Cross Cultural Management-Term 4 Prof: Ritu Tripathi Movie Analysis Report Million Dollar Arm; Gung Ho Submitted by: Srishti Malpath 111!"#
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Movie Analysis of Million Dollar Arm
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Introduction
This movie is about an American baseball agent who is in search of talented players from places which hadn’t been tapped before. The agent’s name is J.B Bernstein, who then goes about creating a reality contest in India in quest to find players who he can then get trained and convert them into professional players. As the most popular sport in India is cricet and cricet is in certain ways similar to the game of baseball but still is a very alien concept to the Indian audience. The crowd is attracted by the offer that is the pri!e money and also by the opportunity to go to America and get trained professionally. The cultural shock is when the two selected players are ased to move to America. As they both are from a small town and never been anywhere outside their villages"towns, they are hesitant and reluctant to go.
India as a culture is very inclined towards group orientation with big families and tightly nit relationships. Also as it is shown in the movie, the level of poverty also results in many families staying together. This is very well shown in the scene when J.B and his colleague visit the boy’s village. They are shoced by the differences in the state of living, houses, streets and people. These boys have no idea about how life outside India was, for e#ample they are seen shoced when they get to now that they could order food$pi!!a% &ust sitting in the house and it would be delivered at their footsteps.
'verall this movie is a very good e#ample of how some basic issues interrupt communication and work when interacting with people from different countries. It shows
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how learning to accommodate and learn other cultures and their nuances is always handy and helpful.
(ere are some of the dialogues from the movie that depict the cultural shoc encountered by J.B on his first day of visit in India )ive$Indian worer%: You know, here in India, we do things a little differently than in the US. J.B : Okay, Vivek, I need things to run on time and smoothly, but actually run on time and smoothly, not Indian on time and smoothly. )ive* Indians love honking and bypassing the system. )ive : on!t lose patience, "#. You are going to need it in India. Indians are very good at spreading the word.
Analysing this movie on the basis of Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of cross cultural differences (National Culture
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igh "#I$ %ow "#I
+I or the power distance inde# is the measure of the e#tent to which power differences are reflected in a society’s organisation. India on one side is a highly power driven culture with a +I of -- whereas America on the other hand is one of the low scorer of this inde# with /. That is in India, more importance is given to the higher authority and questioning them is seen as an offence or a disregard. 0hereas in America all the worers are involved in maing decisions and everybody can demand respect and also there is more of an informal interaction between people of different strata unlie the Indians. This aspect is clearly seen in the movie. 0hen J.B visits India, the worer in the Indian office calls him with a &'ir$'ir and mentions it after every sentence of his. This maes J.B feel a little abnormal or new as the Americans mostly use their names rather than 1ir"2adam in most of the circumstances and it is still seen as being respectful unlie in India. In India, calling an elder or a higher official with their name can result in them being offended and thining that they are not respected enough. 1ame thing is reflected with the boys in America, they are seen to be very scared to openly talk to
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J.B or e)press any discomfort in front of him due to this power difference concern in their minds.
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Collectivism$Individualism
America is one of the highest raner on the scale of individualism with a score of 34 whereas in India families are rather closely nit and they generally wor in groups and give importance to the immediate family and society than &ust themselves. India has a lower score of individualism that is 5+ India as a collectivist culture is shown in many scenes of the movie. 0hen the contest is announced and J.B along with his team reaches to the first stop, he is shoced at the number of people that turn up for the event ass the Indian in his team if all of them are actually there for his event. Another instance is when the two selected boys have to fly to America, the scene shows how collectivist culture it is and how the mother of the boy cries that he is leaving instead of being happy for him to be taing such an une#pected
&ourney. Also when the finals of the contest are being held, again there is huge crowd of audience and $ay mae a statement that 6is it something to do with baseball or some kind o% a circus7. 2any other instances in the movie, it’s shown how the boys miss their village and family even though they are in America and are free to do anything without nobody to question them. This shows the high collectivist culture among the Indians. This also brings about the face$saving attitude of the Indians and as they are a collectivist culture, their status in the society and what people thin about them becomes very important to them. The scene when J.B goes to offer bribe to the Indian worer, the worer denies and becomes aggressive at first as he is in his wor area. But then he meets him outside his office so that people don’t &udge him and that his reputation in the society is not spoiled.
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, High -ncertainty Avoidance$low -ncertainty Avoidance
Both the countries score nearly the same score on this aspect with the 81 on a slightly higher side $9% and India with a score of /. This means that both are countries are fle#ible and do not fear from uncertainties. If we compare between the two, America is slightly more towards high uncertainty avoidance which is seen in this particular scene of the movie when J.B in his first meeting with the Indian worer at the Indian office ass him if everything is ready and in place. And the Indian replies that everything is set but when ased for the information and status of different tass, his answer is rather contradicting and ambiguous . 0hen J.B ass him if the t:shirts are arrived, he says that they have arrived. But when ased for more details, he answers that they have arrived at the warehouse and were not there yet, maing it ambiguous and uncertain+
. /asculinity$0emininity
The higher the score of a particular country on this dimension implies that the society is a highly success driven one and that a person’s accomplishments are given more importance. India has a score of ;9 and 81 scores an even higher score of 9<. Traits of a high masculinity culture is that they are more wor oriented and money and things are important. 0hereas a feminine culture is mostly relationship and ties oriented. The transition of 1+2 is clearly seen in the movie. Before his visit to India, he is shown as a person who is more goal and work oriented but after his wor with the two boys, he understands how he has to slow down and be
there for them and support them to build a relationship and to mae them comfortable. Also
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J.B’s girlfriend 6Brenda7 tells him how he has changed and become more considering and that she lies him better now.
3 %ong 4erm 5rientation$'hort 4erm 5rientation
'n this dimension, India scores a higher ran with ;4 whereas the 81A has a score of <9 which is below average. This reflects the idea that Indians are long term oriented and they always plan for the future and aim at long term things. 0hereas the American’s on the other side are grown up in a culture where short term achievements are rewarded and that is what they loo for. They don’t plan for things much ahead in the future. The best e#ample from the movie is depicted by the character 6Amit$ the translator who &oins J.B’s team not for money or for popularity but for the e#perience that he can carry forward in the future in becoming in a baseball coach. (e mentions to J.B that he would wor for free and all of that &ust to fulfil his long term plan of being a successful coach . 0hereas it’s not the same case with J.B and his company, they &ust want a big hit and it’s a short term goal that they have in mind and hadn’t planned much further into future. 6 High Indulgence$%ow Indulgence(7estraint
India scores a very low score of <9 on this factor of indulgence when compared to a high score of 95 of America. 0hich implies that Indians are in general very restraint and don’t indulge much in social activities or leisure times in their lives when compared with the American counterparts. In the movie, the two boys and their translator are shown to be spending time only on training or staying at home but not in e#ploring things in the new country. Also in a particular scene when J.B taes three of the m to a party, they seem to get very bored there and
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feel very much out of the place in between the Americans. They are shown to &ust mind their own business rather than indulge in conversations , dance or meet new people at the party.
Analysis of Hall’s 'ilent %anguages The outstanding or most contrasting dimensions were that of time, friendship and conte#t. 4ime8 It is clearly depicted in the movie how the value of time differs in both the cultures.
India is a polychromatic country whereas America is a /onochromatic one. 0hen J.B reaches India, he was supposed to be piced up by )ive, but )ive forgets that he was supposed to arrive today. 0hen J.B finally by himself reaches the destination, )ive’s reaction is very normal as if it was oay to forget which depicts the value and importance to time between both the cultures. 0riendship8 =oming to the aspect of friendship, Indians maintain a rather different relationship
with their superiors, they do not treat them as equals. As seen in many instances in the movie, J.B is always called with a &'ir by the two boys, his Indian colleagues and even the auto and cab drivers. Conte)t8 Americans are very straight forward in their communication and e#press clearly what
they e#pect from the other party. 0hereas on the other side, Indians are very ambiguous and don’t tal about details most of the time. 0hen in the starting J.B ass )ive about the T:shirts, he replies that they are here but when ased to show them he hesitates and then tells him clearly where they are and what to do to get them delivered soon. Another instance of conte#t is the bribe scene. >irst of all, bribe is mentioned as &bypassing the system which in itself maes it very ambiguous. And when J.B meets the worer in
charge of the T:shirts and offers him a bribe, he denies it because the >ace:saving aspect of the
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Indians as I mentioned in the first part of the report. But later on he meets them outside to accept the offer. This confuses and maes it difficult for J.B to mae sense of the ambiguous tals.
Conclusion This movie is an adaption of a real life story of two boys who were chosen to be coached professionally in baseball by an American agent. The movie depicts cultural shocs on J.B’s first visit to India as well as when the boys first travel to the 8.1. It shows very well how both of them find it uncomfortable and strange out of their country and cultures and how during the course of the movie, they forgo of the differences, become more adaptable and understanding of the other culture.
Movie Analysis of Gung Ho
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Introduction
The plot of the movie &ung 'o runs around the cultural differences and clash between two countries when 2ichael ?eaton who plays the role of an American employee goes about convincing a Japanese automobile company to open their factory in America. The movie beautifully shows how such cultural issues can impact the whole business of the company. @et’s now analyse the different dimensions of (ofstede’s theory based on this movie. According to the theory, The 81 is a low +I country with the power distance inde# of / which means that there is not much dominance from the higher authorities on the lower employees. =oming to the dimension of individualism, the 81 scores a 34 which means that in such a society importance is given towards individual needs. =omparing these two dimensions, we can say that the wor conditions in the 81 are such that the hierarchies are created for convenience which create an informal yet a very participative structure wherein both the
employers and the employees have a say in decisions and that the managers generally tae decisions after consulting with the employees . ow if we compare this to the culture of Japan* Japan scores a power distance inde# of ; and 9 on the aspect of individualism $more towards collectivism%. 0hich shows that in the Japanese culture, importance is given to the hierarchical position and the employers or the higher managers get more say in maing decisions. As it is more of a collectivist culture, most of the decisions are highly group oriented and mostly paternalistic+
These measurements were demonstrated in the film for e#ample, (unt 1tevenson $American worer% is shown to have a very informal and a casual relationship with the employees,
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involves and consults them for the decision maing and does not hesitate to question his senior employees. Also it shown how the American employees are more individual and are concerned with their personal time and not place the company as their top most priority.
0hereas the Japanese manager has a rather formal relation with the other employees and fears or hesitates to question his boss. 0e will also discuss about the impact that these difference in
values create on the (2 practices of the companies. Analysing this movie seems lie an innovative and an entertaining way of better understanding the aspects of cross cultural differences and how to overcome them to smoothly run such a firm.
/ovie analysis on the basis of Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of cross cultural differences (National Culture
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High "#I$ %ow "#I
This inde# is used to measure the e#tent to which the position$hierarchy% or power differs from one society to the other. Japan’s +I score is ; whereas that of the 81 is /, which means that the Japanese give a lot of importance to the hierarchical raning and the position and even in social settings, they act in accordance to it. 'n the other side, there is not much difference in power in the 81, that means that every employee is seen and accepted to have a unique thought process and that every one of them is special or unequal. This is depicted very well in the starting part of the movie when 'unt meets Oishi during his training program and is wearing ribbons of shame and being trained to be a better manager. (unt in this scene does not give much importance to the situation as he does not understand the management:employee
relation in Japan. Japan being a high +I country, the employees tend to follow the demands and guidelines of their managers and mostly fear to answer bac to them even if they find
something inconvenient which is not so in the case of the Americans. Also 'ishi mentions in a conversation with (unt that he would not understand because he hasn’t been through the management training by the superiors that 'ishi did. *
Collectivism$Individualism
This aspect measures the e#tent to which people of a particular culture"society tend to give importance and attention to their immediate self, families or if they tend to mostly integrate in groups of larger si!e. In a collectivist society, people act and give importance to groups than individuals. America with low power distance and high individualism $34%, gives emphasis to
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individual accomplishments"achievement, e9ual rights, lower hesitation with the top authority and on informal mode of communication. Japan is on the other side with a low score
on individualism $9% and tends to give importance to group harmony, paternalistic culture and more loyalty to the company. 1o there is yet another clash between the two communities which is depicted in the movie. 0e could see how the Japanese employees never complained and blindly did anything that their superiors ased for whereas the American employees put themselves ahead of the company all the time. And when they were ased to fulfil a huge
order of 4;/// cars, they immediately started discussing among themselves, retaliated and 9uestioned bac the authority.
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High -ncertainty Avoidance$low -ncertainty Avoidance
This dimension measures the preparedness and a culture’s planning and ability to deal with uncertain situations. The 81 has a score of 9 on the uncertainty avoidance inde#, which is below average and implies that they don’t stic to a certain thing and are mostly accepting to new innovations and ideas and have a willingness to try out new"different things. 0hereas on the other hand, Japan is one of the highest scorer on this dimension with an inde# of 3<. This implies the well planned, long and detailed contracts and decision processes that they follow. The whole movie is based on the uncertainty which eeps us wondering if indeed they will succeed in delivering the results or not after handling all the cross cultural and communicational differences.
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/asculinity$0emininity
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The 81 scores high on the dimension of masculinity $9<% which implies that the society is highly driven by success and achievement and also indicated that high importance is given to one’s personal accomplishments. And &apan on the other hand is one of the highest scorer on masculinity in the world with a score of 3;. But &apan is a collectivist economy rather than an individualistic economy, which maes it shift towards giving high importance to work and perfectionism . 0e can encounter this aspect at the ending of the movie when they American
plant worer’s mange to reach the goal but the Japanese counter parts find a few of the cars not up to their e)pectations and perfection and decide to fire them. After which (unt, the
American manager convinces them for another chance by using symbolism and using the success story of winning basetball which again gives a glimpse on the individualistic and masculine aspect of their culture.
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%ong 4erm 5rientation$'hort 4erm 5rientation
The 81 rans low on the long term orientation aspect with a score of <9 which implies that it does not believe much in maintaining lins to the past but rather is a present day oriented culture which draws its values and performances on a short$term scale or basis. 0hereas on the other hand, Japan is a very pragmatic culture with a score of 55 and is highly future oriented and tends to measure values and performance on a long:term scale. This aspect can be understood from the movie as (unt, e#pects rapid and immediate action for the plant worers whereas the Japanese are shown planning for the future, by following future:oriented Japanese people’s trends.
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High Indulgence$%ow Indulgence(7estraint
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'n indulgence factor, Japan has a low score of < implying that they have a restraint culture and don’t give importance to the leisure time in their lives which maes them mae wor as their only main priority. 0hereas the 81 rans higher than &apan which a score of 95 which implies their wor hard but play hard too aspect of their society. In the movie we can see how 'ishi ?a!ihiro’s family shifts from the restraint culture to the more indulgence one. 'n the first visit of (unt to 'ishi’s family, the house is very well organised without his family indulging in American leisure fares but later on we can see that 'ishi’s wife shifts to the more indulgent culture and is seen serving sausage and punch for dinner and their children are seen watching 2T) and play around with action movie figures which is very different from their earlier style of living.
#ifferences in various H7/ practices that effected business between the two cultures *
The movie also depicts the differences between the two nations in terms of their worflow and process development. American worers and managers generally follow what is called as 6Best practice7 and stic to it to obtain results whereas the Japanese mangers continuously tend to wor on improving the practices and innovating new ones. As we can see in the movie, among the plant worers, everyone has a &ob which they stic to and do not believe in nowing what the others are doing. There is also a scene where the Japanese manager ass the worers to be trained in every tas but the refuse to do so. This again lins bac to the (igh +I and high collectivist culture of the Japanese which maes them ob ey their superiors without questioning.
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Compensating and incentivising8
The methods of incentives and rewards differ in the two cultures as follows* American culture is a merit based on where in fact advancement is followed to be the norm whereas in the Japanese culture, dedication and long hours of services are seen to be rewarded. American’s believe in rapid rewards which is seen in the scene when the worers are ased to fulfil a tas of 4;/// cars and they 9uestion about what would happen if they don’t do so and in turn e)pect rewards for coming close to the target. This property in turn lins to the short term
orientation of the American’s which maes them e#pect rewards for short term accomplishments . Also being an individualist society, they give priority to themselves and
their family than the company unlie the Japanese worers.
"lanning and 5rganising8
=oming to the process of planning, the Americans $high on individualism% tae highly individual profiting decisions whereas the Japanese counterparts tae a lot of time in maing decision by doing it collectively. As we can see in the start of the movie when (unt goes to present his idea, he travels all by himself whereas when he reaches there he finds a group of Japanese officers gathered so that they can tae a decision collectively . This reflects the individualism:collectivism dimension of Ceert (ofstede and also the long term:short term orientation of the two cultures"nations. =oming to 'rganising, Japanese managers don’t have a structure but mostly depend on the collective decision maing process which is more individualistic among the Americans. This can be depicted in the scene when (unt taes the blame and responsibility in the ending of the film for misguiding the worers.
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'taffing and %eading8
Americans are in general more loyal to their wor and profession but not to the company, they are hired directly from schools or other companies and search for incentives in short term results. 0hereas among the Japanese, the worers are highly loyal to the company and incentives and compensations are all based on the long:term results. 'ishi, the Japanese manager mentions in the movie how they don’t get paid e#tra for woring additional hours and how work means more than anything to them unlie the Americans. 'n the other side the American employees loo for time$off and show little loyalty to the firm and are more concerned with their personal rather than their professional lives. =oming to the leadership aspect, American leaders are very clear and straight forward in their communication with anyone in the ran or hierarchy. 0hereas the Japanese leaders act lie one of the members in the group and have a rather indirect and ambiguous communication methods . As we could see in the movie, (unt was the American leader who was shown as an ama!ing spoesperson. This difference occurs because Japan is more of a collectivist culture whereas America is based on individualist culture.
Conclusion >rom the analysis above, we can see that even small cultural differences can result in ma&or business and societal clashes. And even though it was depicted in a comical manner in the movie, in real life it would lead to ma&or offenses and drawbacs in business. This movie is a classic e#ample of how we all need to come out of our comfort :ones and become more
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adaptive and learning towards different cultures when meeting or woring with counter parts
from different parts of the world.
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