BUSI271 Global Strategy: Analysis and Practice

Individual Report

Student: Kayumova Karina

Student ID: 001140420

Introduction

Culture is when members of one nation have shared objectives, values, beliefs, identities and
interpretations or meanings of key events that are passed down through the generations( GLOBE).
National culture profoundly influences organizational culture, which impacts every face of its operation.
The ability to recognize and manage cultural differences is essential for multinational and global
organizations.

Key theories related to this case and cross-cultural management will be discussed
and applied in this study. Analysis will be carried out using the Hofstede’s
methods and IDEAL framework.
I the end of report I will concluded with a summary of the most significant
findings of the case.
This examination focuses on overcoming cross-cultural issues through cultural
intelligence; international labor relations, wellbeing of employees, safety, and
well-being, stereotypes and power distance and collectivism, as summarized in
the case analysis below.
Overview

The documentary film "American Factory," which is available on Netflix, is based on a genuine story. At
the height of the previous financial crisis, General Motors closed its Dayton, Ohio manufacturing facility
in late 2008. Due to the city's tiny size and lack of other employment opportunities, it immediately
plunges into an economic crisis following the closing of the General Motors factory. Thousands of
individuals have been forced to live on the streets since there are no jobs available.

In 2015, the Chinese entrepreneur chose to establish a vehicle glass company on the site of the former
GM plant. The odd scenario is that several hundred Chinese workers are being sent to the plant to work
alongside the Americans. At the same time, coworkers' mutual understanding is exceedingly low, and
communication takes conducted via Google Translate on mobile phones.

American Factory is a film with deep meaning. It demonstrates in detail how different the cultures of
these nations are, as well as the working circumstances in Chinese and American firms within the same
company. Verification reveals that Chinese labor productivity is 3-5 times higher than that of Americans.
And it's a lot less expensive. American workers, on the other hand, quickly begin to push for labor rights,
a union, injury insurance, paid sick leave, and other benefits from industrialized countries. The Chinese
are prepared to live without it. Both sides are essentially right and understandable. But what is the real
reason for their conflicts? Maybe the answer is that these are absolutely two different nations?

Issues in Hand

The key issues in hand are clash of culture differences, National and industrial culture implications,
Power distance and collectivism, safety, organisational environment and culture.

Issue 1 - Clash of cultures

Speaking about clash of culture differences we can see this clearly when we study the workforce of the
Fuyao company. Americans are accustomed to working eight hours a day, whilst the Chinese work
twelve hours a day and take one day off every month. Americans are accustomed to living alone,
whereas the Chinese share a room, which is viewed negatively in America due to the intrusion on one's
privacy. Chinese workers are accustomed to working without speaking, whereas Americans are
accustomed to conversing, leading Chinese workers to view Americans as slothful individuals. The
Chinese believe in authoritarianism and Americans value democracy or all-inclusive workplace practices
and attitudes.

Issue 2 - National Cultural Implications

National culture refers to the norms, habits, beliefs, and cultural values that a community shares with a
certain sovereign. National culture, as defined in the American factory film, is a collection of pre-
programmed mindsets for members of a particular society. An American worker's line of thinking is pre-
programmed to believe that they are supposed to work for eight hours per day, whereas a Chinese
worker believes that working hours are irrelevant. National culture appears to have an effect on Fuyao
Glass America's management decision-making; for example, Cao Dewang's management was affected by
the Chinese tradition of overworking to succeed in business. Additionally, style of leadership is
influenced by country culture and the management framework for human resource activities inside the
organisation. For instance, according to Chinese national culture, employees should be able to tolerate
adversity, in contrast to Americans, who view the Fuyao factory as tough to work in, which is why they
have continued to complain about severe working conditions. Both American and Chinese managerial
professionals exhibit managerial conflicts as a result of adhering to American labour laws until the
Chinese approved a reduction in hours worked to 8 hours and three shifts, eliminating 12 hours of work
each day. Chinese managers pushed them to strive harder to improve their country's image, implying
that national culture has an effect on both chinese staff and governance practices and management
attitudes.

Issue 3 - Industrial Cultural Implications

Industrial culture refers to emerging techniques of managing resources or contemporary or developed

working methods that a society, community, or state embraces. For instance, the Chinese community
industrial culture emphasises collaboration, overcoming adversity (maximising limited resources and
time), and adhering to a centralised channel of communication or chain of command in order to
accomplish as one community and reap benefits for all (communism). American industrial culture has
been defined by the employment of equipment or technologies to improve and work easier, to
eliminate labour, to increase pay, and to provide individual benefits (capitalism). Americans demand
higher wages than the Chinese in order to accumulate wealth, yet the Chinese work collaboratively and
share a single room with several people in order to minimise costs but work harder to produce more
output at a low wage rate. This is because the Americans are used to living in a capitalist society.

Issue 4 – Power distance and Collectivism

The cultural characteristics of power distance and collectivism identified by Hofstede (1984) play a
critical role in comprehending the experiences of the individuals profiled in American Factory. Several
instances indicate that the US and China occupy opposing poles on diverse ethnic dimensions (Hofstede
Insights, 2020). For example, throughout the documentary, all workers and managers refer to Cao
Dewang with the title "Chairman." Furthermore, managers, particularly Chinese expats, are frequently
portrayed as showing reverence to Chairman Cao. These actions are consistent with a larger tolerance of
power differentials between employees and managers that is characteristic of a country with a higher
power distance, such as China (Hofstede Insights, 2020). Given the smaller power distance in the United
States, it would be impossible to envisage both of these scenarios occurring in a wholly domestic U.S.
corporation (Hofstede Insights, 2020). There are several scenarios in which U.S. employees have
difficulties accepting commands from managers and express their concerns as evidence of this lower
power distance in the United States.

In terms of collectivism, China outperforms the United States, a notion that expresses how much a
society prioritises cohesiveness and the collective over the individual (Hofstede Insights, 2020). In the
film, when Chinese management at FGA try to motivate their employees, they continually reference
collectivism. Furthermore, collectivism can be witnessed throughout the business structures at the
Fuyao factory in China, where workers emphasise cooperation and teamwork in order to achieve
collective success.

Issue 5 - Safety

Given the background of FGA's glass manufacture, safety is a persistent theme throughout the film.
Glass breakage, heat, regular use of heavy duty gear, and repetitive task injuries are all potential
hazards. Safety is linked to crucial organizational outcomes across a range of industries, according to
meta-analyses (Clarke, 2010). Instructors can use this literature to emphasize the importance of safety
to FGA and organizations in general.

FGA is unprofitable in the first act of the film. This unprofitability puts pressure on companies to boost
output, which might conflict with putting safety first (Zohar & Luria, 2005). As a result, part of the film's
employee interviews focuses on workplace accidents as well as employee concerns about safety (which
is fueling increased unionization desire). The viewpoints of management on workplace safety are also
presented, with the FGA safety director, John, sharing insights into the FGA safety climate.

Issue 6 – Organizational Environment and culture

The environment that an organisation generates has a direct effect on employee performance and
engagement. Managers will be able to foster an organisational sense of oneness by taking the time to
understand and adjust to their team's interests. While numerous aspects of an individual's life and
personality will require management attention, country culture can be a significant impediment to
proper management (Primecz et al., 2009). The cultural environment is the pinnacle of conceptualising
global management. The ideas, attitudes, and aspirations of a group of individuals frequently dictate
how they behave in each situation. This is a rationale in the instance of American Factory.

American Factory portrayed a cross-cultural encounter between working-class people in the United
States and China. In Ohio, a Chinese investor reopened a plant. Collaboration between the two
civilizations resulted in distinctions between them, as each culture possesses a completely distinct
dimension of cultural perspective. The GLOBE culture of these two nations is depicted in Figure 1. Here,
we can see the stark contrasts between two cultures.

Globe Project Dimensions China USA

Power Distance In organisational culture, Reduced power disparity
there is a greater distance within an organization's
between power and authority. culture
Uncertainty Avoidance Stronger. Additional Medium. Concentrate on
 emphasis on organisational balancing formal ties and
rules, regulations, risk place less emphasis on
management, and formal organisation cohesion and
relationships. orderliness
Human Orientation Concentration on human A strong emphasis is placed
orientation is moderate. The on employee safety, work-life
organization's overall balance, friendliness, fair
performance is more essential judgement, and time spent
than the individual benefit with colleagues.
and interest of employees.
Institutional Collectivism Greater emphasis on Concentration on collectivism
organisational success than is moderate. Individual
on individual achievement performance is critical, but so
is the organization's health.
In-group Collectivism Medium. Individual identities Individual identities should
should be weighed against be weighed against collective
collective achievement. achievement. Individual
Individual personnel make a personnel make a difference
difference in the success of in the success of the group.
the group. Decisions made in Decisions made in groups can
groups can be hierarchical. be hierarchical.
Assertiveness Medium. In many situations, Medium. In many situations,
favour assertiveness through favour assertiveness through
prudential behaviour. Avoid prudential behaviour. Avoid
combative behaviour at work. combative behaviour at work.
Values are established Values are established
through effort. through effort.
Gender Egalitarianism China has a higher standard. In America, the price is
The majority of females are lower. Women are in the
inclined to work from home. workforce and their
participation is seen
positively.
Future Orientation Stronger. Increased emphasis Significantly less. Increased
on outcomes and profitability. emphasis on immediate
gratification and extrinsic
motivation
Performance Orientation Greater. Prioritize Greater. Prioritize
performance over individual performance over individual
well-being and safety safety. While there is a
moderate emphasis on
performance, there are also
considerations for social ties
and safety.
Suggestions for overcoming the above-mentioned issues

Consolidating two cultural contexts was a challenge for the Fuyao glass US plant management team.
There are steps that can be taken to address cultural differences better effectively. It may be
advantageous to establish recognisable models in an organisational and cultural environment. Fuyao
may be able to build an efficient and sustainable environment where its members can prosper by
reconciling disparate principles of firm organisation within the company and finding a medium ground
between both the low - context cultures and the high context cultures favoured by dominating cultures
(Steers et al., 2018). Fuyao, as leader of the global team, must first understand these cultural
dimensions at the workplace and begin establishing a sense of trust centered around cultural facets.

The endeavour to develop a hybridization of differences in culture management was emerging as a

replacement for America, as expressed in the Fuyao Glass America operations management framework.
Cao and Jeffs collaborated intensively and strategically to eradicate American business culture. The
investigation identifies cultural issues at the national, industrial, ethical, and work management levels,
as well as racism. Cao and Jeffs failed miserably in their attempt to establish efficient organisational
management in the industrial heartland of the United States because they failed to abide to or embrace
cultural diversity in order to deal with cross-national and class-based cultural pressures at Fuyao Glass
America Company. To effectively address cross-cultural difficulties, business executives, particularly
human resource managers, must embrace cultural diversity and educate employees about the critical
nature of cross-cultural diversification awareness and practises for both the company and employee
wellbeing.

The number of cross-cultural encounters at Fuyao Glass very certainly contributes to the organization's
stereotyping. Interestingly, this dynamic can be complex at Fuyao Glass. Stereotyping appears to be
mutual at Fuyao Glass (Bond, 1986), with Chinese immigrant employees stereotyping American
employees and American employees stereotyping Chinese expatriates. Additionally, there is no
apparent majority group with a high standing. On the one hand, Chinese expatriates have increased
experience and status inside the company as a result of their relocation to Fuyao Glass to impart
knowledge and run the production. Nonetheless, Chinese expats are a numerical less at Fuyao Glass and
are considered ethnic minorities by the local society. While the term "stereotype" is never spoken
explicitly in the film, it is shown in various sequences.

Conclusion

Concluding the case of Fuyao Glass, we can see the company had to deal with internal cultural conflicts.
Along with market research, cultural barriers must be considered when entering a worldwide market.
Assuming about the cultures of other people and seeking to impose ones personal cultural aspects on
other nations will not produce the desired effects. Instead, Fuyao should focus on cross-cultural
management. Simultaneously, promote a global cultural framework that enables employees from many
cultural backgrounds to interact while ensuring health and safety of employees and rewards. This will
result in Fuyao Glass to accomplish their objectives without risking employee satisfaction.
The unfortunate reality is that a lot of managers who perform business on a global scale have little grasp
of how culture affects their work.

Культура имеет очень важное значение. Каждая страна имеет свои особенности которые
выражаются в языке, религии , политическом устрое , исскустве и так далее.

Members of a collective have shared objectives, values, beliefs, identities and interpretations or
meanings of key events that are passed down through the generations (GLOBE).

Schein, E. H. (2009).
Source: (Tsai et al., 2016)

Taras, V., Kirkman, B. L., & Steel, P. (2010). Examining the impact of Culture's consequences: A three-
decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 95(3), 405.
 Erin Meyer

LEADING.
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