Analysis Of Gung Ho

Analysis of the Movie
Gung Ho

Stephen Draughon
MKTG 3852
July 22, 2012

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5
I.

American and Japanese cultural values compared and contrasted. ......................................... 5
A.

Power Distance (PDI)....................................................................................................... 5

B.

Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) ...........................................................................................
Everyone has a certain place and it’s not questioned, nor does it need to be justified.
People in low power distance societies like the United States, try to equalize the distribution of power and we demand justification for inequalities of power. This dimension measures the attitude of a culture towards the distribution of power (Hofstede, United States).
A.2

Movie example: In the beginning of the movie, Keaton stumbles into the Japanese

management training program for executives who are failing. Kazihiro is covered in ribbons of shame, standing before top management pleading loudly for the opportunity to return to work and promising to be a good manager from now on. When Keaton found out what the ribbons

represented, he leaned toward Kazihiro and whispered, “Maybe you should wear them on the inside.” This is an automatic response from Americans who tend to try to take back control and minimize the power of anything that demoralizes or puts them down rather than allowing themself to remain in a position of blame and shame. American CEOs would simply fire a manager who was failing at their job rather than spend weeks in a program to upgrade skills and attitudes. Managers who are failing in the U.S. would quit rather than submit to that sort
Japan, on the other hand, represents collectivism which is a tightly-knit society where individuals are unquestioningly loyal and expect relatives or some group to look after them
(Hofstede, Dimensions).
C. 2

Movie example: When Keaton questions why the plant employees have to learn each job

and why they can’t just do what they already do best, Kazihiro said, “Every man learns every job, then no one is special.” Keaton replied, “You’re in America now, we like to feel special.”
(Keaton) Another example from the movie that displays American individualism was the commotion created in the scene where an American union leader more or less tries to dictate to a group of union workers that they cannot go to work for Asssan at $8.75 an hour because it goes against union policy. One worker jumps up and shouts out “who’s going to feed our families if we don’t go to work?” One by one other workers shout out reasons why they should go to work for and will go to work for Assan. In America, we have an individual responsibility to our families to take care of them and that is expressed throughout our culture. It would be unacceptable to Americans to allow a company or group to have that sort of power over