Individual Assignment 1: Leadership and Cross-Cultural Analysis

This individual assignment is a comprehensive report analyzing leadership styles and cultural differences, primarily focusing on the context of Singapore. The report begins with a brief summary of an article discussing public emotions and shared values in Singapore, followed by a personal reflection on the author's first impressions and experiences working in a construction company in Singapore. The author then delves into a reflective analysis of the company's organizational culture, identifying it as a hierarchy culture based on the competing values framework, and proposes a shift towards a market culture to address management issues. The report further explores self-awareness through enculturation, cross-cultural understanding through acculturation, and a comparison of cultural profiles between the author's perception of American culture and actual American culture. The analysis incorporates Hofstede's cultural dimensions, explores time focus, power dynamics, and communication styles. Finally, the report addresses the adaptation of professional skills in a cross-cultural setting, offering recommendations for organizational change. The report is well-structured, includes relevant figures and tables, and provides a detailed examination of the interplay between leadership, culture, and professional development.

[Year]
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Individual Assignment 1
Program / Intake BSc20 HRM FT
Pathway HRM
Module Title Cross Cultural Management
Lecturer/Tutor Jacob Eisenberg & Richard Tan
Student Name Zhang Yueqi
Student Number 13206951
Number of Words Part 1& 2—1361 Part3—
2014

Individual Assignment 1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Part 1 1
Brief Summary…………………………………………………………… 1
Responds to the article……………………………………….……….…. 1
Part 2 4
First Impression of Singapore……………………….……….………….. 4
Experience in Singapore………………………………….…….….…….. 4
Reflective Thinking……………………………………….………..….…. 4
Part 3 8
Step one: self-awareness………………………………………….……… 8
Enculturation………………………………………….………….…. 8
Step two: cross-cultural understanding………………………………… 8
Acculturation………………………………………….………….…. 8
American culture score from others…………………………….…. 9
Comparison………………………………………….………………. 12
Step three: adapt professional skills……………………………….……. 14
List of References ……………………………………………….……….. 17
Appendix …………………………………………………………………. 22
LIST OF FIGURES
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Page
Figure 1 Hofstede’s cultural dimension of Singapore …………………. 2
Figure 2 The competing values framework ……………………………. 5
Figure 3 Current to preferred future culture profiles change ….………. 6
Figure 4 Own cultural profile ……………………………….…………. 8
Figure 5 Hofstede’s cultural dimension scored on the United States ….. 10
Figure 6 Own profile vs. U.S profile …………………………………... 12
LIST OF TABLES
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Page
Table 1 My cultural profile score and other score of the United States.. 9
Table 2 High/Low context by culture…………………………….…… 11
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Part 1
Brief Summary
The analysis of news, From emotions to shared values (Appendix1), talks about the
dominance of negative public emotions associated with the release of the Population White
Paper, the riot at Little India and moral issues with non-profit organizations. The author also
highlights the opportunities for policymakers when the strong negative emotions were
experienced and expressed and leaded to policy discussions and public debates. Being
concerned about the development of country and progress of society, author suggests three
shared values – ‘integrity, fairness and social harmony’, to address public emotion in different
contexts; he also provides three guiding principles – ‘rule of law, accountability and people-
centricity’, to evaluate public action and policy.
Responds to the article
After read this article, first of all, the author’s perspective about emotion is attractive and
persuasive. Base on one of Trompenaars’ seven dimensions of culture — neutral versus
affective relationships (Browaeys and Price, 2011); Singapore is ranked one of the
emotionless countries where people act stoically and maintain composure. Under this high
neutral culture, the strong negative emotion had observably expressed by public, which means
that the issues were really critical. In addition, the expression of negative emotion has
revealed Singapore’s cultural dimension in emotion context has changed from the least
emotional turns to less emotional (Teng and Lim, 2013), although the change is slow and in
small amplitude.
Secondly, fairness is a good expectation but it is probably idealistic to achieve consensus
on what is essential to be actualized and how to do so. Based on Hofstede’s culture
dimension, Singapore scores 74 for power distance as shown in Figure 1 (The Hofstede
Centre, 2014). As a consequence, individuals and groups can readily accept role and
interpersonal inequality and its institutionalization as high in power distance (Chow et al.
2001). Wang and Nayir’s (2001) research also demonstrates that high power distance value
would weaken the positive link between procedural justice and decision-making behaviors.
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Figure 1: Hofstede’s cultural dimension of Singapore.
Source: The Hofstede Centre, 2014.
Furthermore, Chinese is the majority at 74% of the resident population in Singapore as
shown in Appendix 2, thus the Confucian background is rooted in Singapore’s culture (Khan,
2001). Stability of society is one of the key principles of Confucian teaching and it is built on
the basis of unequal relationships between people such as ruler – subject, father – son, and
older brother – younger brother; those relationships are based on mutual and complementary
obligations. Hence, Singapore culture promotes loyalty, respect for authority and place great
value on reciprocity, and interdependence in honoring relationships due to high in Confucian
values (Chan, 2008).
Thirdly, the proposal of social harmony as shared value is essential and appropriate, it
can help to alleviate the negative public emotions and enhance social cohesion and
integration. As a multicultural society, Singapore has achieved relatively high level of social
harmony (Ong, 2010), this can be supported by Hofstede’s cultural dimension of Masculinity
value which scores 48 as shown in Figure 1 (The Hofstede Centre, 2014). Singapore is at
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middle level of scale but towards to the feminism side, it means the softer aspects of culture
such as caring for others, consensus, sympathy for the underdog are valued and encouraged;
but competition, achievement and success are also important. This feminism is also reflected
in the government’s defined in one of the shared values – ‘community support and respect for
the individual’.
Culture is multidimensional, some complex factors such as acculturation factor may
shape the Confucian influence, but according to Lu and Shih’s research (1997), certain
Confucian values are slow to change, interpersonal relationships (family harmony) for
instance; so family and society harmony are still the central concepts of Confucianism that
deeply rooted in Singapore (Tan, 2004).
Lastly, the ‘positive outcome’ derives from ‘negative emotions’ are really positive? If
government responded such citizen emotion or populist pressure, it might provide the basis
for “reluctant collectivism” (Lindert, 1996); as consumers, citizens seek higher government
expenditure such as social security and welfare, but as taxpayers, they might be unwilling to
finance the provision of those public services. But perhaps, the remarkable degree of social
conformism in Singapore could help government overcome such populist pressures.
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Part 2
First Impression of Singapore
There is no other unique place in the world that blends East and West, conciliates
tradition and modernity, quite like Singapore. Those fashioned skyscrapers in CBD area mark
Singapore as an international financial center; and those old colonial buildings depict the
history of Singapore. English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil are official languages. ‘Singlish’, a
colourful and unique Singaporean English that lives by the rules of Chinese grammar and
hybrid words from Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese and India dialects. The rich cultural diversity
is also reflected in many aspects like food, festivals and faith. Those multicultural artifacts
constitute the first level of Singapore culture, and its society’s personality.
Experience in Singapore
I worked as HR Administrator at a construction company in Singapore (Appendix 3). The
company provides individual offices to middle and top management, especially the largest
room with upscale furnishings was for the boss. Thus, position level can be easily identified
from the office size. The subordinates were assigned to work and told what to do, and the
centralized decision-making resulted subordinates would not participate in any decision-
making process; and the power is concentrated in the hands of a few high-ranking managers.
Information flow was in top-down direction. These evidences reveal that the company is
bureaucratic and highly hierarchical as high power distance culture value.
During my service period, I have noticed the high turnover rate in the company
especially for foreign employees. This gives me a hint that the company does not value
productivity and competitive advantages as they failed to acquire and foster talented human
resources and paid less attention to organizational environment. The evidences are such as no
salary increment after probation period and no annual salary increment system to fulfill
employee's expectancy.
Reflective Thinking
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Based on my aforementioned experience and their strong hierarchy relationships and
bureaucratic leadership style, the predominant organizational culture can be categorized as
hierarchy culture in the competing values framework (CVF) as shown on Figure 2. However,
their values and traditional 'command and control' model can be only workable when the
organizational environment is simple and stable (Browaeys and Price, 2011). Recently, the
political environment has changed; Singapore government tightened Employment Pass
framework for foreigners (Singapore, REACH. 2013). This policy intends to improve the
productivity and reduce excessive dependence on foreign workers.
Figure 2: The competing values framework
Source: Cameron and Quinn, 2011.
In order to fundamentally address the management issues and success in responding
appropriately to the challenges and environmental changes, I propose the company to change
the predominant organizational culture from hierarchy to market culture (Figure 3), which
value profit, productivity and competitive advantages (Browaeys and Price, 2011).
Although changing the deeper elements of corporate culture is extremely difficult, some
practical guidelines are quite useful: 1) to have a clear strategic vision; 2) to get top-
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management commitment for cultural change; 3) symbolic leadership must be demonstrated;
4) organizational change must be supported; 5) to select and socialize the new employees and
terminate those with different views; 6) to be ethical and legal sensitivity (Appendix 4).
At artefacts level, some procedures or rules can be improved. Firstly, adjust to a better
pay structure, as it can help the organization achieve goals related to extrinsic motivation, cost
control, and the ability to attract and retain talented human resources (Noe et al. 2014).
Secondly, reasonable increment is important and company needs to utilize the government
subsidies. For example, Wage Credit Scheme will co-find 40% of wage increase to help
businesses face rising wage costs (Singapore, IRAS. 2014). Thirdly, offer sensitivity training
to diverse groups of employees to develop attitudinal flexibility. Lastly, promotion should on
the achievement and competency basis, not ascription or nationality.
Figure 3: Current to preferred future culture profiles change.
Source: Self-developed.
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Last but not the least, I am now become aware of the underlying dimensions of culture
across broad regional areas at supranational level. Such as Confucian values deeply influence
China, Singapore and East Asia. Furthermore, new culture is learned, through formal,
vicarious and technical learning.
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Part 3
Step one: self-awareness
Enculturation
As the same as most Chinese people, I was taught from childhood to receive traditional
Confucian teaching. Thus, I am tolerant for certain degree of unequal relationships between
people and believe that the elders and superiors shall be respected. In addition, my
expressions are usually implicit and indirect to save or give ‘face’ for others in the
background of high context and hierarchical culture. However, some of my minds have
changed since I moved to Singapore, such as paying more attention on my privacy, I gradually
refuse to share certain information about income and family; I also feel uncomfortable when
people are close to me. Figure 4 shows my own cultural profile with eight cultural
parameters.
Figure 4: Own cultural profile.
Sources: Self- developed
Step two: cross-cultural understanding
Acculturation
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The comparison of cultural profile between American culture in my perception and
actual American cultural is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: American cultural profile score in my perception and other score.
Parameter Value=1 Value=5 My Score Other
Score
Time focus monochronic Polychronic 5 4
Time
orientation past Future 5 4
Space private Public 3 1
Power equality Hierarchy 1 1
Structure individualism Collectivism 1 1
Competition co-operative Competitive 5 5
Communication low-context High-context 1 2
Action being Doing 4 4
Sources: Self-developed
American culture score from others
Time focus (monochromic and polychromic). Americans are on monochromic time, they
use to make appointments and take one’s turn. They prefer to do one thing at a time and
follow by the schedule. This perception of time focus is learned and rooted in the era of
Industrial Revolution – where "factory life required the labor force to be on hand and in place
at an appointed hour" (Guerrero et al. 1999). Plocher et al. (2001) discover the American
tends to more monochromic culture by using questionnaires to compare three measurements
of monochronicity and polychronicity. However, Lindquist et al. (2001) find Japanese were
even more highly monochromic than Americans.
Time orientation (past, present and future). The U.S. culture is the present and short-
term future oriented (Browaeys and Price, 2011). Spears et al. (2008) suggest Americans
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prefer planning for short-term future because they think time is valuable and often equivalent
to money.
Space (private and public). Americans pay extra attention to their privacy and do not
like the space to be invaded. They do not like to talk about their age, salary or weight.
Moreover, they find it is uncomfortable when others stand very close during a conversation,
and they will try to move away (Maskil, 2014).
Power (hierarchy and equality). The U.S. government and society emphasize on equal
rights in all aspects. It is showed by the American premise as ‘Liberty and justice for all’. So
the most of Americans think everyone should entitle the same opportunities regardless their
gender, race or religion. U.S. is scored 40 as lower scale on power distance in Hofstede’s
cultural dimension as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Hofstede’s cultural dimension scored on United States.
Source: The Hofstede Centre, 2014
Structure (individualism and collectivism). Doran and Littrell (2013) find that many
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Americans may move to a new place due to their job changes, promotions or changes in
fortune dictate, as they are able to replace friends relatively easily and more focus on their
own-interest. In addition, the U.S. is scored 91 in the individualism dimension as shown in
Figure 5 (The Hofstede Centre, 2014). Therefore, the U.S. is heavy individualistic cultural
society.
Competition (competitive and co-operation). In Hofstede’s cultural dimension, score
of the U.S on Masculinity is 62 (Figure 5). The middle-upper level of scale reveals that the
society is driven by competition and achievement; the success is defined by the “winner” or
“best-in-the-field” (The Hofstede Centre, 2014). U.S. is high in achievement – oriented
culture, people value performance no matter who the person (Trompenaars and Hampden –
Turner, 1997). Hence, this country is ranked the world’s most competitive country (Petroff
and Riley, 2013).
Communication (high-context and low-context). A low-context culture is one in which
society is high in individualism and people are somewhat alienated and fragmented. Thus, the
communication between people is more explicit and non-personally (Hall, 1976). Americans
rely on direct style that influenced by their individualism culture (Trompenaars and Hampden
– Turner, 1997). The US categories at an upper level of low-context culture (Hall and Hall,
1990) as illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2: High/Low context by culture.
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Source: Hall and Hall, 1990.
Action (activity: doing and being). The culture in U.S. is very doing-oriented. Most of
Americans are living away from their parents after 18 years old and taking the path of self-
reliance with background of individualism. Accomplishment is considered vital in the U.S.
culture and one can only accomplish something by acting or doing (Roberts and Hart, 1997).
Comparison
The cultural orientations reveal and focus on how individual believes the world should
work and individual’s assumptions about how the world works. Such assumptions are
naturally reflections of the culture to which that individual belongs; as such, the individual is
reporting on his own culture (Maznevski et al, 2002). Thus, as illustration in Figure 6, there
are certainly some differences and similarities between my perception of the U.S culture and
realistic U.S. culture due to reflection of my Chinese culture.
Figure 6: Own profile vs. U.S. profile.
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Sources: Self-developed
Firstly, I hold identical views with other score on the U.S cultural values on competition,
structure and action based on my understanding of the U.S. history. The first European settlers
went to the North American Continent for varied reasons, such as to escape persecution. For
the purpose of survival and safety, self-interest and idealism began to drive their thinking (The
United States. IIP Digital, 2012). Thus, Americans focus on doing action that they would like
to change things to make their life better and eventually lead to more competition in the
society. In 2010, only 12.6% of total population is Black or African American in U.S.
(Infoplease, 2014). However, their President is a Black America. It is sufficient to show that
equality is the most important in U.S. But in hierarchical society such as China and Malaysia,
minorities must not be allowed to be a President of country.
Secondly, there are similar perspectives on communication, time orientation and time
focus. I realised Americans with low-context orientation are open-minded and very directly
through American movies and dramas. Because China is a very high-context culture country,
as contrast, I naturally consider that the U.S. is the lowest-context culture country during
interaction. However, U.S. is not ranked as low as some German-speak countries (Table 2). In
addition, Chinese focus on past-time orientation which is influenced by Confucianism (Li,
2008), so the score is given one scale higher than the actual score of the U.S. Furthermore,
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guanxi (Relationships) is vital and inevitable in China to make business successful, so
individuals come from such society focusing on more relationships (Browaeys and Price,
2011). In my view, the U.S. is the most monochromic cultural country in the world before I
get insight into Japanese culture.
Thirdly, the score differences can be found in space orientation. Americans are open-
minded and very directly from my understandings and experiences. However, I confused
those behaviors with privacy. In fact, they are glad to talk with others but not for private
topics and resist the invasion of private places.
Lastly, some critical issues could be emerged when the representatives from different
culture profiles work together; their different perceptions, behaviours and communication
styles etc. may cause misunderstandings or incompatibilities that eventually can lead to
conflicts. The workplace conflict is inevitable but a sound conflict management system can
change conflict to healthy competition (Aula and Siira, 2010). In addition, organization can
provide training to both management and employees to improve their understanding of cross-
culture.
Step three: adapt professional skills
Planning
1 Differences in cultural values regarding management tasks
As U.S. culture is the present and short-term future oriented, so it is prepared to take risk;
they look into short-term gains through the short-term planning. The planning emphases
individual decision – making and the process is fast. The decisions are initiated at the top and
flow down (Weihrich, 1990). In contrast to Chinese management, they are primarily long-
term oriented, decision-making is by committees due to high in collectivism culture. Their
decision-making process is relatively slow.
2 Management strategies
Management should make sure short-term solutions put in place to support employees to
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help organization achieve long-term development. For example, management need to find out
the employees who are lacking of the skills or negative attitude emerged in time, then arrange
training programs to address those issues as soon as possible.
Organizing
1 Differences in cultural values regarding management tasks
Organizations in U.S. emphasize individual responsibility and accountability. The
organizational structure encourages individual autonomy (Browaeys and Price, 2011); it can
be distinguished from formal hierarchical and bureaucratic structures in most of Chinese
firms, and their management emphasizes collective and individual responsibility.
2 Management strategies
Authority needs to be decentralized to the lowest possible level. Managers should work
out more specific ideas on implementing empowerment and provide frequent feedback to
employees in order to increase their engagement and improve productivity. The task-
responsibility guidelines need to be explicit such as job description should be specified and
clarified.
Staffing
1 Differences in cultural values regarding management tasks
The U.S. organizations commonly appraise the performance of new employee, but if the
performance does not meet organization’s expectations, employment may be terminated even
for those who have been with organization for many years. In general, the performance
appraisal is based on short-term result and individual contribution to the organization.
Comparing to Chinese firm, employees usually are assigned to their position by higher
authorities. Due to low in competitive culture value and long-term oriented, performance
appraisal normal is conducted once a year; individual and collective contribution will be
assessed.
2 Management strategies
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Managers should well practice performance appraisal to achieve intrinsic motivation for
employees and identify their training needs. The training should design for employee’s
individual achievements and needs; it must focus on practical information which can be
directly applied to specific goals; and the results must be measurable and achieved in a short
term (Elashmawi and Harris, 1993).
Directing (Leading)
1 Differences in cultural values regarding management tasks
The American leadership style can be described as individualistic in approach. As
managers, they believe that the role of a manager is to help solving problems (Taleghani, et al,
2010). In addition, the American leaders accept divergent values and face-to-face
confrontation. Although they work hard, they value their private life and separate from work.
As contrast to Chinese leaders, they emphasize on harmony and try to avoid on confrontation
as high in co-operative culture value. But they often involve work into private life like
entertaining clients at dinner time.
2 Management strategies
As a leader in American company, he must be directive, strong and determinative. Diverse
values needs to be integrated but do not over emphasize on individualism to hinder co-
operation. Communications should be top down pattern.
Controlling
1 Differences in cultural values regarding management tasks
Control in U.S. organizations often means measuring individual performance against
precise standards. In order to maximize individual results, group performance might suffer. In
another words, the self-interest of people can be placed before group or organizational interest
(Weihrich, 1990). In China, control is focus on group as well as on individual, but group or
organizational interest has higher priority than individual interest.
2 Management strategies
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Managers could consider practicing Management by Objectives by setting of S.M.A.R.T.
objectives against which individual performance is measured. So the deviations to specific
individual can be traced by managers, and follow-up actions can be discussed.
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Appendix 1: From emotions to shared values.
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Source: Chan, D. (2013) From emotions to shared values. The Straits Times, 28 December.
Available from:
http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/goodbye-2013-hello-2014/story/emotions-shar
ed-values-20131228 [Accessed by 04 March 2014]
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Appendix 2: Ethnic Composition of Resident Population
Source: Singapore. Department of Statistics (2013) Population Trends 2013. Singapore:
Department of Statistics. Available at:
http://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad
=rja&ved=0CDEQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.singstat.gov.sg%2Fpublications%
2Fpublications_and_papers%2Fpopulation_and_population_structure%2Fpopulation201
3.pdf&ei=ZQIWU_G5MMiMrQea_oCgDg&usg=AFQjCNFJAbQeynvCK5gF-z7W7Z4
ALIMVuA&bvm=bv.62286460,d.bmk (Accessed by 05 March 2014)
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Appendix 3: Appointment letter as HR administrator.
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Appendix 4: Guideline to change corporate culture.
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