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1.

The term Gung Ho is a Chinese expression for “work together” which is what the movie is
about. As the Americans and Japanese attempt to work together the viewers are able to see
the cross-cultural conflicts and huge misunderstandings that happen throughout the movie.
They were mostly because of the differences in culture, work attitude, management styles,
and values between the two countries.

2. Hunt Stevenson was not an effective human resource manager by any measure. He failed
to select the right people for the right job. Instead of conducting interviews or using any
other method to assess the employees to see whether they are a good fit for the company
or not, he hired all the workers that were out of a job. Hunt did not purpose any training
programs for the workers, even thought they were already professional they could have
been trained according to the working requirements of the Japanese company which
expects a much higher quality work.

3.
I. Power Distance Index (PDI)
Power Distance Index measures acceptance and expectation by the less powerful members
of organizations of unequal distributions of power. It signifies inequality measured from
below as opposed to above and suggests that it is endorsed by both followers and leaders.
The US, by comparison has a low PDI which is agreeable with their thought processes that
everyone is unique, therefore, everyone is unequal.
II. Individualism versus Collectivism
This dimension of Hofstede’s theory measures the degree to which people look after
themselves and their immediate families or tend to integrate into larger groups. On the
collectivist side of the scale, loyalty falls to the group rather than the individual. The US has
one of the most individualistic cultures in the world and tends to place emphasis on equal
rights, individual achievement, informal communication and low reliance on authority.
Japan, on the other hand is more collectivist. Harmony is important to Japan, as well as
loyalty to the group and company, and paternalistic practices are common.
III. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
Hofstede’s cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance measures a culture’s ability to deal
with uncertain situations. Cultures that avoid uncertainty try to do so by implementing laws
and rules to protect them, and are often motivated by their nervous energy. On the
opposite side, uncertainty accepting cultures are more tolerant of differing opinions, try to
have fewer rules and are more open to varying religions and philosophies. The USA workers
are fairly accepting of new ideas and are relatively willing to try new things. Japan is one of
the most uncertainty avoiding countries in the world. This is often attributed to the constant
threat of natural disasters but does translate to the business world and can be seen through
the long and very thorough decision making process they usually follow.
IV. Masculinity versus Femininity
Masculinity versus femininity refers to the delivery of emotional values and roles such as
assertiveness and achievement versus social support and nurturing that can sometimes be
associated with masculine and feminine gender roles. The USA has a masculine society
driven by achievement and success. USA is both masculine and individualistic and tends to
place high values on personal achievements and operate with a “winner take all” attitude.
Japan, by contrast, is one of the most masculine societies in the world. However, in
combination with their collectivist mentality, this tends to be displayed by perfectionism
and workaholism.
V. Pragmatic versus Normative
Pragmatic versus normative, also known as long-term versus short-term orientation
describes how society has to maintain some links to its past to deal with challenges of both
the present and future. The USA is present-oriented with traditional values and tends to
measure performance on a short-term basis. Japan is very pragmatic and is future-oriented
and persistent with virtue and tends to measure performance on a long-term basis.
VI. Indulgence versus Restraint
Hofstede’s dimension of indulgence versus restraint is a measurement of humanity and
impulse control. Weak impulse control is considered indulgent while strong control is
considered restraint. Japan has a culture of restraint and do not emphasize desire
gratification or leisure time, which may, in some cases, lead to pessimism or cynicism. The
USA is more indulgent than Japan indicating a work hard/play hard culture.

4. Assan Motors used the ethnocentric staffing approach where they employed the most
important positions in the foreign subsidiaries with expatriates from the company’s home
country (Japan).
No, I do not think that this approach was at all effective, the company nearly ending up
shutting down their foreign subsidiary. There were a lot of challenges that came with using
this approach. Firstly, the expatriates were not able to communicate effectively with the
workforce due to language and cultural differences with caused a lot of misunderstandings.
Secondly, the expatriates failed miserably to understand the working environment/culture
in America and just wanted to blindly implement their Japanese culture.

5. The concept of fit suggests that the HRM functions have to be aligned to assist the
formulation and implementation of an organization's strategies and priorities. The nature of
the "fit" between HRM and strategic objectives is very specific and idiosyncratic in any
organization. As such, HRM processes for recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating and
rewarding employees might depend on the nature of the organization's objectives.
"Fit" can be defined internally or externally. External fit relates to programs, activities and
strategies that the organization develops to respond to the external environment. Internal
fit might focus on how organizational and HRM systems are connected and are useful to
each other and to internal clients.

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