International management in an Asian context: Business life and management in China
Introduction
Globalization has complicated the management process. As such, for one to be an effective manager, that individual needs to understand the global context of the management process. Fundamentally, one needs to appreciate the role of culture in the management process (Luthans & Doh, 2014). As such, the paper shall examine several features of the Chinese society and evaluate the ways they will affect the management process.
Discussion
Culture sensitivity is highly linked to effective management (Luthans & Doh, 2014). Considering the Chinese society, the Chinese have been socialized to believe that they are the descendants of Hun. As such, the Hun culture forms the backbone of the Chinese culture that must be understood in order to manage to have an effective management strategy. In addition, it is impossible to discuss any matter that relates Chinese society organization and beliefs without considering the doctrines that are advanced by certain Chinese key figures since the doctrine that they advanced dominates modern China’s mindset and map. Confucius is one of these key figures. Therefore, Confucianism is one of the factors that highly influence the way of life of the Chinese people. T Confucius principle emphasizes on three form of loyalty namely wife’s fidelity to the husband, loyalty to the ruler and filial obedience. Notably, two of these three forms of loyalty are founded within the family. Also, one will further note that the three relationships are based on “superior and inferior relationship” (McGreal, 1995). The philosophy that was advanced by the Confucianism philosophy is that a father is expected to guide a son; a husband is expected to guide a wife while the ruler is expected to guide the subjects.
Confucianism philosophy further argues that there must be five constant virtues that must be attained in order for the said three form of relationships to be sustained namely fidelity, wisdom, propriety, benevolence and righteousness with benevolence (Ren) being the highest value that a son, wife or subordinate can attain. In order to attain Ren, the follower (the wife, son or subordinate), will have to practice Li, which translates to social norms of the Chinese society (Warner, 2003: Schlevogt, 2002). Therefore, Li represents the Chinese society social institutions and moral Codes. Moreover, Li is founded in Confucius view which states that for one to establish self, one has to first establish others (McGreal, 1995). As such, this philosophy defines the way of a person of Ren. The teachings are highly similar to Buddhism and Daoism which are other key cultural teaching that shapes the Mindset of the Chinese.
Confucius, therefore, argued that the best way to exert influence on the subordinate is not by passing punitive laws but it is by conducting moral education. As such, in order for one to develop an effective management process, anyone in the position of power must first understand that the most effective authority is the authority of non-action (Wuwei) which is solidly founded in moral education (McGreal, 1995). The Chinese uphold this principle based on the Confucius teaching which provides that when the organization uses political force and law to restrict the subordinate, the subordinate will just act in a way that does not violate the established law to avoid the wrath of the consequences. As such, neither will the subordinate have any respect for the law nor will he develop a sense of shame and honor. However, if the organization lead the subordinate in honor, morality, and Li, the employees will develop a sense of shame and honor, therefore, they will always strive to do good on their own accord regardless of whether there is a law or not (McGreal, 1995). As such, this justified the argument that the Chinese society is not a law society but a relationship society. Consequently, the management has to ensure that the organization and the business dealing are morally founded and the organization promotes moral education in order to develop a functional working relationship with the Chinese as opposed to developing strict laws and regulation.
Government Relations
Relationship with the government and the country political system is an important aspect of the management process. However, this relationship must be founded on an adequate understanding of the Chinese government. According to the Chinese constitution, China is a democratic dictatorship (Trevaskes, 2007). Therefore, the State has enormous influence over the people since the decisions that have been made by the government are rarely challenged in a court of law. Nonetheless, the country is gradually adopting a modern judicial system but the adopted system has little to show in terms of checking the legality of government actions (Trevaskes, 2007). As such, through the ruling communist party, the state is in charge of making all the vital decisions that affect the running of the country. In addition, any descent is not entertained (Trevaskes, 2007). The government has a ruthless mechanism that they use to exert control and suppress any descent voice. Therefore, for anyone to effectively do business in China, on must never be involved in any activities that show affiliation or support for any opposition. Also, an organization management must never exhibit character that challenges the government wisdom. The observation could explain why very few Chinese people are willing to openly discuss political matters due to the fear of the government thus the management should keep this in mind.
Also, the government system is highly intertwined with the Chinese communist party. Primarily, the Chinese communist party is the government since most all the decision that are made by the government are highly influenced by the philosophies and principles of the Chinese Communist party. Also, the party assigns its members to head all the vital government agencies (Trevaskes, 2007). In the political Circles, Guanxi (informal Connection) is the currency to get things done. Therefore, every manager needs to appreciate the culture of Guanxi and create the necessary connection with the regional and country political elites in order to have a cordial relationship with the government at both local and national level. There is a thin line between the Guanxi concept and corruption. An organization must understand that Guanxi does is not achieved via corruption but through positive gestures of appreciation such as exchange of gifts. Otherwise, if the organization takes the philosophy to advance corruption, there are punitive laws, especially when a westerner is involved, against corruption. Nevertheless, despite widespread corruption in China, an organization should stay true to its ethical principles and uphold the true meaning of Guanxi (Rakowski, 2009: Moser, 2008).
Motivation
Confucius teaching insists of collectivism as opposed to individualistic self-fulfillment which characterizes the western world (Block & Collins, 2013). Any failure or success experience is claimed by the group (Ralston, Egri, Stewart, Terpstra and Yu, 1999). As such, the Chinese society is cultured to believe that people should work together in harmony to pursue a common goal which is based on the idea that for one to establish self; one has to, first, establish others. Therefore, in order to motive the employee, motivation must reward collectivism as opposed to individuals. In addition, the managers are expected to be “parent” in the organization while the junior employees are expected to be the “Son” (Schlevogt, 2002). As such, in order to ensure that the parent motivates the son, the parent must show a great deal of wisdom. It is through wisdom that the managers are expected to lead at the same time facilitate health competition. In this culture, health competition is defined as the competition that will not disrupt the employees working harmony. As such, the Chinese society favors affiliation component of Achievement Motivation Theory (Luthans & Doh, 2014). It follows that a manager must consider this attributes when devising a motivation scheme.
Leadership
In the Chinese society, the predominant organization structure is the hierarchical structure. Due to the indoctrination of the Chinese people, subordinate expects superiors to order them while the superiors expect the subordinates to yield the directives issued. However, in the Chinese society, the directives are not viewed as an order but means of cooperation that facilitates the relationship between the subordinates and the superiors ( Schlevogt, 2002). Therefore, if a manager fails to exhibit these traits, such a manager will have poor leadership skills in the Chinese context. Therefore, any managers that need to do business in China must have the capability to order the subordinate. As such, the manager should learn to exert influence through invoking the legitimate power that is enshrined in the organization structure to steer managerial activities since sources of power such as referent and expert power will have little effect (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2010). Also, coercive power and rewards power can be used to improve the management efficiency since the manager will target to reward the group for exemplary performance while coercive power is applicable since the manager will need to invoke the relationship between a junior and a senior in that the subordinate is accused of breaching the Li norms by undermining his senior which is a violation of the Li guidelines.
Verbal Communications
Chinese communications always start with a light handshake which leads to a casual chat. Therefore, in order to engage effectively, one must never go straight to official business without spending considerable amount of time chatting about select social matters such as a family, Chinese people and structure among other causal chats topics since it is considered a sign of rudeness. Since age is a key factor that affect relationship in the Chinese people, a junior, younger person, should greet the superior, older, with the face focusing on the ground as a show of respect and honor for the superior (Block & Collins, 2013). In addition, a manager should be are of how the Chinese use the term “Yes”. Rarely will a Chinese respond with a “No” answer because responding with a no answer causes a feeling of shame and dishonor thus loss of face. One should be careful in decoding the meaning in the conversation since the responses could be misinterpreted by a westerner. For instance, the response "yes, it might be difficult" accompanied by a broad smile could be misunderstood to indicate a glimpse of hope in the communication. However, in deed, the response means “No, that is impossible” because a smile is used as a sign of embarrassment in case of loss of face (Block & Collins, 2013). Therefore, these aspects affect the manner in which a manager should initiate a verbal communications with a Chinese and decode the message in the responses.
Conclusion
It is evident that there are screaming differences between the characteristic of the Chinese society and the western world. The paper has explored the some effects that the Chinese society will have in the management process. Therefore, the paper has examined some of the areas that a western manager must consider in order to do business in China without violating cultural provisions and the accepted way of life of the Chinese people.
References
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