Business Management Practice in Korea - Assignment Example

Business Management Practice in Korea Abstract: The business management practice is a vital factor for nay organization. There are different kinds of business organizations and they follow different kinds of business practices for their organizations. However, the motivational factors are very much important for any organizations. Organizational behaviors depend on the cultural values and the faith in the cultures of the respected communities. The aim of this paper is to find out the best possible business management practice. It has been seen that in the time of the global financial crunch some of the Asian countries survived the financial punch. The reason of this recordable fact can be the reason of the different business practices in this continent. The most of the countries in Asia follow the teachings of Confucius. The traditional approaches towards the culture and business had given a great outcome to some of the Asian countries. However, the organizational theories of F.W. Taylor, E.G. Mayo, A. Maslow, F. McGregor and F. Herzberg have a great importance in the recent business organizations. The motivational factors are changing. Money is not the only factor for motivating employees; there are some factors like job satisfaction, recognition and hygiene are very important. This paper will try to rectify all the important aspects of these traditional business practice approaches. Aim: The aim of the paper is to investigate the proper way of practicing the management to achieve the best possible outcome. The recent business scenarios are very much focused on the positive outcomes. However, the present scenario in the business culture is changing and it is changing with the improvisation of the proper blend of traditional organizational behavioral approaches and the modern culture. Different countries have different approach towards the corporate behaviors. The basic factors are same to justify the suitable organizational behaviors. Successful business management usually requires the implementation of an appropriate management structure and culture together with effective methods of managing the behavior and attitude of the business workforce. This particular paper would take an attempt to find out all the aspects of the organizational behavioral approaches of the work of F.W. Taylor, E.G. Mayo, A. Maslow, F. McGregor and F. Herzberg. Introduction: Since the last few decades United States of America (USA) has shown a great endeavor towards the business growth and improvements. USA has always given a great performance towards the development of the business culture among them as well as to the world and that is the reason US is always portrayed as the top nation in the world. USA has always maintained a very healthy business relation with most of the countries in the world to create a global market. Due to the virtue of globalization the international market has become the global market. And there are many behavioral approaches are practiced. However, the traditional approaches of works of the legends like F.W. Taylor, E.G. Mayo, A. Maslow, F. McGregor and F. Herzberg are always welcome in the present business culture. It is very important to understand the socio-economic structure of any country to do business or to set up a new industry. United Sates of American (USA) is a mixture of many races, cultures and religions; it is the best known cosmopolitan country in the world. The free mind and mixed cultural balance have made USA the powerful business nation in the world. Business culture: The global business cultures have changed different part of the world follow the different ways of maintaining the proper business culture. The Asian business culture is far more different than that of the business cultures in other countries. However, the Asian business is growing and it has shown a stable attitude towards the development of the organizational culture. The confusion ideology in the Asian countries has given a great advantage towards the development of the business environment. Confucian Ideology: Confucianism is mainly of a socio-cultural behavior than a religion which has given a great boost towards the business culture in S. Korea, China and many other South East Asian countries. The basic Confucian ideologies focus on five types of relations, each of them has clear duties. They are “Ruler to people”: The ruler demands absolute loyalty and obedience from his people. “Husband to wife”: Husband rules over the wife. “Parent to children”: Children should always obey their parents without asking any questions. “Older to younger”: Aged people should always be respected by the young people. “Friend to friend”: Friends should be loyal to each other and should be helpful to each other, dishonesty is a social crime and demands punishments. These Confucian thoughts are smoothly blended within the business culture and environment. (Genzberger 1994, 137-139). In any Asian company in these countries, the boss is the ruler and the father figure within the organization, workers have to obey the boss and work accordingly for the betterment of the company. Women are not given much importance in the work culture, most of the time they are given inferior roles such as secretary, however extra ordinary talents may differ some cases for the women in business environment. (Genzberger 1994, 137-139). Chwulsin or social affiliation is given a great importance in Korean business culture. It is extremely important to know one’s social affiliation or the chwulsin in S. Korea. When an organization hires manpower they may tend to hire applicants with same chwulsin. (Song, 2005, 12-14). Asian companies have high level of vertical hierarchy and centralization where decision making power depends on higher authority. However, even though the ruling power is hierarchical it is also glorified with the Korean concept inwha, which focuses on harmony between the same rank of people or employees. (South Korean Management Style, N.d). The traditional approaches: The traditional organizational behaviors are focused on the organizational behavioral works of F.W. Taylor, E.G. Mayo, A. Maslow, F. McGregor and F. Herzberg. The Scientific Management theory of the F.W. Taylor: F.W. Taylor developed the idea of scientific management during the late 1880. He published his principle of scientific management in the year of 1911. He showed the way to the organization for the best production process by the scientific approaches. There are some systematic approaches which should be followed by the organizations and they are stated bellow according to the concept of Taylor. The principle of Taylor’s theory: Taylor believed that the time and effort put in for the production of one unit of products can be monitored and if the amount of time given can be reduced and the output can be increased by the proper division of labor. According to Taylor the scientific management can be very efficient to increase the productivity. There are basically four major principles are there according to Taylor and they are explained below (Jones, 2009, p 48) Principle one: The workers performance must be studied carefully, all the information related to the job. All informal information related to the knowledge the workers possess should be gathered and the experiments should be conducted to find out the best division of labor. In this principle the time and motion study was very much important. Principle two: Once the new methods are generated with the followings of the principle one, then they must by codified for better performance and the written rules should be maintained for the better outcome. According to Taylor the new advanced methods should always be recorded. Principle three: The selection of the skilled worker should be practiced. The selection procedure should be conducted carefully to identify the workers who possess the skills and abilities that are required for better out come. These skilled workers should be trained accordingly for the best performance and the establishment of the rules. Principle four: Establishment of the acceptable level of performance for a work should be done. After this the development of the pay system should be generated and the rewards should be given to the best performers. In this last principle Taylor explained that the incentives or rewards process should be followed for increasing the efficiencies of the workers. Workers should be motivated with the incentives. These four principles should be followed properly for the implication of the scientific management system for the better outcome. Nowadays most of the public and private sector follow the Taylor’s theory for the better results from the fellow employees. Most of the sales organizations use incentive schemes for pull up the sales figure. From software companies to insurance companies everyone uses the incentive schemes. For most of the value driven work the incentive schemes play a vital role. However, for some stereotype jobs the incentive schemes are not very much effective. Mostly in the business environment the private organizations use the incentive schemes. The theory of E.G. Mayo: Mayo contributed in a higher manner in the field of human relation management. The theory of human relation plays a vital role in the field of contemporary management system. Mayo tried to focus on the employee satisfaction. According to Mayo the employee satisfaction is a very vital determinant of the productivity and performance (Hoque, 2006, p 20). According to the Mayo the psychodynamics drove the behaviors of the worker and the labor conflicts were basically a form of group psychopathology (Grint, 2000, p 313). The principle of the human relation became a great initiative in today’s life. Mayo’s creation the Human Problems of Industry became one of the biggest hits in the. The Human Problems of Industry became one of the best seller in it’s time and it is been reviewed by many academic press and any popular publishing organizations (Grint, 2000, p 313). Mayo’s theory is applicable in most of the organizations. However, the theory is been modified and improvised by many philosophers. And, the basic principle about the theory is been practiced in both he public and private sector companies. The theory of A. Maslow: The theory of Maslow is one of the most well-known theories in the field of organizational behavior. Even though the application of the theory is not practically practiced by the organizations still this theory is known as one of the most successful theory. The theory of needs hierarchy by Maslow: The basic concept of the needs is explained in this theory. And many dozens of needs are classified into five main categories. The psychological needs are the base of the theory. The food, air, water, shelter are the basic needs for any human. Next on the hierarchy the safety is very much important for most of the human beings and also most of the employees after the get their basic needs. The need for secure and suitable environment is very important in any circumstances. Most of the organizations provide health insurance to the employees and the main reason behind it to provide safety to the employees to keep them happy and free to work accordingly towards the development of the successful environment. There are many other needs are associated in the theory. However, the needs of the self esteem comes very critical in the human behavior while everyone is satisfied with the other needs bellow the self esteem needs. The need of love and affection are very much important. The motivational factors vary person to person. The self esteems can be achieved by the personal achievements. The top level of the Maslow’s model is the self-actualization. Self actualization is the need in the higher level (Hill, 2008, p 320). People who have the desire to make something new are considered as the needy people for self-actualization. The need hierarchy theory is applicable to most of the people but the motivational factors related to the needs depend on the person to person. People are motivated by different needs at the different levels and most of the organizations should realize the importance of the motivational factors and the needs. The Theory of X and theory of Y: McGregor: The X and Y theory of McGregor known as one of the most important theory for the managers in most of the organizations. According to the theory of X the behavior of the manager and the management style differs accordingly to the behaviors of the employees. According to the theory X. the average person do not like to work and they avoid if it is possible (Shajahan, 2007, p 14). If the people dislike working then they should be tightened with the strict rules in the organization for the better outcome. According to the McGregor the theory of X refers to the strict rule and punishments for the poor performers. It is very important to understand how to punish the employees. It can be a demotion or it can be a penalty in a financial term. The theory of Y depicts that average people does not dislike work. If an employee is committed with his or her work then he or she will work accordingly without any external influences. The creativity, self actualization, imaginations are very strongly applicable for the people who are committed with their work. Most of the modern organizations only partially uses the theory and tap the human characters for the better out come. The theory of X and Y are practiced in most of the organizations. However, the managers who go for the theory Y have the positive view points towards the corporate environment. The hidden potentials of the employees can be recognized by the proper motivation and the identification of these characters will help the employees and the organizations towards the achievements of the organizational goals. Herzberg’s two Factor theories: The motivational factors are the unitary concept in the corporate organizations. However, the Herzberg’s two factor theory have focused on two main factors and they are Motivators and the Hygiene factors. The two factor theory basically distinguishes between the motivators and the hygiene factors. The main motivators are the sense of achievement, recognition, enjoyment of jobs, promotions, growth opportunity, advancement etc. These are the motivators for most of the employees in private and public sectors. The growth and recognitions are very prominent motivators in the organizations. In the other hand the Hygiene factors are money, company policies, working environments, supervision, relation with the boss, job satisfaction and work rules. According to Herzberg the hygiene factors do not work as the powerful motivators but they do prevent people from getting dissatisfied with their jobs (Lingard and Rowlinson, 2005, p 299). Behavioral approaches in the business culture: There are many factors related to the theories of organizational behavior. However, the best practice would be a proper combination of incentives, motivations, job satisfaction and other basic needs. Most of the private and public organizations rely on the incentive factors for the betterment of the performance. However, there are great competitions in the market within the organizations for the retentions of the employees and to retain the skilled workers most of the organizations provide financial increments and better incentive packages. However, the motivational factors and the inter-organizational behaviors play a very vital role for the best performance. Conclusion: There are many kinds of organizations in the global prospective. Different countries have different ideologies behind the organizational culture. However, the core concepts are focused in most of the organizational theories discussed above. The organizational structures are changing gradually. The stratified organizations are following the division of the decisions among the lower level managers too. Wal-Mart store managers can take their own decisions related to their departments. This process gives a self satisfaction and recognition among the employees. This is very important for each and every manager to understand the importance of the factors called motivation for achieving the better results. References Genzberger, C. (1994). Korea-business: the portable encyclopedia for doing business with Korea. California: World Trade Press. Grint Keith (2000). “Work and society: a reader”. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. Hill. (2008).”Principles Of Management”. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Hoque Zahirul. (2006). “Methodological issues in accounting research: theories, methods and issues”. Beds: Spiramus Press Ltd. Jones (2009). “Contemporary Management 5E”. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Lingard H and Rowlinson Stephen M. (2005). “Occupational health and safety in construction project management”. Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis. Shajahan S. (2007) “Organisation Behaviour”. New Delhi: New Age International. Song, J. 2005. The Korean Language: structure use and context. London: Routledge. N.d. “South Korean Management Style”. WorldBusinessCulture.Com. http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/South-Korea-Management-Style.html. Accessed on: July, 16. 2010. Read More