Japanese Corporate in China: Cross-Cultural Management Problem - Essay Example

Japanese Corporate Culture-China Topic: Japanese Corporate in China - Cross-Cultural Management Problem Institution's Name 19th December 2008 Abstract This paper would seek to examine the corporate culture existing within Japan and how if incorporated in China could result in cross-cultural management problems. This paper would introduce vital elements of the Japanese corporate culture within a Chinese environment and how certain negative factors could come into play in terms of cultural and managerial issues. The Japanese culture can be compared to one of the more predominant working systems in the world; the American system. The paper would initially examine the actual culture itself and then examine it in a Chinese setting. The Japanese corporate culture is such that it believes in offering longer employment lines with fewer layoffs. The American system on the other hand, is quite different as it believes in hiring people as long as it is profitable for the company to do so. Hence, the employment period can be quite short lived. The main focus in the Japanese system is on seniority rather than the work itself. The career graph is therefore, highly regulated, expected and, overall an automatic feature. The pattern of the work is itself quite general in comparison to the American working system which is much more specialized. The rate of promotion within the Japanese work culture is also quite slow in comparison to the American system in which the promotion rate is much faster. The permanent employees are considered to be more of general sort rather than specialists in their own fields. The Americans stress heavily on the shorter term goals as compared to the Japanese whose main focus lies on the longer term goals. The Japanese working environment is considered to be quite different from the American as the in the American culture the individual managers makes the key decisions and work individually while in the Japanese environment, there are groups of managers who collectively make decisions. In the Japanese system, the focus is on maintaining and fostering longer term relationships with the employees rather than the rules themselves in order to make sure that the corporate objectives and goals are being met by the company. Such a mechanism can be defined as more of an informal one as the focus is on the employees rather than on the rules themselves. Since the focus is on the employees and not on the rules, the Japanese strongly believe in a system of honor in which they strongly believe in the employees to act on goodwill and faith. By having such a system, it becomes pretty apparent that the interest in the employees is not merely restricted to the work place only but also extends to the home place as well. The American system focuses only on the work place of the employees having interest in the objectives rather than the employees themselves. The Japanese strongly adhere to equality and on a strong task orientation. The y give low priority to the former hierarchical considerations as the current are considered to be supreme. Individualism is not given much priority and the main work is done by the teams and project groups. Since, the focus is on the employees the groups are considered as equals. Though individuals are considered to be significant members, all groups are treated alike. The way of handling the tasks and the problems are by having a problem centered approach. The Japanese focus is the work itself -all the team members heavily focused and committed to the main goal. Since as outlined above, the main focus are on the employees themselves rather than on the goals, hence the team managers use comprehensive suggestion systems in which quality circles are always on hand in order to record the employee feedback. The employees concerns and suggestions are always listened-making them utmost priority. The recruitment of these people is done by judging them on the basis of their educational background. The top companies usually end up hiring students' form the most prestigious universities and the following people have to make do with smaller sized companies and corporations. As a result of the team managers and the lower subordinates working together, the resulting changes are quickly tackled and implemented. Such a work culture has been referred to as the guided missile work culture and though it has been successfully implemented in places like Ontario, Canada where the workers suggestions for improvements in the production of Corolla were given much credence. The above description of a working culture can be used to describe the work environment of mostly larger companies as the smaller companies adhere to slightly different working environment. But for the purpose of this paper, it would assume the above model to be as the representative for the overall working culture in Japan. The main aim of this paper would be to point out the ways that by enforcing the above model in Chinese environment in order to analyze the cross cultural problems that would arise from the existence of such a scenario. The example can be quoted of some Chinese workers who were sent to Japan and their frustration with the working culture showed that there were deep seated differences between the Chinese working culture and the Japanese are far more than perceived. It has been shown that the Chinese working perception is actually closer to the west than originally thought. These cultural differences or rather the cultural tendencies act as major influences accounting for the varying work cultures. However, how much importance is actually given to these differences can result in the actual differences and similarities. The historical perceptions and the development of certain traits resulted in creating different environments in which the behaviors were shaped accordingly. China has suffered from the existence of dynasties and governments which had their own agendas and conflicts while on the other hand Japan was a nation which had qualities of an enriched civilization. Chinese culture was much more diverse and varied than the Japanese. The Chinese perception of themselves was that of being sovereign and an unassuming authority not allowing foreign influence to take place. While on the other hand, the Japanese were taken as more open to external influences. Therefore, due to the basic cultural differences that have had their roots in history itself, the management structures that came about were quite different and the mindsets of each nation were not suitable for the other' working environment. (Moore 1967) In China education is a form of training the person rather than imparting the skill itself. The Chinese form of Confucianism is such that it strongly believes in the virtue of education itself as it is the training of the man's thoughts and his actions. Japanese corporate culture is such that all round training takes place-as as result of their version of the Confucianism. In such a working environment, the emphasis is on the training that takes place after graduation and the employees focus is not on one major specialty but rather on a number. The Japanese work on a code of honor, in which the emphasis is on training the employees for a specific work culture rather than on the skills acquired. Hence, the differences have cropped up from the very perception of education itself as while one is educating to train for a culture the other is doing so for the imparting process of the skills. Another distinctive feature of the Japanese culture which has not achieved the same importance in the Chinese work culture is the Confucian value of Sempai-Kohai relationship which can be seen evident in the fraternity, working culture of Japan. In this relationship, stress is laid upon the seniority of one's rank and experience. The young lot is considered to be in the training process and the seniors are given prime importance whether it be the academic or professional life. While it has been practiced in China, it has provided the unique cultural aspect to Japan for which it was well-known throughout the world. The Japanese ideal of the family or a group and its role in the working environment is also quite different from that on the Chinese culture further creating g problems between managerial issues between the two. The Chinese perception of building and fostering relations is through a system of family connections and its extensions while the Japanese system is pretty different. The Japanese rely on a system of socializing and keeping primary business associates rather than family members who are kept apart from business connections. (Moore 1967) The Chinese concept of a group is closer to that of the American system rather than the Japanese. According to the Chinese version of the Confucianism, the ideal is part of the group but that does not mean by any means that his behavior will be governed by that group entirely. As a comparison to this, the Japanese concept of a group it that of attaining collective success as a contrast to the focus on the individual success. The Chinese strongly believe in the individual and his strengths. In fact, the individuals were those who struggled against the political or governmental autonomy of their leaders. The Chinese system of family importance is pretty much evident but the Japanese has changed as now more importance is given to contract building and making relations with outsiders.(Singer, 1992) The Chinese civilization has faced several invasions including that of the Mongols while the Japanese have not welcomed any invasions. The Chinese have integrated these elements as a part of their culture and existing system while the Japanese have not done so. They alienated any new social reform -strictly adhering to their own code and system. Hence, for the Chinese workers to adapt to such a system would itself be pretty difficult. (Legge 1891) Even the method of communication is different which in itself a huge issue is for a firm as communication lines are pretty important for a corporation. While the Chinese use metaphors for the purposes of an analytic and symbolic communication, the Japanese language is more inclined towards obfuscation. While the Chinese adhere to a system of using symbols and metaphorical language, the Japanese on the other hand prefer a language which is more ambiguous and has double meanings as well. As result, the final clarity is difficult to predict hence making things pretty difficult for any Chinese worker. The Chinese may like to have some level of indirectness but there should be some way of interpreting the results. Japanese like nuances and unspoken words while the Chinese prefer a more direct style of work. In the contracts or even the method of arguments, the Chinese prefer more direct methods of communication.(Dikoter 1982) This difference can create huge problems for the company as a Chinese worker would not be able to discern these nuances and unspoken hints which Japanese would be able to understand. Communication is used by Managers to get tasks done but if the worker is unable to understand what is being said then that could create major problems in delivering the work itself. The Japanese culture is such that though do negotiate regarding other details', the prices more or less are considered to be stable. Even the prices within shops are more or less fixed and the customers do not usually haggle. The Chinese culture however, is pretty different as the people believe in bargaining as a vital part of their culture and traditions. Therefore, their contractual agreements are also more flexible than the ones win Japan in which the prices are considered to be fixed. The Chinese haggle over the pricing in the business sector as if it was a means of sport and entertainment for them. The Japanese attach great importance to the time factor which for them is the essence of an activity. The evidence can be seen from the examples of people who have worked in Japanese firms and have experienced a rigid system of schedules and timetables. In order to display manners, the employees need to show respect for efficiency and time keeping. A study which was carried out in the USA today (1985), a report which outlined the efficiency and time keeping faculties of the United States to that in the Japan. It was evident that time was considered to be a vital element of the Japanese working culture. The Chinese also consider time to be a vital element of their culture but the extent of rigidity can be compared. The Chinese are more used to working in the "space" sort of environment while the Japanese in time. Therefore, concepts such as just-in-time and quality control can be more difficult to comprehend in China as in comparison to in Japan. The Japanese also adhere to a stricter economical policy while the Chinese do not do so-. The above arguments have shown major differences existing within the Japanese and the Chinese systems. These basic underlying differences have come about due to cultural differences which came about due to historical differences and the existed of different social system which resulted in different mindsets. The working culture differences could result in cultural clashes resulting in major managerial turbulence. This paper had to provide an overview of the reason for the differences between the cultures which create an unfavorable environment for the managers to operate in. Difference in the communication lines, methodology, skill training etc all are important elements of a workforce and if these basic constituents are highly different then that can create huge issues for the manager. The recommendations that would be provided relating to these issues and their management would be provide proper training to the workers from the other regions in order to prepare them working culture. Besides training workshops and period, the workers need to be given introductory classes and warned about the differences so that if they are willing to take up the task than they would be held responsible for the cultural clashes as they were warned about the differences before the initiation. The workforce would need to introduce to these changes over a certain period of time rather than from the onset in order to allow them to get adjusted to these differences. Not only would the workforce need to adjust, but even the manager would need to take initiative and show more flexibility in order to deal more appropriately with these issues. The managers would have to ensure that the workforce recruited from other areas be allowed greater flexibility and time in order to get used to the cultural differences. Hence, through a number of coordinated and co-operated efforts, the management and the workforce would be able to overcome these difficulties. 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