Cultural differences between East and West: Part I: Briefly introduce the reasons and influences of cultural differences between East and West.
Enterprise culture is a new management theory and thought based on modern scientific management, which is gradually produced on the basis of modern mass production and market economy development. It is also the sum of the highest goals, value standards, basic beliefs and behavioral norms cultivated and formed by all employees in the process of starting and developing. Management and culture are closely linked and inseparable. The following is an analysis and comparison of different management cultures between China and the West.
First of all, the interlacing of cultural space and the evolution of cultural time.
China lives in the mainland, where the land is fertile and the small-scale peasant economy has long dominated. Traffic is inconvenient, cultural exchanges are gradually blocked, and a high degree of centralization makes most management activities revolve around the theme of centralization. Today's management culture in China also embodies the macro-management spirit of focusing on centralization and seeking unity. Most western developed countries face the sea on three or two sides, and people's exploitation of primitive land makes western countries developed in both external and internal transportation. This geographical environment makes it pay more attention to micro-management than macro-management, and because of this open and compatible attitude, it stimulates the emergence and development of competitive culture to some extent. Because of the long-term fixed geographical environment, this spatial difference also has the characteristics of long-term existence and difficult assimilation.
At the source of western culture, man and nature are opposed and separated, which has become the basis of "humanism" in western culture. With the changes of the times, western culture has formed a right-based ethical value based on individuals and concerned about self-rights. On the other hand, China culture, based on blood clan system, attaches importance to and emphasizes the harmonious unity between man and nature, thus forming the original orientation of China's cultural group standard.
Second, the inheritance and sublation of traditional culture.
China's traditional culture is extensive and profound, among which Confucian culture has far-reaching influence. For example, the ideas of "seniority" and "harmony is the most important" make China enterprise managers not good at authorizing subordinates, and subordinates have a strong sense of attachment to their superiors. Managers attach great importance to emotional input and moral education, and pay more attention to harmony, stability and group consciousness, which plays an important role in avoiding contradictions and conflicts within the organization and better optimizing resource allocation. However, its shortcomings are also obvious. Too equality and harmony will easily lead to the lack of unified rules and low standardization of enterprise workflow. "Big pot rice" has caused people's weak sense of competition, hindered the enthusiasm of employees, and made enterprises, especially some state-owned enterprises, often in a state of being neither dead nor alive.
Western management culture is more influenced by capitalism and advocates "freedom, equality and fraternity", which makes the style of western management culture more reflected in: pragmatic people have the most say in issues and emphasize individuality and innovation in their work. However, there are also some shortcomings, such as individualism in decision-making. Because western managers generally have deep management experience, they tend to take individuals as the center and pay attention to personal subjective judgment in decision-making. Although it can save decision-making time, it is greatly limited by personal management ability, knowledge and experience. If the supervision mechanism is incomplete or ineffective, it will easily lead to individual arbitrariness.
Third, the influence of the objective differences between eastern and western corporate cultures.
1. The sum of corporate values is different.
The pursuit of existing interests is different: western culture often encourages employees to pursue outstanding performance and pays attention to the growth, development and expansion of enterprises; On the balance between starting a business and standing still, China culture tends to the latter. Of course, China's corporate culture does not deny that it is necessary to make the enterprise bigger and stronger, nor does it deny that employees should grow, mature and develop, but it pays more attention to the development of enterprises and employees on the basis of maintaining and stabilizing their posts.
The solutions of vested interests are different: Western culture encourages employees to innovate and take risks, and pays attention to the process and means of work; China culture tends to be cautious and even timid in innovation and adventure, and pays more attention to the results of work. Peter drucker's management by objectives provides an effective way to transform the overall goal of an organization into the goals of subordinate units and individuals. After being introduced into China, it has become a pure result assessment method in many domestic enterprises or other departments, with little attention paid to the implementation process.
2. There are obvious differences in employee's code of conduct.
China culture emphasizes competition on the basis of cooperation, while China corporate culture advocates the ethical principle of familism, attaches importance to overall harmony and stability, emphasizes that individual achievements depend on collective prosperity, and advocates the overall concept that the group is supreme and the collective interests are greater than individual interests. This concept developed to the extreme, and once it became public, collective interests deprived of personal interests. Regarding the relationship between employees and groups, western culture respects individuals, emphasizes discussing groups from individual aspects, and interprets group interests from individual interests, and often cares more about individuals than groups. China culture attaches great importance to interpersonal relationships, emphasizes group order, then discusses individuals, and expounds individual interests according to the generational order of groups. Groups have the order of generations, and individuals in groups must act according to their respective identities, and must not go beyond the rules or excessive behaviors, and pay attention to the "golden mean" of group ethics society. Individuals must abide by the principles of interpersonal relationships, or they will violate the principles of nature and humanity. As far as the relationship between individuals and countries is concerned, both Chinese and western cultures were supporters of the monarchy. Personal freedom norms: How to stimulate people's subjective initiative (initiative, creativity and potential) as a special factor of production has always been a problem that Chinese and western management have to face and solve.
3. Corporate culture has its own characteristics.
Western corporate culture habits are instilled in employees in the form of "stories and heroes". On the one hand, they help employees understand whether their work is correct or not, and tell employees what the company will do if they violate discipline or subordinates report to their superiors. On the other hand, it shows the good performance of enterprise leaders, which is not foreseen or foreseen by ordinary employees, but they are considered to be out of proportion to the status and identity of enterprise leaders. China's corporate culture habits are expressed in the form of "ceremony", with strong human feelings, face-saving, harmony without difference, and emphasis on strengthening the integration ceremony of employees' integration and belonging, such as the year-end banquet, while the identification and solution of problems are mostly sketchy or understatement of things rather than people.
References:
[1] Lin Jianhu. Reflections on corporate culture management [J]. Corporate culture, 20 10(09).
(About the author: Li Ningning (1988-), female, graduated from the College of Literature of Henan University with a bachelor's degree in literature, Zhengzhou Road and Bridge Construction Investment Group Co., Ltd.; Zhang Peng (1986-), male, graduated from School of Journalism and Communication, Henan University with a bachelor's degree in literature, Zhengzhou Institute of Traffic Planning, Survey and Design. )
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