Compare and Contrast Between Culture of Taiwan and USA Essay Example

style="text-align: justify">Lastly, it is also indicated by the study that the American cultural vision tends to be much more short-term than compared to long term focus from pan-Chinese countries (Colquitt, 2011, p 578). From these three points, we can deeply analyze the organizational culture differences between Yahoo! and eBay in terms of national culture. The experience of interning at Yahoo! is significantly influenced by the national culture of Taiwan whereas the experience at eBay represents the general image of an internet company.

In Taiwan, the intern program with Yahoo! is more structured and bounded. The interns go through training together in the first 3 days and are quickly separated into groups of 4-5 people and given a goal to complete for the duration of the internship. The sense of collectivism in the environment quickly builds up as groups automatically became determined to complete the goal in hopes for positive remarks and a potential future hiring opportunity. The schedules are rigid and due process is a heavily emphasized value within Yahoo!.

For a company with 4000 people, the corporate template becomes a necessity if you wish to submit anything to other people (Colquitt, 2011, p 234). eBay on the other hand, begins their internship program by introducing mentors to each intern that act as managers for the intern for the duration of the program. Never did eBay separate the interns into groups nor give them specific goals that they had to accomplish before their employment was over. They promoted individualism and commonly asked the interns what kind of knowledge they wish to retain from the experience.

The attitude of eBay works to devote

resources to invest in the interns to have them learn about the company and experience day-to-day work, in hopes they would want to come work for eBay in the future. Yahoo! Taipei on the other hand, gives the distinct impression that the internship is more of a tryout and your end-goal is similar to a class project that will be reviewed with scrutiny to evaluate your ability. eBay’s attitude is a short-term employment in hopes for a long-term investment on talent; whereas Yahoo! is a short term investment for a long-term employment.

In each case, employees are treated extremely differently as one was seen as a potential asset and other seen as common labor. From these clear differences, it is easy to say that Yahoo’s organizational culture is deeply affected by the national culture on a deeper level that is unseen from the surface. Once one dives deeper into the espoused values and underlying assumptions level, it is easy to see where the “internet company culture” is affected by the national cultural differences. As mentioned before, due process is an important value assumed by employees while the office is designed for free interaction and innovation (eBay).

In eyes of employees at Yahoo, this contradiction is something everyone needed to cope with. The subtle feeling of leader-member exchange, where in-groups and out-groups of managers form, was always there (Schyns). The Pan-Chinese acceptance of imbalanced power allows managers to overstep their boundaries from an internet company stand-point, and continue their actions through the consensus of subordination from their employees. Often times in meetings, interns and new employees remain silent and are eager for new orders

from their managers to complete their goal. This organization culture directly tems from the national culture of the Pan-Chinese identity of Taiwan; those with higher position possess power, and that people should follow their lead in hopes of being hired or promoted (Chow). This underlying acceptance of order is something unique within Yahoo Taipei as opposed to eBay Seattle due to the national culture influencing employees to conform to the perceived “social norm” of pan-Chinese countries. In conclusion, it is clear that through comparing the two internet companies, Yahoo Taipei attempted to create an innovative and forward-thinking office space was half-accomplished.

As compared to the rest of the companies in Taiwan, Yahoo definitely stands as a place that younger people have better chances to make a name for themselves. The national culture of Taiwan heavily influence the organizational culture of the country’s company and Yahoo symbolizes the first true attempt to bring the more “American” culture abroad. Although the effort from Yahoo was there to promote such an ideal, the cultural differences between Taiwan and the American company created a blend of culture that still more-or-less pertained to the Taiwanese company culture.

It simply wasn’t able to demonstrate the organic feeling of freedom and innovation within a company that eBay seemed to easily present. The difference may sound subtle through words, but the general atmosphere of an internet company from America could not be imitated by their Taiwanese counterpart; thus concluding that, if one wants to create an organizational culture, the culture must be educated to the employees in a way that the national culture influences could be suppressed in order to truly

create an internet company feel in a Pan-Chinese Country.