Japanese Companies in Germany: A Case Study in Cross-Cultural Management

From a series of qualitative interviews with Japanese managers and German managers and workers in thirty-one Japanese-owned companies in the Düsseldorf region of western Germany, this article discusses differences in cultural patterns and organizational styles between the German and Japanese employees and the problems these pose for communication, cooperation, and morale. First, we deal with cultural contrasts: language issues, interpersonal styles (personability and politeness), and norms regarding the taking of responsibility. Second, we examine the impact on cross-nationality relations of established organizational practice: for example, German specialism vs. Japanese generalism; direct and vertical vs. indirect and incremental decision making. We also discuss efforts by these firms to find compromise systems that would meet the needs and interests of both sides. The third focus is the reactions of Japanese companies in North Rhine-Westphalia to German unions, works councils, and codetermination regulations. In the labor view, Japanese firms overall do no better or worse than comparable German firms.     

Ethical Judgements in Genetic Engineering: The Implications for Technology Education

Design and technology education aims to prepare young people for living in a rapidly changing technological society which will involve them in making many value judgements, some with complex ethical dimensions. Key aspects of the ethical judgements in relation to genetic engineering are examined: the hidden assumptions, the inevitable unpredictability when dealing with living processes highly interactive with the surroundings, the commercial and political pressures, and the underlying `world-views' and values. It is argued that responsible judgements therefore require wide consultation, sensitivity to social, cultural and moral issues, acknowledgement of the political and economic context, and above all, critical reflection on the beliefs and commitments that are shaping the vision and the drive.Teaching and learning strategies are needed that highlight the social and environmental context of technological activity, that encourage pupils to consider what determines the quality of their own lives and those of others, and that stimulates reflection on the values and beliefs which influence the priorities when value judgements are being made.     

Management Practices Influencing New Product Success and Failure in the United States and Scandinavia: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study

This comparative cross-cultural study of United States (U.S.) and Scandinavian telecommunications products found both similarities and differences in the successful new product development (NPD) management practices within the U.S. and Scandinavia. Proficiencies in conducting development, marketing, and customer service activities were identified as important to NPD success in both Scandinavia and the U.S. However, differences between the U.S. and Scandinavia were found with regard to the importance of research and development/marketing integration and project manager competency, with these aspects being more important to NPD success in the U.S. Additional differences between Scandinavia and the U.S. were found in the successful NPD strategies for entering familiar versus unfamiliar markets, with the Scandinavian systems being more oriented toward product design strategies. The overall results characterized U.S. NPD management systems as product-market oriented, task focused, and project management driven. By comparison, the Scandinavian NPD management systems were characterized as product-service oriented, driven by enduring interpersonal relationships and socially oriented to helping others. These characterizations were found to be consistent with dissimilarities in the national cultures of the U.S. and Scandinavia, suggesting that some core NPD management principles may be generally important to success, whereas others may be culturally dependent. The importance of recognizing these differences is pointed out in a discussion of their implications for NPD theory and practice in today's global economy. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.     

Value Judgements: Evaluating Design: A Scottish Perspective on a Global Issue

This paper reviews the status of value judgements within Design and Technology education in Scotland in relation to National Guidelines. It highlights consequences for teacher education. These include developing critical awareness, acquiring and assessing information and developing the skills of decision-making and appraisal necessary for discrimination and judgement in the context of an increasingly international arena. The literature suggests that there is little support for the teaching of product appraisal and the evaluative strategies required. Initial teacher education and in-service programmes are being developed to enable teachers to respond to the challenge of this often controversial aspect of Design and Technology. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

跨文化管理中的语言沟通障碍问题分析与对策

跨文化管理(Transcultural management)源于古代国际间贸易,但直到20世纪70年代后期,美国管理学界在对二战后美国跨国公司的跨国经营屡遭失败的经历进行系统研究,提出了跨文化管理思想并将其应用于管理实践后,它才真正成为一门科学。此外,上世纪60年代末70年代初,日本公司管理成功的范例也是跨文化管理研究兴起的重要原因。本文将就跨国公司跨文化管理中的语言沟通障碍问题进行分析,并提出相应的对策。     

Methodological Issues in Cross-Cultural Management Research: Problems, Solutions, and Proposals

The research field of cross-cultural management suffers from an absence of theory capable of explaining the role of culture in organizational behavior. Methodological issues that are at least partly responsible for the above shortcoming are explored in this paper. The central argument is that, despite efforts to resolve these issues, many methodological problems continue to resist the remedies prescribed by researchers. This paper seeks to evaluate the reasons for this, and based on these evaluations, proposes some suggestions for future research.     

House Buying Behavior: An Empirical Study in Cross-Cultural Buyer Behavior

Some preliminary findings concerning experience, motivation, and search are presented from a cross-cultural study of buyer behavior in housing markets. Data were obtained from probability samples of 652 households in Connecticut and Northwest England. The results include comparative analyses of several dimensions of external search, five aspects of experience, reasons for moving, and husband-wife reasons for buying. Predictive models of search are developed with multivariate regression techniques. The findings indicate that the experience and motivational variables are not very powerful predictors of search. Significant cultural differences do occur in the level of many variables, but there are some interesting similarities in the underlying factor structure.     

现代建筑管理的伦理研究

从管理伦理的视角出发，对建筑工程活动的道德因素进行分析，提出建筑管理的伦理原则，伦理底线、伦理目标、伦理手段和伦理监督。自觉运用伦理道德来规范建筑工程活动中管理行为，是促进建筑管理现代化的有效途径。     

Product Cue Usage in Two Asian Markets: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

In this paper, we report cross-cultural differences in the use of intrinsic and extrinsic product cues (physical quality, design, brand name and price) on consumers' evaluations and purchase intentions for an apparel product in Shanghai, China and Seoul, South Korea. There were some differences in Chinese and Korean consumers' use of these cues in assessing the quality, value and purchase intentions; however, differences were not extensive. Consumers in both countries relied heavily on price acceptability to determine the value of the product; however, it was used to a greater extent among Chinese consumers to determine value. Our findings revealed that design was another intrinsic product attribute that impacts product evaluations and purchase decisions for both Chinese and Korean consumers. However, design was a stronger predictor of purchase intentions among Korean consumers. Brand name was not a strong cue in product evaluations for consumers in either country, although it was a significant predictor of value perceptions among Chinese consumers.     

Improving Screening Decision Making through Transactive Memory Systems: A Field Study

In screening decisions, senior managers from various disciplines need to collaborate to evaluate innovation project proposals and decide about the allocation of scarce resources to selected projects. Screening decisions are complex and made under high levels of uncertainty, and are considered to be one of senior management's most challenging tasks. In the present field study, screening decision making is investigated from the perspective of a Transactive Memory System (TMS). TMS theory explains how cross‐disciplinary groups of people in interdependent relationships gain, store, combine, and utilize their knowledge in solving complex problems. According to this theory, a TMS emerges to the extent that team members manage to synchronize three core socio‐cognitive processes—specialization, building credibility, and coordination—to achieve team objectives. A theoretical model summarizing antecedents and consequences of the emergence of a TMS in a screening context is proposed and investigated using structural equation modeling. Data from 136 screening committees were used. Results show that the degree to which a committee acts as a TMS is positively related to decision‐making effectiveness as well as efficiency in a screening context. Transformational leadership and an open organizational climate are shown to act as antecedents of TMS emergence. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Appeals in Korean Magazine Advertising: A Content Analysis and Cross-Cultural Comparison

This paper examines the economic, advertising industry, cultural, and product factors influencing the use of emotional and rational appeals in advertising for South Korea and the U.S. Content analysis of 600 Korean magazine advertisements shows that emotional appeals predominate in headlines, but rational appeals are more common overall and in the illustrations. Compared to results from 403 U.S. advertisements, Korean magazine advertising uses more emotional appeals, though differences vary across product types and executional method. Implications for advertising practice and future research are discussed.     

Making channel incentives work: A discriminating match framework

Suppliers using independent resellers are vulnerable to low compliance and frequent opportunistic behaviors. We expand predominant attention to monetary incentives to motivate independent resellers in two ways. First, we propose that a supplier needs to achieve alignment on two issues: Aligning reseller actions with its actions through coordination mechanisms and aligning reseller interests with its interests through monetary incentives. Second, we propose and test the logic of a discriminating match between the two facets of monetary incentives (magnitude and immediacy) and two coordination mechanisms (monitoring and improvisation). We propose that it is a discriminating match between an incentive facet and a coordination mechanism that enhances compliance and suppresses opportunistic behavior. Conversely, a mismatch between the two negatively affects reseller outcomes. Analysis results of data from 198 mobile phone resellers in South Korea support our predictions.     

加强维修费用控制搞好成本管理

在市场经济条件下 ,企业经营的目标是通过资本经营来取得最大效益或利润。企业管理的核心是成本管理 ,设备管理作为企业管理的一项重要内容 ,其内涵已由过去的强调为生产服务 ,追求较高的设备完好率指标转变到以企业的经济效益为中心 ,为提高企业的市场竞争力的服务上来。这就要求企业从过去侧重于设备实物形态管理转变为实物形态和价值形态管理并重上来 ,要求设备管理工作重视维修费用的管理与控制。新郑卷烟厂自 1999年开始对维修费用进行统计和分析 ,几年来 ,单箱维修费用逐年降低 ,由 2 0 0 0年的 3 6元 /箱 ,降为 2 0 0 1年的 3 2 .70…     

谈知识型员工的管理

随着知识经济的崛起,知识员工成为主要的人力资源基础。管理的重心自然落在如何最大限度地提高知识员工生产力这一富有挑战性的课题上。本文探询了适合于知识型员工管理的三种管理模式,即利润契约、成本契约和心理契约管理模式。     

人力资源管理的传统模式与胜任力模型的比较研究

顺从心理定式导致现有人力资源管理面临困境,基于胜任力的人力资源管理有助于克服上述困境,追寻绩效卓越的胜任力是这种管理理论的核心,但基于胜任力的人力资源管理也面临着挑战。人力资源管理的发展逻辑是追寻辩证的卓越者。     

管理时尚传播过程研究

管理时尚指短时间内大家普遍认为处于管理学发展前沿的某种管理技巧,它们具有操作性强、以偏概全等特点。管理者、企业员工、消费者、社会大众、社会团体以及合作伙伴共同导致了企业对管理时尚的强烈需求,管理权威、商业学校、咨询公司与大众媒体针对这种需求提供了大量的管理时尚,供给与需求形成了管理时尚市场。管理时尚在不同类型的企业内经历了不同的应用阶段。将它们的国内外传播综合考虑,其生命周期曲线将呈现出一种雁形模式。最后,管理时尚的许多特点在输出国与输入国将会表现出巨大差异。