Cultural Differences Between The East And West Ideologies Essay

Japan has similarities and differences in compared to North Americans; however by becoming aware of Japan’s cultural norms it will be easier to understand Japan’s business etiquettes.

In Japan, for all its business and technological skills, social values take priority over purely economic ones. Reid's interesting description of a new-employee ceremony at a large Japanese corporation, in this case the electronic giant NEC, highlights his celebration of how Confucian ritual dignifies life in the Japanese workplace.

Hierarchy and status are considered highly important in both Japan and Mexico in addition to a strong separation between the work and home life. Both Mexico and Japan rely on strong work relationships and loyalty in addition to having top down style of commination and information flow. Both countries have a belief in collectivism over individualism, according to Hofstede’s Value Dimensions, with Japan slightly higher on the index, similarly for the masculinity index. The implications of these characteristics can be viewed in each countries’ management approach. These societal values and characteristics influence each countries’ business behavior and methodologies. (Deresky, 2014)

Eastern culture and Chinese culture are unique in many ways. Many ideas and customs in the eastern world account for it’s unique qualities. One country in the east that is an exceptional representation of eastern culture is China. China’s geography, prehistory, role of women, philosophies, and culture, are factors that separate China from the rest of the world and shape China into the unique country it is today.

Morgan used the metaphor organizations as culture to frame the complex relationships that exist within organizations. Examining organizations through metaphor allows one to imagine concepts and ideas through their own experiences. According to Morgan the power of metaphors is their ability to challenge innovative reasoning. Metaphors combine language and thought to develop new non-literal meanings, when applied they shape and enhance our reality. According to Morgan there has been extensive research regarding the metaphor of organizations as culture. Culture became a hot topic following the introduction of Westernization management styles into the Japanese commercial markets (p. 120). Morgan says that “organization itself is a cultural phenomenon” (p. 120). Culture is a system of knowledge, ideology, values, laws and day to day rituals. By considering organizations as culture, we can focus on the concepts related to the values, beliefs, knowledge, and ethos of the organization. As such we can use this metaphor to understand leadership and organizational behavior through the language and symbols that are most meaningful to us personally. Employees who wish to remain in their organization do best if they understand the components of the culture where they are employed.

One of the most important facets for a successful business in the twenty-first century is how it communicates with their customers, partners, suppliers and governments from different countries and cultures from around the world. For a business to operate with any modicum of success in Japan, you must possess a basic understand of how their society functions. As a result of learning about the geography, climate, history, religion, cultural rituals, politics, education system, and the role of the family; it will allow a business or business person the insight needed to understand how society functions and the method in which business is conducted.

This leads on to the potential for risk and reward associated with adopting ethnocentric business practices. Successful foreign firms in Indonesia generally devise management systems to interface as far as possible with local approaches, accommodating hierarchy and encouraging social interaction in the workplace . While these may appear less efficient from an Australian perspective, they usually suit the Indonesian

We live in a world that changes every day. The sapling grows into a towering tree. The thick trunk is cut off. The children are all grown up or are starting puberty. Parents are getting old. Children are raised or nurtured by parents. And we have the responsibility to support our family. Guns aren’t legal. The marijuana becoming legal. Most of these changes are reasonable or natural changes. The rest of the changes might be totally adverse, which reminds me to rethink about which took place before. Sometimes these changes occur from a word or a scene.

Throughout its history, mankind has doubtless proved its obsession with innovation. Inventions, especially those of concrete nature, have purposes majorly fixed on increasing efficiency. Conversely, many of mankind’s abstract inventions, such as the myths of classical Greece, have purposes more intent on satiating the curiosities of and providing comfort to mankind. An interesting mixture of both of these types of invention is time. More specifically, how the effects of culture and an individual’s personal experiences affect perception and attitude toward time.

Japan, the land of the rising sun, is the world’s fifth-largest economy by purchasing power parity and the fifth-largest exporter and importer in the world. Japan’s main export and import is in industry manufacturing, machinery and equipment. It’s very important to understand how to do business correctly with the Japanese. According to Hofstede, Japan is a high power distance, collective, masculine, high uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and high context culture.

In Japan, business organisations use wa for practice, which is different from China that use guanxi as their practice. Both of them have different use for the organisation but they will provide many benefit to them. The competitive advantage that Japanese’s firm receive from wa or teamwork is actually base on its own characteristics. Wa refer to the value that Japanese give to loyalty and consensus. According to Altson (1989), Wa is the existence of mutual corporation that encourage the employees to put all of their energy and work together to achieve the common goal. Personal interest is disregarded that all of the member in the group need to discard the idea of personal gain before the group benefit. However, this does not mean that members will not receive any benefit from their work but will be rewarded after the group’s goal is achieved. Group membership is more important than specific position. Wa demand employees to work as the team and trust each other during the process. Japanese think that do business with friends is better and having a proper introduction will initiate the business relationship to be established. Contract was viewed as the personal agreement in Japan and it will change when conditions change. Social relationship will be formed through the third parties or mediators who will smooth thing out for both parties and are respected from both of them.

The perspective of culture, however, might be quite relative. Since culture can be learned, obtained, adapted, and even transmitted from one society to another. Throughout the development of human race, culture may also rely on many variables, including knowledge, religion, customs, and habits. Therefore, Eastern and Western cultures mentioned below are relatively "right" in most circumstances, not all of them. It is widely believed that parent's own heritage can have a powerful impact on parenting style. Many people argue that the concept of individualism and collectivism is the primary difference between Eastern and Western culture (Nisbett, R. E., 2003). A list of 18 pairs of Eastern and Western cultural differences adapted by Rev. Tran

Kaizen has been an intricate part of Japanese company culture since post WWII. Japanese culture is well suited for implementing kaizen due to its strong sense of a team mentality. Teamwork is vital to kaizen. Every employee must believe and participate in kaizen and be sustained by management for kaizen to work. Each employee must understand that Kaizen is good for the company, good for their fellow workers, and good for themselves. According to a Farris (2013) American culture it is slightly different. Separation between lower level employees and management is distinctly pronounced. American work philosophy is predominately “if it aint broke, don 't fix it,” but this is a sin for kaizen philosophy. Change

However, more importantly, it was the cultural clash that brought the JV into a poor state initially. As Adler, Doktor, and Redding (1986) wrote in their article, with the growing shift of business from the Atlantic to the Pacific Basin, East-West cultural differences are becoming increasingly significant. Research in developmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology shows that there are major differences among the cognitive processes of people from different cultures. In the era of the global corporation, cultural diversity has to be recognized, understood, and appropriately used in organizations. It is suggested that cross-cultural management would greatly benefit from comparative studies considering the impact of the cognitive aspects of culture on managerial practice.

Primary conclusion of the interviews enabled us to see that each side was very aware hat they were managing side by side with a foreign management ethos. Furthermore, the meanings each side attributed to various management practises - meetings, plannings, everyday communication, differed dramatically and uncomfortably . From the interviews conducted , four variables were believed to have significant effect on the management style of the managers, and these variables were critical in shaping management styles in the three electronic plants. These four variables are: the initial culture established by the parent company, the level of budgetary control exercised by the home office, the role and influence of the Japanese managerial assigness in the day to day management of the transplants, and the country of origin of the transplants general manager.