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Essay / Recommendations on Management Style and Decision-Making Process
Table of ContentsIntroductionProblem Identification and AnalysisMotivate and LeadCommunicationRelationshipCommunicationRelationshipConclusionIntroductionGlobalization has accelerated the rapid growth of world economies that are primarily made up of cross-border trade goods and services. Economic globalization has caused the penetration of cross-border labor from different countries to the production level of enterprises (Gao, 2000). In this case, Company A established a joint venture in China five years ago and has recently wanted to be more active in the day-to-day management of the Chinese factory. Therefore, John, as an experienced cross-cultural management expert, has been responsible for the operations of the Chinese joint venture. The discrepancy between the cultural script and cultural pattern between John and his Chinese colleagues makes his management ineffective. In other words, things aren't going as successfully as expected. This report will illustrate its shortcomings and give recommendations on management style and decision-making process in three aspects, namely motivation and leadership, communication and relationships. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIdentifying and analyzing problemsMotivating and leadingAs an expat manager, who has been successful in other international joint ventures for his company, John tries to implement various executive actions to similarly improve efficiency within the Chinese organization. However, he found that all these restructurings do not make sense. When an organization is about to undergo transformation among senior management, the executive director, who is chosen for the transformation, must focus on getting the staff to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. To achieve this, an appropriate leadership style and motivation are crucial factors. Host country employees always have certain expectations and assumptions, called leadership prototypes, about their leader's image. Obviously, leadership prototypes vary from one culture to another (Gerstner & Day, 1994). The more a foreign manager matches the expectations of local workers, the more likely he or she will be considered an eligible leader. GLOBE research results provide typical manager attributes highlighted in 62 countries. There is a distinction between Chinese and American accents. However, John, as a representative American manager, fails to understand the differences between the leadership prototypes in these two countries, and then rushes to work on various radical rearrangements of his American leadership style. The United States is a higher prototype country than China, so there are many more variables affecting the assumptions people have about a leader (Gerstner & Day, 1994). This means that an expat manager like John must find a balance in advance between his own characteristics and the expectations of potential team members. The fundamental goal of leadership is to help employees realize their potential in their work (Deresky, 2017). Managers must first understand the real needs of employees in order to be able to satisfy them in the best way. Hofstede's cultural dimensions are a good starting point. Based on the uncertainty avoidance dimension, Chinese people prefer a stable and orderly work environment. John's sudden restructurings put him in an opposite position to the Chinese staff. Moreover, in a culture alsotight, people here want to work with a manager who looks like them. John's actions demonstrated his distrust of traditional Chinese people. According to the power distance view, Chinese workers focus on the relationship with their superiors. However, John does attempt to suppress unions made up of employees and does not consult them effectively. As for the collectivist dimension, the emphasis is on group work and social benefits in the Chinese organization, which means that the reallocation of salaries and job responsibilities cannot encourage employees to work harder. Considering the meaning of work, Chinese political beliefs possess many aspects of Chinese work motivation (Deresky, 2017). People here believe that they are part of their group and that one of their main responsibilities is to serve society (Deresky, 2017). On the other hand, in female-cultured Chinese workplaces, female workers focus on their relationships with their managers and colleagues. Executions such as firing managers, suppressing unions and encouraging individual competition will be recognized as undermining the harmony of their work.CommunicationAs John is an executive director who lacks language skills and experience Chinese, the first step for him is to identify and understand the local culture. . The practices for carrying out such actions aim to more effectively conduct cross-cultural participation and management practices before coming to China to manage the business (Lawrence, 2007). However, John, who can't wait to start work, doesn't realize that managers from different cultures have different worldviews. This means that the subjective reality of managers and the way of simplifying the complex reality are different (He & Liu, 2010). Furthermore, John did not downplay the distorting effects that might arise from cultural differences before coming to China, but only based it on his past personal experience. This attitudinal error causes John to consider existing information when decision-making is culturally constrained rather than objectively necessary. Meanwhile, during the first six months after starting work, John adjusted the company's salary and job responsibilities in the absence of effective consultation with the union. He also implemented a series of union reforms because he did not receive enough verbal opposition from top management in China. In fact, according to Hofstede's (2011) Individualism-Collectivism Index, compared to individualism, collectivism is a societal characteristic. In other words, unlike the individualistic culture of the United States, China is a collectivist culture. And it must promote decision-making from within the organizational structure rather than giving decision-making authority to just a few high-level staff members (Hofstede, 2010). To the extent that cultural differences lead to bounded rationality, communication is particularly important in the process of management decision-making and union reform. In this case, John does not effectively consult with unions to reduce subjective biases caused by cultural differences. At the same time, when communicating with the Chinese management team, he did not clearly distinguish the hidden meanings of silence in different cultures. Furthermore, John also ignored the possibility that silence represents refusal in intercultural communication. Obviously, the confidence of the employees and of John inthe business gradually gets lost due to lack of communication.RelationshipAt the micro level, the different elements of cultural composition, such as the relationship between employers and employees, and behavioral performance between employee and employee, etc. , all these elements have an impact on the operational development of the organization. These effects may not be easily noticeable, but they will to some extent subtly change the working atmosphere of the company. The case mentions that John's arrival in the Chinese company led to a decline in the morale and productivity of the company's employees. The main reason for this situation is the lack of basic trust between the employees and John. McDonald (2017) says that the emotions of the leader have a direct impact on the subordinates, that is, if the emotions of the leader are positive, then the working atmosphere of the whole company will be full of joy and happiness, and employees will be fully motivated to work. Conversely, if the manager's attitude is negative and lax, this will lead to unpredictable losses for the company. Apart from this, establishing a healthy and caring employer-employee relationship can be considered the key to the ultimate success and sustainable development of the business. A strong working relationship can make employees happy at work. This factor is important for Asian companies. A healthy working relationship allows employees to work efficiently, reduce conflict and build mutual trust (Business 2 Sell, 2015). When considering the result of the poor relationship between employer and employee, because John himself has little knowledge of Chinese culture and does not have sufficient understanding of the company's philosophy in the context of Chinese culture, John has little understanding of the importance of the idea of "relationship" related to Chinese business. The case mentions that John's trip to China was the first time he worked in a non-English speaking country. And John himself doesn't tend to be interested in Chinese culture. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for John to progress effectively in his management work. And this seems to easily cause bias and prejudice within the team. From a macro perspective, it is quite difficult to establish a relationship with the government for commercial purposes. The relationship between the Chinese government and business is both unique and complicated (Zhu, 2015). Lack of legal and economic knowledge of the Chinese commercial market. causes John to ignore the importance of the relationship in China. This is the main reason why John encountered such a difficult situation that Company A's joint venture license may not be renewed in a year. According to Trompenaars' (1993) dimensions theory, universalism emphasizes the importance of norms; we can only trust the one who respects the contract; the deal is the deal. On the other hand, place more emphasis on the relationship that can be developed during the course of business than on the existing contract; the person able to adapt to a changing situation is more trustworthy; the contract can be modified depending on the evolution of the situation (Trompenaars, 1993). John, as an expert on the universalist cultural country, overlooks the importance of relationships in doing business in China. 3. Recommendations 3. 1. Motivate and lead In order to better adapt to Chinese leadership prototypes, John must understand the attributes generally valued in China by the GLOBE program, and then adjust his abilities and views to meet their expectations. Since motivation is situational, it is more important to know everything about the relevant cultures, both.