Soochow University
Global Business Program, School of Business Thesis
Cultural Impact on Employee’s Job Satisfaction:
A Case Study of Foreign Employees in Taiwan
By Jonathan Lee Advisor: Dr. Yu-Kai Wang
October 2016
Cultural Impact on Employee’s Job Satisfaction:
A Case Study of Foreign Employees in Taiwan
A Thesis Submitted to Soochow University
in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Business Administration
In
Global Business Program
By Jonathan Lee
Global Business Program, School of Business, Soochow University October, 2016
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Acknowledgements
Due to my work experience as a human resource consultant in a private consulting company, I have possessed the dearest interest to disclosure the cultural impact on employees like expatriates; not only the cultural impact on their life, but saliently, the effect of cultural difference on their work experience and job satisfaction.
I expect my findings may shed a few lights on consequences brought by the cultural impact. This is not only a negligible issue occurs in minor countries; it is a global phenomenon that requires endeavors from each and every one life on this Earth to be concerned.
I sincerely appreciate the assistance from Professor Wang, who shepherded me from first light dawn to last minute of dusk; and Serena Chiang, she is the secretary of Global Business Program who guides me to resolve all the paper works and comprehend the procedure of submitting this thesis. I also would like to appreciate the committees, Professor Jan and Professor Fan, who are willing to share their time for my thesis defense.
Without any of them, my study may never approach the achievements it has accomplished.
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Abstract
In this era, globalization is one of the major processes of developing interaction between different countries and continents. This is a process driven by the financial needs such as international market, international investment and information technology. Under this circumstance, cultural impact has become a more crucial subject than ever.
Consequently, employees like expatriates have to experience more cultural impact than others. Dilutions of these cultural impacts have become a primary objective to international companies/organizations.
The purpose of this study is to learn actual experience of cultural impact from foreign employees who have been working in Taiwan and how these cultural impact affect employee’s job satisfaction.
In this study, I have an opportunity to discover the insight of cultural impact by having interviews with foreign employees in Taiwan. As the results of the interviews, I have discovered how cultural impact may oscillate employee’s job satisfaction. In my cases, unpaid overtime and high power distance have been recognized as the major cultural impact which leads to lower job satisfaction for foreign employees
Keywords: cultural impact, job satisfaction
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ... i
Abstract ... ii
Table of Contents ... iii
I.Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Research motivation ... 3
1.3 Research purpose... 3
II.Literature review ... 5
2.1 Hofstede’s dimensions of culture ... 5
2.2 Schein cultural level ... 10
2.3 Deal Kennedy culture type ... 12
2.4 Theories of job satisfaction ... 15
III.Methodology ... 18
3.1 Research method ... 18
3.2 Research procedure ... 20
IV Results ... 24
4.1 Interview results ... 24
4.2 Interview data analysis ... 29
V.Discussion and Conclusion ... 33
5.1 Discussion ... 33
5.2 Conclusion ... 34
Reference ... 36
Appendix I ... 40
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List of Table
Table 1. Examples of motivating factors of job satisfaction ... 17 Table 2. Comparison between two interviewees with motivator-hygiene theory...32
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List of Figures
Figure 1 Coherent relationship between six levels of culture ... 2
Figure 2 Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture ... 10
Figure 3 Deal and Kennedy culture types chart (1982) ... 12
Figure 4 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ... 15
Figure 5 Relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction ... 17
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I. Introduction
1.1 Background
According to professional diagnostic and analysis reports (Muhammad, 2015), major problems in a company are always related to human resource management. Even if it is a good company with great operational system, it doesn’t always have spectacular outcome and performance. The main reason why this phenomenon emerges for almost every company eventually is because of internal management affairs within organizations.
More specifically, these reasons are mostly because of differences in culture, religions, and ethnic groups among employees. Within these reasons, culture is the most common and sophisticated one. Most of these cultural reasons are addressed as cultural impact or cultural difference among company management level.
Cultural impact is mostly referred as the influence that can be brought by indifference between two cultures which can happen at different cultural levels. For instance, a famous novel series from country A may affect readers’ perspectives from country B; or a unique cuisine from country B may affect gourmets’ tastes from country A.
In other words, cultural impact is simply describing anything that comes one place to another new place where it doesn’t exist.
According to Collings (2009), basic human resource management regulation, fully- trained employees should possess adequate ability to knowledge to fulfill their jobs’
obligation and company objective with team work spirit. If the employees are not sophisticated enough to endure differences (culture, region, religions and ethnic groups) with other coworkers, then the employees are not well-prepared. If the employees are not well-prepared, which also mean the decline of jobs satisfaction and then the company performance is going to lead to catastrophic consequence.
Cultural Orientations Approach (COA), one of the world’s leading culture consulting company, officially categorized culture into six general levels: (1) National, (2) Organizational, (3) Identity Group, (4) Functional, (5) Team, (6) Individual. National culture mostly deals with awareness of cultural dynamics and patterns by nationality. It is particularly relevant for (a) entrance of a new market, (b) cross-border division of labor, (c) international outsourcing relationships. Organizational culture focuses on the
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experience of cultural dynamics within an organization. This is especially relevant for global organizations and those involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Identity group culture is used for analyzing the diversification of society by gender, generation, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and other social groups; it is particularly relevant for workforce diversity and talent management concerns. Functional culture is mostly used for addressing cross-functional effectiveness, based on the cultures created by specific business units.
Cross-functional or management teams concentrate on functional cultures and leverage their differences cautiously, which bridge the distinct cultural differences across their constituent units. Team culture is only apparent when management teams develop a distinct identity and culture. To effectively build such teams in global and matrixed organization, an understanding of how to collaborate in complex and dynamic situations is essential.
Individual culture is like the "building blocks" of culture that are present in both intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics. An understanding of this level is critical for successfully addressing the concerns at any level of culture. The relationship
between these six levels is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Coherent relationship between six levels of culture Source: Cultural Orientation Approach (2016)
Culture
National
Organizati onal
Identity group
Functional Team
Individual
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1.2 Research motivation
As I mentioned in previous section, there are many factors that may cause the personnel management problems, such as morale, friends, family, culture, nationalities, religion, and ethnic groups. Among these factors, culture is more common one in terms personnel management issues. Cultural impact may affect employees’ job satisfaction which may lead to downgrade of companies’ performance. Since employees’ satisfaction determines company performance, this has been a major reason of loss for most of the companies in the world. Taiwan is one of these countries which have encountered countless cultural impact cases due to expedition of many foreign companies. Therefore, this is the main reason why I choose the cultural impact on employees’ satisfaction for my study.
Exemplified cases are expats who work in Taiwan. For instance, Jenna Cody, an expat who has lived in Taiwan for more than ten years, shared her working experience (Quora.com) insulating that the working hours in Taiwan are longer than expected and there is this rule called “I can't go home until the boss does so as to prove my loyalty”. In order for foreign employees in Taiwan to apprehend as many cultural impacts as possible, personnel management level employees need to perceive the cultural impact on employees’ job satisfaction, such as expatriates’.
1.3 Research purpose
In recent years, globalization has become a fundamental strategy for most of the firms on this world. The first obstacle of this strategy is cultural impact among the employees who work in foreign countries. Therefore, it is very important that a company can have adequate human resource management system which may reduce the conflict between different culture, regions, gender, and ethnic groups. As mentioned in previous section, this study focuses on culture and its influence on employees’ job satisfaction.
The purpose of my study is focusing on possible method to conduct better working environment and relationship among employees from different countries working in Taiwan. By doing so, employees may have better jobs satisfaction which also directly affects the company performance. I have to gather opinions and experience from people who worked in foreign countries before they worked in Taiwan. My approach would be qualitative interview which may help me to find out more in-depth personal experience and
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unambiguous perspective from the interviewees. In other words, I would like to find out what kinds of cultural impacts take places for foreign employees in Taiwan? And if possible, I would also like to know how these cultural impacts affect their job satisfactions.
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II. Literature review
2.1 Hofstede’s dimensions of culture
In the era of globalization for business, there are inadequate understandings about the influence of culture on the relationship between human resource management practices and individual’s satisfaction. According to the Jeanine K. Andreassi (2014), not too many studies have comprehensively perceived how the relationship between human resource management practices and job satisfaction differs among cross-national employees in the world. Using Hofstede’s theory on cultural values, we may argue that cultural values will influence the degree to which individual job satisfaction is impacted by various human resource management practices. In the following paragraphs I will introduce the relationship between human resource management practices and work-related outcomes and then hypothesize differences based on culture as quantified by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
In Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Geert 1984), culture has been distinguished into the following different dimensions: (1) Power distance index, (2) Individualism and collectivism, (3) Masculinity and femininity, (4) Uncertainty avoidance index, (5) Long term orientation and short term normative orientation, (6) Indulgence and restraint.
1. Power distance index
Power distance index indicates the degree to which members of a society without power accept the inequality in power (Hofstede, 1980a). In high power distance cultures, such as Latin American cultures, inequality among social classes is accepted by both the higher social levels and the lower social levels with an underlying expectation that wealth and social status are fairly static within the culture (Varela et al., 2010). On the other hand, cultures in low power distant countries are generally considered to be equals regardless of inequities in characteristics such as wealth and an underlying assumption is that there is mobility to levels of wealth and status within the culture (Hofstede, 1980b). In high power distance societies, subordinates expect superiors to behave in an autocratic, non- consultative manner and seek more guidance from supervisors (Agarwal, 1993). Western cultures (low power distance) espouse egalitarianism as a key cultural value in the workplace; eastern cultures (high power distance) expect a high degree of hierarchy and
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vertical distance among managerial levels (Pan, 2010). Anyone could argues that within high power distance cultures, inequality is expected to be part of all organizational structures, such that if an employee is accustomed to experiencing social inequality from general perspective, but experiences a perception of equality in the workplace, they will be more likely to value that equality, which will also increase job satisfaction. Conversely, if equality in an underlying assumption in a culture, the impact of equality in the workforce will not be a motivating factor to increasing job satisfaction. Therefore, perception of equal opportunities in the workplace will have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction in high power distance cultures than in low power distance cultures.
2. Collectivism and individualism
Cultures with lower levels of collectivism (and higher levels of individualism) are less likely to value working together as a team and more likely to prefer working independently. On the other hand, cultures with higher levels of collectivism are more likely to prefer close working relationships with co-workers (Hofstede, 1980a). Kirkman and Shapiro (2001) studied the impact of cultural values on job satisfaction among 461 self-managing teams in four countries (Belgium, Finland, Philippines and the USA). They found that higher levels of collectivism are associated with higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment within the teams. Restubog (2010) found that Eastern cultures (higher in collectivism) have a higher level of work-group identification than Western cultures (higher in individualism). Therefore, it is expected that the degree to which cultures are more collectivistic will affect the extent to which teamwork is an important driver of job satisfaction. In order to determine a cultural factor is individualism or collectivism based on individual-oriented or group-oriented (Hofstede, 1984). For instance, Work-family conflict is less likely to happen in collectivistic cultures because hard work is seen as a means to increase the well-being of the family (Yang., 2000). Because hard work is seen as integral to family well-being, experiencing work-family conflict is less likely to be perceived as stressful (Hassan, 2010; Spector, 2004). Research studies have supported the notion that in collectivistic societies, females perceive that work activities are in support of family activities leading to less conflict. For example, Thein (2010) found that women in Hong Kong and Singapore perceived the domains of work and family as interdependent whereas Westerners conceptualized the two domains as separate and therefore in opposition to one another. Yang (2000) found that in collectivistic country such as China, sacrificing
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time with one’s family was viewed as a self-sacrifice; whereas, American women with an individualistic orientation perceived time spent at work away from one’s family as a failure to care for significant others. Because individuals from collectivistic societies view work activities as enhancing the family, and therefore do not see work as an impediment to family life, it is predicted that the ability to balance one’s work and personal lives will have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic cultures.
3. Masculinity and femininity
Masculinity and femininity refers to how well roles for different gender are established within a culture. These roles directly relate to how males and females are perceived within the culture. Another facet of the masculinity/femininity dimension is how a culture generalizes concepts of success. Cultures which are characterized as masculine measures success in terms of personal success as measured by material wealth and financial rewards, as compared to feminine cultures which place less emphasis on material success and place more value on personal relationships and quality of life (Hofstede, 1980b). Level of personal recognition is an externally focused event which involves an interchange between two people where one person acknowledges another’s performance. This type of extrinsic reward is relationship dependent and can be characterized as a socioemotional career satisfier. Feminine gender-based self-schemas place more importance on socioemotional career satisfiers, such as recognition (Eddleston et al., 2006). Feminine cultures place more emphasis an individual’s contribution to society and value other’s recognition of work well done (Arrindell and Veenhoven, 2002). Individuals in a feminine culture have more concern with the relationships with their managers in the organization (Hofstede, 1991). Anticipatively, different levels of recognition strongly impact job satisfaction to a higher degree in less masculine cultures. Therefore, level of recognition received for doing a good job will have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction in feminine cultures than in masculine cultures. Sense of accomplishment is internally focused and closely aligned with an individual’s need for achievement (Maslow, 1943). Masculine cultures place an emphasis on personal drive and ambition (Hofstede, 1980b), both also internally focused. Schuler and Rogovsky (1998) found that high masculinity was associated with greater use of an individual bonus system. In Japan, Jakofsky and Slocum (1988) found that high masculinity was reflected in a great interest in work and
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achievement. Sense of accomplishment also has a significant relationship with interpersonal competitiveness (Dumblekar, 2010). Because masculinity is related to competitiveness and individual achievement, it is expected that countries that are higher in masculinity place more value on achievement needs being met than those that are lower in masculinity.
Therefore, a sense of accomplishment will have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction in masculine cultures than in feminine cultures.
4. Uncertainty avoidance index
Uncertainty avoidance index refers to the degree to which a culture tolerates uncertainty concerning the future. Cultures high in uncertainty avoidance have a low tolerance for uncertainty and attempt to plan for and predict the future. One might hypothesize that if a person is uncomfortable with uncertainty he or she would value communication to increase one’s understanding of current workplace issues. Cultures high in uncertainty avoidance, desire to follow rules and have strict codes of behavior (Hofstede, 1984), and therefore, often have organizations marked by a high degree of formalization (Shackleton and Ali, 1990). A high degree of formalization has been observed to be related to communication inflexibility in organizations leading to a reduced interdependency between a manager and subordinate (Crozier, 1964). It has been found that in highly formalized work groups, managers rely more on procedures and rules to exert control as opposed to using tools such as open communication (Huang and Van de Vliert, 2006).Open communication from management is perceived as undermining formalization in the organization and increasing the degree of uncertainty and ambiguity and by increasing information flow between management and employees (Sriussadaporn, 2006). We posit that as communication can serve to increase employee awareness of uncertainty, open communication from management will negatively impact employee job satisfaction in high uncertainty avoidance cultures. Based on a theoretical understanding of uncertainty avoidance and the negative relationship between communication and formalization, communication from management on key issues will have a stronger relationship with job satisfaction in low uncertainty avoidance cultures than high uncertainty avoidance cultures.
High uncertainty avoidance cultures also value security, so that individuals within these cultures would likely have a tendency to prefer jobs with higher stability. Because training program increases the flexibility and adaptability of the workforce, it would serve to
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increase uncertainty and has a low level of desirability or worth in high uncertainty avoidance cultures. As the level of uncertainty in the environment increases, some organizations respond by increasing the amount of training available to employees (Peretz and Rosenblatt, 2011). However, not all types of training results in positive outcomes, nor are they viewed as positive by employees (Burke and Day, 1986; Hassi et al, 2011). For instance, in high uncertainty avoidance cultures, training are viewed as signaling to employees that the organization expects them to adapt and acquire new skills, which is undesirable for those who dislike ambiguity. This has been acknowledged by several researchers such as Burke et al. (2008), who argued that to avoid ambiguity in workforce training, trainers in high uncertainty avoidance cultures should focus on providing a very structured training session. We posit that training would be deemed to be less important in high uncertainty avoidance cultures because employees perceive training as a means of introducing organizational change and increasing uncertainty in the workplace and thereby negatively impacting job satisfaction. Therefore, it is expected that in high uncertainty avoidance cultures, level of training will be less important as a driver of job satisfaction than in low uncertainty avoidance cultures.
5. Long term orientation and short term orientation
Long term orientation and short term orientation is the fifth Hofstede dimension which is also one of the latest dimension found by Michael Bond’s research. Based on Michael Minkov (2007), long term oriented societies stimulate pragmatic virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular saving, persistence, and adapting to changing circumstances. On the other hand, short term oriented societies stimulates virtues related to the past and present such as national pride, respect for traditional events, preservation of one’s reputation, and fulfillment of social obligations. In other words, this dimension affiliates the connection between the past and the current or future actions and challenges.
A lower degree of this index indicates that traditions are honored and kept, while steadfastness is valued; which is short term oriented. Societies with a high degree in this index esteem adaptation and circumstantial, pragmatic problem-solving as a necessity.
Conventionally, a poor country that is short term oriented usually has minor economic development, whereas a long-term oriented country continues to develop its economy.
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6. Indulgence and restraint
The sixth Hofstede’s cultural dimension is indulgence and restraint which was found by Michael Minkov’s research. According to Michael Minkov’s definition (2007), indulgence measures if a society allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint measures if a society controls gratification of needs and regulates it by all means of strict social norms. Vice versa, this dimension is a measurement of happiness; whether or not simple joys are fulfilled. Indulgent societies allow themselves to be in control of their own life and emotions; restrained societies believe there are other factors dictating their life and emotions.
2.2 Schein cultural level
According to Edgar Schein (1992), an organization does not adopt a culture in a single day, instead it is formed in due course of time as the employees go through various changes, adapt to the external environment and solve problems. They gain from their past experiences and start practicing it every day thus forming the culture of the workplace. The new employees also strive hard to adjust to the new culture and enjoy a stress free life.
Therefore, Schein believed that there are three levels in an organization culture: (1) Artifact (2) Espoused values (3) Assumed values (Shown in Figure. 2)
Figure 2 Edgar Schein’s three levels of culture
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1. Artifacts
The first level (Artifacts) is the characteristics of the organization which can be easily viewed, heard and felt by individuals collectively known as artifacts. The dress code of the employees, office furniture, facilities, behavior of the employees, mission and vision of the organization all come under artifacts and go a long way in deciding the culture of the workplace.
The following example is showing some major differences between two anonymous organizations: Organization A: 1. No one in organization A is allowed to dress up casually.
2. Employees respect their superiors and avoid unnecessary disputes. 3. The individuals are very particular about the deadlines and ensure the tasks are accomplished within the stipulated time frame. Organization B: 1. the employees can wear whatever they feel like.
2. Individuals in organization B are least bothered about work and spend their maximum time loitering and gossiping around. 3. The employees use derogatory remarks at the work place and pull each other into controversies.
In the above case, employees in organization A wear dresses that exude professionalism and strictly follow the policies of the organization. On the other hand, employees in organization B have a laid back attitude and do not take their work seriously.
Organization A follows a strict professional culture whereas Organization B follows a weak culture where the employees do not accept the things willingly.
2. Espoused values
The next level of culture (Espoused Values) is the values of the employees. The values of the individuals working in the organization play an important role in deciding the organization culture. Processed thoughts and attitude of employees have deep impact on the culture of any particular organization. What people actually think matters a lot for the organization? The mindset of the individual associated with any particular organization influences the culture of the workplace.
3. Basic underlying assumptions
The third level (Basic underlying assumptions) is the assumed values of the employees which can’t be measured but do make a difference to the culture of the
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organization. There are certain beliefs and facts which stay hidden but do affect the culture of the organization. The inner aspects of human nature come under the third level of organization culture. Organizations where female workers dominate their male counterparts do not believe in late sittings as females are not very comfortable with such kind of culture. Male employees on the other hand would be more aggressive and would not have any problems with late sittings. The organizations follow certain practices which are not discussed often but understood by themselves. Such are the rules form the third level of the organization culture.
2.3 Deal Kennedy culture type
Deal and Kennedy’s (1982) model, based on two dimensions, suggested that the biggest single influence on a company’s culture was the business environment in which it operated. They called this ‘corporate culture’, which they asserted embodied what was required to succeed in that environment. The two key dimensions were the degree of risk associated with the company’s activities, and the speed at which companies – and their employees – get feedback on whether decisions or strategies are successful. By ‘feedback’
Deal and Kennedy do not mean just bonuses, promotions and pats on the back. They use the term much more broadly to refer to knowledge of results. In this sense, a goalkeeper gets instant feedback from making a great save, but a surgeon may not know for several days whether an operation is successful, and it may take months or even years to discover whether a decision about a new product is correct. Deal and Kennedy distinguish between quick and slow feedback. Also, by splitting each dimension into high and low they came up with four generic cultures, as illustrated in the Figure 3.
Figure 3 Deal and Kennedy culture types chart (1982)
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1. Tough guy macho culture
The first Deal and Kennedy (1982) culture type, tough-guy macho culture, is commonly thought to be prevalent in organizations in which feedback comes in the form of financial rewards. You can think here of commodity brokers and sales-orientated organizations, such as those that sell water purifiers or financial services. Feedback, however, can come in many other ways. Police officers, sports people and entertainers all receive rapid feedback on the effectiveness of their work, and they could all be classified as belonging to a ‘tough guy’ culture, even though their feedback is not simply financial.
Similarly, all these occupations have a degree of inherent risk, and the line between success and failure can be very fine indeed. For example, a football manager’s career could rest on one refereeing decision, and a comedian’s success depends on the mixture of people in the audience. Managers in this type of culture need to be able to make decisions quickly and to accept risk. To survive when things go wrong, they need to be resilient. These cultures are characterized by aggressive internal competition. Employees in such organizations believe that to get on they must be as tough as the ‘movers and shakers’ at the top. These activities tend to produce a lot of internal politics and conflict. In addition, these cultures tend to nurture short-term views, and here you might recall some of the reasons that are believed to have led to the fall of organizations such as Enron and Lehman Brothers Bank. Despite the label ‘tough guy’, Deal and Kennedy suggest that this culture is the least discriminatory of the four. From their perspective, this culture type is generally a meritocracy in which success is what is acknowledged and rewarded.
2. Work hard play hard
The second type of culture, work hard play hard culture, is generally characterized by high levels of activity, and each employee has to take few risks. Instead, success is measured by persistence. Typically, the primary cultural value is to supply customers with a quality product or service. These cultures spawn meetings, conventions, teamwork, office parties, jargon, and buzzwords and so on. They are typical of large organizations such as the motor industry, IT and telecoms because in smaller organizations there are often increased levels of risk as ‘every decision is a big one’. The high levels of energy create two main problems for a manager: ensuring that the energy is being directed at the right tasks, and ensuring that quality accompanies the high levels of activity. For these reasons, IBM put up ‘Think’ signs all around the company.
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3. Bet your company culture
The third type of Deal and Kennedy culture, bet your company culture, is normally found in organizations involved in projects that consume large amounts of resources and take a long time to be realized. Examples include an aerospace organization deciding to develop a new aircraft, such as Airbus, which has spent many years developing its new A380. Other examples would include a construction company building a skyscraper or an oil company that starts drilling in a new region. Each of these projects is very risky and the organization does everything it can to ensure it makes the right decisions initially. Meetings become very important and experts are drawn in to give their opinions.
4. Process culture
The last type of Deal and Kennedy (1982) culture, process cultures, get a bad press from nearly all quarters. They are the bureaucracies, awash with red tape and memos. Their low-risk, slow feedback environment means that employees become more concerned with how work is done – the process – than with what the work is. There is a danger that artificial environments develop, detached from the real world. Employees in these cultures may be very defensive. They fear and assume that they will be attacked when they have done things incorrectly. To protect themselves they engage in behavior such as circulating emails copied to everyone remotely concerned with the issue.
Deal and Kennedy admit that this four-culture model is simplistic, but it can be a useful starting point for inspecting any organization. A mix of all four cultures may be found within a single organization. Furthermore, they suggest that companies with very strong cultures will skillfully blend the best elements of all four types in a way that allows them to remain responsive and competitive to a changing environment. Although these cultures have been criticized, for instance, because customers fear the high-risk attitudes of those in a tough guy culture or the thoughtless energy of those in a work hard/play hard culture, they exist because they bring order to organizations and ensure that certain procedures are followed. Yet only a few organizations fall neatly into one of these four types, and it is very hard to relate these types to psychological personalities.
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2.4 Theories of job satisfaction
1. Hierarchy of needs
In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1954), job satisfaction may be accomplished by following all the five basic needs of human beings. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be distinguished into five levels and two categories. The five levels of needs are: (1) Physiological needs (2) Safety (3) Love and belonging (4) Esteem (5) Self- actualization. The two categories of needs are (1) Deficiency needs (2) Growth needs. The relationship between these needs can be visualized in Figure 4.
Figure 4 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Source: Motivation and personality (Maslow,1954)
According to Maslow (1954), deficiency needs include physiological needs and safety, whereas growth needs include love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
Deficiency needs are easier to be achieved compare to growth needs, but dissatisfaction in deficiency needs may cause the person to feel the loss and suffocate him or herself.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was developed for analysis of human motivation in general, but coincidently, this theory can be used to explain job satisfaction. In an organization, financial benefits and healthcare meet the requirement of an employee’s physiological needs. Safety of an employee can be fulfilled with job security and safe work
Self- actulization
Esteem
Love and belonging
Safety
Physiological needs
Growth needs
Deficiency
needs
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environment. As for love and belonging, it can be achieved once an employee’s deficiency needs are fulfilled and start having positive work relationship with his/her colleagues and supervisors. Once an employee feels he/she is loved and belongs to part of the organization, he/she may start finding his/her own value and contribution in this organization. At the last stage of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, an employee can finally he/she is capable of accomplishing anything he/she wants.
From the perspective of an organization, an employee’s job satisfaction is a dependent variable base on several matters. Hence, here are some more practical examples to boost employees’ job satisfaction by following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
(1) Physiological needs: set up some drinking fountains or vending machines in dining zones or cafeterias
(2) Safety: In terms of job security, give a raise or better financial benefits. In terms of work environment, have a more relaxed atmosphere or eminent heating ventilation system.
(3) Love and belonging: hold social events regularly or have high-participation team projects and create positive work relationship starting from supervisors
(4) Esteem: have a reward system or training program to increase employees’ courage on accepting challenges on jobs
(5) Self-actualization: increase employees’ self-esteem and encourage them to be more innovative and more assured with themselves
2. Motivator-hygiene theory
Besides Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there is another theory an organization may apply to increase employees’ job satisfaction, it’s called Motivator-hygiene or so called two-factor theory. In Frederick Herzberg’s (1959) study, Frederick found that employees who felt great about their jobs have totally different attitude from employees who felt terrible about their jobs.
In Motivator-hygiene theory (Herzberg, 1959), job satisfaction is identified as two separate dots on a line. One dot symbolizes satisfied and other one symbolizes dissatisfied.
Here are some examples of motivating factors that may affect employees’ job satisfaction as shown in Table 1.
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Motivating factors of satisfaction Motivating factor of dissatisfaction Opportunities for achievement Obstructive company policy
Opportunities for promotion Intrusive supervision Internal training or educational program Negative work relationship
Equal responsibility Job insecurity
Fair reward system Uncompetitive wages
Recognize the contributors Vain job description Table 1. Examples of motivating factors of job satisfaction
From above examples, Fredrick’s two-factor theory concluded that the opposite of satisfaction in no satisfaction and the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction;
because both sides of motivating factors are independent from one another. There is a possibility that an employee is neither satisfied or dissatisfied which is neutral. Motivator- hygiene theory postulates that when motivating factors are low, an employee is dissatisfied;
but when these factors are high it means an employee is not dissatisfied or neutral, but not necessarily satisfied. Consequently, an employee is satisfied or dissatisfied or neither is dependent on the motivator factors. Furthermore, complexity of an employee’s emotional feelings may add into the formula, as a person might feel both satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time; or in some case, it’s neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. A visualized relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction is shown in Figure 5.
● ●
● ●
Figure 5 Relationship between satisfaction and dissatisfaction Source: The Motivation to Work (Herzberg,1959) Dissatisfied
Neutral Satisfied
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III. Methodology
3.1 Research method
Due to the intense difficulty of collecting internal data from foreign employees in Taiwan, I chose to follow qualitative method to gather adequate internal information of foreign firms in Taiwan. Here are the several reasons why I chose qualitative method over quantitative method for this paper. Qualitative method is a one of scientific approach consist the following characteristics (Brinkmann, 2014): (1) Always seeks answers to a question (2) Systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question (3) Collects evidence in efficient way (4) Produces findings that were not determined in advance (5) Generates new findings that are applicable beyond the immediate boundaries of the study
Nevertheless, qualitative method seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population which involves. Qualitative method is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations. In this case, these particular populations are who people came from other countries and had working experience in Taiwan.
The advantage of qualitative method is its ability to provide complex textual descriptions of how people experience a given research issue. It provides information about the “human” side of an issue; which often means contradictory behaviors, beliefs, opinions, emotions, and relationships of each individual. Qualitative methods are also effective in identifying intangible factors. For instance, social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicity, and religion, whose role in the research issue may not be readily apparent.
Although findings from qualitative data can often be extended to people with characteristics similar to those in the study population, gaining a rich and complex understanding of a specific social context or phenomenon typically takes precedence over eliciting data that can be generalized to other geographical areas or populations.
Generally, there are three basic types of qualitative methods (Brinkmann, 2014): 1.
Participant observation 2. In-depth interview 3. Focus groups
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Participant observation is appropriate for collecting data on naturally occurring behaviors in their usual contexts. In-depth interviews are optimal for collecting data on individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, and experiences, particularly when sensitive topics are being explored. Focus groups are effective in eliciting data on the cultural norms of a group and in generating broad overviews of issues of concern to the cultural groups or subgroups represented. In this study, I utilize in-depth interview as my data collection tool.
The sample of the in-depth interview is attached in the appendix section.
The primary advantage of in-depth interview is that it provides much more detailed information than what is available through other data collection methods like general surveys. In-depth interview also may provide a more relaxed atmosphere in which to collect information, the respondents may feel more comfortable having a conversation with me about their working experience in foreign firms in Taiwan as opposed to simply filling out a survey. Nonetheless, there are a few disadvantages and drawbacks for in-depth interview (Brinkmann, 2014):
(1) Prone to bias: Respondents want to “prove” that the firm is working properly; their interview responses might be biased. Also, respondents could be biased due to their stake in the firm or other numerous reasons. Every effort should be made to design a data collection effort, create instruments, and conduct interviews to allow for minimal bias.
(2) Can be time-intensive: In-depth interviews can be a time-intensive evaluation activity because of the time it takes to conduct interviews, transcribe them, and analyze the results. In planning your data collection effort, care must be taken to include time for transcription and analysis of this detailed data.
(3) Interviewer must be appropriately trained in interviewing techniques: To provide the most detailed and rich data from the respondents, the interviewer must make that person comfortable and appear interested in what they are saying. They must also be sure to use effective interview techniques, such as avoiding yes/no and leading questions, using appropriate body language, and keeping their personal opinions in check.
(4) Not generalizable: When in-depth interviews are conducted, generalizations about the results are usually not able to be made because small samples are chosen and random sampling methods are not used. In-depth interviews however, provide
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valuable information about the firms, particularly when supplementing other methods of data collection. It should be noted that the general rule on sample size for interviews is that when the same stories, themes, issues, and topics are emerging from the interviewees, then a sufficient sample size has been reached.
3.2 Research procedure
The questionnaires I provided for my participants are particularly for in-depth interview; therefore every single question on the questionnaire is very specific. In-depth interviewing is a one of the qualitative research technique which involves conducting intensive individual interviews with a small number of respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation. In this case I might ask participants who worked in foreign firms in Taiwan before and find out their experiences in the firms, the thoughts they have concerning the operations, processes, and outcomes of the firm, and about any changes they perceive in themselves as a result of their involvement in the firm.
The stages I went through to conduct in-depth interviews is the same procedure followed by other researches (Brinkmann, 2014): (1) plan, (2) develop instruments, (3) collect data, (4) analyze data, and (5) disseminate findings.
1. Plan
(1) Identify what information is needed and from the respondent.
(2) Ensure research will follow international and national ethical research standards
2. Develop questions and guilds
(1) Develop an interview protocol which guides the administration and implementation of the interviews. These are the instructions that are followed for each interview, to ensure consistency between interviews, and thus increase the reliability of the findings. The following instructions for the interviewer should be included in the protocol.
- What to say to interviewees when setting up the interview
- What to say to interviewees when beginning the interview, including ensuring informed consent and confidentiality of the interviewee
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- What to say to interviewees in concluding the interview - What to do during the interview? Take notes? Audiotape?
- What to do following the interview? Fill in notes? Check audiotape for clarity? Summarize key information for each?
(2) Develop an interview guide that lists the questions or issues to be explored during the interview and includes an informed consent form. There should be no more than 15 main questions to guide the interview
(3) Translate guides into interviewees’ first languages and test the translation if needed
3. Collect intel from the interviewees
(1) Set up the interviews with respondents
(2) Seek informed consent of the interviewee, whether and how the information will be kept confidential, and the use of a note taker and tape recorder.
(3) If interviewee has consented, conduct the interview (4) Summarize key data immediately following the interview.
4. Analyze Data
(1) Transcribe and review data.
(2) Analyze all interview data 5. Disseminate Findings
(1) Revise analyzed data
(2) Disseminate to respondents as appropriate.
The interview questions I have generated are mostly related to factors that may determine cultural impact employees’ job satisfaction: (1) work environment, (2) work condition, (3) work relationship. The reason why I didn’t conduct many questions directly insinuates cultural impact is because I want to avoid asking biased questions. I need to ensure my questions are completely neutral; none of them are leading questions.
Work environment is essential for understanding employees’ job satisfaction, because work environment symbolize a company’s distinct culture (David Ingram, 2014);
which includes management styles, hierarchies and human resources policies. More specifically, a company’s distinct culture defines how conflicts are handled, the freedom to
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try new things and failure without consequences, dress code policies, pre-dominated communication styles and other intangible matters. For instance, management styles, no company culture is inherently better than another. A company cultures must fit with their employees to increase job satisfaction, or else employees may look elsewhere to find a workplace better suited to their personalities. If a company wants to decrease its turnover rate, the first thing it might want to change is its work environment.
Another major factor that may change employees’ job satisfaction is work condition; it defines the condition when employees are performing their jobs in a company.
Work condition may vary with different factors such as (Tomislav Babić, 2013): (1) external factors which includes climate (meteorological conditions, temperature, humidity, drafts), lighting in the workplace, noise and interference, gases, radiation, dust, smoke and other harmful factors; (2) subjective factors which includes gender and age of the worker, fatigue, monotony, and unfavorable posture during work (3) internal factors related to the organization of production which includes duration of the work shift, work schedule, working time, work pace, and excessive strain. In favor of helping a company’s employees to accomplish their missions more efficiently, a company needs to fully understand and optimize its work condition for its employees; which also increase its employees’ job satisfaction as well. But in this study, I only focus on the discovery of subjective factors and internal factors of a company.
The last major factor I want to reveal in a company is its work relationship; in other words, it’s about the social circle of the employees in a company. According to Priti Ramjee (2014), when an employee feels emotionally or socially detached in the company and he/she cannot fit into the organization's culture or blend in with his/her colleagues, his/her feelings of dissatisfaction may start to emerge. Consequently, work relationships and interaction have an enormous impact on employees’ job satisfaction and retention.
Negative attitudes of an employee can lead to isolation and loneliness, which may instigate an employee's desire to resign. Besides the relationship with coworkers, the power distance in a company may affect its employees’ job satisfaction as well. For instance (Geert Hofstede, 1984), a low power distance society view the relationship between bosses and subordinates as one of its interdependence; but on the other side, a high power distance society sees the relationship between bosses and subordinates as one of its dependence. An employer who can recognize the impact of workplace relationships on employee
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satisfaction, and encourages flexibility and interaction, can transform a brittle workplace into a productive, satisfying environment. As for the explicit details of my quantitative questions, it is shown in Appendix I.
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IV. Results
4.1 Interview results
In this study, I have completed my interviews with two interviewees who had lived in other countries before they work in Taiwan. Due to the verbal contract I consented with my interviewees, their names and their companies’ names are confidential in this study.
The following two sheets are the transcripts I have assembled from the notes I collected during the interviews.
General information of the interviewee Nationality: Canada
Job title: Magazine editor Interview questions
I. Work environment
i. How would you describe your workplace? How do you feel about it?
My office is a very practical one, it’s located right next the emergency exit of the floor. Honestly, everything is great about my office except it seems very plain.
ii. Do you think it was convenient for you to reach out your colleagues during your working hour?
My office is very transparent due to the glass walls, but it doesn’t provide me a convenient environment to discuss matters with my coworkers due to office partition panels.
iii. Is there any dress code policy in the company you worked for?
Not a very strict one, everyone has to wear business shirts in the office iv. Generally, do you like your work environment? Is there anything you would
like to change regarding your work environment?
I’m really pleased with my office, but I would love to have open-office with my coworkers, so that I can save my time on looking for my coworkers.
25 General information of the interviewee Nationality: Canada
Job title: Magazine editor
I am only speaking for my job, because my job is about collaboration with my coworkers.
v. Do you think cultural impact affect the work environment you have?
I am not judging the culture in Taiwan, but I’m not pleased with the idea of using cubicles. I can tell my local coworkers don’t seem to be bothered by cubicle setting. However, these office partition panels impede the communication between my coworkers and me.
II. Work condition
i. What do you think about your working hours?
My office hours are from 9AM to 6PM, with one hour break starts from 12PM.
I wish it could be more flexible where everyone can get home as soon as they finish their jobs.
ii. What is your thought on the company policy?
I think my company has the legitimate ones; there is nothing much for me to talk about.
iii. Generally, do you like your work condition? Is there anything you would like to change regarding your work condition?
If I had a chance, I would love to make the working hour a little bit more flexible.
iv. Do you think cultural impact affect the work condition you have?
Not a personal one, I just don’t seem to understand why my coworkers always like to stay longer and work unpaid overtime. This was definitely a cultural shock to me when I came to work in Taiwan. I have known the reason later on, it seems like most of the employees want to show their loyalties to the companies by staying longer; and at the same time, they have lesser chance of getting layoffs.
26 General information of the interviewee Nationality: Canada
Job title: Magazine editor III. Work relationship
i. What do you think about your work relationship with your colleagues?
They are generally pretty shy but warm up once you make the effort. I do tend to mix with mainly other expats elsewhere, but at work I have only Taiwanese coworkers so I feel I mix it up pretty often.
ii. What do you think about your work relationship with your supervisor? (ex.
power distance)
Unless you're lucky, your boss will have a very different idea of your relationship with them than you might be used to back home. Taiwanese bosses are far more authoritarian than in Canada. I think it’s important to understand your legal rights as a foreign employee, but also to have an open mind and remember that you’re working in a different country where things work a little differently. That’s why you’d come, isn’t it?
iii. Generally, do you like your work relationship? Is there anything you would like to change regarding your work relationship?
I generally really like my coworkers, but the concept of friendship here is sometimes very different from mine. Most of my close friends are other expats and I prefer it that way, although it really does depend on your own attitude.
iv. Do you think cultural impact affect the work relationship you have?
I think language might be the culture barrier in this case; I could be friends with my Taiwanese coworkers easily if we could share more common tones.
Sheet 1. Transcript for the interview#1
27 General information of the interviewee Nationality: Australia
Job title: programmer/technical writer Interview questions
I. Work environment
i. How would you describe your workplace? How do you feel about it?
I mostly spend my time in the lab, and it is well decontaminated. The laboratory has almost every single utility I needed for testing my software on hardware products. In general, I love my workplace.
ii. Do you think it was convenient for you to reach out your colleagues during your working hour?
The founders of the company built very convenient communicational system for each office/room, so I say I have no issues when it comes to finding my colleagues.
iii. Is there any dress code policy in the company you worked for?
Not specifically for my position, I just have to wear my lab coat and name tag.
As for other positions, most of them have to wear business suits.
iv. Generally, do you like your work environment? Is there anything you would like to change regarding your work environment?
I am totally satisfied with my work environment; it would be fantastic if there is a fridge in lab where I can grab some snacks.
v. Do you think cultural impact affect the work environment you have?
In my case, I didn’t really feel any cultural impact in my work environment.
Since I was working in the lab back and I am still working in the lab over here
28 General information of the interviewee Nationality: Australia
Job title: programmer/technical writer II. Work condition
i. What do you think about your working hours?
I have eight hours of work starting from 9AM to 6PM with one hour lunch break. I think it’s about the same agenda for every company in Taiwan.
ii. What is your thought on the company policy?
I agree with most of the company’s policies, but there is one I am not consented with, which is the overtime pay policy. The company doesn’t seem willingly to pay extra wage for employees’ endeavor.
iii. Generally, do you like your work condition? Is there anything you would like to change regarding your work condition?
If possible, I would like to change this overtime pay policy. Everything else about company policy seems fine to me. I personally think overtime pay policy is a huge player in terms of employees’ morale, which might give the company a good push in long run.
iv. Do you think cultural impact affect the work condition you have?
From my perspective, this has a lot to do with Taiwan’s culture. Over my past few years in Taiwan, I have noticed that most of the local employees I crossed by underestimate their values and rights as employees. If I were them, I would give more shots at changing the employers’ mind.
III. Work relationship
i. What do you think about your work relationship with your colleagues?
Most of my coworkers are friendly to me and I am glad I didn’t experience any discrimination with them in terms of religion. I also don’t feel any discrimination as a woman but I think there’s a local standard for how women are supposed to be like here.
29 General information of the interviewee Nationality: Australia
Job title: programmer/technical writer
ii. What do you think about your work relationship with your supervisor? (ex.
power distance)
The bosses in Taiwan have much more sway undoubtedly. For instance, when the boss is talking, you just have to listen; which is very different from back home where if the boss is talking, it’s because you’re having an interactive discussion with your boss.
iii. Generally, do you like your work relationship? Is there anything you would like to change regarding your work relationship?
I love working with my local coworkers and having friendships with them if possible. I was interested to learn more about their culture and language, which leads me to have better relationship with my Taiwanese coworkers. They appreciate it when you make an effort to learn their language. Most of my friends are actually locals though I have a few expat friends. If there is one thing I could change, I just want to have a more hospitable relationship with my supervisor.
iv. Do you think cultural impact affect the work relationship you have?
This would take aeon to answer properly. I think the power distance between employees and employers has a lot to do with Taiwanese culture. I will summarize it in one word—guanxi. For employees in Taiwan, having better guanxi with your supervisor is the best shortcut to success. In order to do that, they just have to obey their bosses by all means. I don’t mean to exaggerate it, but this sort of relationship really sounds like master-slave relationship to me.
Sheet 2. Transcript for interviewee#2
4.2 Interview data analysis
According to responses from these two interviewees, I have summarized a few major cultural impacts with the backing of Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory. (1). In terms of work environment, interviewee#1 dissents the usage of office partition panels which
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interfere his communication with his coworkers. (2). In terms of work condition, interviewee#1 noticed that employees in Taiwan tend to stay longer in their companies to show their loyalties to avoid layoffs. As for interviewee#2, she also referred unpaid overtime in Taiwanese companies as a cultural impact to her. (3) In terms of work relationship, both interviewees praised the hospitality of their Taiwanese coworkers and both of them also indicate that employers seem to have higher power distance with employees in Taiwan.
To categorize what I have learned from these two interviewees, here are the types of cultural impacts they have encountered: workplace design, unpaid overtime, and relatively high power distance. Theoretically, workplace design is an issue based on collectivism- individualism from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Artifacts (First level of Schein organizational culture). Unpaid overtime is an issue based on Basic Underlying Assumptions (Third level of Schein organizational culture) and process culture (Fourth type of Deal and Kennedy organizational culture). Relatively high power distance is related to power distance index from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
According to collectivism-individualism from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, group-oriented culture is collectivistic which indicate the company is following a collectivistic organizational culture. Due to what I have learned from the first interviewee, he has his own office as an editor but he is dissatisfied with the company’s workplace design using office partition panels. With my own perception, I believe the employer he worked for is following group-oriented culture which leads to usage of office partition panels rather than having open-office for every employee. From the perspective of Schein organizational culture, dissatisfied workplace design is the outmost layer of an organization’s culture; therefore, having a new workplace design shouldn’t be a difficult task.
From the perspective of foreign employees, unpaid overtime is a major cultural impact to them. As a matter of fact, unpaid overtime may be recognized as the third Schein cultural level (Basic Underlying Assumptions), which indicate as the core value of an organization. This level of Schein culture also symbolize as the unconscious behavior which affect the value of employees. Concurrently, unpaid overtime is a behavior that Taiwanese employees don’t distinguish as an irregular because it was driven by the nature of human beings. In other words, Taiwanese employees unconsciously accept unpaid
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overtime as part of their organizational culture without any doubts on its reason.
Nevertheless, unpaid overtime implies a company is following the process culture from Deal and Kennedy organizational culture. Process culture simply designate a company is under a work culture consists of slow feedback speed and low degree of risks. Generally, employees under process culture are very defensive and they are also afraid of getting hurt when they thought they have done something wrong.
The last cultural impact encountered by the interviewees is relatively high power distance in Taiwan insulated by the interviewees; it’s directly connected to Hofstede’s power distance index. Regardless of democratic society in Taiwan, power distance in Taiwanese companies is considerably high (The World Factbook, 2015). In Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, a high power distance company allows its supervisors to become more autocratic and its employees expect their supervisor to guide them through all kinds of situation by giving them orders. Inequality is part of high power distance culture; every employee in the company expects themselves to experience inequality of society. In addition, high power distance also leads to high degree of hierarchy and vertical distance among managers in the company. But Taiwan doesn’t follow hierarchy in its society;
therefore, Taiwan is only following relatively high power distance culture.
From the perspective of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, both interviewees are lacking partial of deficiency needs and growth needs. Interviewee#1 is short on physiological need (workplace design), safety (unpaid overtime), and love and belonging (high power distance). Interviewee#2 is short on safety (unpaid overtime) and love and belonging (high power distance). Thus, the lack of deficiency needs and growth needs leads to lower job satisfaction which also brings down employee’s performance.
As mentioned in pervious chapter, Fredrick’s two-factor theory may identify satisfaction factors and dissatisfaction factors. I may utilize this theory to distinguish the difference and indifference between two interviewees’’ working experience in Taiwan.
Further details are demonstrated in table 2.
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Interviewee#1 Interviewee#2
Work environment Personal office Office floor plan
Laboratory and scientific equipment
Communication system
Work condition Working time
Overtime
Working time Overtime Work relationship Office friendship
Power distance
Office friendship Power distance Satisfaction factors Personal office
Working time Office friendship
Laboratory and scientific equipment
Communication system Working time
Office Friendship Dissatisfaction factors Office floor plan
Overtime Power distance
Overtime Power distance
Table 2. Comparison between two interviewees with motivator-hygiene theory (Herzberg, 1959)
