Managerial Communication

Hofstede’s analysis of Gung-Ho

Submitted by:

Sumedh Waman

Anupam Lav

Joysula Krishna

Ashwani Kumar

Amit Kumar

Vipul Arun

Varun Gogia (PGP03.062)

Q-1 How do the differences between individualism and collectivism affect the working relationships between the Japanese and the Americans? 

There are many incidents which clearly signify that there were many concerns in each individual’s mind of one country towards other country.

Japanese culture says that work must not suffer due to individual problems. They must sacrifice for the good of organization. It is evident from Willie( one of the workers) incident, when he takes off due to personal reason.

Japanese culture teaches to work as a team, peer learning is promoted. But American like to work as per their way, reason behind this is that they want to feel special. This is clear from the paint workshop incident.

Japanese culture promotes team work, spirit for success of the company. Japanese promotes collectivism culture while American promotes individualism culture.

Q-2 How are the masculine vs feminine traits in both the cultures outlined?

Masculine Traits:In the movie, at Kenji’s home, in a dinner scene, the workers have a meeting there. During that time, the wives of Japanese men leave beforehand and do not participate in the meeting.

Feminine Traits:In the same scene discussed above, Hunt’s girlfriend, who was an American, refuses to leave and attends the meeting.

Theory in support:According to Hofsteade, the difference between a masculine and a feminine culture is defined by the

roles men and women play in their cultures. A masculine based culture defines differences in aspects like assertiveness, responsibilities, achievement and so on. It is evident by Japanese Culture as shown in the movie. A feminine based culture has fewer differences in these aspects. As shown by the American people both were projected equally and have equal rights and responsibilities in all situations.

Q-3 Provide two evidences, one from each culture of ethnocentrism (Taking your culture to be superior)

Evidence of ethnocentrism from movie

American EthnocentrismHunt was addressing a gathering of members after the incident where he entered into an agreement

with the Japanese regarding production of 15000 cars for a pay raise. He said that when Japanese said that Japanese workers were better than the American worker it took a dozen people to keep him down. In response He also argued that the American workers were superior to the Japanese any day.

Japanese EthnocentrismDuring the dinner Hunt says that the factory was producing at a rate of 10% when Americans were

running it. Kazuhiro replies that if it were in Japan the same factory would be producing at a rate of 40% with superior quality. They mentioned again and again about the superiority of Japanese workers over American workers. We can find another instance where 4 of the team members are looking at a model of

a car and suddenly the wheel from the car comes apart. They start laughing and say in a sarcastic manner saying “American Car”.

Q-5 What the differences are in terms of high and low power distance styles? 

Japanese management exhibits a high power distance style. They have a strict  hierarchy system and they do not want to share the decision making with the workers. They want full  obedience from the workers. They don't like the formation of union as they feel it challenges their decisions   . This high power distance is very evident in the way Takahara Kazuhiro interacts with his boss . Takahara is very respectful of him and their conversation is very formal.

On contrary American exhibits a low power distance ratio. They frequently challenge the working methodology of the Japanese and consider as their right to fight for working conditions.  This Low power distance is very evident in the way Hunt communicates with the Japanese management and his co-workers. He is very casual in his conversation and behavior. 

Q-6 How do Hunt and Kazihiro adopt parts of one another's culture by the end of the movie? How does it affect each of their groups?

Hunt as an American, was following individuality. By the end of movie he went through change. In the beginning he encouraged the union to work for the Japanese at lower wages and promised the union to manage the Japanese so in a way he saved the team individually. Later on, his girlfriend made him understand that he needed to understand the situation and should try to be more collective. He realizes his drawback and apologized at the festival.

Kazihiro as a Japanese believed in achievement rather than relationships. After having no. of conflicts he learned from Americans and changed his behavior and started nurturing and at one of the occasions he helped his worker. He allowed the worker to leave as his wife was in labor. His boss, as a Japanese stopped him to do this. Boss told him we gave our first priority to work, how you could allow him to leave. In Response he took step forward and argued that this man had given so much to our factory, couldn’t we give him a leave in such a circumstances. He further added that we should learn from these Americans who give so much importance to their relationship rather than just giving importance to work. None of the Japanese coworkers supported him at that time and he had started the journey alone, he left his collectivism to individualism. He argued in front of his boss, diminishing the high power distance and progressed towards low power distance. Hence he adopted the American culture.

By the second half of the movie, both Hunt and Kazihiro have understood their fault. No company can grow with the sense of ethnocentric view specially when there is a combination of two completely different culture people works together. They decided to start from the beginning, respecting each other’s culture. They made compromising and collaborative efforts and that led to higher productivity not only for the company for also for each individual.