Organizational Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Between China And Canada

The Importance of People, Technology, Structure, and Environment in Workplace

The term ‘Organizational Behavior’ refers to the way the employees or any staffs of a business organization interact within the workplace. The purpose of this report is to highlight various factors of the organizational behavior been experienced by a person who was born in the land of China and worked there and then living in Canada for eight years and been working there. It can be said that the combined behavior can make a company environment that can enhance or undermine the growth and development of any business organization (Schein et al., 2015). In this regard it can be said that it is highly possible that a person can experience various types of organizational culture or behavior in various workplaces, in short it can be said that being negative or positive, the organizational behavior of each organization has to be unique in nature.

It is a matter of fact that there are numerous aspects of organizational behavior that are important to get to know the organizational behavior of any institution. These aspects are people, technology, structure and environment. People are the most important factor of organizational behavior as the employees want to achieve the target set by the management and by the productivity of the human resources, the organization generates revenue. The term used above people can be any individual within the workplace lie employees, managers, suppliers or even individuals like customers, auditors and many more. Structure can be referred to the main body of a business organization that is to be taken care of in order to coordinate among the various levels of the business organization. This is because, a company does not wok automatically and it depends on the employees to run. Thus there has to be a particular hierarchy in the workplace hat is vital for the success of any business (Schein et al., 2015). Environment is one of the most vital aspects of a workplace, as the organizations are highly influenced by the environment of the workplace at a extensive level. Environment is immensely important for a organizational behavior as the environment creates better relationship between the individuals by satisfying social, organizational and the employees objectives (Budhathoki, Schmitt & Michaelidou, 2017). The environment brings alignment in all the levels of the organization that is immensely important behind the success of an organization. It can be said that the environment makes it compulsory for an organization to abide by some rules and regulations (Schein et al., 2015). The environment of a workplace can either make a huge positive impact on a company or can make a massive negative impact on the success of an organization and even can make a business doing average for several decades. In short it can be said that behind the success or failure of any business organization; environment plays a significant role (Beugelsdijk, Kostova & Roth, 2017). The business organizations operate with the use of technology and technology helps to ease the efforts of human resources. It can be said that different types of business organizations require different types of technologies in their organization. This technology also plays a role behind determining the organizational behavior of any company.

A Personal Perspective: Cross-Cultural Workplace Experience in China and Canada

I was born in China and stayed there for a long period of time and then came to Canada and living here for more than eight years. I have finished my high school studies back in China and I am completely aware of the Chinese culture. On the other hand I have achieved my university degree in Canada and pursuing my masters’ degree. It can be said that I am also aware of the most parts of the Canadian culture because of my almost two decades stay in Canada. I have worked at several institutions like Zhongxin Securities Co. Ltd back in China, and apart from that in Canada as administrative support at a regional constituency office and many more. I believe that the organizational behaviors in both the countries are significantly different and as I am somewhat aware of both the cultures, I can observe that and analyze those also; that is one of the chief purposes of this report also.

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory is a validated framework regarding the cross-cultural communication. It demonstrates how the culture of different society’s impact on the individuals involved in different social background (Bakir et al., 2015). In this section of this report, a detailed discussion on the cultural difference in the countries China and Canada is shown.

 I saw that in China, there is a presence of a collectivist culture where the individuals take actions for the benefits of the groups and might not necessarily for sole interest. The groups are important behind individual interests; though the bonding among the groups is relatively low. On the other hand, in Canada, the workers mostly rely on themselves and the recruiting, or giving promotions depends solely on the individual performance of the employees.

I have observed that the average Canadians can make a balance between personal life and work and the employees generally strive to achieve something significant at the workplace. On the other hand, the Chinese people in the workplace give more priority to work than their personal life and can repeatedly extend their working shift if needed (Budhathoki, Schmitt & Michaelidou, 2017). I have observed that the Chinese people in workplaces can leave family and migrate to another place because of better pay or job opportunity.

The Chinese people within the workplace are adaptable and pragmatic in taking decisions or setting a standard or a target for the general workforce, where as in Canada I have observed that the individuals have a normative process of thinking and have huge respect towards the tradition in the workplace and a thrive to get quick results in productivity or profitability.

Comparative Analysis of Cultural Differences between China and Canada

I have worked at places like Zhongxin Securities Co. Ltd located in Beijing, I have volunteered for Alice Wong, the Honorable Member of Parliament for Richmond Centre, entourage and administrative support at local constituency office and some others. Hence I have seen and understood both the Chinese and Canadian cultures; therefore I have experienced the range of differences in the different workplaces. I have seen that the work culture of China is kind of automated. People come to the workplaces, perform their duty and even over achieve their target, but no personal bonds are generally seen in the workplace and that is something very odd for a workplace that is located at Canada. In Canada a strong bonding can be seen among the employees in the workplaces. It has been seen that the organizational culture gets positive impact from the level of communication in the workplaces. It has been seen that a good communication and share of knowledge among the general workforce is necessary and has great positive impact on the environment of the workplace and this can potentially enhance the productivity and profitability of a business organization.

As the term organizational culture indicates to the beliefs and values of any organization, it can be said that their ideologies and principles are major parts of their organizational environment too. The Edgar Schein model focuses on this part and it states that any organization cannot adopt their culture overnight; rather it is created with the course of time (Schein, 2017). After an individual starts working with an organization, they go through different changes for solving issues and gradually adapt the new culture and external environment. There are three levels according to this model:

Artifacts: This refers to the easily viewed features of the organization, such as the furniture, dress code etc. While I came to Canada, I found out that here the dress code of employees are stricter than it was in China. The seniors were also authoritarian in China, but Canadian companies did not seem like that.

Values: This refers that the values of the organization is basically the amalgamation of values of employees. The thought process and behavior of employees have a major influence on the organizational culture (Schein et al., 2015). In China, I have been in more of a collective culture; therefore individual values did not much matter, however, in Canada individual values matter a lot.

Assumed values: This refers to the values that cannot be measured yet it makes a huge difference in organizational culture, such as treatment of women employees. Both the countries are almost similar regarding this feature.

The Edgar Schein Model: Understanding Organizational Culture

Conclusion

Thus to conclude, it can be said that there are significant differences among the organizational behavior present in China and Canada. A fact will always remain same at both the nations and that is a positive environment within the workplace will enhance the growth and development of a business organization and on the other hand,  a negative environment within the workplace can potentially harm the productivity and ruin the reputation and brand value of a business organization.

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