MULTINATIONAL CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT (INT610)

THE GUNG-HO MOVIE

Cevdet KIZIL
(Graduate MA)
!"ut#er$ Ne% Ha&'(#)re U$)ver()t*
Mu+t)$at)"$a+ C"r'"rate E$v)r"$&e$t (INT610) , Pr"-e(("r H)de.) Ta.e)
Au/u(t 01 0002
!a+e&1 Ne% Ha&'(#)re
T#e Gu$/-H" M"v)e , A((a$ M"t"r(
I$tr"du3t)"$
The movie is about a Japanese automobile company called the Assan Motors
starting to do business in the United States where cultural conflict emerges between the
American employees and the Japanese managers.
n the beginning! "unt Stevenson goes to Japan and as#s the firm owners to re$
open the auto plant. After some discussion! the Japanese owners agree to run the business
in the United States! but emphasi%e that the company will be directed by the Japanese
e&ecutives.
As the firm continues to operate! both Mr. Stevenson and the American employees
reali%e that Japanese managers have far more strict wor# ethic and e&pect a high level of
loyalty from the wor#ers. 'or#ing seven days a wee# plus mandatory free overtime
doesn(t suit to the American employees. As a result! a clash between the Japanese
managers and the American wor#ers e&ists. Moreover! Mr. Stevenson then tells the
employees that their wages will increase if they can compose )*!+++ cars per month. The
American employees get really motivated and start to wor# very hard. "owever! when
one of the top e&ecutives learns this! he says employees won(t be paid more. ,et alone
that salary bonus issue! all other problems in the firm prove us a communication problem
since nobody tal#s to each other in the company about their problems.
n conclusion! miscommunication and cultural difference lead to a lot of problems
inside the Assan Motors -ompany.
T%" 'r"4+e&(
n my opinion! two problems which are the most eye$catching for Assan
-ompany are related to culture and communication.
To start with the culture! we can observe two e&treme cultural differences .
ndividualism and -ollectivism. The -ollectivist approach belongs to the Japanese while
the ndividualist approach belongs to the Americans. According to the -ollectivist
approach! the company operates as a team with the contribution of everyone in the firm .
starting from the top manager /-012 to the lowest ran#ed employee. 1n the other hand!
the ndividualist approach is much more self$motivated. n other words! in collectivist
cultures! organi%ations are used to give members meaning and purpose while in
individualistic cultures! organi%ations are used to serve individual owners! employees and
customers. /http344www.#li.re.#r4iira5++64pro4papers47aymundSisenando7Mercado.pdf2
As an e&ample! the Japanese managers told Mr. Stevenson that the American employees
were not loyal as much as the Japanese employees. Additionally! it was stated that the
American employees were only wor#ing for money! starting the 8ob late and leaving
early! avoiding 8ob when they are sic#! while their Japanese colleagues were only
wor#ing for the company! spending less time with their families! running faster! thin#ing
the future of the business as it was everything for them. So! from my point of view! the
opposition of the ndividualist and the -ollectivist approaches was the main reason of
cultural contradiction.
1f course! it(s much better to give some detailed information about the cultural
confrontation in Assan -ompany to show why it(s really a problem. 9or instance! when
the American employees arrived the firm for the first time in the morning! their Japanese
managers told them to do some early$morning sports. That really surprised the American
employees because they had nothing li#e that in their country. Thus! the first perception
of American employees about the Assan -ompany was negative! causing them to thin#
that their managers and the business itself were not serious. :e&t! the American wor#ers
were used to listen to music and smo#e while doing their 8ob! but their Japanese
supervisor told them not to repeat that action again. So! the American employees were
now emotionally more apart from the business. 9ollowing that! according to the Japanese
managers! Assan Motors had to reach the ;ero <efect level. This is indeed natural for
almost all Japanese firms since they believe in the =ai%en >rinciple which means
continuing improvement in personal life! home life! social life and wor#ing life. 'hen
applied to the wor#place! =ai%en means continuing improvement involving everyone .
managers and wor#ers ali#e. =ai%en is a culture of sustained continuous improvement
focusing on eliminating waste in all systems and processes of an organi%ation
/http344www.revisionguru.co.u#4business4#ai%en.htm2. The ;ero <efect is fundamental
to Japanese also because they implement >roductivity mprovement
/http344de.nhc.edu4faculty4msamii4ht4JM-?.ppt $ Slide @2! 1n the opposite side! American
employees also found the ;ero <efect idea impossible and unimaginable. This means!
when the management was so concentrated for this goal! the wor#ers were unmotivated.
After that! when the American employee who had the most defects in the company was
told to clean the floor! he was very angry and disappointed. That increased the tension
and anger between the e&ecutives and the employees.
To spea# of communication! this second problem reached to the ma&imum point
in Assan -ompany when Mr. Stevenson told the American employees that they would be
awarded with increments in their wages if they were able to succeed in )*!+++ cars
production. Actually Mr. Stevenson #new pretty well what could motivate the American
employees! but he understood that he was in big trouble when the Japanese manager
reported that no wage increment would occur. Aecause when the American employees
learned about "unt Stevenson(s lie! they were very frustrated and sad. This indicated us
that a serious miscommunication e&isted among the managers! Mr. Stevenson and the
employees. >lus! more importantly! almost everybody in Assan Motors had specific
problems. Unfortunately! nobody too# the first step to tal# to each other. Thus! problems
were not clearly e&pressed and naturally no solution could be found.
!"+ut)"$( "- t#e t%" 'r"4+e&( a$d e5'e3ted re(u+t(
Many solutions e&ist for the culture and communication problems that can change
the whole scenario completely in a positive way.
9irst of all! to minimi%e the cultural problem! Assan Motors could hire a
professional consultant or sign a contract with a professional institution. Then! this
professional consultant or the institution would have an orientation program both for the
Japanese managers and the American employees. <uring the orientation phase! they
could be tutored about each other(s culture and how to overcome cultural problems if
they e&isted. So both parties could #now how to react in particular situations. Another
solution is that the e&ecutive board of Assan Motors could distribute surveys to the
American employees to learn their preferences! facts of motivation and culture. The
survey could be a great tool in gathering information about the employees. Third! the
e&ecutives of Assan Motors could do a detailed research about similar firms /Japanese
firms with American employees operating in the U.S.A.2 in their field! the automotive
sector. Assan Motors could even contact these Japanese companies to ta#e advantage of
their e&periences. 9ourth! Assan Motors could invite some highly respected faculty
members and professionals! most probably in nternational Ausiness and 1rgani%ational
Aehavior fields! to give an informative conference within the firm for the e&ecutive board
and the employees. These seem to be the ma8or solutions and if implemented! people
from the different cultures would become friends and wor# together to achieve one
common goal. Also! they could adopt part of one another(s culture and be prepared and
informed to cultural differences beforehand. These would be the e&pected results.
9or the communication problem! Mr. Stevenson first had to e&plain the Japanese
e&ecutive that American employees were most motivated by the salary bonus. 'hat he
did was wrong because he had to tal# to his manager before ta#ing this action. 1n the
other hand! the Japanese manager had to contact Mr. Stevenson too! to learn how to
motivate his employees more. So! both of them had to tal# to each other. Just li#e that! in
general! when the employees and Mr. Stevenson had a problem! they had to contact with
the top e&ecutives. <efinitely! the managers also had to contact with the employees. f
communication would be strong in Assan -o.! the problems could be solved much faster
and easier as an e&pected result. Aecause! reasons behind the behaviors would be #nown.
RE6ERENCE!
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th
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