IndexIntroductionCultural biasesAnalysisConclusionSuggestionsIntroductionCulture is more often a source of conflict than synergy. Cultural differences are at best a nuisance and often a disaster. These cultural barriers affect the ability to do international business. Many of the challenges can be seen throughout Gung Ho. The analysis of the film gung oh demonstrates a cultural difference between Americans and Japanese working together to achieve the goal of reviving American automobile manufacturing. The connections and exchanges between the Japanese leadership and American workers throughout the film present examples for each of the five dimensions of Hofstede's analysis of cultural dynamics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Also, we have to keep in mind that cultures have changed since then as the movie is based on 1986. Hunt Stevenson is a 35 year old American who works for a car company that was just acquired by a Japanese company. At the beginning of the film, Japanese management staff come to the United States to fix things the way they want, according to their own cultural standards. However, conflict arises due to the huge difference in culture and work ethic between the two groups. In this analysis we will look at this film from a multicultural perspective and analyze the film from different multicultural theories and concepts. The film may have been a success but not without its share of criticism. The weakness of both cultures is often pointed out by critics. American inefficiencies and Japanese inscrutability were emphasized. The film, despite criticism, received critical acclaim from academics for portraying the dynamics of a work culture in a multicultural environment. Implementing the theories Japanese tend to have polychromic culture, however Americans have monochronic culture. While the former specializes in continuous improvement and multitasking, the latter would tend towards best practices and specialization. We will look at various theories to see the effect by applying it to the film and mitigating conflicts that arise in modern organizations to integrate the theories. Comparing the two we see that Americans have a slightly individualistic, male-reinforced, ambiguous society, with a slight hierarchy. with a strong connection to tradition. Japan is highly reinforced, with a high structure, a hierarchy with a strong connection to tradition. The two are at opposite ends of the scale in each category, except for power distance where they differ slightly. Hofstede states that the uncertainty avoidance dimension measures the extent to which members of a culture prefer structure over being unstructured. It is the level of comfort in a “free” situation where there are no guidelines or programs. In the film we observed that the Japanese strict structure of the management team, while Americans have the feeling of "just follow it", is more prominent. The softball game demonstrated that Japan has high uncertainty avoidance while the Americans have low uncertainty. When Hunt invited Kenji's team to play softball, the Japanese wore something different. The concept of uniformity is also found in several scenes in which the factory employees all wear the same work uniform. Blue for Americans. And white for Japanese. Stretching and morning exercise involve all employees. The long-term orientation aims to interpret how societies value traditions and their capacityto adapt. This dimension focuses on long-term devotion to traditional values. After the arrival of the Japanese team, the manager decided to implement new rules and restructure the work on the assembly line. The assembly line scene shows that Japanese managers want the worker to learn new skills and be able to perform more than one specific task. The Americans were adaptive and easily convinced and willing to take over along with the Japanese. The Japanese show their cultural characteristic by refusing to operate differently and insisting on doing things their own way. They focused a lot on how production was done and efficiency. The dimension of individualism/collectivism essentially determines the balance of a culture, it is the relationship between personal life and work or, similarly, the balance of the group compared to the individual. Examining this aspect it becomes clear that two cultures could not be more opposite. On the first day of the joint venture Kazihiro addresses American workers: we must build the spirit. We must be a team, one, with one purpose. Everyone only thinks about the company." He hopes to build this spirit by having them exercise together. The workers resist until the hunt begins to do gymnastics. They eventually join Hunt, but according to their own style of exercise rather than the Japanese regime. Workers want to be treated specially and differently. Another conflict arises when Soito (Shimono) tries to show Buster, one of the workers, a different way to paint the car. Frustrated Soito replies, every man learns every job, so we are a team. No man is special. Hunt steps in to fix the problem. He explains to Soito, “see, here's the deal about it. You're in America now, you know, and the thing is, Americans really like to feel special. When Hunt asks for his job to be returned to family jobs, Soito firmly states, "There is a way to transform this factory." One Way." The episode illustrates the differences in evaluating the one over the many and the part over the whole. Willie, one of the workers, takes the afternoon off to be with his son who needs to have his tonsils removed. Willie is upset because he is docked for leisure. Hunt tries to smooth things over with Kazihiro by explaining that “the boy only lives for his children.” But the work suffers.” greater good, while Willie values ​​individuals who care about collective outcomes. The factory and work come after the Americans, behind their family lives and their individual agendas. At the beginning of the film, we see the Japanese being treated unfairly , beaten, shouted at and forced to participate in management boot camp. Members of management who had previously failed were inducted into this program. They were forced to wear ribbons of shame and were humiliated because they had failed other members of management , the workers below them, but above all the company. In this way they underline their value for the group. They ignore individuality and refuse to meet the needs of workers, like the Japanese management member's wife in labor. Americans tend to use a direct communication style compared to the high-context (INDIRECT) style of the Japanese. Hunt uses the straight walk in a low context several times in the film, although he often begins by "beating around the bush". An example is when he goes to Japan to sell the presentation, notices that he doesn't get much response, so he decides to cut to the chase. Hunt explained by saying that Hadleyville needs the Japanese and that the Americans will workhard if they come. The Japanese say nothing (hush if), so Hunt thinks he has failed. When Assan decides to come to Hadleyville, Hunt is shocked: a case of cross-cultural misunderstanding. The high-context style of the Japanese emphasizes harmony and "saving face" An example in the film is when the American challenges the Japanese to a softball game. Buster cheats when he intentionally knocks down a man. Instead of contesting the incident, the Japanese accept defeat and leave. The confrontation occurs when Audrey and Hunt go to dinner at Kazihiro's. After the meal, Kazihiro wants to discuss business, this is a signal for the women to leave, but Audrey stays directly, asks her to leavedo it and say: "Well, I'm actually nice if interested in what's going on in the plant." Does anyone care if I stay well?" Japanese men, who clearly don't want her, say nothing. Both Hunt and Audrey display a low-context style in high-context situations. American workers, exhibiting a low power distance style , believe they should have a say in factory decisions. Japanese managers, exhibiting a high power distance style, believe that those in authority should make decisions and be obeyed without question. This inevitably causes conflict between management and workers When workers challenge management, Assan managers see it as a sign of disrespect, while Americans simply believe they are defending their own rights. In this and every conflict in the film, each side sees their own values ​​as correct and other cultures as “wrong”. This ethnocentrism exacerbates the communication problems between them. In this film we can see the dimension of individualism/collectivism. A single person can represent a company in its negotiations, and organizations with individualistic cultures are likely to empower their negotiators to make decisions without consulting the home office. For the culture of collectivism, a group of representatives would likely be involved in the negotiations and would require consultation among the members of the delegation and with the house officer at every stage of the negotiation process. Cultural Biases There are six components to cultural biases. In this report, the authors only use ethnocentrism and prejudice to analyze the case. Ethnocentrism is the idea that the beliefs, values, norms, and social practices of one's culture are superior to those of others. Ethnocentrism tends to highlight and exaggerate cultural differences. Prejudice is a negative attitude towards others based on incorrect and inflexible stereotypes. These attitudes include irrational feelings of dislike and even hatred towards a particular group. It is essential that members of management are able to understand this and then position their goals without disrespecting or ignoring cultural differences or values. Some of the major obstacles management faces when dealing with different cultures can arise from differences in communication practices. By the end of the film, Kazihiro wishes he were more like Willie, reclassifying education as more important than success. As the film progresses, he defends one of his collaborators on this issue. Kazihiro wants to give the worker time off because his wife is in labor, but Mr. Sakamoto, Kazihiro's boss, intimidates the worker into staying. This is a turning point for Kazihiro; he stands up to his boss and says we work too damn hard. This is not our life; this is a factory. Our friends, our family should be our life. We are killing ourselves. None of his workers.