Synopsis

The local auto plant in Hadleyville, Pennsylvania, which supplied most of the town's jobs, has been closed for nine months. Former foreman Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) goes to Tokyoto try to convince the Assan Motors Corporation to reopen the plant. The Japanese company agrees, and upon their arrival in the U.S., they take advantage of the desperate work force to institute many changes. The workers are not permitted a union, are paid lower wages, are moved around within the factory so that each man learns every job, and are held to seemingly impossible standards of efficiency and quality. Adding to the strain in the relationship, the Americans also find humor in the demand that they do calisthenics as a group each morning, and that the Japanese executives eat their lunches with chopsticks and bathe together in the river near the factory. The workers also display a poor work ethic and lackadaisical attitude towards quality control. The Japanese executive in charge of the plant is Takahara Kazuhiro (Gedde Watanabe), who has been a failure in his business career thus far because he is too lenient on his workers. When Hunt first meets Kazuhiro in Japan, Kazuhiro is being ridiculed by his peers, and being required to wear ribbons of shame. He has been given one final chance to redeem himself by making the American plant a success. Intent on becoming the strict manager his superiors expect, he gives Hunt a large promotion on the condition that he work as a liaison between the Japanese management and the American workers, to smooth the transition and convince the workers to obey the new rules. More concerned with keeping his promotion than with the welfare of his fellow workers, Hunt does everything he can to trick the American workers into compliance, but the culture clash becomes too great and he begins to lose control of the men. In an attempt to solve the problem, Hunt makes a deal with Kazuhiro: if the plant can produce 15,000 cars in one month, thereby making it as productive as the best Japanese auto plant, then the workers will all be given raises and jobs will be created for the remaining unemployed workers in the town. However, if the workers fall even one car short, they will get nothing. When Hunt calls an assembly to tell the workers about the deal, they balk at the idea of making so many cars in so short a time. Under pressure from the crowd, Hunt lies and says that if they make 13,000, they will get a partial raise. After nearly a month of working long hours toward a goal of 13,000despite Hunt's pleas for them to aim for the full 15,000the truth is discovered and the workers strike. Because of the strike, Assan Motors plans to abandon the factory again, which would mean the end of the town. Hunt responds by addressing his observations that the real reason the workers are facing such difficulties is because the Japanese have the work ethic that too many Americans have abandoned. While his audience is not impressed, Hunt, hoping to save the town and atone for his deception, and Kazuhiro, desperate to show his worth to his superiors, go back into the factory and begin to build cars by themselves. Inspired, the workers return and continue to work toward their goal, and pursue it with the level of diligence the Japanese managers had encouraged. Just before the final inspection, Hunt and the workers line up a number of incomplete cars in hopes of fooling the executives. The ruse fails when the car that Hunt had supposedly bought for himself falls apart when he attempts to drive it away, but the strict CEO is nonetheless impressed by the workers' performance and declares the goal met, calling them a "Good team." As the end credits roll, the workers and management have compromised, with the latter agreeing to partially ease up on their requirements and pay the employees better while the workers agree to be more cooperative, such as participating in the morning calisthenics.

In the 80's American, and Japanese auto makers were bitter rivals. Company cultures were different, and Americans everywhere feared an invasion of Japanese products into even more facets of the American economy. In the 80's movie Gung Ho these tensions are presented in a most unique fashion. An American autoplant is purchased and retooled to manufacture cars for a Japanese company. This transaction saves countless jobs for a small town. Michael Keaton plays an American Auto worker that attempts to bridge the gap between American workers and Japanese managers which have just arrived to run the plant. Despite cultural differences, the Japanese are determined to see this new American plant produce as efficently as plants back home in Japan. A raise is promised to the American workers if a a quota for manufactured cars is met. Only old Michael Keaton knows just what this quota truly is. He lies to his men and states the quota is a few thousand less than it really is to motivate his men. The Japanese managers learn of this lie and Michael Keaton is forced to tell the truth about his lie to the whole town in a meeting. What made this especially tough is that the mayor of the town had just told the people how wonderful Keaton's character is for saving the town. Once word of the lie gets out, everyone strikes. Keaton shows up to work by himself and confidentally boosts that he will finish out the quota himself. Two thousand cars or so is a day's work it seems, if he only skips lunch. Shortly after seeing the determination, the other workers join him one by one. At last the plant is at full production. Everyone really is hauling ass and building cars quicker than ever. As the day draws to a close, the Japanese company president comes to inspect the plant personally and see if it could meet the quota. Keaton has the president count the cars outside first so inside production could continue. On the last few "we will have to cut some corners" states Keaton's character. Small things like engines would just have to be left out. As the final cars are counted inside, Keaton pretends to be cleaning a windshield and getting it spotless. There was no glass in the car though, and the Japanese President quickly saw this. Michael Keaton then gets into a car and says that he is proud of the cars that "we", the Japanese and Americans had made together. He starts it up and to many's surprise it cranks. The car goes a bit forward then the seat throws Keaton back and the back of the car falls apart. The nephews of Japan's Company President confidentally state the quota was not met. The president however liked Keaton and proclaimed "You make me laugh." The raise is granted provided the cars are all brought up to standard before leaving the factory. Gung Ho in many ways represented the corporate rivalry between US and Japanese firms in the 80's. The Japanese insisted on discipline, company fitness routines, and putting work before family. Keaton gets into a dispute with one Japanese middle manager over the man's unwillingess to stand up to his own uncle to ask for some time off to be with his newly born child. Keaton states that if the Japs are so much better then "why did you lose the big one." This was a reference to WWII. Many such cultural clashes are present and really serve to reinforce the rivalries between US and Japanese firms in the 80's.

Gung Ho And Office Space Organizational Communication Trevor Jones ORG COMM Paula Haug March 27, 2011 Gung-Ho And Office Space: How NOT To Manage

Chapter 1 of James C. McCroskeys Organizational Communication for Survival states that some people believe competent communication is competent communication no matter where it is practiced. (1) I believe this to be entirely untrue. Subordinate to subordinate communication differs greatly from subordinate to supervisor communication. As is true for different cultures communicating. In the movies Office Space and Gung-Ho we see two different work places with different management styles, different office culture, different everything. They both are similar in the way that they feature a clash between management and the employees. While both feature a flair for the dramatic (obvious considering these are movies for entertainment not factual purposes) they both do offer a semi-realistic work place, perfect to study for this class. Both feature management styles and more in-depth styles of leadership straight out of our book. I believe both movies are a crash course in how NOT to manage your employees. The movie Gung-Ho Is about a Japanese company that purchases a factory in an American town. The Japanese send their management to make the factory up to their standards. There is a severe culture clash made worse by the stereotypical American employees and the stereotypical Japanese bosses. The book states when organizations branch into new cultures and try to make things work the way they do in their home culture. They virtually always fail. (142) the movie offers several examples of the dangers of poor intercultural communication and organizational communication. The Japanese use a Theory X management style, in our book, McGregors Theory X management style is described as, assum(ing) most people had little capacity for creativity in problem solving, most personnel needed to be closesly controlled and often coerced to achieve goals, work was inherently...

Gung Ho Analysis

INTRODUCTION "Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster." Dr. Geert Hofstede The movie Gung Ho (a Chinese expression for "work together"1), demonstrates a cross-cultural relationship between the Americans and the Japanese working together towards achieving the goal of reviving an American car manufacturing plant (Assan Motors). However, conflict arises due to the tremendously different cultures and work ethics of the two groups. In this analysis, we will examine this movie from a multicultural perspective and analyze the movie by applying three theories of Hofstedes Dimensions of Cultural Values: 1. Individualism/ Collectivism 2. Uncertainty avoidance 3. Long-term/ Short-term orientation ANALYSIS

Individualism/Collectivism:RADES This dimension focuses as Hoestde states on the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.2 In societies where collectivism is emphasized, people integrate into strong groups and everyone is expected to look after the interest of his or her collective. There are many scenes in the movie that show the individual and collective business culture differences between Japan and American. The most impressive ones involve focus on the family. From the Japanese perspective, Kenjis wife ask him to assemble the bicycle which is a birthday gift for his son, but he refuses because hes busy doing work and by doing so, has clearly chosen to put Assan Motors before his sons happiness. As a result, his wife becomes mad at him and shouts why American men can have time for their children! It clearly shows that Japanese are so collective that they will even sacrifice their family for the interest of the company. While the Americans who show more individual seldom or wont do that. This is seen...

Group Behavior in GUNG HO Group Behavior in GUNG HO OUTLINE OF REPORT I. Introduction II. Research Question III. Discussion of the Main Framework: Group Behavior Model IV. Analysis and Interpretation V. Conclusion I. INTRODUCTION In the movie Gung Ho, Hunt Stevenson is sent to Tokyo to convince the Assan Motors Corporation to take over the recently closed Hadleyville auto plant. The Japanese company agrees, and upon the arrival of their management team in the US many changes are introduced, among them lower wages and seemingly impossible standards of efficiency and quality. The lackadaisical attitude of the American workers toward quality only adds to the cultural strain. Kazihiro, the Japanese executive in charge of the Hadleyville plant, gives Stevenson a large pay increase on the condition that he work as their liaison to convince the American workers to conform to the new management style. More concerned with keeping his promotion than with the long-term welfare of his fellow workers, Stevenson does everything he can to trick the American workers into compliance, but the culture clash becomes too great and he begins to lose control of the men. In an attempt to solve the problem, Stevenson makes a deal with Kazihiro: if the plant can produce 15,000 cars in one month, thereby matching Assan Motors' current record, then the workers will all be given the raise they've been asking for. When Stevenson calls an assembly to tell the workers about the deal, they balk at the idea of making so many cars in so short a time. Under pressure from the crowd, Stevenson lies and says that if they make 13,000 they will get a partial raise. After nearly a month of working long hours toward a goal of 13,000 despite Stevenson's pleas for them to aim for the full 15,000 the truth is discovered and the workers strike. Because of the strike, Assan Motors plans to discontinue using the factory. Stevenson responds by announcing to the workers that the real reason they are facing such...

Gung Ho Paper Gung Ho" and the Integrated Cultural Framework The purpose of this exercise is to apply the dimensions of the Integrated Cultural Framework to the movie "Gung Ho". Each company is discussed separately using examples from the movie and then summary values provided. United States ICF Dimension Low Moderate High Ability to Influence High Comfort with Ambiguity High Assertiveness Doing/Masculine Individual/Collectivism Individual Time Orientation Present Space Orientation Public Ability to Influence Outcomes There were many instances in the movie where the Americans illustrated a low power distance and a strong belief in their ability to influence outcomes. First the town sent one person to a foreign country believing that he could ell' the Japanese on opening the plant. The workforce believed they could change the terms of employment and the s main character believed that he could change the workers attitude to over achieve and meetS

the 15,000 car target. Comfort with Ambiguity The main character showed up alone, in a new country, without a map and unable to speak the language and was not phased. He displayed a trust of human nature and that people were inherently good and would help him out. Taking this as an example the US displayed low uncertainty avoidance and a high comfort with ambiguity. Assertiveness The Americans show a high level of assertiveness through the aggressiveness at the ball game, even at the cost of wiping out one of the opposite team and the fight scene in the grocery store. There is also a high level of focus on achieving whether it is winning a game or meeting the 15,000 car production target. They show clear masculinity and doing' orientations. Individualism/Collectivism This was one of the most interesting and obvious differences between the cultures. The Americans behaved very individualistically by continually doing their own thing rather than working for the whole. The worker wanted to leave to be with his... Gung Ho Summary The Gung Ho Movie, starring Michael Keaton, is a great representation of the cultural differences that may arise between businesses when working together internationally. This movie, more specifically, expresses differences between the business approaches of America companies compared to Japanese companies. The plot is based on an American car factory that was shutdown and purchased by a Japanese company, Assan Motors. The factory is a lead source for the economy in the Midwestern town it is based in so it is important to keep the company going. The main actor, Michael Keaton, was motivated and aggressive with the proposal to keep the company running. He travels to Japan to make a presentation to Assan Motor management about continuing production. His attempt was successful. The company was re-opened but a Japanese management team was sent to help, guide, and monitor the American workers. These Japanese workers supervise and also collaborate with the American workers. Although the factoryES re-started, the wages were substantially lowered from the usual pay prior to the factory shutting down. The culture differences create obstacles and misunderstandings throughout the film. Japanese management demands a lot more productivity than the workers are used to. If productivity standards arent met, then overtime work is expected, without pay. In the beginning, it is clear that management lacks regard for the workers and their lives. The focus simply remains on productivity alone. This is unfamiliar to the American workers, which leads to them getting agitated. The relationships between the management team and the workers are also damaged due to the differences between cultures. Keaton portrays himself to be the group leader and attempts to mend the relationships but does not succeed at first. The management team almost came to a breaking point and gave up on the factory. Keaton steps in to protect the company. In his attempt, he proposes to match the best month of... Gung-Ho means Work together Gung-Ho means Work together Introduction Gung Ho demonstrates a cross-cultural relationship between the Americans and the Japanese people working together towards the goal. In this movie, a Japanese car manufacturer company takes over an American car manufacturing plant. The American workers were in conflict with the Japanese style of management. Situation Hunt Stevenson takes the leadership role and becomes the liaison between the Japanese executive team and the American workers. At first, the workers were working at their usual pace and did not meet the productivity numbers as expected. Before the arrival of the Japanese executives, the organization structure of the plant was Work Specialization. Every worker was assigned to do a specific task. Each worker performs a repetitive task. Each worker is specialized in his own part of work. After the arrival of the Japanese team, the manager set out new rules and restructures the work as Job Redesign.

The manger wanted the workers to learn new skills and able to do more than one specific task. However, the workers were not respecting the Japanese executives and they felt that the new work structure was more impose rather than implementing. They were not happy with this and felt very dissatisfy with their jobs. Job Redesign usually takes some time to see the results, but in the case as shown in movie, the executives were not allowing time for the change of improvement. After a while, the productivity was still not increasing and the Japanese felt that they need to take action. By doing so, they were to layff workers or closing down the plant. Hunt learned that the Japanese have plans to close down the plant and realized that hundreds of workers would be left without jobs. He decided to offer a proposal so that the Japanese would not close down the plant so soon. However, the workers were not used to this new way leading them to feel dissatisfy with their jobs. The Japanese...