China-Cultural Review Touching Upon the

CHINA-Cultural Review Touching upon the delicate issue of cultural discrepancies, Geert Hofstede (2003) has stated:" Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." In order to emphasize the gap among cultures, the Dutch researcher has identified five cultural dimensions: power distance index (PDI), individualism (IDV), masculinity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), and long-term orientation (LTO) (http://www.geert-hofstede.com).These will be discussed below and applied to China's case.

The first dimension mentioned above (PDI) refers to the equal/unequal access to power and welfare within a society. This characteristic offers a perspective from below rather than above as it focuses on poor people's expectancies to move upwards the social hierarchy. Cultures which have high PDIs are considered to be caste systems where the distribution of power and welfare is unequal.

At the antipode of such category, one could mention cultures boasting a low PDI which offer equal opportunities to climb the social hierarchy for all their members (http://www.geert-hofstede.com). When analyzing China, Hofstede concluded that the country's PDI (80) was much higher than the average of the other Far Eastern Countries (60) and the world average (55). This implies that the distribution of power and welfare within the Chinese society is an unequal one. Still, to most Westerners' surprise, the unequal pattern is not imposed on people.

It is naturally accepted by inhabitants as part of their cultural heritage. This feature has several implications on a foreign company which decides to operate in this country (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml). First of all, in terms of management styles and views, a significant PDI could mean that employees highly appreciate hierarchies. They are used to having a boss to whom they report and whom they ask for an advice when being at a loss.

This would recommend a directive style which tells employees how to do their job. Secondly, given the impressive PDI, Chinese employees have a resigned attitude because the order/hierarchy in an organization is perceived as unchangeable. Consequently, they do not strive to be promoted or take over the job of a colleague on a superior management level.

Thirdly, in terms of operational issues, Chinese employees often give priority to their superiors when leaving for holidays, do not rebel against the much higher salaries of their managers and endorse a quite formal work environment. Fourthly, when speaking about ethics and corporate responsibility, one could say that due to the accepted PDI as part of the cultural heritage, Chinese don't have the tendency to resort to strikes for claiming higher remunerations.

The relationship between them and their superiors has an official allure as the former are very much aware of the status gap existing between them. Fifthly, the PDI reduces the chances for empowerment and intrapreneurship because these are seen as an exclusive apanage of their superiors. The second dimension refers to individualism.

Hofstede (2003) defines this as "the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups." Thus, in an individualistic culture, members are rather egocentric and oriented towards their immediate family while in a collectivist one, people belong to more extended groups and look after a higher number of persons (http://www.geert-hofstede.com). China embraces the collectivist extreme due to a very low IDV. Consequently, loyalty and strong relationships within extended groups are the main traits (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml).Therefore, Chinese put a high emphasis on teamwork.

They are very loyal to their peers and prefer to take over a colleague's duties rather than losing face as a team because of his incapability of performing a certain task. They love to fight according to the "all for one and one for all" principle in order to achieve the established target. Moreover, they expect to receive equal benefits (salary, time-off for holidays) for equal tasks and positions.

This also reduces the chance for empowerment and intrapreneurship because they are used to act as part of a team rather than individuals with entrepreneurial skills. In terms of corporate responsibility, the generous, non-egocentric behavior of a company is highly appraised because it implies commitment to the community. The third cultural dimension is masculinity and it refers to the equal or unequal role distribution between males and females.

According to Hofstede, in feminine countries, both men and women have "modest, caring values" while in masculine countries, women have the tendency to behave more competitive and assertive but their values are not equal to those of men (http://www.geert-hofstede.com). As far as China is concerned, the masculinity index has an average value (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml).This means that the country is half way between the assertive pole and the modest, caring one. Still, the Chinese culture seems to be rather patriarchal.

Consequently, most 'hard' management positions (finance, production, research & development) should be attributed to men while soft management positions (human resources, public relations) should be held by women. Given the rather patriarchal allure, women tend to consider men as more capable of handling difficulties. This is why they tend to trust a male superior more than a female one. Empowerment and intrapreneurship could be accepted to a higher extent by men rather than by women.

At the same time, taking into account the quite significant role of female values, corporate responsibility through charitable actions, sponsorship etc. could be valued. The fourth cultural dimension is uncertainty avoidance (UAI). This focuses on the extent to which a society is tolerant of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Those cultures having a high UAI avoid risk by strict laws, rules and believe in Absolute Truth on the religious level while cultures having a low UAI are more inclined to accept ambiguity and different opinions and are more relativist in religious terms (http://www.geert-hofstede.com). If we look at Hofstede's conclusions, China has a moderate UAI.

Moreover, given the fact that the country's official religion is Atheist despite many people embracing Confucius's philosophy, Chinese are tolerant of uncertainty to a certain extent (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml).Therefore, a company shouldn't always establish a trajectory for accomplishing a task. It should also allow its employees to find the best solution for solving a problem. In this context, a relative moderate UAI may act in favor of empowerment or intrapreneurship.

Still, these shouldn't be exaggerated because Chinese are not very enthusiastic about taking huge responsibilities on their shoulders. On the other hand, the Chinese staff is more likely to restrain from displaying emotions and this implies that managers should opt for a one-to-one discussion when they intuit that their employees are confronted with emotional problems. This trait also impacts the corporate responsibility area because charitable actions, for instance, are less likely to be made public.

The fifth cultural dimension identified by the Dutch researcher is long-term orientation (LTO) which refers to a culture's perspective on time. Those societies having a high LTO index are said to be thrifty, perseverant, and tradition-oriented while those having a low index favor change to a higher extent (http://www.geert-hofstede.com).

For China's case, LTO is the highest ranking factor, an aspect which suggests that Chinese tend to "overcome obstacles with time if not with will and strength" (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/china.htm).This means that managers should give their employees enough time to perform tasks well and should also respect the tradition's requirements by giving the necessary days-off when major holidays occur. On the other hand, employees tend to be long-term committed to their organizations, a thing which results in a low staff turnover rate.

Furthermore, taking into account the significant role that tradition plays, corporate responsibility would be considerably appreciated for financially backing up national ceremonies, parades and other events deeply rooted in the country's history. As far as empowerment and intrapreneurship are concerned, the high LTO suggests that expressing entrepreneurial skills might be accepted if employees are given enough time to think it over. Additionally, the significant LTO results in prolonged negotiations and a long time for developing businesses (especially for the foreign ones).

In terms of incentives, Chinese employees expect to receive long-term rewards for their hard daily work (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/hofstede.htm). 2) the main advice for the Home Office will refer to the high necessity of obeying business etiquette rules.

As Wai Chui (a native Chinese that has been living in USA for twenty years) has stated, most businesses collapse because ignoring the Chinese code of conduct (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/china_interview.htm).Consequently, when both negotiating with Chinese companies and managing Chinese employees, foreigners should take into account aspects like: arriving on time, avoiding personal contacts, not using hand movements or gestures involving mouth, not offering offensive gifts, subscribing to the slow rhythm to which Chinese are used to when making decisions, respecting the rank and status of persons, not making Chinese 'lose face' by criticizing them or playing mockery at them in public and so on (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/china.htm).

Yet, as Wai Chui has pointed out, foreigners should 'meet Chinese half way culturally'. This implies obeying to a culture's etiquette without exaggerating because such behavior would seem unnatural (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/china_interview.htm). 3) in terms of staffing models, the best thing to do for a foreign company is to hire both people from China (especially at the middle and basic management levels) and people who were born in China but.