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Stress, Task, and Relationship Orientations of Taiwanese Adults: an Examination of Gender in This High-Context Culture Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies Stress, Task, and Relationship Orientations of Taiwanese Adults: An Examination of Gender in this High-Context Culture Kuo-Ying Huang Nova Southeastern University Bahaudin G. Mujtaba Nova Southeastern University Abstract Men and women are different and are likely to have different orientations toward stress, tasks, and relationships. To explore the stress, task, and relationship orientation of people in the high-context culture of Taiwan, this paper focused on the differences of 249 adult Taiwanese. It appears that they have similar scores on the relationship and task orientations. However, males seem to be more task-oriented than female Taiwanese. Overall, the Taiwanese reported a moderate level of stress and they have an equal focus on their tasks and relationships. In this paper, literature on high and low context cultures is presented along with practical application, suggestions and implications for future studies. Keywords : Relationships, tasks, culture, high context, low context, stress, Taiwan Stress, Task, and Relationship Orientations, Page 1 Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies Introduction and Cultural Values Cultures drive human behavior, and therefore understanding it becomes extremely critical in a global workplace. Taiwan has multinational corporations as well as small entrepreneurs living or doing business there or through the country with other international firms. In international business it is important to realize that cultural differences severely affect the communication process. There is a clear distinction in the way of communicating between the so-called high-context and low-context cultures (Mujtaba & Balboa, 2009; Salleh, 2005). In high-context cultures such as Taiwan, Thailand, Japan or India, there is a less verbally detailed communication and less written/formal information. Instead, there is a more subliminal understanding of what is communicated. Often what is left unsaid is as important as what is said. Low context cultures such as the United States or United Kingdom put more emphasis on the written or spoken words. In such an environment, communication is very explicit and clear, and normally “what is meant is what is said.” A society’s culture is passed on through family, school, community activities, workplace relationships, and youth clubs. Mujtaba (2008a) states that culture is interrelated, it has many parts that correlate to the next, for example one’s upbringing and social class interrelates to the language that a person will use, and their social mannerisms. Finally, culture is generally shared by individuals from the same society. The factors that make a culture different from others are also what make communication difficult between diverse people groups. For international managers and researchers it is essential to understand the culture of the country or region in which it is doing business. Today, it is almost impossible for a manager or a company to be successful in a foreign country without knowledge and understanding of the culture. Managers of international operations should be aware of the importance of context in various countries. Context indicates the level in which communication occurs outside of verbal discussion (Mujtaba & Balboa, 2009). Understanding the effect of the differences in context provides a knowledge base and cultural intelligence that can help provide not only strong teams but more over effective business relationships with a firm’s vendors and customers (Hall, 1976; Salleh, 2005; Mujtaba & Balboa, 2009). In the competitive world of manufacturing and retail business, understanding behaviors of employees are paramount to succeeding. It is important for managers, trainers and researchers to reflect on their relationships with people of different cultures and examine how differences in context can lead to cultural misunderstanding for overseas employees living or working in Taiwan or other high context cultures. The purpose of this study is to analyze the stress orientation as well as relationship similarities and dissimilarities between male and female adult Taiwanese. The Culture of Taiwan Cultures are made up from the collective behaviors of its inhabitants. On the other side, cultures also drive the behaviors of its inhabitants in a predictable and uniform manner through years of socialization and acculturation. Hofstede (1980) emphasized that culture plays an important role in the behavior of its people. Adler (1986) argued that national culture has a greater impact on employees than does their organization's culture. Thus, management must concern itself more with developing appropriate management methods relevant to the national Stress, Task, and Relationship Orientations, Page 2 Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies culture than with optimizing organizational culture. The Asian culture differs from American culture in many ways. However, Asians as well as Americans, enjoy great levels of freedom and pragmatism as both groups of people are flexible and open-minded toward new ideas, creativity and innovations. As can be witnessed, most Asians have adopted many western practices perhaps due to the constant evolution of culture and widespread availability of information over the cyberspace highways. Similarly, in search of better teamwork, Americans have adopted many eastern or Asian practices as to encourage employees to work more collectively to achieve the organization's goals. In essence, modern practices and focus on competitiveness have induced changes in all cultures (Mujtaba, 2008a). In the Taiwanese culture the group is the primary unit of social organization as a consequence of their living in extended families; thus, this explains why it is easier for them to work cohesively as teams and groups. Taiwan’s culture is mostly a hybrid blend of Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese aboriginal cultures; it has been largely shaped by the processes of imperialism and colonization (Yip, 2004). Originally, the culture of Taiwan was characterized by Chinese Han frontier farmers and Taiwanese highland aborigines. After the Chinese Qing Empire ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895, Japanese styles of thinking and behavior were gradually instilled into many of the Taiwanese customs and mannerisms. Both China and Japan are Asian countries in which group-oriented norms prevail and, to borrow Hall’s term, can be categorized as high-context cultures (Hall, 1976). As a result of the influence of Chinese and Japanese cultures, generally speaking, Taiwanese ways of life fall into such a high-context style. Taiwan is a densely-populated country short of natural resources. High density of population implies fierce competition for jobs and earning a living. And shortage of natural resources means the necessity of international trade for upgrading the domestic economy. To lead a decent life, Taiwanese people have to work more diligently and compete with both their fellow citizens and multinational entrepreneurs. As a result, the Taiwanese usually feel under stress from their jobs because they have to get their tasks accomplished most efficiently in terms of time and motion (Siu et al., 1999). In general, Taiwan is a group-oriented and relationship-based society, which may have been shaped by the work the Taiwanese people in preceding generations did for a living (Winckler, 1994). Traditionally, social mobility and population density were usually caused by the economic lifestyle of the community. Taiwan formerly was an agricultural society in which people remained in one place for a long period of time (Winckler, 1994). In such an agriculturally-oriented economy, low social mobility led to high population density and people got together and shared knowledge easily. In an agricultural society, as soon as a person joined a group, he considered himself one of the group members who were closely related to each other (Chang, 2005). Maybe it is this cultural heritage that causes the Taiwanese to be group-oriented and relationship-based. In Taiwan, males and females play different roles in the family and suffer stress from different sources. Males usually shoulder the responsibility of supporting the family; thus, they have to go out working and earning money. In order to earn a good salary, male Taiwanese have to compete with their co-workers in the workplace and even the contestants from outside the company (Cheng et al., 2001). The major stress for female Taiwanese comes from within the family, since they are responsible for taking care of children, associating with other relative members, and doing daily chores of cleaning, cooking, and shopping (Cheng et al., 2001; Liang & Kuo, 2002). Of course, Taiwan has transformed from an agricultural society into a highly- industrialized one and most female Taiwanese have left the kitchen and become career women. Stress, Task, and Relationship Orientations, Page 3 Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies However, males still bear the major economic burden of the whole family (Cheng et al., 2001; Tseng, 2001). Globalization and workforce mobilization have contributed to globally dispersed collaborations in many areas (Kotlarsky & Oshri, 2005; Salleh, 2005; Mujtaba, 2007). As many companies and enterprises turn to global markets, more and more professionals and employees are finding themselves making their living in foreign locales. As a result, cross-cultural communication or negotiation is very common in today’s business relations (Kotlarsky
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