Cultural Analysis
Abstract
China has a different culture from many countries especially from the west due to their Confucian values. The ethical principles and morals are reflected in business scenarios, particularly during decision-making. Collectivism, power distance, career life, and ability to take risk characterize Chinese workers. The study focuses on a 51-year-old Chinese female and the relation to cultural dimensions such as high power distance, collectivism-orientation, low uncertainty avoidance, career-mindedness, and great confusion dynamism. Moreover, the most effective leadership style while dealing with a Chinese employee is discussed. Extrinsic motivation is among the most convenient strategy for motivating employees according to this research. Stereotypes that influence people of Chinese culture negatively and positively are examined. Some of them include having small eyes, which may adversely affect their performance while high time orientation and being excellent team players positively affect employees. This study also shows that some gestures such as pointing the finger at a colleague should be avoided. Lastly, the findings of this term paper support the claims that Chinese culture can be considered to be of high context. Therefore, a manager and a leader of a decision-making team should understand the culture of every member of the team to avoid misunderstanding and intimidation of some people.
Cultural Analysis: A Case of a Chinese
Cultural orientation of an individual influences relationship with peers, with team mates at the workplace, as well as at social places. This paper provides a comprehensive cultural analysis of a 51 year-old Chinese female based in Singapore and expected to be part of a project team by addressing aspects such as her different cultural dimensions. As suggested by Hofstede (2014), there are some effective leadership styles that the team leader should use, which will form part of this discussion. The work, therefore, focuses at some of the techniques that can be used to motivate this individual, the various stereotypes to be expected, gestures and words that a team leader should avoid while interacting and working with her. The determination of the Chinese woman on the level of context of her culture and the implication to the team leader are also elaborated in the paper.
Dimensions of Difference in Chinese Culture
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are used in this section to critically analyze the standards and corporate values of the individual with the goal of examining some of the possible cultural aspects that the team leader or manager is expected to observe (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). The values include power/distance, individual/collective, uncertainty avoidance, and career/life.
Power distance
In regards to the power distance dimension, Chinese have high rather than low power distance. Research shows that it is quite rare to find a Chinese employee openly expressing a conflicting opinion or disagreement with his or her seniors contrary to the Western employees (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). Chinese workers at the subordinate level have high respect for their seniors and obey commands and directives from the top management. As supported by the Theory of Face Concerns, the chances of confrontation between the superiors and the subordinates are low due to the high power distance between them (Oetzel & Ting-Toomey, 2013). The team leader or manager is assured of little or no confrontation with this Chinese female.
Individual/Collective
Chinese people practice collectivism rather than individualism during nation-building and other activities. The people are known for exercising collectivism culture since the time it was first introduced in China by the Administration of Mao. The leadership persistently encouraged the Chinese people to work as groups to achieve the national goals (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). A collective cultural background makes the 51-year-old female a great team member in facilitating the accomplishment of projects. Therefore, the manager should focus on group work and collaboration during project implementation as it encourages collectivism.
Uncertainty Avoidance
In China, the business decision-making process strictly complies with the set rules and policies by the government and has low disregard for business ethics. The Chinese people are not afraid of trying out risky ventures since the possibility of uncertainties do not easily threaten them as they are risk takers. The quest for instant riches within the Chinese culture has become very rampant and has continued to overcome the need for future orientation and regard for ethical behavior (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). Therefore, the 51-year-old Chinese female will have low cultural scores in the dimension of uncertainty avoidance. The project manager should expect this person to support any projects including risky ones if they are profitable.
Career/Life
When it comes to the career/life dimension, the 51-year-old Chinese female will appear to be more on the career end rather than the life end. Most of the Chinese are known to have the culture of trying out new things and not just focusing on consistently having the same profession for the rest of their lives (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). The Chinese people are fond of trying out new things and do not allow their first careers to limit their range of activities that they can specialize in doing. They are instead committed to trying out new things as long as those things are adding value to their lives and their professions in general (Hofstede, 2008). By putting such cultural aspects into consideration, the team leader or manager can be assured that this Chinese female will be open to accepting other duties that may not be a necessary part of her career path.
Confucian Dynamism
The selected individual is expected to have a tremendous confusion dynamism given the fact that Chinese people place more value on their work than other people belonging to different cultures. This particularly to the Western Societies (Hofstede & Bond, 2014). The team leader should be confident in assigning tasks to this worker since there are expectations of better performance.
Appropriate Leadership Style in Chinese Culture
The most effective style of leadership that the team player should use while leading the team include transactional and transformational techniques. Transactional leaders emphasize high work standards and are task-oriented (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016). There is a clarification of responsibilities for subordinates and top management. Thus, since the Chinese operate under high power distance culture, the style is appropriate. The top team can give rewards or withhold them from junior employees depending on the performance and achievement of assigned duties. The Chinese Confucian ideology allows senior management to give directives to the immediate staff that passes it to the juniors, which must not be questioned. Transformational leadership style is also appropriate due to the country’s ethical considerations and the act of showing respect to the roles of the subordinates. The style incorporates high moral values in which integrity and honesty are very important.
Motivating the Chinese Female
The team leader or manager should consider using extrinsic rewards rather than intrinsic rewards to motivate this person. Studies reveal that most of the employees having a Chinese background tend to prefer extrinsic methods of motivation rather than intrinsic motivation (Graves, 2007). Examples of external rewards the team leader can use to motivate the 51-year-old Chinese female include bonuses, fame, money, and higher salaries.
Positive and Negative Stereotypes in the Chinese Culture
A manager from the Western Society may have some stereotypes about the employees belonging to the Chinese culture, which can have a negative impact on the worker. Some stereotypes include being considered as insensitive or disrespectful to their colleagues who do not follow Chinese traditions. The Chinese can also be associated with eyesight problems due to their small eyes (Oyserman & Sakamoto, 2007). Other stereotypes include that all the Chinese look alike, which makes them difficult to identify them at a workplace. Additionally, all the women from this country are always subordinate to men even at the workplace and that the people are quiet, which limits their ability to interact with other group members.
On the other hand, some stereotypes can play a significant role in enhancing the effectiveness of the Chinese employee. An example is the assumption that Chinese people are more industrious than their counterparts in the Western countries. People from China are also considered great team players, good time-managers, hardworking, and ready to obey instructions (Boduroglu, Yoon, Luo & Park, 2016). Such attributes enhance the morale of employees to perform the assigned task effectively.
Words, Gestures, and Ideas that should be Avoided
There are various gestures, words, and ideas that a team leader or manager should avoid while dealing with the employees belonging to the Chinese culture. Some of the gestures that need to be avoided include excessive hand movements, pointing a finger towards a person, getting touchy and gesturing using the feet (Faure, 2013). Some of the words to avoid while referring to Chinese employees include Formosa and Nationalist China since most of the Chinese people are not comfortable with such names being used to refer to their country of origin. One must be able to graciously accept a compliment as it shows appreciation of a job well done.
High or Low Context Culture
Recent Cross-cultural studies reveal that countries such as China and Korea have high context cultures unlike the Western countries especially the United States, which have low context cultures (Gale, 2007). The high context culture in China makes them avoid any confrontational situations with other people especially their superiors. Moreover, most of the Chinese people are socially connected and follow collective ideology (Kim, Pan & Park, 2008). Such findings of the high context culture imply to the team leader that working with a Chinese employee will be great in promoting team cooperation due to the culture of teamwork. Moreover, there are fewer chances of confrontations between the team leader and such an employee.
Conclusion
The culture of a country influences the behavior and values of the citizens as well as their way of life. In a business set-up, cultural diversity is inevitable, and for a manager, it is of great importance to understand the cultural dimensions of the team. In this study, a comprehensive cultural analysis of a 51-year-old Chinese female based in Singapore and expected to be part of a project team addresses some aspects of Chinese cultural dimensions. The research also analyses effective leadership styles that the team leader should consider since they are appropriate to the woman’s culture. The techniques that can be used to motivate this individual, the various stereotypes to be expected, gestures and words that a team leader should avoid while interacting and working with her as well as the determination of the level of context of her culture and the implication to the team leader are discussed. Team managers have a significant role to play to ensure an environment that helps workers to develop their careers and participate in decision-making.