Video assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video assignment - Essay Example From the film, the United States is brought out as one of the most individualistic society in the world. They tend to put more emphasis on individual achievement, equal rights, informal communication as well as little dependence on authority. The US employees are seen consulting with each other frequently and sharing information openly. They are also extremely comfortable interacting with people they don’t even know, and they aren’t shy doing so. On the other hand, the Japanese managers are more of collectivists. They seem to value harmony and loyalty to both the group and company. The movie successfully brought to light the clash between individualist and collectivist cultures in the most beautiful way. For instance, the Japanese workers performed their duties without complaint and a lower salary and higher production rate consistently. On the other hand, the American auto workers depicted less loyalty to the company compared to the Japanese employees. This is evident when Stevenson (role played by Keaton) tried to convince his American workforce to meet the 15000 production quota. Rather than make concessions to accomplish the company goals like their Japanese counterparts had, the US plant employees immediately started talking themselves out of achieving the goal and further looking for ways to lower the quota. In the beginning, Stevenson thinks that he can get them to push the quota nevertheless. However, he discovered that in the absence of the same level of loyalty, the American workers weren’t as motivated and driven to make the set goal a realit y. Quick advancement and reward appear to be the norm in America and is usually based on merit. On the other hand, Japanese culture values dedication and long service are always rewarded. The expectation of rapid reward by the Americans is depicted in the movie when the plant employees ask if they will receive a reward even if they don’t meet the production quota. This means that they