Perception of Managerial Ability across Cultures Japanese and American Managers' Comparative View of Thai Managers(SPECIAL ISSUE COMMEMORATING THE RETIREMENT OF PROFESSOR: Takeharu Tone)

Abstract

This paper explores perception of managerial ability across cultures. The focus is on how Japanese managers at Japanese subsidiaries and American managers at American subsidiaries in Thailand compare Thai employees with expatriates from their respective countries. This comparison is part of the results of a study of the work-related values, attitudes, beliefs, expectations and behavior of Thai and Japanese managers at Japanese subsidiaries as well as from the same study replicated at a later date at American subsidiaries in Thailand. The comparison is divided into five categories: the "hard side of management, " the soft side of management, " "work-related attitudes, " "human relations, " and "loyalty." Japanese managers tend to view Japanese more capable than Thai managers in the areas of the "hard side of management, " the soft side of management, " and "work-related attitudes." However, the trend is reversed for a number of items in the "human relations" category. The same pattern is apparent in the responses from American managers. Nevertheless, Japanese tend to give Japanese expatriates higher ratings than Americans give to American expatriates in comparison with Thai employees. In the case of the category "loyalty, " the results were mixed. For the item "loyalty towards the company, " the Japanese perceived themselves as being significantly more loyal than the Thais. The Americans expressed a level of loyalty that is just slightly stronger for Americans than Thai. However, the results for the other item in the category, "loyalty towards the boss, " are strongly in favor of the Thais in the case of American responses, and somewhat favoring the Thais in the case of Japanese employees. This result is in line with the perceived importance of human relations in the workplace among the Thais as seen in the results for the items in the "human relations" category.