teaching senior managers in vietnam–a collaborative effort

5
This article was downloaded by: [Northeastern University] On: 06 October 2014, At: 11:17 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Education for Business Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20 Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort James W. Clinton a a University of Northern Colorado , Greeley, Colorado Published online: 31 Mar 2010. To cite this article: James W. Clinton (1998) Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort, Journal of Education for Business, 73:3, 180-183 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832329809603826 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

Upload: james-w

Post on 16-Feb-2017

214 views

Category:

Documents


2 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort

This article was downloaded by: [Northeastern University]On: 06 October 2014, At: 11:17Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Education for BusinessPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative EffortJames W. Clinton aa University of Northern Colorado , Greeley, ColoradoPublished online: 31 Mar 2010.

To cite this article: James W. Clinton (1998) Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort, Journal of Education forBusiness, 73:3, 180-183

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832329809603826

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in thepublications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations orwarranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsedby Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings,demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectlyin connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort

Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam-A Collaborative Effort

JAMES W. CLINTON University of Northern Colorado

Greeley, Colorado

he Fulbright Teaching Program in T Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, re- cently offered an executive development course in strategic management. The course was the first of its kind offered under the auspices of the Fulbright pro- gram and differed from the usual Ful- bright program offerings in two re- spects: (a) It was much shorter, and (b) it was directed at upper level managers, rather than middle or first-level man- agers. The class convened for 2 hours, 3 evenings a week, for 8 weeks. Lectures and responses to participant questions and comments were given in English. An interpreter facilitated the exchange of information between participants and the instructor. In this article, I describe (a) the characteristics of the partici- pants, (b) the development of the course, (c) the uniqueness of the course, and (d) tentative conclusions.

The Course Participants

Participants enrolled in the course were directors or vice directors of state- owned enterprises. Most of the partici- pants had little or no college training. Because of their extensive business ex- perience, derived primarily from their association with state-owned enterpris- es, the class members were identified as participants rather than students.

Backgrounds of the managers varied.

ABSTRACT. In a Fulbright-spon- sored strategic management course, senior Vietnamese managers demon- strated a high level of motivation and enthusiastic acceptance of current strategic management concepts while engaged in decisionmaking by con- sensus that showed an awareness and concern for organizational stakehold- ers. A curriculum tailored to the par- ticipants’ experience and that inte- grated current and classical manage- ment concepts proved a successful combination. Foreign instructors in the Vietnamese environment will tend to have more successful classroom experiences if they adapt to local cul- tural norms. Carefully chosen transla- tors and interpreters not only can per- form necessary translation functions but also can assist in structuring and conducting such a course.

Some had traveled extensively through- out Southeast Asia; others had yet to travel beyond Vietnam’s borders. One of the managers, a member of the coun- try’s Communist Party, missed the last two class meetings to attend the party’s congress in Hanoi. All participants con- tinued to work full-time while attending the course. They came to class on motor bikes, in shared taxis, and in chauf- feured cars.

Participants did not always agree with one another, and discussion some- times became animated. Several of the participants, particularly the most senior male and female members, tactfully

questioned some of the instructor’s as- sertions about concepts, priorities, and preferences and engaged the instructor in mild debate. About six of the partici- pants provided most of the input for general class discussion. All partici- panis, however, actively participated in the ’small group discussions during other class activities. Significantly, dis- cussion processes were very democratic and group members actively encour- aged one another’s participation in the decisionmaking exercises. not perhaps what one might expect in a socialist economy.

During class breaks, the same groups of participants met with one another: women with women, men with men, di- rectors with other directors, and de- puties with other deputies. The two most senior managers (who were recog- nized as such by all participants) never raised their voices, spoke softly, and appeared very empathetic toward the views of others, even when several of the participants vigorously disagreed with their propositions. Nevertheless, all the participants got along well with one another, and disagreement was pur- poseful and congenial.

Most of the participants came to class well prepared to address assigned cases and subject matter. They apologized for tardiness or for missing class; in one case, an employee was dispatched to de-

180 Journal of Education ,fbr Business

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

17 0

6 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 3: Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort

liver a letter apologizing for an execu- tive’s absence.

The participants were very curious about the way that American busi- nesspersons approach specific issues, and their rationales, business values, attitudes, and approaches to decision- making. They were very interested in informal business terms and expres- sions and the latest management “buzz words” and phrases, which they also found entertaining. The presence of a very able translator prevented lan- guage differences from becoming a problem.

As the interpreter noted, in Vietnam one’s teacher is one’s teacher for a life- time. Participants agreed with this view, explaining that each year they would find a way to honor their most valued teacher. No matter how successful exec- utives are, they continually show defer- ence to their teachers, whom they es- teem and value as mentors.

Decisionmaking during group exer- cises involved an open, democratic ex- change of ideas. Participants stayed close to one another, often touching one another when emphasizing a point, showing agreement, or making a joke. They gazed directly at one another and the instructor, showing interest not only in what was said, but also in how it was said, and with what depth of feeling.

The participants considered social interaction very important. They hosted an end-of-course dinner at a local res- taurant and, as is their custom, ex- pressed friendship toward the Fulbright program staff and their fellow partici- pants. Relationships were valued, and behavior emphasized formality. All par- ticipants, when speaking in class, stood and faced the class. Participants greeted one another and the instructor before class and bid one another goodbye at the end of each class meeting. One evening, the instructor had to lecture in semi- darkness for 30 minutes because of a power failure, to which the participants responded good-naturedly, illustrating both patience and discipline. At the graduation ceremony, necessarily at- tended by the course administrators and representatives from the local Universi- ty of Economics, participants received certificates of completion. The four women participants received a bouquet

of flowers, and the instructor was pre- sented with a gift.

Curriculum Development

The course curriculum was devel- oped by means of an iterative exchange between the instructor, the local U.S. administrator of the program and his as- sistant, the course translator (an instruc- tor at the local university), and a repre- sentative of the Vietnamese government (who had a graduate degree from a major U S . university).

The course curriculum agreed to by the advisory group encompassed case analysis; decisionmaking; external and internal environmental analysis; mis- sion and objectives; corporate, business, and functional strategies; planning, or- ganizing, and control; operations man- agement; multinational management; human resources management; commu- nication; leadership; and organizational change. The course differed from what would be offered in a domestic U.S. program in that issues related to motiva- tion, ethics, and social responsibility were not included due to time con- straints. In all other respects, including teaching techniques and visual aids, it was the same.

Teaching Techniques and Visual Aids

A mix of lectures and activities di- rectly involved the participants in the curriculum. Course content emphasized situations and events that were current and realistic and to which the partici- pants could directly relate. Short, sce- nario-based cases complemented lec- ture content. To stimulate class discus- sion, minicases-both hypothetical and actual situations, depicting industrial themes in Vietnam-and in-basket exer- cises were used. Lectures were accom- panied by overhead transparencies printed in both English and Vietnamese. Translations of three well-known U.S. management texts were used as course supplements.

Course Enrichment

The former head of a multinational company presented a guest lecture, em- phasizing corporate issues and strategic

planning. A promotional video, with a Vietnamese voice-over, was used to familiarize participants with the opera- tions of American nonprofit enterprises.

Course Exariiirintions

Participants took two combined take- home and in-class examinations, com- posed of short problems faced by hypo- thetical Vietnamese organizations. The exams, written in Vietnamese, were first read and critiqued by the translator and then jointly discussed by the translator and the instructor before a grade was assigned.

To illustrate the instructor’s reason- ing, and at the request of the program administrators, participants received a suggested “school solution” for the exams, cases discussed in class, and classroom exercises, with the caveat that the solution was just one of several possible alternatives. The intent was to provide the participants with a bench- mark for evaluation of their own ratio- nales, which, as it turned out, were con- sistently similar.

Facilitating Course Objectives

The instructor, the translator, and the interpreter developed a close relation- ship, routinely discussing and evaluat- ing the best methods of material presen- tation, the level of importance of spe- cific concepts, and the best ways to test students’ knowledge. The translator and the interpreter occasionally contributed to the discussion to supplement the in- terpreter’s comments, in a team effort.

Outside the classroom, substantial direct foreign investment was flowing into Vietnam, and course participants were confident that Vietnam would soon be a major participant in international commerce.

A Unique Experience

Because time taken to translate Eng- lish into Vietnamese effectively halved course lectures, a large amount of mate- rial was compressed into a short space of time, imposing the need for extreme selectivity. Special care also was taken to present familiar situations within the Vietnamese environment that focused

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

17 0

6 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 4: Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort

on state-run enterprises, joint ventures with foreign partners, and issues related to privatization and equitization (in which the government held controlling equity interest of stock also available to the public).

The management principles present- ed were Western, and most were logi- cally compatible with Vietnamese meth- ods of managing. A few of the concepts (such as conflicting theories of leader- ship and the hazards of groupthink), at first seemed strange and even question- able to the participants, but appeared less so after additional explanation and illustrations. Nevertheless, like most pragmatic managers, the participants accepted what was believed useful with- in the parameters of their culture and rejected what seemed inappropriate.

Conclusions

Senior Vietnamese managers differed little from American executives in their enthusiasm for core concepts of strate- gic management and in their considera- tion for organizational stakeholders. As managers in a Third World country, and operating within the parameters of a socialist government, the Vietnamese executives who participated in this course affirmed the value of strategic planning, which is inherent in Vietnam’s successive 5-year plans, and the impor- tance of evaluating the consequences of decisions as they affect an organiza- tion’s stakeholders, an integral part of decisionmaking by consensus as prac- ticed in Vietnam.

A curriculum that focuses on prob- lems and issues close to the interests of a group of host-country course partici- pants increases the probability of suc- cess. Perhaps they showed such com- mitment, enthusiasm, and cooperation because they felt honored to have been the first group of executives chosen to participate in a Fulbright-sponsored executive training program. On the other hand, course content was shaped to include specific areas of managerial concern, such as the need to address problems associated with rapid and unprecedented organizational growth, an area in which the participants per- sonally were seeking guidance. Al- though both factors surely played a part,

182 Journal of Education for Business

the latter was believed to have been more influential for this group of highly motivated executives.

Adherence to the Vietnamese cultur- al preference for group consensus in curriculum development, rather than relying solely upon the views and incli- nations of a foreign instructor, pro- duced a more logical and useful class- room result. It would have been a mistake to present a curriculum identi- cal to an executive development course for U.S. executives. Such an ethnocen- tric approach would have diverted par- ticipant focus from areas of overriding concern (e.g., resource allocation, organizational design, and manage- ment development) to subjects that are currently of lesser importance to them (such as organizational behavior, moti- vation, and social responsibility)-top- ics that were not as important in the United States when it was at a compa- rable stage of economic development decades ago, but that are now of signif- icant concern to managers of devel- oped countries. The suggestions of host-country advisors were incorporat- ed into what turned out to be a highly successful local focus. Consequently, if an instructor has advance notice con- cerning topics of prime interest to course participants, he or she will be able to assemble a more u5eful collec- tion of teaching aids before arriving on site.

Cases, exercises, and situations that promote participant involvement are especially appropriate for senior man- agers in a foreign environment. The common need among all managers to make decisions daily under conditions of uncertainty seemed to generate among the group members a desire to share their experiences and circum- stances and obtain insights from one another about the validity of the ap- proaches they pursued in search of ef- fective decisions. The collegiality and openness of this group of admittedly successful Vietnamese executives, in disclosing their successes and their mis- takes without embarrassment or apolo- gies and seeking feedback from their peers, was particularly suited to partici- patory classroom techniques. Several factors may have contributed to this openness: The participants were in non-

competing industries and were of com- parable rank in their respective organi- zational hierarchies; the instructor also initiated, demonstrated, encouraged, and supported open and frank discus- sion.

Selection of a course interpreter and translator who have knowledge and ex- pertise in the curriculum, through their personal involvement in course prepara- tion and class discussion, adds another dimension to a course presented in a language foreign to host-country na- tionals. Vietnamese state-owned enter- prises are a cross between comparable U.S. governmental entities and public corporations and frequently face issues common to both types of organizations. Because strategic management concepts applied in the market economies of de- veloped nations did not always corre- spond to the complex realities of deci- sionmaking in Vietnamese enterprises. the familiarity of both the interpreter and the translator with US . business practices enabled them to explain to the participants the rationale behind specif- ic U.S. business practices (e.g., the free- dom that United States corporate man- agers have to formulate mission and objectives and implement strategies. in contrast with Vietnamese state-owned enterprises, which are assigned mis- sions and allocated resources by a cen- tral governmental planning unit). Both translator and interpreter served to bridge the differences and make the course more palatable and germane to the participants.

A foreign instructor who adapts his or her personal characteristics to accom- modate the culture of the host country will be more readily accepted by course participants, a necessary preliminary if participants are to attach credibility to course content. Vietnamese business- persons and other Asian businessper- sons are alike in that friendship, under- standing, and trust precede any business deal. The same can be said for business- persons who are exchanging their valu- able resource of time and their manage- rial insights with a foreign instructor in what is both a professional and an acad- emic relationship. By perceiving the course as a cooperative enterprise in which all insights were relevant. pre- senting course content not as gospel but

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

17 0

6 O

ctob

er 2

014

Page 5: Teaching Senior Managers in Vietnam–A Collaborative Effort

as one approach that has been success- ful in another economy, acknowledging the validity of different approaches, and

above all, promoting a congenial class- room environment, the instructor estab- lished a rapport with the participants

that was a necessary preliminary to the effective presentation of the course cur- riculum.

Jnnuav/Februqv I998 103

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

17 0

6 O

ctob

er 2

014