Gung Ho directed by Ron Howard is a movie which perfectly presents the clash of the organizational cultures. Watching the movie, Japanese people are unable to understand what is wrong, while Americans appear in confusion how it is possible to show productive performance under the supervisions of such managers. Considering the situation from the point of view of Japanese management, they did all correct as they implemented the rules and organizational culture they are best at.
However, the running business in a strange country, Japanese managers were to consider the organizational culture of other companies to make sure that he employees are comforted and they are going to show great productivity and effective performance. Watching Gung Ho it is possible to mention several mistakes which are believed to be the worst and discuss the alternative actions.
The first mistake Japanese managers made was the demand for regimentation and lack of creativity. American employees work much better when they are encouraged to work offering space for imagination and creativity (Prabhu, Sutton and Sauser 54). Routine work is not for American people who got used to complete different projects and use their creative thinking on work from their school days. Therefore, the Japanese managers had to encourage American workers for creative thinking rather then put those in strict frames.
Americans got used to get the payment for the work they perform. All hours which were worked over norm are to be to be paid. The second mistake Japanese managers did was unpaid overtime. It is inadmissible to make American employees to work for free. To avoid this mistake, Japanese managers had either to offer additional payment for overworked hours or to give the employees extra days off.
One of the most severe mistakes Japanese managers showed was the appraisal of the manufacturing productivity higher than the life and health of the employees. American employees got used to work in specific conditions where their life and health are protected. Americans will not work under the conditions where their life is at risk and the managers do nothing. The Japanese managers had to pay more attention to employees’ safety and working productivity would increase in this case (Nahrgang, Morgeson, and Hofmann 75).
Japanese managers put work higher that the family priorities which is inadmissible for Americans. This is the mistake as when working situations appear, Americans would give preference to family forgetting about work and its tasks, especially when the completed work is not paid appropriately. Japanese managers had to structure the working process in such a way that when the conflicting situations where the family and the work arise, the family should be prioritized.
Finally, the fifth worst mistake the Japanese managers make was the placement of the community good over the individual one. Japanese managers acted like in their country trying to make sure that the community interests are met, while Americans did not pay much attention to the community being interested in individual benefit. Asian cultures are more directed at the community interests that is why they are unable to understand how individual benefit may be praised higher (Johnston, and Hongmei 110). However, the Japanese managers had to create the conditions under which each employee would get the priority in case a concrete task is completed.
Therefore, it may be concluded that he inability to create the conditions for creative expression of the employees, free overworked hours, ignorance of the safety at the workplace for the benefit of the productivity, ignoring of the family priorities and the failure to meet the individual interests are the main mistakes Japanese managers made in the movie Gung Ho.
Works Cited
Johnston, Linda M., and Gao Hongmei. “Resolving conflict in the Chinese and U.S. realms for global business entities.” China Media Research 5.2 (2009): 104-117.
Nahrgang, Jennifer D., Morgeson, Frederick P. and David A. Hofmann. “Safety at work: A meta-analytic investigation of the link between job demands, job resources, burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes.” Journal of Applied Psychology 96.1 (2011): 71-94.
Prabhu, Veena, Sutton, Charlotte and William Sauser. “Creativity And certain personality traits: Understanding the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation.” Creativity Research Journal 20.1 (2008): 53-66.