Key Dimensions of Japan National Culture - Case Study Example

KEY DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURE: A CASE OF JAPAN KEY DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURE Instructor name: Insert name: Course code: April 13, 2011 Summary There has been a lot of emphasis on culture for the last twenty to twenty five years, and the emphasis was not all that significant to business as compared to the way it is currently. The research concerning this field started in intense with the effort of Geert Hofstede with his milestone evaluation of IBM (Hofstede 1980), along with Peters together with Waterman who began the organization culture awareness by “In Search of Excellence” (Peters and Waterman 1982). Before the two scholars had begun, Bartels (1967) had first connected the significance of culture, and illustrated the thought in resolution-making as well as company moral principles. Bartels recognized a number of decisive factors for the recognition of cultural variations, taking account of: reverence for personality, Law, type of supremacy along with influence, notion of divine being, rights to property, state uniqueness and faithfulness, relationship of person to standards and principles, way of life and Mores. This paper shows how culture is significant for several facets of company life particularly when a company have to interact with persons, either as clients, workers, contractors or shareholders. When a business crosses borders, we come into contact with diverse cultural settings distinguished by foreign speech and distinct significance classifications, attitude, as well as manners. We come across clients as well as business associates who exhibit various standards of living, customs, as well as spending behaviors. From this we note that culture can be defined as the educated, collective and lasting orientation models in a social order. In the paper we will see how persons display their culture through principles, thoughts, feelings, actions as well as signs. Contrasting the political, lawful, and financial structures, culture has confirmed incredibly hard to recognize and evaluate (Jones, 2007: p.3). Its results on global commerce are profound and wide. Culture controls a variety of inter-personal exchange in addition to value-series functions like manufactured goods and service design, promotion, along with vending. Consequently, the majority of businesses desire their workers to learn about new cultures and attain a measure of cross-cultural expertise. This document gives attention to the study done by Hofstede. Introduction Successful businesses currently ought to function efficiently in a global environment. Efficient function requires comprehending cultural variations that are present amongst nations. Hofstede notes several key dimensions of national culture which have great impact on organizations and HRM in particular. Businesses at present have to function in a global environment. This brings about the introduction of the concept of cross-cultural variations which emanate from business going global. A lot of study has paid attention on cultural disparities and their significance to global administration. We are going to look at how these dimensions of culture influence business and how culture is important to an organization. In the paper, we are going to note that culture affects the way employees relate with one another as well as their supervisors. Variations in culture are definitely a component in the ‘strangeness picture’ and, if it is not comprehended and handled, it can bring about in substantial accountabilities and fatalities for a global corporation (Stedham, 2002: p. 3). This report discusses and evaluates the key dimensions of national culture in Japan. Some of the dimensions to be discussed are “power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism/ collectivism; masculinity/ femininity; and long term orientation”. The concept of culture and definition According to Hall (1959), culture is defined as “The pattern of taken-for-granted assumptions about how a given collection of people should think, act, and feel as they go about their daily affairs.” Culture can also be termed as an outcome of human action as well as a determinant of future human action. The definitions of the term culture differ from the very inclusiveness such as ‘culture is the man-made part of the environment’ to the highly focused ‘culture is a shared meaning system’. Hofstede (1991) defines culture as “Collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”. The ‘mental software’ or the manner in which we believe and reason distinguishes us from the rest of the groups. Other scholars view culture as interaction of similarity and variations; all cultures are concurrently very alike and extremely dissimilar. Despite the fact that as people we share several similarities and distinctiveness, as a collection of people or community we display numerous dissimilarities. For instance, some cultures are extra multifaceted than others. A number of cultures are more distinctive and at the same time others are more communal (Cross cultural dynamics, p. 6). Culture develops within every community to distinguish its inhabitants and to differentiate them from others. First, it depicts the manner in which associates of the community live – the way they feed, dress, and shelters themselves. Second, culture illustrates how associates act toward one another as well as with other assemblages. Third, it describes the values and standards of affiliates and the manner in which they recognize the importance of life (The Cultural Environment of International Business, p. 129). The customs of a country influences all facets of living in a specified nation, together with the behavior of executives in its nationwide institutes. As a result, conventional state cultural principles influence administrative procedures as well as managerial behaviors, which further impacts on financial performance. Hofstede proposes that cultural models are founded on value structures of considerable alliances of the inhabitants and that they become stable over elongated time in history. In particular, cultural variations are rooted in managers’ frames of orientation and ways of thinking and thus strengthen specific principles and direct decision-making actions as well as choices. Therefore, all natural cultural aspects can be considered as possible controls the way executives make resolutions and carry out their responsibilities (Reiche, Lee & Quintanilla, 2009: p. 6). Culture’s role in business: Japan case Efficient treatment of the cross-cultural interaction is a vital foundation of a company’s competitive benefit. Executives need to establish understanding and lenience toward cultural variations in addition to obtaining an ample measure of truthful knowledge concerning the beliefs and principles of foreign counterparts. To understand more on the role that culture plays in business, let us look at a case in point of carrying out business in Japan. In the Western countries, ‘the customer is king,’ but in Japan, ‘the customer is God.’ Every time clients enter retail shops in Japan, they are addressed with enthusiastic howls of “Welcome” followed by numerous choruses of “Thank you very much” when they are leaving. In several subdivision stores, managers together with clerks line up to bend down to clients at the commencement of the business day. If at any time those customers have to wait in queue – which is rare – the store manager requests for forgiveness from the clients. Japanese companies value upholding face, agreement, and good reputation with clients and the business society. Ethnically, the main significant Japanese principles are custom, endurance, esteem, courtesy, truthfulness, hard work, association, group harmony, as well as teamwork (The Cultural Environment of International Business, p. 131). Japan’s course of client service originates from its national culture. Good appearance, top product excellence as well as after-sale service are the fundamentals to achievement for carrying out trade in Japan. The Japanese put great stress on offering outstanding client service. Japanese “car dealers generally provide pickup and delivery for repair service and even make new-car sales calls to clients’ homes” (The Cultural Environment of International Business, 132). Nissan and Toyota make use of client fulfillment studies to assess their brokers. In the sector of banking, private bankers uphold dealings by visiting clients at their places of work or by surveying the entire environs (The Cultural Environment of International Business, 132). Japan is a tiny country (its size is nearly that of California) and has a population that is almost half that of United States. It is a heavily inhabited and homogenous community that has promoted the growth of a unified and courteous culture. A focus on inter-personal relations assists the Japanese evade disagreement and maintain harmony. The other main component of the Japanese ethnicity is the expressive construct of ‘amae’, generally interpreted as ‘generous dependence’ which is a vital element of child-nurturing in Japan. At the start of each operational day, many companies have a group gathering aimed at building accord and team strength, and employees even do exercises together. Teaching of fresh store employees is done in groupings. The group is instructed together, is assessed together, and might even live collectively. Stores append a good deal of credence to client comment; they characteristically make a thorough account to the producer for cautious investigation (The Cultural Environment of International Business, p. 132). Collectivism versus Individualism For you to communicate efficiently, you ought to put into consideration the cultural variations and the prevailing contact procedure in personal and collective cultures. Collectivism refers to a culture in which inhabitants from origin onwards are incorporated into well-built interconnected in-groups. Members of a collectivist customs in Japan forsake a number of individual liberties for defense and protection of the group. On the contrary, Individualism is the reverse of socialism. Individualism refers to a community in which the connections between persons are loose. Each person is expected to take care of his or her own affairs as well as just his or her immediate relatives. In other words, the main concerns of members of individualistic cultures are individual welfare and ambitions. In Japan, one cannot disagree with the other person’s opinion in public. This can only be done in an extra confidential and private atmosphere to guard an individual from the ‘loss of face’. Japanese use all means to avoid direct confrontations. In Japan, the connection linking manager and worker or business associates is founded of trust and agreement as well as a profound consideration of moral standards (Sugawara H. 2009 p. 3). Hofstede (1991b) discovers that Japan’s national culture varies from that of America in all the five scope of customs. He notes that the collectivism in Japanese culture is evident in an extensive scope of commerce policies and performances as well as community norms, like keiretsu manufacturing groupings, reasonably long-standing service, along with closer collaboration between administration and business. Furthermore, Japanese companies show an additional paternalistic strategy to labor-administration relationships, giving emphasis to steadiness of operations over market share (Bruce, Gilly & Graham, 1998). Uncertainty avoidance Uncertainty is the degree to which the affiliates of a customs are endangered by unsure or unidentified state of affairs. It describes the manner by which citizens will handle the upcoming, whether they have inbuilt power or whether measures are past their control. Cultures soaring in uncertainty avoidance build up comprehensive structures of regulations and measures. They will keep away from everything that does not follow the system and measures they formed. To avoid uncertainty, communities put up rules and regulations just as corporations do. Obligations and privileges (both inner and outer) are managed by the system. Japan is one country that has strong uncertainty avoidance. In Japan several stern rules are used and responsibilities are greatly focused on businesses (Bruce, Gilly & Graham, 1998). Whenever a contract is being created in Japan, a lot of details are normally required. This is to prevent any incidence which could result to any type of indecision to Japanese trade citizens. Managing is thus inflexible in relation to transformations that do take place in business life. The Japanese are good at advancing original innovations and fabricating a fresh invention, instead of inspiring original modernization, for example, the vehicles. Hofstede (1991a) also discovers that the Japanese have an exceptionally risk-averse community, with uncertainty avoidance mark much superior than that of U.S. Japanese companies reduce the threat of undertaking dealing with strange dealers or clients by creating permanent business relations that are featured by high intensity of confidence and broad social communication with business associates. Masculinity versus femininity This refers to the degree to which prevailing values in the social order have a propensity to be firm and appear more involved in things and the quality of life than in people. This aspect captures the stress on assertiveness, attainment, and material achievement that exist in culture. Masculinity represents a society which social gender responsibilities are extremely separate. Femininity on the other hand represents a social order where gender responsibilities overlap: “both men and women are supposed to be self-effacing, affectionate and concerned with the quality of life” (Stedham, 2002: p. 5). Japan has high masculine culture which tends to value competitiveness, boldness, aspiration, and amassing of riches. Japan has men and women who are self-confident, paying attention to profession and making money, and mind little for other people (Stedham, 2002: p. 5). Power distance This is the degree to which less influential members of establishments and associations within a country anticipate and admit that power is disseminated unevenly. Power distance also refers to the degree to which workers acknowledge that executives have more authority than they have. In nations with towering power distance, workers are fearful of expressing their uncertainties and differences with their despotic and paternalistic superiors. Japan has low power distance and executives and employees are more alike and collaborate more to attain managerial objectives. Employees and supervisors regard one another as more or less alike even if there is a variation in education echelon. The chain of command can constantly revolutionize depending on circumstances. The chains of commands are flat with a distributed management and a few administrators who are reachable by their inferiors. There is slight difference in remuneration between the highest and lowest in businesses and inferiors are conferred with in the process of making decisions (Sugawara, 2009: p. 7). Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation This aspect relates to virtue in spite of reality. Principles connected to long term course are prudence and insistence; such values are reverence for custom, satisfying communal duties and defending one’s face. Japan has long term orientation where employment continues up to sequestration age. Earnings and rank rise with reference to superiority and conduct. Executives accord more significance on associations with employees. To them, it is significant to build confidence, relationship, and seek to understand the other partner in trade connections. In Japan, associations are more significant than the contract and confidence is esteemed in trade concords. Connections are intensely embedded in prehistoric Confucian viewpoint, which holds with esteem social chain of command and mutual responsibilities. It puts more emphasis on the significance of relationships in the family and between executives and employees (Sugawara, 2009: p. 8). High context versus low context Context in this dimension refers to the amount of information that one has to know prior to communicating efficiently. Workers from high-context customs like Japan become accustomed to their first-class associates, relatives as well as close social groups. They converse with them exhaustively and exchange precise or comprehensive information concerning several dissimilar subjects. Consequently, each member of the in-group is regularly updated with specifics about the business. In Japan, communications have a tendency to being extremely well-organized due to confidentiality. They talk about the whole lot prior to meetings and regard conferences as a bureaucrat formal procedure where the previously generally decided resolution will be pronounced. This is a significant way of offering and maintaining face. In Japanese companies, resolution making normally requires undisputed conformity, hence the need to maneuver behind the skeins to reach an agreement in advance (Sugawara, 2009). This is the type of communication that Japan uses. They place a lot of significance on ambience, good manners, and the virtual condition of the partakers in a message and the method of message delivery. In Japan, it may be hard to feel completely acknowledged for strangers within their culture since they have huge diffuse associations unlike the individualistic cultures that use low context communication like Americans. Japanese first have to put up an inter-personal connection – a groundwork where it is achievable to find the correct level of framework. Apart from being an extremely socialist community, according to Hall (1987), Japan is a "high-context" society. In high-context customs, the communal and chronological framework of interactions is fundamental to comprehending the meaning anticipated by the substance or language of the communication. According to Bruce, Et. Al. (1998) “Who says it and when, how, and where it is said can be more significant than what is said in high-context cultures such as Japan” (Bruce, Gilly & Graham, 1998). Organizational culture and its significance Culture smoothen the progress of organizational loyalty and makes the reliability in the behavior of the workers. Culture is an extremely valuable asset in an organization since it minimizes ambiguity and offers information on how things are done and what is significant. Management development has close ties with recruitment and selection, two factors that greatly impact organization’s culture. We find that countries like Japan with collectivist societies, externally recruited candidates find it difficult to associate with well-built societal systems in institute and deal with opposition subsequent to their engagement, particularly in incidences where an interior applicant has been upheld. Thus the organizational culture shapes the mode of recruitment and selection and hence influences the management development. Organizational culture recognizes the main objectives, work systems and performance, how persons interrelate, speak to each other, how friendships and private associations are carried out. It directs organizational memberships, how the limits are preserved, who is an insider and who is a foreigner. Culture endorses the invention of dedication to do something for the sake of organization to a bigger scope than one’s personal self-interest. Furthermore, culture enhances social system consistency. It acts like an adhesive which assists the organization and workers to do jointly what they commit to do in the organization ((Reiche, Lee & Quintanilla, 2009). Conclusion We have seen that through the key dimensions of national culture, organizations together with their HRM are greatly influenced. National culture shapes its members’ fundamental assumptions (Hofstede, 1983). This implies that people who take on administrative positions in a specific culture tend to be socialized in comparable morals and attitude and are likely to form similar views concerning the managerial role itself together with significance of and selection among alternative managerial performances. This paper has discussed the concepts of culture and has shown that culture develops in every community to distinguish its populace and to differentiate them from others. We have also seen that traditions of a state influence all facets of life in a particular nation, together with the actions of executives in its national businesses. I have also gone further to discuss culture in business and taken a case a study of Japan. Referring to Japan, I have discussed the key dimensions of national culture and its impact on business in this country. Lastly the importances of organizational culture have been integrated in the discussion. References: Bruce R., Gilly C. M. & Graham, J. L. 1998. 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Viewed on April 12, 2011 from http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/bp/app/fred/Catalog/0131738607/pdf/Ch.%205%20revised.pdf Read More