Leadership Style Application
The leadership style adopted by different companies and how these companies motivate their employees should be that which can work in multicultural context. This can enhance employee productivity and job satisfaction. Cross-cultural motivation is imperative in a person's work and personal life. People work for various reasons. Some work so that they can access economic necessities like food, housing, and clothing. Some are motivated by what work provides other than money like achievement, honor, and social contacts (Bedrow & Lane, 2003). Others work because they have some emotional attachment to work. Studies have shown that the higher the mean-work centrality score, the more motivated and committed the workers would be. Maslow's upper level needs are very important at managerial levels. Work related values and needs are similar across nationalities. Maslow and Herzberg motivational categories also apply universally. In fact, there are common clusters of goals and needs across nationalities. The clusters include job goals like working area, work time, physical working conditions,...
This is a challenge that Mazda of Japan faced in its Michigan Plant (Timmons & McLean, 2006). Japanese firms confer recognition in the form of plaque, attention, and applause. Japanese workers are more likely to be insulted by material incentives because such rewards imply that they would work harder to achieve them than they would otherwise. Japanese firms therefore focus on group-wide or company-wide goals, compared with the American emphasis on individual goals of achievement and rewards. Echoing Maslow theory universality, the needs are not in question but the ordering of the needs in the hierarchy. A hierarchy reflecting Chinese needs would comprise four levels namely belonging, physiological needs, safety, and self-actualization in the service of the society. It is difficult to measure the…
