Chinese Work Values in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand

Abstract

To make comparisons between ethnic Chinese in different countries, the work‐related values of middle managers from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand were compared. Hong Kong and Singapore are characterized by a large Chinese majority and a dominant Chinese culture; whereas, in Thailand, the Chinese comprise a small minority, well integrated into Thai society. Therefore, the study hypothesized that similarities between the work values in Hong Kong and Singapore would be greater than between Hong Kong and Thailand or Singapore and Thailand. The findings, however, showed that there were twice as many significant differences in work values between Hong Kong and Singapore. Generally, however, Chinese work values were found to be quite consistent across the three societies.

Parent cultural control through organizational acculturation: HCN employees learning new work values in foreign business subsidiaries

“…To a certain extent, all these pivotal values contradict traditional Chinese management norms and organizational practices (Selmer and de Leon, 1993a). Chinese organizations have been characterized by formal relationships with superiors, employment security protected only in family-owned business, and employees' reluctance to cooperate with others outside a narrowly defined ingroup (Redding and Wong, 1986;Redding, 1990;Silin, 1976;Yeh, 1985).…”

“…Regarding the choice of parent national culture, previous findings suggest that acculturation effects would be more easily detected if the parent culture is distinct and considerably different from the host culture (Selmer and de Leon, 1993a). Although there are many cultures that deviate substantially from the Chinese cultural sphere, which is the source of the dominating influence on Singaporean national culture, for reasons of developing and expanding previous research, the country of Sweden was selected to represent the parent national culture (Selmer, 1993).…”

“…It has been pointed out that Swedish organizational culture to a considerable degree resembles the organizational culture of 'Type Z' organizations, where normative integration is made possible through a typically strong organizational culture, as shared values among managers lessens the need for formal control (Selmer, 1993). Preserving those common values and maintaining the social network between managers, implicit mechanisms for control are deployed by Swedish parent companies which have frequent personal contacts with their foreign subsidiaries (Selmer and de Leon, 1993a). Additionally, it has been observed that Swedish companies use all of the strategies suggested by Kilduff (1992) to ensure the duplication of a domestic organization in a foreign subsidiary.…”

“…Swedish companies typically also introduce Swedish work norms and quality standards in their foreign subsidiaries and often send key personnel for training and corporate familiarity purposes to Sweden during shorter or longer periods (Hampden-Turner, 1990, pp. 109-121;Selmer and de Leon, 1993a;Selmer and Nilson, 1984). Consequently, it is highly likely that Swedish parent companies exercise cultural control over their foreign subsidiaries in Singapore.…”

Differences in leadership behaviour between expatriate and local bosses as perceived by their host country national subordinates

“…It can safely be assumed that indigenous leadership styles and work values in Hong Kong are considerably different from Western concepts and also deviate from many other Asian countries (Hofstede, 1980, p. 315;Selmer and de Leon, 1993;Whitley, 1992, pp. 59-63).…”