Introduction:
In this article we will compare the Chinese language and UK approaches to business management culture. Taking into consideration recent phenomenon, immediate growth rate of businesses in China, widening and growing investment portfolios have made noticeably Chinese language businesses meaning, and foreign shareholders wanting to established a small business in China. What's interesting is the Chinese have different style, frame of mind and negotiation process towards employees and company as to the UK. The article will condition the differences between organizations in both countries also to go through the cultural sizing of both East and the Western world, considering the several managerial styles and most significantly culture, whilst checking both countries. The issue of globalization slides across as the procedure has made businesses in a position to connect worldwide. To be able to get a closer look, case-studies will be reviewed taking a look at companies from a Chinese and UK business perspective. Despite the dissimilarities, difficulty, similarities or downside of one model to another, the Chinese language way of operating is interesting especially witnessing the importance and link between your country's culture, connections and positions in general management. China is a great country in terms of great ability, which also is one of the next largest economic on the planet after USA and their businesses have been booming extravagantly and broadening as well. However, China has the highest current currency reserved nowadays. Management culture in the china and in UK has been little by little integrated with each other. The Chinese management culture has undergone an interval of flooded to the Western and returning to the East. However we are going to examine the primary aspect of culture, that they relates to businesses in China and UK. Different management researchers all over the continent have targeted to the traditional Chinese language management culture, whose ideal is individual orientation, and behavioural cultivation by self-displine.
This article will consider the entire differences between your management ethnicities of China and the UK. In doing so the essay will consider both the general variations in cultural factors as well as specific things to consider and ideas which can be found in Chinese language management styles and civilizations and how they associate or contrast to components of the united kingdom management culture. (Dongshui Su2001)
Culture:
In general terms it is accepted that there is a link between national cultures and management civilizations (Handy 1999 p196-197). Hofstede (1980) considered a model of national cultures based mostly upon the following four elements:
Individualist vs Collectivist
Low vs High vitality distance
Low vs High Doubt avoidance
Feminine vs Masculine traits
From a nationwide cultural perspective Hofstede identified that those countries of the Anglo-Saxon block which include the UK tend to display a profile founded around individualistic behavior, low vitality distance, middling uncertainty avoidance and a high amount of masculinity. In comparison Eastern ethnicities were seen as having a larger degree of collectivist behavior, a middling power distance a higher avoidance of uncertainty and a higher degree of masculinity. So in comparing the two cultures you can consider that there surely is a general convergence in the power of exhibiting masculine behaviour whist there's a much more specific difference in attitudes on the level of individualistic vs. collectivist style behavior. Chinese managers firmly believe in order and traditional worth. Thus, Chinese language bosses precisely prefer to share job to groups or teams to work in collective effort to improve Just In Time (JIT ), and help the employees to work together and study from each other as well.
Although there are some disadvantages to work as team or group delays business task, in the sense that some individual would be slow independently task, so when it's time for promotion or bonuses equal reward would be given. In general conditions whilst not as diametrically opposed Chinese language culture may be seen as representing a much higher adversity to associated risk taking than that of the Anglo-Saxon countries. This can be seen as displayed by the countrywide differences in behaviour towards personal savings with Chinese citizens conserving four times that of their Western counterparts (Graham and Lam 2003).
In considering the effects of individualist models against those of collectivist ethnicities this has an impact for the consideration of overall management culture for occasion the manager in an individualistic culture such as the UK will have to consider getting the best out of those they control by aligning the needs of the staff and the business from the individualistic perspective of the staff. For instance a popular way of rewarding employees in the UK is through a bonus culture where the person stands to gain personally by achieving the needs of the organisation a theory which is largely embodied by Vroom's expectancy theory (Robbins 2007). On the other hand management culture in a more collective modern culture such as that of China may be seen as being in a position to appeal to the type of employees to add to the wider good of the organisation for which they may have a larger sense of belonging to as a community than their UK counterparts. As a result managers in such a culture may give attention to giving compliment and public reputation to employees with in the company before taking into consideration the need to work with an extrinsic praise as a way of determination.
In addition the entire level of risk aversion within the countrywide culture may be seen as translating into a style of management social and organisational behaviour. In most cases professionals in the less risk averse countries of the Anglo-Saxon model are rewarded by shareholders for making what may be seen as risky short term profits and so from the management culture point of view such a culture permeates every level of the organisation. On the other hand those working in a more risk averse society such as that of China may be seen as being rewarded for performing in ways which is much more conventional with an focus on long term stability and profitability rather than short term share based performance. As such this increases the general slower rate of business within Chinese civilizations as personified by the overall longer amount of time taken in discussions within China as opposed to between Traditional western businesses (Ambler et al 2009). In a recent interview by Yi Min a director of Lenova Group in Carolina, he highlights that collectivistic culture is less in China, since the later 1990's when the 'one child plan' arrived to effect. These individuals created after 1980 'ba ling hou' are much more individualistic than collectivistic.
Management styles and individuals behaviours:
In many ways it could be considered slightly difficult to generalise on the variations between management styles in the united kingdom and China given that management styles aren't automatically related to an individual nationwide culture but further segmented right down to the corporate level. For example even exclusively within the united kingdom there may be regarded as a significant array of management styles and ethnicities from the greater formal and hierarchical in public areas services and much more traditional business to the informal and flatter organisational behavior exhibited in more contemporary business like a management consultancy businesses or a software company. As such this section will now consider specific distinctions which may be used to make clear potential differences in general management culture that are specific at the national level rather than the organisational.
Face
One key consideration which may be seen as affecting the entire management style between Chinese language and UK businesses is the idea of face. Within the entire Chinese culture you can find the need for relationships, orders and events to portray those involved with a confident light. As a result in Chinese management styles both innovator and the follower must consider carefully what impact their actions have on the trustworthiness of those these are interacting with. This may lead to a generally much more formal style of management where market leaders and employees take particular good care to respect the restrictions and roles of those included. Graham and Lam (2003) remember that transactions between Western and Chinese language companies can often fail due to a lack of esteem for such formalities in which the Traditional western company often issues a "call me Mary" methodology thus not respecting a relatively small but significant social thought. For the Chinese language business this also reveals significant problems internally, for example there may be the need for a junior employee to indicate an operational issue for which there is a ready solution yet, in brining the situation the interest of a superior this can be viewed as providing a issue for the worker who may consider if such an action can make his supervisor lose face. The Chinese language prefer a more structural form and hierarchy adopted way although a lot of this comes from the Confucian culture, which strains the value of communal hierarchy, communities and positions.
Empowerment:
Organisations in the united kingdom and the Western world have confidence in empowering its employees contrary to the Chinese, whom believe that when the duty is not done, their boss would blame them. Chinese language people do nothing like to be blamed. They prefer to be responsible for the task they take care of themselves somewhat than to be 'empowered'to undertake something new due to fear of failure. Furthermore, if the Chinese language managers apply the system of empowering subordinates, middle personnel keep getting cut in organisations and someone has to take up the task which used to be done there. The main element for leaders is always to look for the right balance between empowering and carrying it out themselves.
As such a cultural theory can thus lead to a management style which motivates overall poorer organisational performance as performance suffers at the consideration of relationships. You have the awareness that in the UK's culture such things to consider do not feature so generally and therefore managers and followers are able to be much more frank about operational issues without considering a criticism of process or treatment to be always a personal affront against the individual in charge of it. .
Chinese family businesses
Another account in the concept of management style is that of the Chinese family business. Commentators identify the fact that the structural form of any business typically have a direct effect on the cultural elements of the business enterprise (Johnson et 2008, Robins 2007) as such given the endemic aspect of the Chinese language family business design this must be studied into account. Research shows that to a sizable amount business in China is internalised into family groups a model which although suppressed under communism has re-emerged after the liberalisation from the smallest business to the largest conglomerate (Chen 2001). Nevertheless the family business model moves beyond that of ownership as paraphrased by the account of the phrase "family first, business second" (Chen 2001 p20). This reveals a key cultural difference between in social approaches to the running of your business between those in China and the UK. In the UK one may note that culture mainly compartmentalises life having a clear parting between ones personal family hobbies and ones work or employment opportunities interests. Alternatively the Chinese family business model suggests that work and business life represent an extension of the family rather than individual activity as in the UK model. It has major implications for management style and culture as one must consider that under the Chinese language family business model individual qualities of individuals and their connections will take over into business practises so Chinese businesses following a family business model may have a propensity to exhibit a greater level of paternalistic style of management as embodied in the family romantic relationship than under UK models of business possession.
Process
Another factor is that there is a fundamental social difference between Chinese and UK civilizations in regard to what is important when considering the problems of process and results. UK culture and human behaviour may be seen as to a sizable scope as steeped in the utilitarian school of thought where the overall focus is becoming that of the result. In the long run the utilitarian beliefs states that the one awareness is that of final result and this process or how one reaches that result is completely immaterial (Graafland 2007 p149-155, Velasquez 1998 p73). This is in stark contrast to Chinese culture which built after the cultural worth of Confucianism amidst other philosophies emphasises the value of process rather than results (Graham and Lam 2003). Although these are cultural factors the impact upon management styles is quite formidable, as a result Western strategies towards management tend to focus on results and quickness of ventures were as Chinese language approaches tend to focus the overall quality of the knowledge. As a result UK management culture many be seen as concentrating on contracts and short-term transactional results whilst Chinese management ethnicities may be observed ad focusing mainly on the building of longer term relationships over a much longer time frame.
Negotiations:
Negotiations may be seen as you of the main procedures of difference between Chinese language and UK management styles given that the negotiation between an organization from each country will spotlight the exact dissimilarities in cultural terms. This section will now look at a volume of specific elements which might be seen as having various degrees of difference between the styles and cultures of both nations. Negotiation in the china sometimes appears as very aggravating and complicated due to Chinese business culture, the European businessmen see it as great different. When comparing to UK entrepreneurs who are very direct and self-explanatory when negotiating with foreign investors or internal businessmen. when negotiating with the West, both functions would come to agreement, so that the goals are attained in a shorter time. It's much more different in China, before performing a business you must have a middleman 'Zhong Yong' someone in the middle that would put you through through the negotiation with the people involved. Developing a middle man is idealist in China and comes at a great gain, the Zhong Yong really helps to facilitate the business enterprise activity and might act as a sign or make sure of assurance from the eastern negotiator
Time scales
In general terms having considered the ethnic considerations in the last section time scales would seem to be to be always a significant area of ethnical difference between UK and Chinese companies. In general terms UK companies and negotiators may be observed as placing a higher value on rate of negotiation and getting a final contract signed representing a results founded approach. Chinese language culture on the other hands may be seen as fuelling an approach in which time is much less appreciated with negotiations taking much longer over a more substantial number of assembly where the process and quality of the negotiating experience is recognized as more important than the genuine result in the form of a contract.
The obstacles to accessibility and business start up in growing countries like China might have a fringe on its management approach and negotiation. Obstacles like advanced of government involvement, cost, taxes, guidelines, regulations. In respect to time, a good contrast is shown by a global Bank business review how long it takes to start an enterprise in China and in the Western. It continues on to show that starting a company in China could take up to 35days and in the united kingdom would take up to 7 days. These obstacles to entry 'timid way 'foreign shareholders and migrant (labour). Making it ever more difficult to work, understand and adjust to another environment. Although things are changing in China with the influence of globalisation.
Another key factor for the Western negotiator is communication, if for example the people included are of different cultures, there is likely to be some language barrier in their method of communication. In the case when two people communicate they hardly ever talk about the same subject, but different interpretation is organized by each person's own due to culture Herbig, (1997). In negotiating in China, the American businessmen need to find out that conflict might occur where a person does not learn how to respond in the assembly. For example Chinese people read meaning to individuals behaviour a lot; They be seated upright when relaxing in seat with both toes on to the floor and find it rude to point out your legs at someone else.
Trust:
A principle and belief that previous with the Chinese language Culture, the importance of trust when conducting business in China is respectable. Chinese negotiators look out for this in the European negotiator for example if you did not go to the same university with the person, you just have no idea them enough for them to build strong trust immediately. They believe that 'first make friend and then do business''. The Westerns usually operate in an alternative manner and will be more direct and self-explanatory, willing to accept your expression. (Europe Asia Company Listing 1998)
Guanxi
One of the key elements to consider in the process of negotiation with Chinese language entities is the idea of Guanxi, generally speaking terms Guanxi represents the component of "personal cable connections" (Graham and Lam 2003 p39). The concept may be likened largely compared to that of the Traditional western concept of marketing however there a number of fundamental variations in that UK networks often focus on immediate transactions between those in the network and the benefits associated with such a network are often expected to be honoured at that time such as in reciprocal trading agreements, X offers Y and expects Z to immediately act in response with a reciprocal profit. In the Chinese negotiation process there is the awareness that such sites are based upon a lot longer term things to consider and a party gives or get a benefit but might not return or receive the benefit for an extended time frame to come. For the Traditional western negotiator this might present a complicated evaluation, on the main one side a negotiation may appear a poor one from an individual transaction perspective yet, in certainty the negotiator may have "banked" a substantial level of capital for future use. On the other hand a negotiator may 've got what they consider a good deal nevertheless the ignoring of reciprocating such a package in the favour of the other party in future could leave the business ready of significant difficulty further down the line.
Globalisation:
The increased level of economical integration or globalisation may be seen as the overall justification for the research into the subject matter of the dissimilarities between Chinese and Western methods to management and organisational behavior. Globalisation in the context of Chinese and UK ethnicities may be observed as coming from three key driving a vehicle forces, first of all the consideration that lots of companies since China's integration into the wider economy have seen China as a key source of resources be this in form of cheap labour or commodities such as oil and minerals. Second of all there is the consideration that many businesses see China as not really a way to obtain materials for export but a market for even more development of sales. Finally you have the thought that China will not simply represent market and dealer for Traditional western companies but also that China also has its own companies which wish to trade with the Western for the same reasons. So all of these individuals of globalisation gather a need for those involved to understand and negotiate with what sometimes may be observed as quite opposing models of cultures.
The procedure for globalisation may be seen as generally a two way process in regards to the changing and approval of management ethnicities. On the main one hand those businesses that have undertaken endeavors in China experienced to adapt to local customs and cultures with those companies such as GM who've localised their management styles and civilizations doing significantly better than those such as Ford who experienced moved into the Chinese market using standardised models (Graham and Lam 2003, Hutchings 2001). However China in its economic integration with the wider world in addition has were required to make concessions that have had a big impact on cultural elements. For instance within China's ascension to the WTO the Chinese government has had to significantly make identification of such elements as agreements and intellectual property. Given the unimportance of contracts within the Chinese language business culture this can be seen as a key manner in which Chinese culture has began to adjust to Western cultural models approximately Western companies experienced to adjust to Chinese ethnical models.
A final consideration in that of the globalisation process is the role of the overseas Chinese, a natural characteristic of the Chinese language psyche may be seen as the suspicion of foreigners (Graham and Lam 2003). As such the overseas Chinese language populations often provide a useful group of intermediaries between two sets of differing ethnicities where the on the Chinese area of the source chain gain the ability to trade with a reliable specific whilst the Traditional western side of the resource chain has an asset in the form of someone who is aware of the intricacies of both the UK and Chinese cultures.
Conclusions:
There are numerous conclusions that may be drawn from the study which includes been completed, in the first instance one can see a direct link between the elements of countrywide culture and management culture for both Chinese language and UK types of management and company culture. This has a distinct positive implication for these who may be seen as being in a position to bridge the difference between these ethnicities such as the overseas China who on the one hands do not make the initial suspicion of foreigners which is endemic to the Chinese culture but on the other hand have a deeper knowledge of the countrywide culture and therefore management culture of the country for which they have got settled in, the united kingdom in this case. Other conclusions are that regardless of the higher level of variations between UK and Chinese language social models there are numerous elements which although not exactly matching have to a greater or lesser magnitude a general fit including the Chinese concept of Guanxi may whist not exactly fitted with the American idea of networking dose none the less have a resonance that allows Western professionals to modify the model to understand the Chinese version.
Finally one must consider the specific difference between UK and European models of management culture in relation to Chinese models, whist the essay has often used the American and UK ideas of culture interchangeably given that the united kingdom may be seen as representing the Western world there are delicate differences when specifically taking into consideration the UK in comparison especially with the united states version of the principles considered. In lots of respects UK management culture may be observed as having a larger chance of success in adapting to Chinese language models of management culture than that of the united states for reasons which may be seen as due to historical cultural things to consider. For instance whist there has been a link pull between the concept of networking and Guanxi the British isles idea of "the old young boys network" may be seen as even more aligned to the idea than that of the original networking consideration. In addition the general British idea of gentlemanly do and a slower rate of life may also be seen as providing a larger resonance between Chinese and UK management ethnicities in comparison to the wider idea of Western comparisons.
