Leadership & Organization Development Journal

A Comparison of Japanese, Korean and American Managerial Decision Styles:: An Exploratory Study
James D. Boulgarides Moonsong David Oh
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To cite this document:
James D. Boulgarides Moonsong David Oh, (1985),"A Comparison of Japanese, Korean and American Managerial Decision
Styles:", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 6 Iss 1 pp. 9 - 11
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A Comparison of
Japanese,
Korean and
American
Managerial
Decision Styles:
Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK At 12:21 04 March 2015 (PT)
An Exploratory Study
by James D. Boulgarides
and Moonsong David Oh
California State University, Los Angeles
Introduction
There is a growing interest in the influence of socio-cultural
factors on managerial thinking and behaviour. The increas-
ing use of anthropology and sociology is an explicit recogni-
tion of behavioural sciences as a tool for understanding
managerial thinking and behaviour. Academicians and prac-
titioners the world over are paying increasing attention to
Japan and South Korea. Japan is an industrial super power
and has established itself as a formidable international com-
petitor. Korea is an intriguing subject for study because it
has shown an astonishingly quick change from a
predominantly agricultural economy to a rapidly industrialis-
ing country. In the view of some observers, Korea could
become the "mini Japan" of Asia. The present study
represents one model for understanding managerial
behaviour of Japanese, Korean and American business
managers.
Managerial decision styles have been discussed from the
single best style proposed by Taylor[1 ] to the completely flex-
ible styles proposed by Tannenbaum and Schmidt[2]. Other
approaches to decision styles and decision making were
proposed by Simon[3] who focused on types of decisions,
Adomo[4] who studied authoritarianism and Rokeach[5]
who researched dogmatism. A pure style model by Harvey
et al.[6] led to the development of a cognitive model by
Schroder et al.[7] which examined human information pro-
cessing and problem solving. Driver[8] developed a model
of decision styles based on his earlier work in human infor-
mation processing and cognitive psychology. The Decision
*Paper presented at the Academy of International Business International
Conference, Singapore, 14-16 June 1984.
LODJ 6,1 • 1985
Style Inventory by Rowe and Boulgarides[9] combines an
individual's cognitive complexity with personal values.
The Decision Style Inventory
The Decision Style Inventory is based on the Cognitive-
Contingency Decision Style Model shown in Figure 1. Four
decision styles are defined in the model, i.e. directive,
analytic, conceptual and behavioural. The two axes of the
model are cognitive complexity (vertical) and personal values
(horizontal).
The low cognitively complex individual tends to perceive the
environment in terms of few or rigid rules of information pro-
cessing and has a high need for structure, while the high
cognitively complex individual is able to integrate diverse
cues and has a high tolerance for ambiguity. The horizon-
tal dimension of the model deals with the environment con-
fronting individuals and their reaction to the differences. A
more focused individual will generally prefer technical or
task-oriented environments. On the other hand, a broader
individual will tend to prefer the more social or people-
oriented environment. Interestingly, in the way in which the
model is depicted, the technically oriented individual is what
we term the left brain, logical or analytical person, whereas,
the right half of the model corresponds with those in-
dividuals who are more inductive in their reasoning and who
think in broad or spatial terms and are people-oriented.
A more complete description of the decision style categories
shown in Figure 1 is given below:
(1) Directive: These individuals have a low tolerance for
ambiguity and tend to focus on technical problems.
They have a high need for power and prefer tangible
to intrinsic rewards. They emphasise speed and ac-
tion and thus use limited information and few alter-
natives. They tend to be aggressive and authoritarian
and focus internally to the organisation with short-
range and tight controls. They are very effective at
achieving results.
9
 (2) Analytic: This style is typical of abstract thinkers who
have a high tolerance for ambiguity, thus use con- Table I. Sample Size, Average Age and
siderable information and are very careful in the ex- Education of Japanese, Korean and
amination of alternatives. They tend to optimise pro- American Managers
blem solutions and enjoy challenges. They often
reach top posts in their companies and are innovative
Japanese Korean American
in their solution to problems. They prefer written
reports and look for variety in their work. 16 14 71
Sample Size (n)
(3) Conceptual: Because of their high cognitive complex- Average Age n.a. 37 39
ity and people orientation, they tend to want Education:
elaborate treatment of problems and want to con- High School n.a. 3 (22%) 23 (32%)
sider many alternatives. They are generally broad Bachelors n.a. 9 (64%) 27 (38%)
thinkers who take a systems perspective and are Masters n.a. 2 (14%) 10 (14%)
future-oriented. They value quality and prefer open- Doctors n.a. 0 11 (16%)
ness and shared goals with subordinates. They are Total 14(100%) 71(100%)
highly creative and have a high organisational com-
mitment. They are high achievers who need praise
and recognition. They tend to be very independent
and refuse to be pressured. They prefer loose con- Major Test Results and Analysis
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trol to power and enjoy interacting with others.

The comparison of the decision style scores of the three
(4) Behavioural: This style has a deep concern for their samples is indicated in Table II.
fellow employees and a strong need for affiliation.
They are supportive, are good listeners, receptive to
suggestions and communicate easily. They exhibit Table II. Comparison of the Decision
warmth and will accept control. They prefer meetings
Style of the Japanese, Korean and American
to reports and do not use much data in arriving at
decisions. Their focus tends to be people-oriented Managers
with short-range goals.
Decision Style Japanese Korean American
One would not expect managers to fit neatly into any one N=16 N = 14 N = 71
of the categories described above; rather, what our data
show is that the typical individual has one or more domi- Directive 71 75 78
nant styles with one or more back-up styles. Thus, we can Analytic 76 80 86
talk about styles such as left brain, low or high cognitive Conceptual 85 80 75
complexity, or other possible patterns which reflect a com-
Behavioural 68 65 61
bination of decision style categories.
Total 300 300 300

Method
A comparison of two samples, i.e. Japanese vs. Korean,
Three cultural groupings (Japanese, Korean and American)
Japanese vs. American, and Korean vs. American, is
of business managers serve as subjects in the present study.
The Japanese sample (n = 16) was collected at a Univer- presented in Tables III, IV and V.
sity of Southern California management programme in
1980. The Korean sample (n = 14) was obtained during
an international business executive seminar at California Table I I I . Japanese vs. Korean Managers
State University, Los Angeles, in February 1984. The
American sample (n = 71) was gathered in a research study
Decision Style Japanese (J) Korean (K) (K) - (J)
at California State University, Los Angeles, in February 1984.
N = 16 N = 14
The Japanese and Korean samples were study groups
visiting the United States. Table I shows the average age
Directive 71 75 + 4
and educational attainments of the three samples.
Analytic 76 80 + 4
The questionnaire consists of 20 items. For each item, Conceptual 85 80 -5
respondents were asked to choose one of the four mutual- Behavioural 68 65 -3
ly exclusive numbers: 1 (the question is least like you), 2 Total 300 300 0
(slightly like you), 4 (moderately like you), and 8 (most like
you). For each question there are four statements represen-
ting one of the four decision styles, namely, directive,
analytic, conceptual and behavioural. The total score for Comparing the three samples, we note that the Japanese
each decision style ranges from the minimum of 20 (1 x and Korean samples are more alike and different from the
20 items) to the maximum of 160 (8 x 20 items). The com- American sample. The maximum difference between the
bined total of all four decision styles must be 300. The ques- Japanese and Korean samples is five points whereas the
tionnaire used for the Japanese sample was a Japanese maximum points between the Japanese and American and
translation of the original English questionnaire. Likewise, between the Korean and American samples are 10 and six
a Korean version was used for the Korean sample. respectively.

10 LODJ 6,1 • 1985

 Table IV. Japanese vs. American Managers

Decision Style Japanese (J) American (A) (A) - (J)

N=16 N = 71

Directive 71 78 + 7
Analytic 76 86 + 10
Conceptual 85 75 -10
Behavioural 68 61 - 7
Total 300 300 0

Table V. Korean vs. American Managers

Decision Style Korean (K) American (A) (A) - (K)

N = 14 N = 71
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With the increase in international business, more organisa-

Directive 75 78 +3
tions will have to concern themselves with the issue of
Analytic 80 86 +6
culture and its effects on individual and organisational per-
Conceptual 80 75 -5 formance. Decision style may well be an effective tool for
Behavioural 65 61 -4 identifying cultural differences.
Total 300 300 0

A comparison is also made of the three samples regarding
a left-right brain orientation and a top-bottom half orienta-
tion as indicated in Figure 2. As far as top-bottom half orien-
tations are concerned, all three samples are essentially the
same. There is an eight-point difference in left-right brain
orientation between the Japanese and Korean samples and
a 17-point difference between the Japanese and American
samples. The American sample is closer to the Korean than
to the Japanese sample in decision style scores. The Korean
sample falls between the Japanese and American scores
for each of the four decision styles as shown in Figure 3.
Concluding Remarks
The present study is exploratory in nature because of the
limited sample sizes and the time frame differences. On a
small scale however our study has shown some empirical
evidence about the different decision styles among
Japanese, Korean and American managers. The findings
suggest that cultural difference leads to unmatched diver-
sities of managerial decision styles among the three cultural
groupings. Because of increased interest in Japanese
management, some excellent studies have been produced
in recent years. Yet, the literature on comparative studies
involving Japan and her Pacific rim neighbours is still very
sparse. It is our hope that this article has revealed a fertile
ground for productive research projects.

Figure 2. Comparison of Japanese, Korean

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LODJ 6,1 • 1985 11

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