Topic > Recommendations on management style and decision making

Index IntroductionIdentifying and analyzing problemsMotivating and leadingCommunicationReportCommunicationReportConclusionIntroductionGlobalisation has accelerated the rapid growth of global economies which are mostly made up of cross-border trade in goods and services. Economic globalization has led to the penetration of cross-border labor from different countries into the production level of enterprises (Gao, 2000). In this case, Company A started a joint venture in China five years ago and recently wants to be more active in the daily management of the Chinese factory. As a result, John, as an expert in cross-cultural management, was responsible for the Chinese operation of the joint venture. The divergence between cultural script and cultural schema between John and his Chinese colleagues makes his management ineffective. In other words, things do not develop as successfully as expected. This report will illustrate its shortcomings and provide recommendations on management style and decision making from three aspects, namely motivation and leadership, communication and relationship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Identifying and Analyzing Problems Motivating and Leading As an expatriate manager, who has been successful in other international joint ventures for his company, John seeks to implement various executive actions as well as improve efficiency within the Chinese organization. However, he found that all these renovations make no sense. When an organization is on the verge of transforming top management, the executive manager chosen for the transformation must focus on getting staff to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. To achieve this, the crucial factors are an adequate leadership style and motivation. Host country employees always maintain some existing expectations and assumptions, called leadership prototypes, about their leader's image. Obviously, leadership prototypes vary from one culture to another (Gerstner & Day, 1994). The better the fit between a foreign manager and local workers' expectations, the more likely the manager will be considered a suitable leader. Research findings from the GLOBE program provide typical manager attributes emphasized in 62 countries. There is a distinction between Chinese and American emphasis. However, John, as a representative American manager, does not understand the differences of the leadership prototype in these two countries, and therefore rushes to work with various radical rearrangements in his American leadership style. The United States is a higher prototypical country than China, so there are many more variables that influence people's assumptions about a leader (Gerstner & Day, 1994). This means that an expatriate manager like John must find a balance beforehand between his own characteristics and the expectations of the potential team member. The fundamental goal of leadership is to help employees realize their potential at work (Deresky, 2017). Managers must first understand the real needs of the employee in order to best satisfy them. Hofstede's cultural dimension is a good starting point. Based on the uncertainty avoidance dimension, Chinese people prefer a stable and orderly work environment. John's sudden restructuring places him in the opposite position to the Chinese staff. Also, in such a narrow culture, people here want to work with a manager who is similar to them. John's actions demonstrated his distrust ofcompared to traditional Chinese people. According to the power distance view, Chinese workers focus on their relationships with their superiors. However, John actually tries to remove the employee unions and does not consult them effectively. Regarding the collectivism dimension, in Chinese organization there is an emphasis on teamwork and group benefits, which means that redistribution of salaries and work 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 Chinese workplaces with a feminine culture, workers focus on relationships with managers and colleagues. Executions such as firing managers, removing unions and encouraging individual competition will be recognized as undermining their working harmony. Communication Since John is an executive director who lacks Chinese language skills and experience, the first step for him is to identify and understand the local culture. The practices to carry out such actions aim to conduct cross-cultural participation and management practices more effectively before coming to China to manage the enterprise (Lawrence, 2007). However, John, eager to get to work, does not realize that managers from different cultures have different views of the world. This means that managers' subjective reality and the way of simplifying complex reality are different (He & Liu, 2010). Furthermore, John did not downplay the distorting effects that might arise from cultural differences before his arrival in China, but only relied on past personal experience. This attitude error leads John to consider existing information when making decisions is culturally constrained rather than objectively necessary. Meanwhile, within the first six months of starting the job, John adjusted his company pay and job responsibilities in the absence of effective consultation with the union. He also implemented a series of reforms in the union as he did not receive sufficient verbal opposition from the senior management team in China. In fact, according to Hofstede's (2011) Individualism-Collectivism index, compared to individualism, collectivism is a social characteristic. That is to say, unlike the individualistic culture of the United States, China is a collectivist culture. And it must promote decision making from the organizational structure rather than giving only a few high-level staff members decision-making power (Hofstede, 2010). Because cultural differences will lead to limited rationality, communication is particularly important in management decision making and union reform. In this case, John did not effectively consult unions to reduce subjective biases caused by cultural differences. At the same time, when communicating with Chinese senior management, he did not clearly distinguish the hidden meanings of different cultures in the silence. Furthermore, John also ignored the possibility that silence represented rejection in intercultural communication. Obviously, the trust of the employees and John in the company is gradually lost due to the lack of communication. Relationship At the micro level, the various elements of cultural composition, such as the relationship between employer and employee, and behavioral performance between employee and employee, etc. ., all of these have an impact on the operational development of the organization. These effects may not beeasily noticeable, but to some extent they will subtly change the working atmosphere of the company. The case states that John's entry into the Chinese company caused the work attitude of the company's employees to lower morale and productivity. The main reason for this situation is the lack of basic trust between the employees and John. McDonald (2017) states that the leader's emotions have a direct impact on subordinates, that is, if the leader's emotions are positive, the working atmosphere of the entire company will be full of joy and happiness, and the employees will be fully motivated ​​​at work. On the contrary, if the leader's attitude is negative and weak, the losses for the company will be unpredictable. Beyond that, establishing a healthy and positive relationship between employer and employee can be seen as the key to the company's ultimate success and sustainable development. A strong working relationship can make employees feel happy at work. This factor is significant for Asian companies. A healthy working relationship allows employees to work effectively, reduce conflict, and strengthen mutual trust (Business 2 Sell, 2015). When considering the result of the poor relationship between employer and employee, since John himself knows little about Chinese culture and does not have sufficient understanding of business philosophy in the context of Chinese culture, John has little understanding of the importance of the idea of ​​" report" relating to Chinese affairs. 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 show any interest in Chinese culture. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for John's management work to progress effectively. And it seems that partiality and prejudice are easily generated in the team. If you consider the macro perspective, building a relationship with the government for business purposes is quite difficult, indeed, the relationship between the Chinese government and businesses is both unique and complicated (Zhu, 2015). John's lack of legal and economic knowledge of the Chinese trading market causes him to ignore the significance of the relationship in China. This is the main reason why John found himself in such a difficult situation, where Company A's joint venture license may not be renewed within a year. According to Trompenaars' (1993) dimensions theory, universalism emphasizes the importance of norms; only the person who follows the contract can be trusted; the deal is the deal. On the contrary, highlight more the relationship that can be developed in the course of business compared to the existing contract; the person who is able to adapt to the changing situation is more reliable; the contract can be modified due to the changing situation (Trompenaars, 1993). John, as an expert on the country's cultural universalism, overlooks the importance of relationships when doing business in China. 3. Recommendations 3. 1. Motivate and Lead To better fit Chinese leadership prototypes, John must understand the attributes valued in China in general by the GLOBE program, then adapt his skills and opinions to meet their expectations. Since motivation is situational, it is more important to know everything about relevant cultures at both the corporate and individual levels (Deresky, 2017). Another tip is related to the reward system. It could establish a monthly plaque labeled "Excellent Group" to motivate the effectiveness of the staff as a team. As for the individual, according to Deresky (2017) extra training and bonuses such as free housing, school and medical care will be much more preferred in China, as employees feel they receive attention and care from their group, and.