1.0 Introduction介紹
 

文化之間的差異，不同地區的人們提出了跨文化人力資源管理（HRM）的新主題，為中國企業在國外（崩朋那樣，和Leong，2000）。企業人力資源管理越來越受當地的價值觀、思維方式和社會實踐活動，它直接影響到一系列的人力資源管理中的招聘模式，跨國企業的政策，人員培訓，績效管理，薪酬，等等（安捷倫、施密特、陌生人和brettel，2014）。不同文化之間的差異，從價值、規范、思維往往演變為文化沖突的方法，如心理方面的沖突，對時間觀念的沖突、思想沖突的方式，餐飲習慣等等（崩朋那樣，和隆，2000；安捷倫、施密特、陌生人和brettel，2014）。為了解決中國企業跨國經營中文化差異的問題，跨文化管理顯得尤為重要。在這項研究中，它以中國位于英國的公司為對象，了解員工在中國企業文化差異的表現，以及在國際管理公司的措施，試圖找到這些公司在跨文化管理的特點和不足，提出了中國從文化的多樣性透視企業未來的國際人力資源管理的建議。With the increasing deepening relationship between global economy and culture, in order to gain competitive advantage and take the initiative in the fierce market competition, more and more Chinese enterprises go abroad to seek effective allocation of resources on a global scale. At the same time, the cultural differences between people of different regions propose new topics of cross-cultural human resource management (HRM) for Chinese enterprises located abroad (Pheng, and Leong, 2000). Corporate HRM increasingly subjects to local values, ways of thinking and social practices, which directly affects a series of HRM policies of the multinationals in recruitment patterns, personnel training, performance management, compensation, and so on (Engelen, Schmidt, Strenger and Brettel, 2014). Differences between different cultures in terms of values, norms, ways of thinking often evolve into a clash of cultures, such as the conflicts in psychological aspects, the conflicts for concept of time, ways of thinking conflict, dining customs and so on (Pheng, and Leong, 2000; Engelen, Schmidt, Strenger and Brettel, 2014). To solve the problem of cultural differences in multinational management of Chinese enterprises, cross-cultural management is particularly important. In this study, it takes Chinese companies located in UK as an object to understand the performance of cultural differences of employees in the Chinese companies, as well as the measures of the companies in international IHRM, trying to find the characteristics and shortcomings of these companies in cross-cultural management to bring forward recommendations for the future IHRM of the Chinese enterprises from a cultural diversity perspective.

2.0 Research aims and objectives研究目標和目標

Research aims of this study are to understand the performance of cultural differences of employees in Chinese enterprises located in UK, and the corporate cross-cultural management practices to put forward recommendations on their future IHRM measures of the Chinese enterprises. Based on the research aims and Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences (Hofstede, 1980), this study designs the following objectives.#p#分頁標題#e#

Objective 1: From five perspectives: power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-feminism, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation to understand the performance of cultural diversity of employees in Chinese companies located in UK;

Objective 2: To understand what measures that the Chinese companies have taken in IHRM in terms of a cultural diversity perspective, as well as the weaknesses of those measures;

Objective 3: To propose for the future IHRM measures of the Chinese enterprises in terms of cross-cultural management.

3.0 Literature review文獻綜述
 

3.1 Influence of cultural diversity on HRM

High-quality staff, recruitment and incentives of excellent personnel and efficient implementation has become an important condition for modern enterprises to win in competition, of which HRM is becoming a core competitiveness of enterprises. The difficulties in the management of the core have been magnified in the context of cultural differences (Tukiainen, 2015). According to statistics, among the failed cross-border merges and acquisitions cases in the world, 80% of them were caused by the unfavorable cross-cultural management (Zaidman, and Drory, 2001; Pheng and Leong, 2000). Thus highly efficient HRM is bound to play a crucial role in the operation of an enterprise in a cross-cultural context (Popescu et al., 2014). Cultural diversity tends to cause some problems: misleading arising from language barriers or inaccurate translations (Popescu et al., 2014), a lack of understanding of the social environment of the other side (Woods et al., 2013), a lack of understanding of the business environment of the other side, a lack of mental preparation for difficult problems in joint adventures (Bonache, Trullen and Sanchez, 2012). Cultural diversity results in a lot of management problems, which seriously threatens the sustainable development of enterprises (Popescu et al., 2014; Engelen et al., 2014). This phenomenon has attracted attention of many scholars, among them, Hofstede was one of the most respectful for his model of national cultural differences (Hofstede, 1980).

3.2 Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences

Hofstede spent 28 years on the survey towards a total of 11 million people in 51 countries and regions, the investigation was from five dimensions: power distance, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-feminism and long-term orientation to discuss the differences between different cultures (Hofstede, 1980). 

3.2.1 Power distance

Power distance is used to represent the levels of people's acceptance of the unequal distribution of power in an organization (Hofstede, 1980). In general, the power distance index in the context of oriental culture is higher, people usually respond to inequality calmly; the power distance index generated under influence of western culture is lower, the people have a strong spirit of resistance towards inequalities of power distribution (Hofstede, 1980; 1983). #p#分頁標題#e#

3.2.2 Individualism-collectivism

The culture emphasizing individualism tends to lay stress on individual rights and freedoms, especially individual professions and reward. Collectivists respects harmony between members of a group, they feel that they should be loyal absolutely for the group. Generally, cultures of western countries have characteristics of individualism culture, oriental culture has the characteristics of collectivism (Hofstede, 1980;1985).

3.2.3 Uncertainty avoidance 

Uncertainty Avoidance refers to the attitude of people towards potential risks and uncertainties (Hofstede, 1980). In a society of low uncertainty avoidance, people are relatively calm in the face of risk. They also show tolerance to other people’s different behavior and opinions. In a society of high uncertainty avoidance, people show high levels of anxiety and worry for potential risks and uncertainties. In such a society, companies and organizations may have more formal rules, people lack tolerance towards abnormal thought and behavioral. Countries like China and UK belong to the societies of lower uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede, 1980; 1983).

3.2.4 Masculinity-feminism

Cultural characteristics of masculinity are overconfident and materialism, the national culture of femininity emphasizes quality of life, the culture has emphasis on the relationship between people and show sensitivity and concern about other people’s happy (Hofstede, 1980; 1983).

3.2.5 Long-term orientation

A culture of long-term orientation focuses on future, pays attention to thrift and perseverance. They believe that savings should be abundant, thrift is important; they stubbornly adhere to achieving targets; they are sensitive for social relations and hierarchical relationships; they are willing to invest for the future. In the culture of short-term orientation, the values focus on the past and the present. People respect tradition and pay attention to fulfilling social responsibility, but here and now is the most important (Hofstede, 1980;1985).

3.3 Cross-cultural management

Cross-cultural management is through the process of cultural integration to establish a mutual trust, mutual respect relationship between employees of different cultural backgrounds (Bonache, Trullen and Sanchez, 2012), training employees to accept different ways of thinking and cultivating their intercultural competence of working with people with different cultural backgrounds (Popescu et al., 2014), so as to make the two sides reach a consensus in the future corporate values, management modes and systems (Engelen et al., 2014; Woods et al., 2013). Cross-cultural management generally includes the following contents. First, to understand that each national culture has its own unique personality, for instance, Chinese people emphasize collectivism and ignore individualism; British people respect individualism, thus cultural conflicts may arise from this and should be known and prevented in advance (Pheng, and Leong, 2000). Second, to select an appropriate mode of cultural integration, there are basic four modes of cultural integration (Shimoni, 2011; Kim, Kim and Lim, 2013; Lelchook and Luque, 2015). The first mode is: in an organization, a culture dominates other cultures (Huff, Song and Gresch, 2014). The second is the compromise of two cultures, they seek common ground while accept the existing differences, in order to ensure the stability and development of an organization (Shimoni, 2011; Lelchook and Luque, 2015). The third mode is through mutual complement and coordination between cultures to form a new and unified culture of an organization (Shimoni, 2011). The fourth mode means that on the premise of very limited cultural contact and exchange of employees with different cultural backgrounds in an enterprise, they keep their own culture independent (Kim, Kim and Lim, 2013; Lelchook and Luque, 2015). Third, to implement cross-cultural training, which includes: language learning, awareness of both national cultures, cultural sensitivity training, cross-cultural communication and conflict management (Tutar, Altinoz and Cakiroglu, 2014; Huff, Song and Gresch, 2014).#p#分頁標題#e#

3.4 Gap

Relevant theories of Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences were the research results in the 1970s and 1980s, with the development of times, economy and society, cultures of each country also changed, especially for Chinese people, the rapid economic development will inevitably have a huge impact on China's culture, then it is necessary to re-examine the cultural characteristics of Chinese people, that is why this study aims to understand the performance of cultural differences of staff of Chinese enterprises located in UK. In addition, the performance of behavior of employees in multinational corporations is influenced by their own culture, as well as the external cultural environment. Researches on cultural differences in the past mostly focused on the characteristics of behavior of local staff in a local cultural environment, while there were less research analyzing the characteristics of behavior of employees in other cultural environment. In Chinese companies located in UK, there are often employees with a variety of cultural backgrounds, these employees are not only influenced by their own cultures, but also influenced by British culture, so their organizational behavior is differ from what they behave in their own countries, from this point of view to explore the IHRM of Chinese companies in UK has a certain sense of innovation.

4.0 Methodology方法論

This dissertation will make use of quantitative and qualitative research approaches together, which is beneficial for taking advantages of both approaches and avoiding their weaknesses (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007). The use of quantitative research approach will investigate the performance of cultural differences of employees of Chinese companies in UK. The qualitative study will help to understand the characteristics and weaknesses of cross-cultural management practices of the Chinese companies. Questionnaires will be used to collect quantitative data. 240 copies of questionnaires will be distributed in this study, the objects will be employees of Chinese companies in UK. The author will through personal relationship to contact with relevant management personnel of six Chinese enterprises in UK, 40 employees of each company will participate in the survey. The questionnaire will be distributed and taken back by emailing. The content of questionnaire is divided into three parts, the first part explain the purpose of the survey, as well as how to fill out the questionnaire. The second part will be designed based on Hofstede’s model of cultural differences, specific content of the questionnaire is presented as table 1. Answers of the questionnaire will be expressed based on Likert scale, 1-5 will represent ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. The third part shows the objects’ personal information, such as age, income, gender, income. A semi-structured interview will be used to collect qualitative data. The interviewees will be three management personnel of HRM department of three companies, through them to understand their cross-cultural management measures, specific interview outline is showed in table 2. The interview will be conducted via Skype, the interview of each time will last about 20 minutes.#p#分頁標題#e#

Part II

Question 1 You have the courage to express your views towards management of your company, do you agree?

Question 2 You believe that the management of your company is democratic, do you agree? 

Question 3 You like the leadership of the management of your company, do you agree?

Question 4 You believe that you can devote yourself to the company at the expense of your individual benefits, do you agree?

Question 5 You believe that all employees should be equal, do you agree?

Question 6 You believe that the communication between employees should be direct, do you agree?

Question 7 You believe that a better position and income are the main purpose and motive of your working, do you agree?

Question 8 You believe that to maintain a good cooperation with your colleagues is very important, do you agree?

Question 9 You are willing to accept more challenge and pressure, do you agree?

Question 10 You suffer more pressure and anxiety at work, do you agree? 

Question 11 You believe that the systems of your company are strict and implemented efficiently in practice, do you agree?

Question 12 You believe that your company provides more space for innovation, do you agree?

Question 13 You are willing to strive for the long-term goals of yourself and your company, do you agree?

Question 14 You are willing to achieve a long-term goal at the expense of your individual benefits, do you agree?

Question 15 You care more about the long-term development potential of your company than its current operation, do you agree?

Table 1: Questionnaire

Question 1 Do you know the cultural backgrounds of your staff? What methods do you adopt to understand their cultural backgrounds?

Question 2 How do you coordinate, control and manage the conflicts of cultural differences between employees? Why?#p#分頁標題#e#

Question 3 Have you provided a cross-cultural training? What are the specific measures?

Question 4 What are the advantages and disadvantages of your cross-cultural management?

Question 5 What cross-cultural management measures will your company take in future?

Table 2: Interview Outline

SPSS 19.0 will be taken for the quantitative data analysis, which provides descriptive statistics for the standard deviation, mean and frequency, percentage of the collected data, according to what Best (1997) found to examine the results of the questionnaire, which is showed as follows.

1.00-1.80 1.81-2.61 2.62-3.41 3.42-4.21 4.22-5.00

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 3: The translation of level ranking of the answers

The qualitative data in this study will be analyzed based on the literature review to understand the characteristics and weaknesses of cross-cultural management practices of the Chinese companies in UK.

5.0 Research schedule研究進度

Timetable of implementation the study is designed as follows. 

Description Date Days

Task 1 Introduction April 1-- 5, 2015 5

Task 2 Literature review April 6--20, 2015 15

Task 3 Collection of data April 21-- May 9,2015 20

Task 4 Discussion May 10-- 24, 2015 15

Task 5 Draft May 25-- June 4, 2015 10

Task 6 Amending June 5-- 24, 2015 #p#分頁標題#e#20

Task 7 Editing and submitting June 25--July 1, 2015 7

Table 4: Timetable
 

6.0 Ethical issues倫理問題
 

Each participant in this study will be informed about the purpose and content of this investigation in advance. They will be free to choose to participate or deny to be involved in this investigation. Their personal information and privacy will not be disclosed or used for commercial purposes. The author will be rigorous, objective, honest and serious to deal with the data collected in this study to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the research results. The author will be based on an objective spirit to communicate with the participants to avoid misleading and induction, ensuring that the objects will truly express their views and psychological conditions truly.

7.0 Conclusion總結

This study will be based on Hofstede's model of cultural differences to design the questionnaire, so as to understand the performance of the cultural differences of employees of Chinese companies in UK, through semi-structured interviews to explore the characteristics and shortcomings of the cross-cultural management measures of the Chinese enterprises. Through the investigation of this dissertation, it will understand that whether the current cross-cultural management practices of Chinese enterprises in UK match with the behavior of the multicultural employee, whether it helps to build the relationship of mutual respect, mutual trust between employees of different cultural backgrounds. Limitations of this study is that the amount of the questionnaires are only about 240 copies, the sample size may not be large enough to make the research findings representative. In addition, there are a lot of Chinese companies located in the UK, each company has their own characteristics, their staff composition also varies, therefore each company's own cross-cultural management measures will be different, this study take the Chinese companies in UK as a whole to carry out the investigation, ignoring the differences in cross-cultural management aspects between different enterprises, so the research results of this dissertation may provide limited reference significance for a single enterprise.

 

References文獻
 

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Engelen, A., Schmidt, S., Strenger, L. and Brettel, M. (2014). Top management's transformational leader behaviors and innovation orientation: a cross-cultural perspective ineight countries. Journal of International Management, 20(2), pp.124-136.#p#分頁標題#e#

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