Intercultural Study Of Work Motivation Of Chinese In Comparison With That Of Americans

With the acceleration of globalization and the integration of the Chinese economy into the global economy, more and more multi-national corporations have flooded into China. They usually bring with them management theory and practices that are ingrained in their original culture. Literature has indicated that often their original management practices do not transfer well to foreign locations, undermining effectiveness and productivity at these sites because cultures vary from country to country. How to stimulate employees'work motivation has been one of the thorniest issues in management. This indicates a pressing need for multinationals to have the knowledge of the Chinese culture, especially Chinese work values to best motivate their employees.Although extensive intercultural research has been conducted on the organizational behavior and managerial practice, little work has been done on the comparison of different motivation practices between American and Chinese employees. This thesis endeavors to contribute to an understanding of employee motivation practices in American multinationals in China in comparison with existing theories in the West. This study supports the premise that traditional ways of managing local workforces in foreign locations may benefit from adjustments to the local national culture and specific work values typical to it. The objective of this study is to investigate whether Western motivation theories apply equally to the Chinese employees in the Sino-U.S. joint ventures and what are the motivational factors the Chinese employees attach great importance to. As the findings show, some Western practices may not be adequate to motivate the Chinese employees. For example Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory does not apply well to Chinese social context. To motivate effectively the Chinese employees it is essential for American managers to take into consideration the distinctive characteristics of Chinese culture. Finally recommendations for managers and leaders of U.S.-based multi-national corporations are presented.