Marketing

CHINA

The social culture of Hong Kong, China, the organizational culture experienced in the Hong Kong Chinese context by employees was distinctly different than the organizational culture in other countries. The Chinese respondent perception of their organizational culture may be seen to, at least in part, reflect the social culture of Hong Kong Chinese. For example, the high Avoidance and Approval styles among the Hong Kong Chinese employees could both be explained by the pre-eminence of collectivism in this group. Avoidance exemplifies a common Asian coping approach in dealing with interpersonal conflict through escapism, diversion, and waiting-it-out, while Approval relates to the desire for social acceptance a concept deeply entrenched in the Chinese way of thinking. The motivation of both is embedded in the common goal of preserving social harmony which underlies collectivism.

Chinese workers in Hong Kong further rated their organizational culture as higher in Conventional and Oppositional styles than did those from the other countries. The Conventional style relates to an adherence to rules and structures, while the Oppositional style relates to resistance to change. As compared to Americans, Hong Kong Chinese were less open to change and were more likely to conform to tradition, while Hong Kong Chinese to be low in Uncertainty Avoidance (i.e. tolerance of ambiguity). The relatively high emphasis on an organization’s Competitive style appears to stand in contrast to the Chinese values of cooperation and deference. However, conceptualizing Chinese workers’ perception from Hong Kong’s westernized, capitalistic economic context, one may speculate that the organization’s “competitive” norms are products of the high commercialization and capitalism in Hong Kong, The perceived high emphasis on Power style of the unit in Hong Kong is likely to be related to high Power Distance and the strong hierarchical social structures that are often associated with Chinese...