Management Differences Between East and West as Seen in Theory Z

Theory Z (theory Z) is a new management theory proposed by Japanese-American scholar W. Ouchi (Willam Ouchi) in the 1980s. The theory was developed in light of the serious challenges faced by U.S. firms from Japanese firms. Ouchi chose some typical enterprises in Japan and the United States (these enterprises have subsidiaries or factories in their own countries and the other country) to study, and found that the productivity of Japanese enterprises is generally higher than that of U.S. enterprises, while the U.S. enterprises set up in Japan, if managed in accordance with the U.S. way, their efficiency will be poor. Based on this phenomenon, Ouchi proposed that U.S. firms should learn from the management style of Japanese firms, taking into account the characteristics of their own countries, and develop their own management style. He attributed this management style to the Z-type management style.

In his study, Ouchi compares and analyzes U.S.-Japanese management mainly in seven dimensions.

1, Employment system 2, Decision-making system 3, Accountability 4, Control mechanism 5, Appraisal and promotion system 6, Employee career development 7, Employee care

The unique insights of the Z theory: (1) Lifetime employment system. Employing workers for a long period of time, even if the business is not doing well, generally do not dismiss workers, to take other ways to get through the difficult times, the career assurance of the workers will make people more actively care about the interests of the enterprise. (2) Slow evaluation and promotion. Workers are tested over a long period of time before being fully evaluated. (3) Decentralized and centralized decision-making. The major decisions of the enterprise should be made by the workers on the first line of production or sales, and then reported to the middle management after the centralized adjustment and unification of various opinions, and then finally the leaders at the upper level should make a more correct decision after investigation and research, and the implementation of the decision should be divided into different responsibilities. (4) implicit control, but the detection means clear formal. Grass-roots managers on the one hand should be sensitive to seize the essence of the problem, in situ solution, on the other hand, before reporting the situation, in collaboration with the relevant departments *** with the development of a problem-solving program. (5) Harmonize the relationship between managers and workers. Comprehensive concern for the life of the workers, the requirements of the production task and work design with the quality of labor and life of the workers combined, so that the workers in the work of satisfaction and comfort. (6) Let the workers get multi-faceted exercise. Do not limit the workers to a narrow range, not only pay attention to the training of workers' professional knowledge and ability, but also pay attention to the workers to obtain a variety of work experience, production technology and social activities should be a long-term comprehensive examination of ability.

Unlike Theory X, which is based on the idea that nature is inherently evil, and Theory Y, which is based on the idea that nature is inherently good, Theory Z is an attempt to pursue efficiency while minimizing the confrontation between the authorities and the workers, and maximizing the unity of action. It is also different from Theory Y, which is "good by nature".

At present, the management community also put forward the H theory, H that is, Haier, Haier created with Chinese characteristics of the "H theory" is: the initiative to change the internal organizational structure, so that it adapts to the talent and ability of employees, and ultimately realize the people and enterprises **** with the development.

, in the concept of talent: East and West in order to survive and develop the needs of enterprises, are trying to find ways to attract and retain talent through a variety of means. But the core concept is different:

Western enterprises tend to enterprises and individuals with a better future, respect for individuals, the improvement of people's lives, such as the glory of human nature to attract talent. For example: GE's corporate values are: "We BringGood Things To Life (We BringGood Things To Life )", the concept of talent management is: "to create opportunities for talented people from all over the world, to cultivate and realize their dreams"; and Motorola emphasizes the enduring respect for people, proposed: "Motorola is a company that provides equal development opportunities for its employees. Motorola emphasizes the enduring respect for people, stating: "Motorola is a company that provides equal opportunities for its employees.

In the East, Confucianism's philosophy of cultivating the world and the tradition of "the rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of everyone" have had a profound impact on the culture and philosophy of enterprises. Many companies have a strong sense of responsibility to the country and the nation to motivate employees and attract talent. For example: Shenzhen Huawei's corporate philosophy is: " to the company's culture as a link, the big I and I am integrated, *** cast the glory of the national communications industry "; and South Korea's Samsung's basic philosophy is: " talent first, career country, reasonable management ".

2, in the selection of people: each enterprise in order to achieve their own goals, are constantly to obtain the talents they need. But in the selection of talent standards, East and West are obviously different:

Western enterprises in the selection of people is usually to find the best talent as the highest standard. For example, Intel has put forward the slogan of using smart people to attract smart people , while Microsoft is looking for more than us ( Microsoft existing employees ) better talent. In terms of specific recruitment techniques: Intel has a set of rigorous recruitment procedures, through interviews, psychometric tests, simulation tests (final test) to obtain the required talent, while Microsoft is not interested in psychometric tests, it focuses on the performance in the interview to determine a person's creativity and plasticity, and emphasizes that the top management personally participate in the recruitment. The interview questions used by Microsoft to test a person's creativity can be said to be widely popular.

Oriental enterprises in the selection of people, although they also want to get the best talent, focusing on the quality of the individual, talent and development potential, but it is often not the pursuit of the best talent, but rather emphasize the right, hoping to get suitable for the enterprise, to meet the needs of the work of the talent. For example, Matsushita Electric Corporation in Japan has been practicing the recruitment principle of looking for 70 points of talent. As Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita, said, "The word "appropriate" is very important, the right company, the right store, to recruit the right people. It is sometimes better to have 70 points of talent." He believed that good people tend to be good at what they do. "He believes that the best talent is often too demanding of the company, while 70 points of talent is more easily satisfied, more likely to work for the company to the best of their ability.

3, in terms of employment: both Eastern and Western enterprises emphasize the strengths of people, only talent, requiring the full development of existing talent, in order to achieve the ideal state of making the best use of talent. But the East and the West also have their own characteristics:

Western enterprises with people, emphasizing the role of individuals, highlighting the " star culture ", to maximize the play of individual talent as the goal. At the same time focus on respect for individuals, the implementation of humane management, the requirements of a full understanding of each person, and strive to create the right opportunity for each person, and in the distribution of work to respect and give full consideration to the development of personal aspirations.

In the Oriental enterprises, in addition to focusing on individual talent, the requirement of meritocracy, but also emphasize both integrity and talent, especially for the management and leaders, pay more attention to the moral first. At the same time, emphasize the individual and the collective, and team harmony, and even in pursuit of harmony and team efficiency, can be appropriate to sacrifice the requirements of individual talent. The most typical example is Japan's Seibu Group. As a Japanese department store giant, the Seibu Group's philosophy of employment is "not to use smart people". Its current president, Mr. Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, has gradually formed a set of unique employment philosophy on the basis of his father's teachings: not to use the smartest people easily. His reasons are threefold:

First, smart people often make the mistake of looking down on those around them. Tee believes that letting arrogant people be the top leaders will cause anxiety among the employees, which will undermine their confidence, reduce the overall efficiency, and finally form a resistance that will affect the company's development.

Secondly, smart people have stronger desires than normal people. Therefore, in the group often become a source of trouble, Tee believes that smart people have heavy desires, and honor, status, and benefits often corrode a person's heart, which will cause conflicts in the group, undermining unity.

Thirdly, Mr. Tee believes that the desires and ambitions of intelligent people are ten or even a hundred times greater than those of ordinary people, and that once they are in a position of power, they are likely to be more selfish than conscientious, and begin to find a way out of their own desire for power, not only to suppress the work of others, but also to use their power for personal gain. Therefore, Tee believes that those middle talent is easier to meet, they focus on the company to give them the position, will work hard, but also easy to achieve results.

4, in terms of nurturing: nurturing includes two levels of content: one is the promotion of positions, and the other is the development of capabilities.

In the promotion of positions, Eastern enterprises due to the emphasis on staff loyalty to the enterprise, pay more attention to the promotion of positions to train and motivate existing staff, and the concept of hierarchy is stronger, emphasizing one step at a time; many Western enterprises also take the job promotion as an important means of motivating employees, but in many cases according to the needs of the direct recruitment of senior managers from outside; at the same time, the concept of hierarchy is not very strong, and boldly promote young people to the next level, and the promotion of the young people to the next level. At the same time, the concept of hierarchy is not very strong, bold promotion of young people and less senior personnel phenomenon is more, but also easy to accept.

In terms of personal ability training, eastern enterprises rely on themselves to train employees, and skills and on-the-job training plays a major role; while European and American enterprises rely more on external forces for training, such as cooperation with various famous universities, send outstanding talents to various institutions to study and so on, training to MBA and other management courses, emphasizing the cultivation of managerial talent. 5, in the area of retention: retention includes two aspects of meaning, one is to retain In terms of retention: retention includes two meanings, one is to retain outstanding talent, and the other is to eliminate the unqualified. In the retention of talented people in both Eastern and Western enterprises can be said to attach great importance to emotional retention, career retention and treatment to retain these three means. If they are different, that is, Western enterprises attach more importance to treatment and career development, while Eastern enterprises emphasize the emotional belonging. We from Siemens, Motorola, Ericsson and other multinational companies in China in the human resources management strategy is not difficult to see, they all emphasize the need to ensure that the salary has enough market competitiveness, and in order to motivate the management, many Western companies do not hesitate to give the gift of equity options.

In terms of eliminating the unqualified, most western enterprises have implemented a strict elimination system to establish a cycle of survival of the fittest. For example, PepsiCo and McKinsey & Company practiced the management principle of "Up or Out", either to be promoted for outstanding performance or to leave the company. Japanese companies to cultivate staff loyalty to the company, advocating "life-long employment", generally do not easily dismissed or eliminated employees.

With the accelerated process of economic globalization and scientific and technological progress, the East and West culture with unprecedented speed in a wider range and deeper level of integration and exchange, people's mindsets are also constantly changing. East and West enterprises in this cultural collision and integration process, each other to absorb and learn from each other's strengths and constantly improve their human resource management concepts and strategies. For example: in the eighties, U.S. companies are facing strong pressure from Japanese companies, William Ouchi, Richard Pascal, Anthony Altho and other scholars in a serious study of Japanese companies on the basis of the famous "Z Theory" and "the mind of the strategist, a Japanese company's art of management," for the U.S. companies to introduce the unique art of management of Japanese companies and "loyalty and harmony" as the fundamental characteristics of the talent concept, to the U.S. companies, and to the U.S. companies to improve their human resources management concepts and strategies. It introduced to American companies the unique management art of Japanese companies and the concept of human resources characterized by "loyalty and harmony", which made a positive contribution to the re-emergence of American companies. Eastern enterprises over the years, but also in the continuous absorption of the essence of human resources management of Western enterprises to establish a fundamental concept of people-oriented, emphasizing respect for the individual, pay attention to the use of treatment and development opportunities to attract and retain talent, and through rigorous assessment to eliminate unqualified personnel. It can be said that the East and West cultural exchanges, promote the enterprise human resource management concepts and methods of continuous innovation.

The cultural differences between the East and the West formed the East and the West enterprises in human resource management in their distinctive features, the same is the performance of the company, its human resource management strategy may be very different. Objectively speaking for the enterprise's human resource management, there is no world's best, only the enterprise itself is the most suitable. Whether Eastern or Western companies, only in full respect for their respective historical and cultural traditions on the basis of the selection of suitable for their own characteristics to meet the needs of the enterprise's development of human resources management strategies and methods, in order to really do a good job of human resources management of enterprises, to achieve the long-term development of the enterprise's goals

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