Comparison of the National Cultures of Australia and the China - Coursework Example

Compare and Contrast the National Cultures of Australia and the China Introduction Due to globalisation, business transaction between developed countries and developing countries became very active. Along with the major changes in the structure and flow of the businesses today, developed countries continuously aim to increase their returns on investment by transferring the Western management practices all over the developing countries. (Jaegar, 1993) Thus, giving rise to the interest in the study of international human resource management (HRM). (Zanko, 2003; p. 75) As part of the international human resource management study, it is necessary for human resource manager(s) to be familiar with the national culture (McGaughey, Iverson, and De Cieri, 1997) and labour institution of different countries in order to determine the work related preferences of each nationality. The study of different national culture is beneficial to both domestic and international HRM since a lot of these competent employees have been shifting from developing to developed countries since the twentieth century. As part of the study, the differences between the national culture of Australia and China including the labour institutions; the HRD Theory and Concept behind the national culture of the two countries; its current implications on the Local and Global Responsiveness in Managing Human Resources; and the assumptions and limitations of the study will be discussed. Importance of Studying the Cultural Differences between Australia and China It is vital to deeply study the cultural differences between Australia and China since culture itself could highly influence the behaviour of individuals within a group. Eventually, the changes in their behaviour would result to the formation of a sub-culture. Culture forms the way in which social relations of a particular group are being structured and shaped (Clarke et al., 1976). Strong values represent a stable, long lasting beliefs which could greatly influence the perception and decision-making of an individual or employee. In fact, it is the culture that sets a standard to help us determine what is good from bad or what is morally right from wrong. (Sagie and Elizur, 1996) Since the culture and sub-culture of an organization shapes the employees’ values, it is important for HR managers to know more about the cultural differences of Australia and China. National Cultures of Australia and China Developed country such as Australia and developing country like China has contrasting characteristics in their socio-cultural environment due to their individual views regarding the nature of causation as well as the control over the outcomes in life. A lot of Western-based societies’ mentality considers the fact that they could control their environment and events in their life. On the other hand, societies of developing country view themselves as being at the mercy of their environmental events. In this context, the HRM practices within the organization in developing countries like China would normally practice an ‘external locus of control’; whereas organizations in developed countries like Australia would end-up practicing an ‘internal locus of control.’ Another differences in the assumption of cultural differences that could affect the HRM practice is the mind-set or belief with regards to human potential or capabilities and malleability. (Jaegar, 1993) Normally, Western-based developed country believes that human potential or capabilities is not limited and is highly creative. On the hand, developing country like China’s perception on human potential to be limited and is more or less fixed. (Jaegar, 1993) According to Onkvisit and Shaw (1993), China is known for its high context culture based on the behaviour of the Chinese people. The use of Chinese symbols, characters, or scripts is one of the evidence of the rich traditional culture which has originated around 2000 years ago. (Jizhong and Shan, 1997) Australia In Australia, the structure of their business operation is much flatter as compared to other developed countries. This is due to the egalitarian culture, the power relationship between the organizational levels, and the respect that has been earned by the Australian leaders as part of their authority. When it comes to HRM practice, Australian HRM management considers money as an important motivator on their employee including the working relationship within the organization. With an increase in their salary and wages and a good relationship among the employees, employees would commit more to their work. This is the result of an egalitarian culture in Australia. Egalitarian leadership style is practiced wherein the power distance between the top-level managers and the employees are narrow. Thus, employees are free to express their feelings to the top management staff. Leaders are expected to lead the team using a participatory approach in their decision-making process. China In the case of China, the CEO of the company would normally establish a good personal relationship among its employee. This has been a part of the Chinese etiquette for a long time. Chinese people also greatly value their time with their family during weekends. In most cases, Chinese businesses are done based on a personal level of networks instead of a formal meeting. With regards to the HRM practice in China, monetary rewards have become a common motivational factor for the Chinese employees. About 15 years ago, Chinese employees are highly motivated by the political or spiritual motivators. This is no long significant in China because of the country is already practicing industrialization. Today, Chinese managers invest on emotional network just like creating a paternalistic relationship with their employees instead of rewarding them with monetary promises alone. For many years, Chinese business people are practicing a more centralized way of doing business due to the political culture in China. HRM Theory and Concepts The HRM theories used in the current management in today’s business world have originated from the Western countries. (Jaegar, 1993) enabling a lot of countries to benefit on their economic success. A lot of developing countries like China are using the Western HRM practices despite the differences in the socio-cultural aspects, legal aspects, and political conditions. (Akin and Palmer, 2000) The adaptation of the Western HRM practices in the developing countries like China is possible and can be explained based on the ‘social comparison’ of the social identity theory. (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) People can simply compare and identify the difference between their own group of people against the group of successful team – i.e. in a successful Western-based company. Eventually, this group of people would adapt the major differences in the HRM practice to make it work according to their own national culture and the requirements of their labour institutions. At this point, the reshaping of the managerial values, attitudes and behaviours based on cross-cultural studies could affect the success of the transformation of the HRM practices. (Falkenberg, 1998; Westwood and Posner, 1997) ‘Culturally alien’ in the practice of HRM refers to the HRM concepts including the practices that has been copied by a company from an alien culture that has not been consciously studied and does not exactly support the existing values of the original source of the HRM concept. Basically, HRM practices are usually in accordance to the country’s economic, political, and cultural factors which in the end is used as a guide for employee’s work performances, assumptions, beliefs, and values. For many years, a lot of the HRM theorists believe that the HRM practices evolved throughout the period of Feudalism up to the time of socio-technology. Therefore, there is a need to innovate the HRM practice to make it work efficiently within the organization. Implications for Local and Global Responsiveness in Managing Human Resources Since most developing countries like China has blindly adopted the Western-based management theories in line with their hope to become economically successful, the transfer of these management theories and techniques based on the ideologies and value system of Western-based country, businesses in China may experience some organizational inefficiency and ineffectiveness along the process in case the HR manager fails to align the HRM concepts with the national culture of China. (Kanungo and Jaegar, 1993) Argument on the HRM Concept The difference between the culture in the Australia and the China greatly influences the type of HRM management application to a specific company. In most cases, the Western civilization is based on the use of machinery. On the other hand, the Oriental civilization is based more on its people. Even the cultural values with regards to working habit are also different. Regardless on how well the HRM concept is, it will not promise to give an organization a good outcome in case the HR manager fails to restructure the whole concept in accordance to the national culture of his/her employees. Strong culture or sub-culture is not easy to bend since it is bounded on individual beliefs and values. The only way for HR managers to make full use of these HRM concepts is to be able to apply the different culture to make the Western-based HRM concept works best for the benefit of the organization. Conclusion The national culture of a different countries should be incorporated with the existing Western-based HRM theories and practices in order to make work efficiently and in accordance to the culture and beliefs of developing countries like China. Failure to adapt the national culture and the guidelines of the labour institutions in a particular country with the HRM theories, concept, and practices will only entail more problems and difficulties on the part of the HR managers. Since we have entered the world of globalisation, HR managers should be able to adapt well with the beliefs, values, customs, and traditions of other countries since HR managers would be highly dealing with competitive individuals coming from different countries worldwide. *** End *** References: 1 Akin, G. and Palmer, I. (2000) ‘Putting Metaphors to Work for Change in Organizations’ Organizational Dynamics, 28(3), 67 – 79. 2 Clarke, J. et al. (1976) ‘Sub-Cultures, Cultures, and Class’ in Hall, S. and Jefferson, T. (Eds.) ‘Resistance Through Rituals Youth and Cultures in Post-War Britain’ Hutchinson, 9 – 69. 3 Falkenberg, A.W. 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(2003) ‘Change and Diversity: HRM Issues and Trends in the Asia Pacific Region’ Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 41(1), 75 – 87. Read More