Guns Ho Anthropology
The movie speaks of a Japanese auto company called "Assan Motors" that is starting to do business in the United States where cultural conflict emerges between US employees and Japanese managers.The movie shows us the results of a very disturbing, but comical cultural conflict between The United States and Japan and makes it easy to see the differences between cultures and how they can impact a business. Guns Ho illustrates and personify in the movie some factors that are related to The Dimensions of Hofstede's theories by showing some of the complications of the cultural differences in management and human resources in an understandable and entertaining way. Using three of the six measurable dimensions of Hofstede's to compare American and
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The collectivist side defines mostly Japan but the Individualist side defines the United States. Collectivism is when the company operates as a team with the contribution of every employee. On the other hand, the Individualist approach is much more self-motivated. In other words, “in collectivist cultures, organizations are used to give members meaning and purpose while in individualistic cultures, organizations are used to serve individual owners, employees and customers” (Mercado, 2004). For example, the Japanese managers told Mr. Stevenson that the American employees were not loyal as much as the Japanese employees. Moreover, the movie shows clearly that the American employees work only for money, looking always for excuses to miss their shifts or to leave early, while the Japanese employees work only for the company, care more for the business than their own families, work faster and and can work overtimes for free if that will help for the growth of the business. In my opinion, the reason of cultural contradiction is based on the lack of the implications for individual's understanding of culture and that will lead to a negative
The collectivist side defines mostly Japan but the Individualist side defines the United States. Collectivism is when the company operates as a team with the contribution of every employee. On the other hand, the Individualist approach is much more self-motivated. In other words, “in collectivist cultures, organizations are used to give members meaning and purpose while in individualistic cultures, organizations are used to serve individual owners, employees and customers” (Mercado, 2004). For example, the Japanese managers told Mr. Stevenson that the American employees were not loyal as much as the Japanese employees. Moreover, the movie shows clearly that the American employees work only for money, looking always for excuses to miss their shifts or to leave early, while the Japanese employees work only for the company, care more for the business than their own families, work faster and and can work overtimes for free if that will help for the growth of the business. In my opinion, the reason of cultural contradiction is based on the lack of the implications for individual's understanding of culture and that will lead to a negative