Managing Across Cultures Assessment 1: Personal Cultural Reflection

Introduction
Although Vietnam shares many similar cultural dimensions with other Southeast Asian
countries, it still has some unique characteristics. One of the main differences is that the
Vietnamese tend to be more individualistic than other Asian countries (although typically more
collectivist than Western countries) (Hill, 2016). For example, Siu and Chan (2015) compared
Vietnamese and Chinese workers attitudes to workplace injustice finding the Vietnamese will
fight back much more readily in the form of wildcat strikes. Nevertheless, ‘high power
distance’ still functions to a large degree in Vietnamese society and the workplace (Hill, 2016;
Quang 1997; Truong, Hallinger & Sanga, 2017), it creates issues between power,
discrimination and behaviour (Dunbar & Burgoon, 2005).
These cultural aspects have shaped the person I have become. Although with
access to the internet I am able to better understand other people’s cultures, which has also
shaped me. I enjoy watching foreign films, television shows and the news. At 25 years of age,
I have only ever travelled twice outside of Vietnam (Thailand & Singapore), I feel my exposure
to foreign media has helped me to compare my own culture with other countries as well as the
many foreigners I have met (some have become friends) in Ho Chi Minh City. In this personal
cultural reflection I’m going to focus on what I believe are three factors that influence the
Vietnamese business context today and discuss its impact on my professional life and then
conclude with some thoughts on my approach to being a ‘global manager’.

Power, Discrimination and Behaviour in the Vietnamese Business Context

In my professional experience I have found that effective leaders are prepared to make strategic
decisions in order to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. While these decisions are
clear for everyone to see, I sometimes find that Vietnamese leaders’ decision-making processes
is also subjected to ‘hidden factors’ as many of the decisions I see day-to-day in my
organization don’t make sense or are not rational. Those factors can be one or more (but not
limited to) the following: personal interests, political interests and the interests of others who
have a stake in the organization. As such, the decisions made are not always fully directed at
solving problems or making the organization more efficient. It is worth mentioning though the
projects are legally complied with, however, these hidden factors create unnecessary
expenditures, which increase the price of doing business, sometimes quite a lot (my first degree

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was in accounting so I have an understanding of these things). There are different names for
these expenditures (e.g. the price of doing business), however, it is basically corruption and it
acts like an unseen force on the behaviour of leaders in Vietnam. But my media viewing tells
me this it is a big problem all over world, for example, U.S. politicians are bought and sold by
Wall Street Banks (according to Senator Bernie Sanders and many others). Because of this,
U.S. politicians are pressured to use their power and influence to ensure the interests of their
wealthy donors are taken care of instead of the people who elect them.
According to the sociologist Weber (1964, p. 24), power is defined as “the
capacity to carry through one’s will in a social relation”. There are many sources of power in
Vietnam that influence professional life through the relationships that people have with others,
which has certainly affected my career. Power is of course not something that only affects
Vietnamese life and business, every country in the world is affected by power. In my
experience ‘positional power’ and ‘social power’ are the most commonly used type by
Vietnamese leaders (Fleming & Spicer, 2007). ‘Referent power’ too, is also frequently used,
although not as much. Since Vietnamese people are generally politically sensitive and risk
averse (Quang 1997), going against the will of the leader is an uncommon behaviour. Although
I have often seen some things at work that I have not agreed with, such as decisions that leaders
have made that are unfair, and in many cases unethical, I rarely challenge these. Business
leaders can set rules and regulations without a lot of challenge from their colleagues and
followers.
I behave differently in my personal life though. I have been fortunate to grow
up in a family where traditional roles are not seen as so important, especially for me being a
woman. I will often disagree with my father and mother about my education, personal and
professional life. I know that sometimes this makes my parents worried, however, they believe
in me (most of the time). I’m glad that they don’t expect me to have to do all of the cooking
and cleaning like a lot of my other female friends (if they did, I would leave home!). When I
watch Western films and television programs the hero is often the person who disagrees with
others, who fight leaders when they feel the leader is wrong (e.g. Bruce Willis, or my favourite
Jason Statham). “Conflict energises people to debate issues and evaluate alternatives more
thoroughly” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2017, p. 415). Is this actually true of Western
organizations though, I suspect in real life not so much? McShane and Von Glinow (2017) also
write that conflict can also be bad as well, it just depends on how it is managed and the culture
of the organization.

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 Given the increasing autonomy and freedom in the modern Vietnamese business
context (Hill, 2016), conflicts are likely to occur more frequently between employees and
leaders. As Vietnamese people tend to be indirect along with a fear of losing of face, leaders
will not confront or punish employees directly (Hill, 2016; Meyer, Tran & Nguyen, 2006).
Instead, I have found they use their influence to undermine their employees, which I believe is
a more insidious and underhand form of revenge. The common definition of discrimination is
mistreatment based on looks, colour, sexual preference, etc. (McShane & Von Glinow, 2017),
which is not so applicable to the Vietnamese business context because Vietnam is not a
multicultural society like the U.S. Vietnamese leaders use their positional power, there formal
power to reallocate employees’ tasks and divisions (which they were previously comfortable
with) to another more troublesome, stressful working environment as a form of punishment for
employees that go against their will. This I believe is a form of discrimination. Is it different in
other countries? My friends and family tell me it isn’t.
Employees who go against their leaders may find themselves in a precarious
position as they are subjected to stricter supervision and are given limited freedom. So,
although levels of autonomy and freedom have been increasing for the past few years in
Vietnam, leaders will always have the upper hand in controlling the situation.
Workplace prejudice also takes place when it comes to recruiting new
employees. Normally, the recruitment process includes screening, interviewing and work trials.
Applicants who successfully passed through all the rounds will get the job. However, this rarely
happens in reality as some applicants were previously supported or pre-chosen by someone
from a higher position. For instance, an applicant with two years of working experience got his
job taken away by a fresh graduate whose father is a CEO of a company in a related field, who
happened to know our CEO and were friends with each other. The bottom line in my view is
that this is discrimination. This is very frustrating because the fresh graduate turned out to be
lazy and not very good at his job.
Given the problems of high-power distance (I believe it is rarely a good thing),
in my discussions with my work friends many Vietnamese employees find themselves in an
awkward situation whether they should quietly comply with discrimination, prejudice and
unethical behaviour or change their jobs, hoping to find something better. There is a moderate
‘uncertainty avoidance’ in Vietnamese culture, so people generally avoid uncertainty in the
workplace by giving up on their disputes and criticisms in order to secure their jobs (Hill, 2016;
Ralston, Nguyen & Napier 1999; Swierczek 1994). This has, in a way, shaped not only my
behaviour but the behaviour of most of my friends. Is it the case that in Western organizations
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people are recruited based on their on their skills and abilities and that such processes are
transparent? I have an old friend from high school who now lives in England and works for the
government in that country. She tells me there are lots of rules and regulations dictating how
people are recruited to stop unjust practices from occurring. She says though the process is not
perfect.

Conclusion and Personal Implications

In my opinion, these are the three factors that currently shape Vietnamese business culture.
These patterns can be observed in almost every company, especially state-owned enterprises.
Vietnamese culture is family-oriented; as such people will make sacrifices for their families by
staying in jobs they dislike, but Vietnamese people behave much more individualistic towards
others. Challenging authority is something that Vietnamese people rarely do (Bruce Willis of
‘Die Hard’ fame would find life difficult here). For instance, a scooter rider gets caught by the
policeman on the street. Instead of trying to justify their driving mistakes, or arguing that they
are been treated unfairly, he or she would most likely bribe the policeman to get it over with.
Similarly, in terms of the Vietnamese business context, and the findings from Truong et al.,
(2017), most employees will conform to their managers rules because ‘the director is the
authority figure, so they must be right’.
So how suited am I to be a global manager? Well for a start if I run my own
small business on the side importing vitamins, we don’t make a huge profit, but I enjoy it. I try
to recruit the best people available, not because of some personal connection. To compete
globally you need the best people you can get, not some lazy person who is the son of the CEOs
business colleague. If I owned a Vietnamese company that did business overseas, I would still
have deal with the Vietnamese business environment. Even as CEO I wouldn’t be unable to
stop prejudice occurring in terms of how successful my business might be. There is still the
‘price of business’ that needs to be paid. I am not a CEO (well I am of a small business) so for
now all I can do is regularly re-assess my situation and undertake regular self-improvement of
my skills and abilities, in the hope that my career develops so I can continue to look after my
family and children if I find the right man, although that’s a story for another day.

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