Is the Task of Managing People Essentially the Same in All Countries?

Managing people is an important task in one company. However, different culture would lead to different models of management. Furthermore, more and more multinational corporations have been established in all countries, “international HRM becomes one of the most challenging corporate tasks in multinational organization.” Therefore, culture difference should be understood by supervisor in the firms that is beneficial to do management (Schneider, 2003). The essay will give some examples and analyze different ways of management in different countries through Hofstede’s four culture dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism and masculinity-femininity (Huczynski, 2001)

Firstly, empowerment that means “the delegation of authority to employees in order for them to take control and make decisions” (Joynt and Warner, 1996) has become one basic model of management in American firms. The goal of empowerment is to encourage staff more individual to deal with their jobs as well as apply their professional knowledge in the position (Joynt and Warner, 1996). The way of management results from different culture, according to culture dimensions, Americans are prone to individualism and low power distance (Huczynski, 2001). In American companies, the employees are empowered to do some activities without getting agreement from their employers such as exchange products, allow cash refunds and provide services (Joynt and Warner, 1996). For example, in an American manufacturing firm, individual staff is authorized to stop all activities of production once he finds some quality problems during process of producing. (Joynt and Warner, 1996)

Another study shows most people in Denmark and Norway firms pay more attention to quality of life than career because they emphasize femininity from culture dimensions (Huczynski, 2001). For example, Denmark and Norway stress on well-being rather than the achievement in their career, they like to enjoy life that leads to boss keep touch with their staff hardly after working hours (Schneider, 2003). By contrast, majority of Japanese have high pressure on their job in the companies, moreover, the pressure might affect on their private life. The reason for this situation happens is those