social order of the Japanese permeates the workplace in adherence to organizational hierarchy and seniority and in loyalty to the firm. This contrasts markedly with the typical American responses to organizational relationships and duties based on equality. In addition, the often blunt, outspoken American businessperson offends the indirectness and sensitivity of the Japanese for whom the virtue of patience is paramount, causing the silence and avoidance that so frustrates Americans.37 As a result, Japanese businesspeople tend to think of American organizations as having no spiritual quality and little employee loyalty, and of Americans as assertive, frank, and egotistic. Their American counterparts, in turn, respond with the impression that Japanese businesspeople have little experience and are secretive, arrogant, and cautious.38
In 2002, however, anecdotal evidence indicates that some convergence with western business culture is taking place-resulting from Japan's economic contraction and subsequent bankruptcies. Focus on the group, lifetime employment and a pension, have given way to a more competitive business environment, with job security no longer guaranteed, and an emphasis on performance-based pay. This has led Japan's salarymen to recognize the need for personal responsibility on the job and in their lives. While only a few years ago emphasis was on the group, Japan's long slump seems to be causing some cultural restructuring of the individual. Corporate Japan is changing from a culture of consensus and group think, to touting the need for an era of personal responsibility as a solution to revitalize their competitive position in the global marketplace.39
To tell you the truth, it's hard to think for yourself, says Mr. Kuzuoka [but, if you don't] . . . in this age of cutthroat competition, you'll just end up drowning.40
Germany The reunited Germany is naturally fairly culturally diverse, as the country borders several nations. Generally, Germans rank quite high on Hofstede's dimension of individualism, though their behaviors seem less individu Par alistic than those of Americans. They score fairly high on uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, and have a relatively small need for power distance. These cultural norms show up in the Germans' preference for being around familiar people and situations; also in their propensity to do a detailed evaluation of business deals before committing themselves.
Christianity underlies much of German culture-over 96 percent of Germans are Catholics or Protestants. This may be why Germans tend to like rule and order in their lives, and why there is a clear public expectation of the acceptable and the unacceptable way to do things. Public signs everywhere in Germany dictate what is allowed or verboten (forbidden). Germans are very strict with their use of time, whether for business or pleasure, frowning on inefficiency or on tardiness. In business, Germans tend to be assertive, but they downplay aggression. Decisions are not as centralized as one would expect, with hierarchical processes often giving way to consensus decision making. However, there is strict departmentalization in organizations, with centralized and final authority at the departmental manager level. Hall and Hall describe the German preference for closed doors and private space as evidence of the affinity for compartmentalization in organizations and in their own lives. They also prefer more physical space around them in conversation than do most other Europeans, and privacy in aural distance. In fact, German law prohibits loud noises in public areas on weekend afternoons. Germans are conservative, valuing privacy, politeness, and formality; they usually use last names and titles for all except those close to them.
In negotiations, Germans want detailed information before and during discussions, which can become lengthy. Factors such as voice and speech control are given much weight. But, since Germany is a low-context society, communication is explicit and Americans find negotiations easy to understand.41
Korea Koreans rank high on collectivism and pragmatism, fairly low on masculinity, moderate on power distance, and quite high on uncertainty avoidance. Although greatly influenced by American culture, Koreans are still very much bound to the traditional Confucian teachings of spiritualism and collectivism. Korea and its people have undergone great changes, but the respect for family, authority, formality, class, and rank remain strong. Koreans are quite aggressive and hard-working, demonstrative, friendly, and very hospitable. For the most part, they do not subscribe to participative management. Family and personal relationships are important, and connections are vital for business introductions and transactions. Business is based on honor and trust; most contracts are oral. While achievement and competence are important to Koreans, a driving force in relationships is the priority of guarding both parties' social and professional reputations. Thus, praise predominates, and honest criticism is rare.
Further insight into the differences between American and Korean culture can be derived from the following excerpted letter from Professor Jin K. Kim in Plattsburgh, New York, to his high school friend, MK, in South Korea, who just returned from a visit to the United States. MK, whom Dr. Kim had not seen for 20 years, is planning to emigrate to the United States, and Dr. Kim wants to help ward off his 'friend's culture shock by telling him about American culture from a Korean perspective.
Americans at a Glance
1. Goal and achievement oriented-Americans think they can accomplish just about anything, given enough time, money, and technology.
2. Highly organized and institutionally minded-Americans refer a society that is strong institutionally, secure, and tidy or well kept.
3. Freedom-loving and self-reliant-Americans fought a revolution and subsequent wars to preserve their concept of democracy, so they resent too much control or interference, especially by government or external forces. They believe in an ideal that all persons are created equal; though they sometimes fail to live that ideal fully, they strive through law to promote equal opportunity and to confront their own racism or prejudice.
They also idealize the self-made person who rises from poverty and adversity, and think they can influence and create their own futures. Control of one's destiny is popularly expressed as doing your own thing. Americans think, for the most part, that with determination and initiative, one can achieve whatever one sets out to do and thus fulfill one's individual human potential.
4. Work oriented and efficient-Americans possess a strong work ethic, though they are learning in the present generation to enjoy leisure time constructively. They are conscious of time and efficient in doing things. They tinker with gadgets and technological systems, always searching for easier, better, more efficient ways to accomplish tasks.
5. Friendly and informal-Americans reject the traditional privileges of royalty and class, but defer to those with affluence and power. Although informal in greeting and dress, they are a noncontact culture (e.g., avoid embracing in public usually) and maintain a certain physical/psychological distance with others (e.g., about 2 feet).
6. Competitive arid aggressive-Americans in play or business generally are so oriented because of their drives to achieve and succeed. This is partially traced to their heritage of having to overcome a wilder-
- ness and hostile elements in their environment.
7. Values in transition-Traditional American values of family loyalty, respect and care of the aged, marriage and the nuclear family, patriotism, material acquisition, forthrightness, and the like are undergoing profound reevaluation as people search for new meanings.
8. Generosity-Although Americans seemingly emphasize material values, they are a sharing people, as has been demonstrated in the Marshall Plan, foreign aid programs, refugee assistance, and their willingness at home and abroad to espouse a good cause and to help neighbors in need. They tend to be altruistic and some would say naive as a people.
Managers can gather considerable information on cultural variables from current research, personal observation, and discussions with people. From these sources, managers can develop cultural profiles of various countries-composite pictures of working environments, people's attitudes, and norms of behavior. As we have previously discussed, these profiles are often highly generalized; many subcultures, of course, may exist within a country. But managers can use these profiles to anticipate drastic differences in the level of motivation, communication, ethics, loyalty, and individual and group productivity that may be encountered in a given country. More suclvhomework may have helped the GM-Daewoo joint venture in Korea, which is coming to an end after years of acrimonious relations. Executives from both sides acknowledge that they seriously underestimated the obstacles posed to their three-continent car-making experiment by divergent cultures and business aspirations, not to mention the different languages.33
It is relatively simple to pull together a descriptive profile for American culture, even though there are regional and individual differences, because we know ourselves and because researchers have thoroughly studied American culture. The results of one such study by Harris and Moran are shown in Exhibit 3-7, which provides a basis of comparison with other cultures and thus suggests the likely differences in workplace behaviors.
It is not so easy, however, to pull together descriptive cultural profiles of peoples in other countries unless one has lived there and been intricately involved with those people. But managers can make a start by using what research and literature is available on a comparative basis. The following section provides brief, generalized country profiles based on a synthesis of research, primarily from Hofstede 34 and England35 as well as numerous other sources.36 These profiles illustrate how to synthesize information and gain a sense of the character of a society from which implications may be drawn about how to manage more effectively in that society. More extensive implications and applications related to
In general, Americans tend to work and conduct their private lives independently, valuing individual achievement, accomplishments, promotions, and wealth above any group goals. In many other countries, individualism is not valued (as previously discussed in the context of Hofstede's work). In China, for example, much more of a we consciousness prevails, and the group is the basic building block of social life and work. For the Chinese, conformity and cooperaExhibit 3-6 Fundamental Differences Between Japanese and Mexican Culture That Affect Business Organizations tion take precedence over individual achievement, and the emphasis is on the strength of the family or community-the predominant attitude being we all rise or fall together.
International managers often face conflicts in the workplace as a result of differences in these four basic values of time, change, materialism, and individualism. If these operational value differences and their likely consequences are anticipated, managers can adjust expectations, communications, work organization, schedules, incentive systems, and so forth, to provide for more constructive outcomes for the company and its employees. Some of these operational differences between Japanese and Mexican cultures in shown in Exhibit 3-6. Note, in particular, the factors of time, individualism change (fatalism) and materialism (attitudes toward work), expressed in the exhibit.