Chinese versus Traditional Western Management Styles - Research Paper Example

Running head: chinese versus traditional western management styles 18th March . Introduction Management styles differ from one country to another, and it takes considerable historical and cultural insight into local conditions to understand the processes. Non Chinese residents may find it difficult to understand the language and the management used to carry on business transactions. The different historical and cultural background of China and western countries differs in terms of management style. The paper seeks to discuss major characteristics of Chinese style of management and how it differs from traditional western management styles by analyzing the people management, organizational structures as well as decision making process for managers. People management Most people under the Chinese management styles do receive instructions or duties from the managers though their. In the western part people work like managers since of the two –way communication they use while making decisions. While in China people have to be managed together with the managers due to benevolent father system. The Chinese management style is benevolent father where the parent will have to supervise the children on everything that needs to be done. The parent system of management believes in the discipline and the attention to details and manages the people at a micro level. This means that the benevolent manager spends a lot of time caring for the personal welfare of the employees, incase of conflict the benevolent system will have to solve the conflict in amicable manner. The benevolent system is regarded as part of the job to supervise all the employees in the organization. According to Michael (1996), the Chinese style of management is different from the traditional western management since the western emulates managers who are resourceful democrat. This means that if one is the manager one will set the vision and strategy for the business but the company will have to empower the subordinate to execute. Western style of management encourages two –way communication with the employees and allows bottom decision making. In terms of working hours, the management style of Chinese is still different from the western traditional style of management. Ilan (2003) states that the economy of China is growing at a breakneck pace and long working hours for the employees is normal in business. The attitude towards time management and work is highly considered in China where an employee will have to work for so many hours and expected output should be high. Life balance is very different in China and the traditional western management style. Western management cannot work beyond 10pm since it is too late. The traditional western management teams do not want to be called around the clock for work but one has to wait until it is in the morning to go to work. This is a major difference since a Chinese will work for so many hours but a western resident will just work for only few hours under normal circumstance. The Chinese style of management does not encourage two- way communication as the western part where the employees are given a chance to make decisions in the business. On the other hand, Chinese style of management is efficient in carrying out missions and where quick results are expected in the business. Organizational structures The management model of Chinese and western management is different in the model, for example the traditional western organizational structures are system oriented meaning that in terms of technology they are all computerized. This is because the performance must be measured accordingly since one is paid according to the performance of the work accomplished. This is the reason why many western companies are successful since the mode of management and how they operate changes in a faster way. According to Denise (2002) for example, the employees are allowed to communicate with other employees to make sure that the job is done. Similarly, one can use any means available to complete the work in time and borrow any ideas either from the colleagues or from other areas. This means that the employees work in an open environment where they can go to any department in the company to ask for assistance. On the other hand, Chinese operate under hierarchical organization structure where the leaders of the company will have to direct others for the attainment of goals. The managers lead the workers and the managers are given directions by the board from the family. The Chinese follow top-down communication which means that decisions have to be made from top management to employees. Executive are the only one who can make decisions thus the managers and the workers will have to follow the order accordingly. Chinese consider human as the most important resources in the enterprise, as argued by Malcolm and pat (2002). General management system is a set of management actual operating system that is developed in the management system which only involves human, the system and innovation, as compared to the traditional western style of management which involves planning in advance and then the function of management to follow later. Traditional Western management usually incorporates decision making, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. The Chinese general management system usually proposes an individual, system and innovation for the success of the business though they still consider the other function of management (Min, 2004). This kind of general management system method remolds the multidimensional individual in the management system. This ensures that one is going to transform the system and carries on with further innovation. This means the combination of management functions and person, system and innovation will make the Chinese style of management to operate in a higher level. The general management system involves shareholder resources, network organization structure, rational decision making among others that make the chine style of management to be associated with innovation. Decision making for the mangers The Chinese style of the management is different from the traditional western management for example in China managers have to be directed by the executives on what to do. According to Vivian (2000) the managers will have to supervise the employees but they are under the top executive. The western management on the other hand normally allows managers to make their own decisions. On their studies Alon and John (2008) indicate that mangers are given the priority to manage the company without executives, so the manager is the boss and has to dictate what to be done in the company. The overall duty is to make sure that the company is progressing well and incase of a problem then the manager can involve the executives. The aim is for the attainment of goals in the company in near future. The traditional western management firms are run by professional managers who are replaced by other professional managers in case one has retired or if one is fired. This means that the traditional western management will have to choose the next chief executive among them (Thompson, 2009). The chief executive officers are driven by the need to attain the mission and vision of the organization where they actually state that money is less important to them as compared to what the management is going to achieve. In China, management is from the family members where there is more freedom of the executive and the board in China than in the traditional management style. Since labor force in China has been going down, the management is more concerned in labor costs and relying on suppliers who abuse the workers right by paying them less than a standard living wage of an individual. This means that China leadership as per today is different than it was before since China is looking for companies development and economies this is because the country is seeking access to the world capital markets. The idea is to move and hire professional managers who will employ leadership styles which are keener on the traditional western style of management (Jie, 2003). The work output of Chinese will be of high quality despite long working hours the Chinese are looking for professional employees like the western management. The western management usually offer job on the basis of competence and thus the western management recruits few individuals but the work output is high and the quality of work. If the Chinese continue with the trend of employing professional employees the competition will be stiff between the Chinese and the traditional western style of management. Despite improved leadership skills to Chinese, the cultural difference between the western and the Chinese will remain since both have different historical and geographical differences. Simon (1990) argues that the drastic shrinkage of the Chinese state to a private sector and rapid expansion of private sector on both domestic and foreign investment describes the Chinese transformation. The capitalism ideas boosted the economic growth of Chinese compared with the western socialist ideas. . Conclusions Competence for both Chinese and traditional western styles of management can be of great help to both since there would be no need to look at the cultural practice of individual but the capability and professionalism of individual. The political involvement of both if not considered, one can venture from different countries thus having market segment that will boost demand of Chinese and western region. References Alon, I and John, M. 2008. The Globalization of Chinese Enterprises. New York: Palgrave McMillan. Denise T. 2002. Business Strategy and National Culture. London: Cheltenham Press. Ilan A. 2003. Chinese Culture, Organizational Behavior, and International Business Management. Berlin: Springer. Jie T. 2003. The Changing Face of Chinese Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Malcolm, W and Pat, J. 2002. Managing Across Culture. New York: Amacom. Michael, W. 1996, The Chinese Family Business Enterprise, California Management. California: California Press. Min C. 2004. Asian Management Systems. New York: New York Press. Simon. G. 1990. Redding, the Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Thompson, K. 2009. Learning from Economic Experiments in China and India’, Academy Of Management Perspectives, New York: New York Press. Vivian ,l. 2000 .A Review of the Chinese Cultural Influences on Chinese Enterprise Management. San Francisco: Prentice Hall. Read More