从文化角度比较西门子公司中德两国经理的管理风格_刘丽.docx

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1、 对外经济贸易大学硕士学位论文 从文化角度比较西门子公司中德两国经理 的管理风格 专 业：外国语言学及应用语言学 研究方 向 ： 跨文化商务交际 作 者 ： 刘 丽 导 师 ： 王关 富 写作时间： 2005 年 9 月一 2006 年 4 月 对外经济贸易大学 英语学院 University of the International Business and Economics School of International Studies The Implications of the Comparison between the Management Styles of the Chin

2、ese and German Managers in Siemens AG By Liu Li Under the supervision of Professor Wang Guanfu A thesis submitted to School of International Studies of University of International Business and Economics in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Arts April 2006 Beijing, C

3、hina 随着 全 球 化 过 程 的 加 快 以 及中 国 经 济 日 益 融 入 世 界 经 济 ， 越 来 越 多 的 海 外 跨 国 公司进驻中国。跨文化和管理学领域的众多研究已经证明文化是影响管理行为 的 - 个重 要 因 素 。 中 国 作为 -个 拥有 五 千 年 悠 久 历 史 的 文 化大 国 ， 其 深 厚 的 文化 底 蕴对中 国人民起着不可估量的影响。中国传统文化在与其他文化的交流碰撞过 程中会对领 导者 的 管 理 风 格 产 生 怎 样 的影 响 呢 ？ 本 文 从 西 门 子 （ 中 国 ） 有 限 公司 (以 下 简 称 西 门 子公司）内中国员工的角度比较中德

4、两国经理在管理风格上的差 异，调查员工对两 种管理风格的满意度以及有效性的认可，并尝试从文化的角度 分析这些差异存在的 原因。 本文以霍夫斯泰德的文化维度和家长主义为主要文化理论框架，选取命令 型、 支持型、权变奖励和权变惩罚四种领导行为主要研究方面，采用问卷调查的 形式考 察西门子公司内中德两国经理的不同管理风格。问卷结果显示西门子公司 内中德两 国经理在管理风格上具有明显的不同。虽然中国员工对中国经理和德国 经理的管理 风格具有相同的满意度，但是在两国经理的管理有效性方面，中国员 工普遍认为中 国经理的管理更为有效，并且在中国经理领导下的员工对工作更为 满意。这表明由 于文化的不同，员工在

5、看待什么是最有效管理方式上存在差异。 文章最后指出了研 究的局限性并对中德两国经理提出了 些改进管理方法的参 考性意见。 关键词：文化，管理风格，西门子公司 Abstract As the globalization process quickens its pace， Chinas economy is becoming more and more globalized. Many multinational corporations come to China to explore this huge and profitable market. Literature from both

6、cross-culture studies and management research shows that culture is a significant factor affecting management behavior. China as a country with long history of over five thousand years5 civilization, its profound culture penetrates into almost every aspects of Chinese peoples daily life. Difference

7、in cultural backgrounds may lead to divergent opinions on management styles. What will happen when Chinese culture interacts with other cultures? This thesis compares the differences of Chinese and German managers management styles in Siemens AG from Chinese employees perspective， measures their sat

8、isfaction with these different management styles and tries to explain these differences from cultural perspectives. Hofstede cultural dimensions and paternalism serve as the theoretical framework of culture of this thesis. Four patterns of leadership behavior: directive leadership, supportive leader

9、ship, contingent reward leadership and contingent punishment leadership are selected to measure Chinese and German managers leadership style. Questionnaire survey is the main methodology in this thesis. Results from data analysis show that significant differences exist between Chinese and German man

10、agers, leadership style. Although Chinese employees agree that they are as satisfied with Chinese manager leadership style as with that of German managers, they differ on the effectiveness of these managers5 leadership styles. Chinese managers are viewed as managing more effectively than their Germa

11、n counterparts. The thesis finally points out the limitations of the study and proposes some implications for Chinese and German managers. Key words: culture, management style, Siemens AG. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to Professor Wang Guanf

12、u, my tutor, for the guidance, support, and patience that he provided during my postgraduate study at the UIBE. He is the one from whom I got the inspiration of this thesis and who gave me valuable advice and patient supervision during the completion process of this thesis. Second, I would like to t

13、hank my colleagues in Siemens AG who helped me with the questionnaire survey. Without their help, the research would not have been carried out so smoothly. Third, my gratitude goes to my classmates and friends who provided their help and support during the writing of this thesis. I also owe an enorm

14、ous debt to my parents for their enduring love and constant encouragement. I am grateful to all the people who have helped me a lot in this study. Without them, this thesis would neither have been initiated nor successfully completed. Liu Li April, 2006 Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 SUBJEC

15、T AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY . 1 1.2 RATIONALE . 1 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS . 2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW . 4 2.1 CULTURE . 4 2.1.1 What is culture? . 4 2.1.2 Definition of culture . 4 2.2 HOFSTEDES CULTURAL DIMENSIONS . 5 2.3 PATERNALISM . 8 2.4 OVERVIEW OF LEADERSHIP THEORIES . 8 2.4.1 Definiti

16、on of leadership . 9 2.4.2 Development of leadership theories . 9 CHAPTER 3 CULTURAL IMPACTS ON MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOR AND HYPOTHESES . 21 3.1 Two CULTURES INVOLVED IN SIEMENS AG. 21 3.1.1 Overview of Chinese national culture . 21 3.1.2 Overview of German national culture . 24 3.2 CULTURAL CHARACTERIST

17、ICS OF CHINA AND GERMANY MEASURED BY HOFSTEDES CULTURAL DIMENSIONS . 27 3.3 CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINA AND GERMANY MEASURED BY PATERNALISM . 29 3.4 LEADERSHIP STYLE AND CULTURE . 30 3.5 LEADERSHIP STYLES TO BE EXAMINED AND HYPOTHESES . 31 CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS . 35 iv 4.1 PARTICIPANTS . 35

18、4.2 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN . 36 4.3 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS . 36 4.3.1 Section One: Leadership behavior. 37 4.3.2 Section Two: Employees satisfaction with managers leadership style and 43 work. . 47 4.4 DISCUSSION. 50 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 5.1 CONCLUSION . 50 51 5.2 LIMITATIONS . 52

19、5.3 IMPLICATIONS . BIBLIOGRAPHY . 54 APPENDIX . 58 V Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Subject and Purpose of the Study Nowadays, as the globalization process is getting impetus and quickening its pace, the interactions between different countries become more and more common. Conflicts and misunderstanding

20、s often arise when people from different cultural backgrounds come to work together. An organization has the greatest chance of being successful when all of the employees work toward achieving its goals. Since leadership involves the exercise of influence by one person over others, the quality of le

21、adership exhibited by supervisors is a critical determinant of organizational success. Thus, many supervisors study leadership in order to influence the actions of employees toward the achievement of the goals of the organization. China and Germany are both countries with a culture exerting profound

22、 and extensive influences in the world. However, despite some similarities between these two cultures, they are essentially quite different. As the business interactions between Chinese and German companies are becoming increasingly frequent, studies regarding this field need to be conducted to faci

23、litate the development of business transactions between these two countries. Management styles and Chinese employees5 satisfaction with these styles are one of the aspects of this field. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the different management styles exemplified by the Chinese and German ma

24、nagers in Siemens AG from Chinese employees5 perspective, measure their satisfaction with these styles, explore the deep cultural roots that may lead to such differences, and offer some recommendations that might be applicable in real working environment. 1.2 Rationale Management style is a topic th

25、at has received much attention for a very long time. Factors that affect management behavior can be various, such as political factors, environmental 2 factors, etc.， among which cultural influence is a very important variable and can never be neglected. The values, beliefs, norms, and ideals that a

26、re embedded in a culture affect the management behavior, goals, and strategies of organizations (Dill, 1958; Negandhi & Reimann, 1972). In organizational behavior and management literature, among the most popular culture-based frameworks are those developed by Hofstede (1984, 1997), Triandis (1995),

27、 Trompenaars (1993)， Hall and Hall (1989), and Hickson and Pugh (1995)_ Of these， Hofstedes cultural dimensions are the most widely used by academics and practitioners around the world. Other researchers have identified additional dimensions that complement the Hofstede constructs, better reflecting

28、 the specificity of various cultures, especially Asian cultures (Aycan, Sinha, and Kanungo, 1999). Therefore, this study uses Hofstede5s framework plus paternalism as a general theoretical base for analyzing China and Germanys national culture. Four patterns of leadership style adopted from the path

29、-goal theory and reinforcement theory are selected to examine the management behaviors of Chinese and German managers. These four specific leadership styles are selected because literature indicates that cultural dimensions can serve as potential moderators for these leadership behaviors (Dorfman &

30、Howell, 1988). Therefore, the differences between Chinese and German managers5 management style if identified can be explained from cultural perspectives. 1.3 Structure of the Thesis This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter 1 is the general introduction in which the subject, purpose, ration

31、ale as well as the structure of the thesis are outlined. Chapter 2 introduces the concept and definition of culture. Hofstede?s cultural dimensions are introduced here and another cultural dimension paternalism is also briefly described. Then follows the overview of the development of leadership the

32、ories to give a clear picture of the theoretical framework of this thesis. Chapter 3 describes Chinese and German national cultures. Their respective scores in 3 Hofstede cultural dimension index are also provided. Their unique characteristics measured by another cultural dimensionpaternalism are de

33、picted. Four patterns of leadership are carefully selected to test the possible impacts that the two cultures may exert on management behavior. Based on this, four hypotheses are proposed for confirmation. Chapter 4 briefly introduces the participants and the design of the questionnaire. Then based

34、on the data collected, the author begins to analyze the data to test whether the hypotheses are right. A short discussion section is also presented here to illustrate the results and discuss the discrepancies between hypotheses and actual research result. In Chapter 5, based on the data collected an

35、d analyzed, a general conclusion is drawn. Limitations and implications of the study are also provided in this chapter. 4 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Culture When speaking of culture, people may find that too many things in our lives are related to this seemingly easy and simple but actually pro

36、found and sophisticated concept. This part describes what culture is as well as the definition of culture. 2.1.1 What is culture? Culture is a very broad concept. It is composed of many layers, just like an onion. These layers are symbols, heroes, rituals, and values which are at the core of culture

37、. It is manifested in many different ways with different levels of depth. It manifests itself in abstract aspects as in the way people relate to one another, the way to view time, the way for society to work with the world at large as well as in concrete aspects as in the way people address each oth

38、er, the way people eat, drink and dress and the appropriate way to communicate, etc. 2.1.2 Definition of culture Culture is such a broad concept that it is almost omnipresent. People define it according to their respective needs. Thus, the definitions of culture abound and vary greatly from one anot

39、her， ranging from those that are all-encompassing (“it is everything”） to those that are very narrow(“it is opera， arts and ballet”）（ Samovar and Porter 1991: 33). In 1952, Aired L. Kreober and Clyde Kluckhohn published a book: Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, in which over tw

40、o hundred pages were devoted to different definitions of culture. One of the most frequently cited definitions was offered by E.B. Taylor: “Culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”（ Taylor 1967: 47). Though this definition covers almost all of the aspects of culture, yet, considering the particul