When the two BSP
classes were required to choose between AACS and CDE
for IHE, I chose CDE as I was
very interested in the cultural differences that separated the West from the
East. I did not choose AACS as I was not very good at appreciating literature,
and also thought that it may be quite difficult. Although I was quite
apprehensive about the content and curriculum of CDE,
and also the difficulty of the subject as I thought that it would be like PPE, I heard that the subject was not difficult to
grasp. I must say I actually looked forward to the first lesson. Mr. Karplus
told us that the mode of pedagogy would be mainly class discussions, and that
there were no right or wrong answers. I felt quite relieved at that as I could
freely express my views without any fear of being penalised.
I feel that the three
tutorials Mr. Karplus has gone through with us were very
enriching and thought-provoking. For the first lesson,
we analyzed the “Google Way”
of management and innovation. Google relies on external motivators like other
companies, which refers to financial bonuses and rewards given to employees.
However, it also relies heavily on intrinsic motivation, because the company
recognizes that its employees are motivated by more than money. By doing so,
Google follows well-known principles like those expressed by Bill Gates
early in his career: “No great programmer is sitting there saying, “I’m going
to make a bunch of money,” or “I’m going to sell a hundred thousand copies,”
because that kind of thought gives you no guidance about the problems. This
allowed Google to develop its 20 percent policy which allows employees to spend 80% of their time on assigned projects,
the official source of their paycheck; with the remaining 20% dedicated to
personal research of their own choosing.
The 20 percent
strategy is a boon for employees who have never had a moment to spare at
previous jobs. This allows them to have better management of time and strike
the right balance between work and personal time, which releases the full
potential of employees to be creative and innovative. It is also gratifying to
managers who can stop nagging employees about “soldiering on”. Furthermore, I
also learnt that Google’s way which exemplifies the Western culture, contrasts
with that of Apple, which secretive and somewhat authoritarian approach is more
suited for Asian countries such as China.
For the second lesson, we took a Cultural
Quotient (CQ) self-assessment to analyse how much we understand cultural
differences, and also to emphasize the importance of cultural intelligence.
With the knowledge of this, it can greatly prepare us when we enter the
workforce which is becoming an increasingly competitive global market. After
that, we analyzed the difficulties which Lenovo and other Chinese companies face
when developing and expanding into the global market. Unlike more decentralized
Western corporations, Chinese organizations are generally run by a powerful CEO who gives orders to a hierarchy of workers, who
typically follow them to the letter without raising questions, as these would
result in the sacking of the latter. Friction between Western and Chinese
management styles also result in one being unable to cooperate with the other. For
example, the Chinese have little trust in imparting Western systems of
performance measurement or executive development, and frown on lower-level
employees proposing ideas to their superiors. These Chinese companies also have
a language barrier between them and foreign companies such as Western ones,
which results in miscommunication, hindering their partnership with foreign
firms. Furthermore, their products have not passed international standards and have
yet been able to achieve U.S.
quality levels or develop global distribution and branding strategies that a
multinational requires.
Personally, I feel that the Google Way will
never be implemented in China
in the near future. This is due to the differing working habits and protocols
of workers and employers. The Chinese like to listen to their bosses and work
accordingly, which results in higher efficiency and productivity. For example, Toyota, a car company,
implemented a stop button for workers to stop the assembly line to fix problems
during production. This would affect the production quota but would result in
the increase in reliability of each car. As such, Toyota became world-renowned for its
reliability (only 1 in
1000 cars had problems). However, Western companies believe in giving freedom to
their employees, which results in greater innovation and creativity. If China becomes
more open to new ideas and accept creativity and innovation as part of its
management strategy, then the Google
Way might eventually be implemented.
The third lesson saw us analyzing the Confucian
ideology and how it has impacted China today. Confucianism is a
Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the
Chinese philosopher Confucius. The core of Confucianism
is humanism, the belief that human beings are teachable, improvable and
perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including
self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of
virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are ren, yi, and li. Ren is an obligation
of altruism and humaneness for other individuals within a community, yi is the upholding of righteousness and
the moral disposition to do good, and li
is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly
act within a community. Confucianism holds that one should give up one's life,
if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the
cardinal moral values of ren and yi.
The Chinese government embracing
Confucianism in recent times has surprised me, after it was banned during Mao Zedong’s
reign in China
for a period of about 30 years. The only explanation I can come up with for
this is that the government is trying to convince the nation to follow Confucianism
and follow the social hierarchy, which treats the rulers as the highest. The
government would then be able to control the people, as they would not rebel or
raise suspicion and doubt against the former. This is similar to the
brainwashing done by Hitler during World War II,
where he spread propaganda all over Germany and also made parent teach
their children to follow him and only him. This was to ensure the loyalty of
the Germans towards him, similar to the Chinese government trying to develop
the firm loyalty of all Chinese citizens and also proclaim their authority.
In conclusion, I feel that the CDE tutorials were interesting as they gave me a
different perspective on why the West is so largely different from the East.
They were also very detailed, and gave me both sides of the coin to reflect upon.
However, one suggestion I would like to make is to give out notes summarizing the
important points for that particular lesson. Having gone through the lessons so
far, I would gladly give this course a 5-star rating, as the lesson pace is
just right for us to grasp the various concepts and also to remember the facts.
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