Qingdao Lucent's Cross-cultural Management

Cross- cultural administration is a new subject in the field of management science, which was launched in the end of 1970s when global multinational companies were multiplying. In a lot of industries, Japanese enterprises have won great success in the competition with the western companies since 1970s, which caused much self-reflection of the western administration science organization. Many American scientists, as their representatives, launched a lot of research work on the successful experiences of the Japanese. Cross-cultural administration, as the product of their effort leads the revolution in the management science. In the 1990s, multinational companies became global decisive powers within the globalized world economy. As the boundaries of management have become wider with the stronger competition in the global market, it is important for multinational companies to merge a unique organizational culture across different countries, which is regarded as one of their core competences.With the development of global economics and the joining of China into the WTO, there are more and more Chinese-American joint ventures in China. Because of differences between Chinese and American cultures, these joint ventures have to do a lot of research in cross-cultural management and take effective actions to avoid and reduce culture shocks. Lucent Qingdao, as a Chinese-American joint venture, unavoidably encounters cross-cultural issues such as, culture differences and culture shocks during its operation. Based on the theories in cross-cultural management and with a study of Lucent Qingdao'scross-cultural problems, this article analyzes and summarizes Lucent Qingdao's responding actions and strategies.Firstly, starting with an introduction of culture, this article analyzes culture differences and culture shocks and then draws out the needs for cross-cultural management in enterprises.Secondly, this article studies the current status and issues in cross-cultural management in Chinese-American joint ventures and restates the needs for cross-cultural management.Thirdly, this article emphasizes the culture differences and culture shocks in Lucent Qingdao: values conflicts; conflicts between"people-oriented management"and"law-oriented management"; conflicts in communications; conflicts between Chinese and American management models; conflicts in human resources management.Fourthly, due to Lucent Qingdao's culture differences and culture conflicts, it has culture variety. This article states culture variety's advantages and disadvantages respectively.Lastly, based on the theories of cross-cultural management and Lucent Qingdao's culture differences and culture conflicts, this article summarizes the actions and strategies in cross-cultural management. These actions and strategies offer methods and insights for other Chinese-American joint venture management.