Intercultural Management: Japanese and American Cultures - Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

NTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Instruction; Watch the 'GUNG HO' movie from YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GmQiwDPYoo

1. What is meant by the culture of a society, and why is it important for international managers to understand it? How do those differences affect the work environment?

1.1 CULTURE DEFINED

It comprises of distinctive the distinctive aspects performed by people as a unifying and direction role, which involves the cultivation of people towards achieving a common goal. The definition points out two elements as: culture is a distinctive aspect performed by people and this performance is for a common goal. Thus, the word "distinctive" implies variance amongst different people (Bauman, 2004; Jenkins, 2004; Robins, 1996).

This is true because culture of a particular society is different from that of other society. Since they are undertaken for a common goal, it also implies that culture is closely related to all activities we undertake in our lives. Such activities as our mode of dressing, eating habit, greeting style and leisure can easily differentiate us from people from other societies. For instance, Asians and Africans alike are collectivists in their culture because they believe in family unison and togetherness, while the western countries are more individualistic because they believe in privacy and self-actualization.

1.1.1 Importance of culture for international managers

With the aid of globalization, the global market has become more competitive as companies can easily expand into international market. This expansion yield a more complex workforce were employees are faced with the mounting challenge of working with staffs from other societies and the management is also faced with the challenge of selling their products in markets of different culture. Thus, avoiding cultural myopia is essential for international managers because:

1.1.2 It helps define problem more precisely – when managers are faced with decision making problems, the right solution can only be derived with precise definition of the given problem and the problem has to be defined in relation to the market (Bendle, 2002; Elliott, 2001; Erikson, 1980; Giddens, 2001). Thus, understanding cultural differences is essential for defining a problem more precisely. For instance, a manager needs to understand that African cuisines are different from Asian cuisine, thus the success of an Asian restaurant in an African country is unpredictable and high prone with failure as it is not their culture to consume such foods.

1.1.3 Better coordinate the workforce – complexities in the workforce as a result of culture can have both positive impacts on productivity if well-coordinated or negative impact on productivity if not properly coordinated (Hall, 1996). Thus, it is necessary for the manager to understand the cultures of its workforce in order to better set objectives for each person. For instance, a manager managing a workforce with both American and Norwegian employees will need to understand that employee of the month is necessary for Americans as it is seen as a sort of self-actualization, while it is considered unnecessary for Norwegians as their "jentloven" law suggest humility and never showing off.

1.1.4 For proper advertisement and marketing campaign – since language and speech mannerism are also part of a culture, it is necessary that international managers understand the cultures of society in order to better present advertisement and marketing campaign that are in line with their cultures as failure to do so can have tremendous negative impact on the company (Goffman, 1959). For instance, international managers must understand that while girls on bikinis are allowed on commercial televisions in the USA, this is totally against the cultures of Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia.

1.2 HOW DO THOSE DIFFERENCES AFFECT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT?

Cultural differences in workforce are a thing of concern to all organizations, as this can influence the company both positively and negative. In the work environment, cultural difference can influence the company as follows:

1.2.1 Misunderstanding amongst employees – this can be in the form of language barriers and decoding messages from one medium to another medium (Goffman, 1959). For instance, a work environment that has both Chinese and British employees were the Chinese are associated with high context communication style and the British with low context communication style, the British might frequently as questions and seek clarifications while the Chinese will tend to focus on his work and find solution to the problems. Thus, this will definitely influence their productivity.

1.2.2 Time as linear and circular – time as linear implies a situation where people view time as being parallel and cannot be regained, while the circular cultures see time as being circular and retainable (Parkinson and Green, 2001). For instance, the Germans see time as linear and indulge in one activity at the other, while the Japanese see time as circular and flexible with their activities. Thus, in the work environment, the German will prefer to complete one task before moving into another, while the Japanese can move into another task without completing the previous one and this can influence productivity.

1. What differences in culture between the Japanese and American can be found in this movie?

From the movie, Mr. Stevenson Hunt is a demonstration of the real American man and culture, and the Japanese counterparts represent their country as well. The movie portrayed numerous differences between the countries and these differences are:

2.1 Individualism Americans and Collectivist Japanese – firstly we will start from the beginning of the movie. During his trip to Japan to negotiate the business, Stevenson travelled alone and left his girlfriend back home, while his Japanese counterparts travelled back to the United States with their families.

2.2 Low uncertainty avoidance Americans and high uncertainty avoidance Japanese – the movie illustrated that American are flexible in their decision making process and can take huge risk by making decisions instantly without calculating the impact of their decisions, while the Japanese thought otherwise and needed time to carefully calculate the impacts of their decisions making process. For instance, Stevenson changed the deal from 15 thousand to 13 thousand in order to persuade his workers to go for the full pay without understanding the consequences associated with such decisions, while the Japanese had to travel to the United States and spend time with the people before even finalizing their decisions to invest in the company.

2.3 Low power distances Americans and high power distance Japanese – another area clearly illustrated in the movie is the power distance between managers and employees, and husband wife. The Japanese have a higher power distance while the Americans have a lower power distance. For instance, Stevenson was seen shouting to his boss and even engaged in a fight with him. On the other hands, his girlfriend sat back when they said they have business to discuss while other Japanese women left without finishing their dinner in other to allow them to discuss the business. This was the a different case as Stevenson's boss couldn't face Mr. Shamamoto due to the high power distance and the Japanese doesn't respond to any unfavourable conditions issued by their boss.

2.4 Both countries are masculine in nature – two cases illustrated such events and they are the demand of constant improvement by the management team who requested that Stevenson's men build 15 thousand cars in a month. This is a masculine factor as it demanded constant improvement at all cost. On the other hand, Stevenson order his girlfriend to "shut up", and just like other masculine societies, it illustrated the fact that men are more powerful than women. Finally, their working system also illustrates masculinity as women are giving easy task such as typing, while the factory workers with the responsibility of building the cars and moving heavy machineries comprised of men.

2.5 High context language amongst Japanese and low context language amongst Americans – the beginning of the movie illustrated this aspect the most. When Stevenson was looking for direction upon arrival in japan, he asked people he could meet but none of them gave him a perfect direction. All the Japanese people Stevenson meet upon arrival used high context languages of signs and body languages, while Stevenson demonstrated low context languages by asking more and more questions.

1. Critically, explain why do you think that American and Japanese both believing in producing good quality car?

As discussed in question two, this is because of their masculine nature. Masculine societies are associated with constant improvement and self-actualization (Hall, 1996). The Japanese and the American believe in production of good quality car because they want to be recognized for their achievement in order for them to actualize their goals and objectives in life.

This was clearly demonstrated with the aware of full pay rise if they can turnout 15 thousand cars in a month and the Americans demonstrated such by accepting the deals which the Japanese applauded because it will increase their sales. They want to be rewarded for a job well done, thus both are willing to apply more effort in order to manufacture the most quality cars. 

1. Based on the movie, why do you think that Managerial Communications are important? Specifically, between the American representative and the Japanese manager?

It offers clear directions on what is to be done and how it should be done -  For instance, Stevenson always stood closely with his staffs and directed them on what they need to do and how to do this. Through this means, they are more able to produce results that meet the necessary standards. But in the case of the Japanese manager, their lack of managerial communication open a vacuum of uncertainties were the employees were not clear on what to do. For instance, they asked the painter to spray "here, and here and here", without precisely telling him where is "here" and how much of paint should he spray "here."

It helps boost employees' morale - This is true in the case of the American staffs as their morale were always boosted with speeches from Stevenson. When the deal was struck as to manufacturing 15 thousand cars in a month and getting a full pay rise, the employees were reluctant, by Stevenson quickly boosted their morale by challenging them that they are better than the Japanese and they can manufacture more than the Japanese. The employees were boosted with such words and thus increase their productivity and commitment by skipping lunch, coming to work early and going back late.

Makes the managers more accessible – both the American and Japanese managers can be used to demonstrate this point and they both talked to the staffs as much as possible. Communications in the system makes managers more accessible to the staffs and thus the staffs will be more likely to talk with the manager about areas that need improvement in the system and how such areas should be improved. They can also quickly learn from the managers on how to coordinate operations and improve productivity.

1. From the movie, what are the cultural differences between Western and Eastern countries? How would the lack of cultural sensitivity among managers affect Assan Motors?

The movie illustrated numerous cultural differences between the western and eastern countries in various areas of life and they include:

Greeting – the western greeting style is less formal like "hi" and "how are you today", while the western countries are more informal in greeting with head bowed down and hands closed together during greeting.

Dressing – the dressing code is also another area highlighted in the movie were the westerners dressed in more casual clothing while the easterners dressed in a more official clothing with their suites and tired, including wearing of uniform during a baseball match.

Job commitment – to the westerners, jobs is described as job and nothing else. Thus, they are not willing to sacrifice any minute outside besides their working hours without being fully paid for the extra time worked.

Family – westerners valued their families more as illustrated in the movie are always keen to spend more time with their family. For instance, when one of the staff's daughters was admitted to hospital, the Japanese manager thought he shouldn't go as it would affect the production while Stevenson ordered him to go and see his daughter.

Criticism – the western are more willing to accept criticism and thus are ready to share whatever the situation might be with the people involves. For instance, Stevenson apologised to the worker and confessed having lied to them, while the manager didn't tell the workers the situation he was facing with Mr. Shamamoto until he got drunk and talked it off with Stevenson.

Sense of privacy – this was illustrated in the bar were Stevenson had drink with his boss. The boss was seen signing and shouting, and later wiggling his manhood "one trunk elephant" at the dismay of the customers who were not happy with the scene. It should that in the western countries, privacy is essential and people don't like their privacy being tampered with, even if it is just some minutes of disturbance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bauman, Z. (2004), Identity: Conversations with Benedetto Vecchi, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Bendle, M.F. (2002), ''The crisis of 'identity' in high modernity'', British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 53, pp. 1-18.

Elliott, A. (2001), Concepts of the Self, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Erikson, E.H. (1980), Identity and the Life Cycle, Norton, New York, NY.

Giddens, A. (2001), Sociology, 4th ed., Polity Press, Cambridge.

Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday, New York, NY.

Hall, S. (1996), ''Introduction. Who needs 'identity'?'', in Hall, S. and du Gay, P. (Eds), Questions of Cultural Identity, Sage, London, pp. 1-17.

Jenkins, R. (2004), Social Identity, 2nd ed., Routledge, London.

Parkinson, A. and Green, J. (2001), Cutting it Fine; Inside the Restaurant Business, Jonathan Cape, London.

Robins, K. (1996), ''Interrupting Identities. Turkey/Europe'', in Hall, S. and du Gay, P. (Eds), Questions of Cultural Identity, Sage, London, pp. 61-86.