Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
Subject: Organizational Behavior
IEMBA SBF.01

Student’s name : Nguyễn Phương Linh

ID : VN1002125
Date of completion : 02/07/2022

Topic:

Select an organizational problem from your past, preferably your current organization.

Describe and diagnose the problem using concepts from the course. Outline the factors that
contributed to the situation and discuss how the concepts could have helped you and/or
others deal with the situation more effectively.

CONTENT

SASTISFACTION LEVEL OF EMPOLYEES OF MUFG HANOI BRANCH

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 Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction.................................................................................................................. 2
1. Rationale....................................................................................................................3
2. Introduction of MUFG.............................................................................................3
II. Method and Findings................................................................................................4
1. Research method.......................................................................................................4
2. Finding.......................................................................................................................4
III. Problems and Recommendations.............................................................................5
1. Current situation......................................................................................................5
2. Recommendations.....................................................................................................7
IV. Conclusion.................................................................................................................9
References............................................................................................................................ 9
Appendices.........................................................................................................................10

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 Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

I. Introduction
1. Rationale

Globalization has become a phenomenon in recent years. Along with that, financial groups
began to deploy multinational business models to expand their business throughout the
world. As a leading market in attracting foreign investment, Vietnam is not an exception to
this trend. There have been several foreign enterprises participating in the Vietnamese
market, including Japanese manufacturing companies and financial groups. To facilitate
the business activities of these enterprises, the largest Japanese banks also followed
entering the Vietnamese market, including MUFG - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.

However, differences in working culture as well as management style have created

multiple barriers and challenges causing dissatisfaction among employees. In fact,
managers should be interested in creating a satisfied workforce even though it could hardly
a guarantee of successful organizational performance, but evidence strongly suggests
managers’ efforts to improve will likely result in positive outcomes, including greater
organizational effectiveness, higher customer satisfaction, and increased profits.

Therefore, this report will point out some typical problems at MUFG Hanoi branch and
offer solutions by applying studies on Organizational Behavior.

2. Introduction of MUFG

MUFG Bank is the product of three bank mergers that occurred between 1996 and 2006.
Mitsubishi Bank was founded in 1880 by a former samurai, Iwasaki Yatarō, and was a core
member of the Mitsubishi Group of companies. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996
to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. The modern Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group,
Inc (MUFG) was formally created in 2005 with the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial
Group (MTFG) and UFJ Group. The core banking units of the group, Bank of Tokyo-
Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank, were merged on January 1, 2006 to form The Bank of Tokyo-
Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd (BTMU). Over the years of development, MUFG has maintained its

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 Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

position as the world's largest bank and continues to grow stronger. The bank is also
continuing to expand its market share by establishing many branches around the world.

In Vietnam, MUFG was also present and started operating in 1920 with the name
Yokohama Specie Bank. This is also the first and earliest Japanese bank to enter the
Vietnamese market.

II. Method and Findings

1. Research method

The data is collected from the reliable sources of public information about Vietnam and
Japan as long as published information of MUFG. By using the concepts and theories of
organizational behavior, the research will analyze and current situation of working
environment in MUFG Hanoi Branch in order to point out some management issues of
MUFG when operating in Vietnam. A small survey was conducted by handing out
questionnaires to a few bank employees to collect their opinions on the employee's
satisfaction with the current management. The survey was focused on organizational
leadership, corporate culture and remuneration regime. Afterward, the research will
recommend some solutions to improve management effectiveness of MUFG while running
their business in Vietnam.

2. Findings

The survey results show that there is a certain dissatisfaction of the employees with the
management quality of the bank. In details, only 60% of employees agree with the
assessment that their manager listens to the banker's opinion. In particular, up to 80% of
survey participants agree that there is a distinction between Vietnamese and Japanese
managers. About 70% of the answers showed satisfaction with the corporate culture,
however, only about 65% of employees agreed with the current salary and bonus policy,
the rest expressed inadequacy. Those who expressed disagreement were further
interviewed to find out the causes and reasons for this dissatisfaction. The obtained results

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showed three main problems as follows. Firstly, considering how employees communicate
with managers, most of the respondents feel a power distance when communicating with
their managers. Therefore, they feel hesitant to give feedback. Secondly, the employees
said that the senior leadership positions at the bank were mainly Japanese, so they did not
see opportunities for promotion in the branch. As a result, they were not motivated to strive
to advance in their career and improve the quality of their work. Last but not least, the
employees feel that there is an inequity between the compensation of longtime employees
and new employees while the workload is the same.

III. Problems and Recommendations

1. Current situation

To discuss current issues, the root cause could possibly be directed to the main cultural
differences between Japan and Vietnam under the Hofstede Model Cultural Dimensions,
which is shown as following

As it can be seen, there are only three major differences in masculinity, uncertainty
avoidance and long term orientation when comparing Korea and Vietnam cultures. The
other indicators are broadly similar.

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 Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

Japan is one of the nations that avoid uncertainty the most. This is sometimes linked to the
fact that natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions
always pose a threat to Japan. Because of these circumstances, Japanese people learned to
be ready for any unforeseen events. This applies to all facets of society, not just the
emergency plan and safety measures for unexpected natural disasters. Whereas in societies
exhibiting low uncertainty avoidance like Vietnam, people believe there should be no more
rules than are necessary and if they are ambiguous or do not work they should be
abandoned or changed. To make sure the branch could smoothly operate since the first day,
MUFG would prefer Japanese managers to keep everything under control and to maintain
the work process exactly the same as in Japan. They would avoid any unnecessary
uncertainty from changing management style and adjusting existing working process. That
perspective leads to the fact that there are barely foreign managers in MUFG Hanoi
Branch, and there is only one Vietnamese manager in the branch known as the Chief of
Operation Officer who works closely with Vietnamese employees, the key roles in other
important department like Treasury or Customer are all Japanese.

Besides, the desire for excellence and perfection in their material production and
presentation in every element of life can also be seen as a manifestation of masculinity in
Japan. Another example of Japanese masculinity is the nation's well-known work holism.
In Japan, where hard labor and long hours are the norm, it is still challenging for women to
advance in the professional world. Accordingly, with the focus on Japanese corporates
operating in Vietnam, MUFG would prefer recruiting Japanese expatriates for crucial
position to make sure the services quality remain as it should be in Japan. Another result is
while creating an effective feedback process to communicate with employees, Japanese
manager are used with the fact that employees would follow strict rules and norms
naturally. Otherwise in feminine countries like Vietnam, the focus is on “working in order
to live”, managers pursue consensus, and people emphasize equality, solidarity, and quality
in their working life. Free time and flexibility are preferred as incentives. An effective

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manager is one who encourages participation in decision-making. Hence, the gap between
managers and employees continuously increase in MUFG Hanoi Branch.

Moreover, in the eyes of the Japanese, life is a very brief chapter in the long story of
humankind. According to this viewpoint, the Japanese are not unfamiliar with some forms
of fatalism. Virtues and realistic positive examples serve as the people's compass in life. It
might be observed long-term orientation in Japan corporate by looking at the consistently
high rate of R&D investment even in economically challenging periods, higher own capital
rate, priority given to steady increase of market share rather than a quarterly profit, and
other factors. They all support the businesses' longevity. Hence, in MUFG, they treasure
the long term devotion. The length of time working for the bank is as important as the work
quality delivered. They value the long-term employees by prize and pride. The
remuneration system is designed accordingly. The old employees are still valued even
when their working quality is less effective than the new one. Even though the branch's
human resources department has made it a rule that employees should not exchange
salaries, however, disclosure of information between employees is inevitable. This
situation could create a step back in developing the bank in Vietnam where people believe
that judgment, including for remuneration, should depend very much on situation, context
and time.

2. Recommendations

According to McClelland’s theory, people’s needs often include three followings:

i. need for achievement (nAch) is the drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set
of standards.
ii. need for power (nPow) is the need to make others behave in a way they would not
have otherwise.
iii. need for affiliation (nAff ) is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal
relationships.

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 Individual Assignment Subject: Organizational Behavior

Therefore, to increase satisfaction level of employees, MUFG managers can base on these
needs to decide which actions are suitable for current situation.

To begin with improving communication between manager line and staffs, the concept of
due process can be applied. This concept consists of giving appraisals to increase the
perception that employees are being treated fairly. Due process systems have three key
characteristics: (1) people receive adequate notice of what is expected of them; (2) all
evidence pertinent to a proposed violation is presented in a fair hearing so the parties
affected can respond; and (3) the final decision is based solely on the evidence and is
biased-free. These qualities mentioned above obviously require certain changes in the
communicating method managers. They will not only need to prove their willingness of
receiving employees’ opinions but also improve the way of giving feedbacks. The solution
to the problem is not to ignore it but to train managers to conduct constructive feedback
sessions. An effective review can leave an employee feeling optimistic, knowledgeable
about areas that need improvement, and motivated to make those corrections—provided
that they believe the manager is sincere, the appraisal is fair, and the climate is
constructive. On the condition that an efficient process of providing performance feedback
is set up, close interpersonal relationships between managers and employees could be
created. The need for affiliation and recognition of employees are also fulfilled.

Equally important as improving relationship of Vietnamese employees and Japanese

managers, the diversity in recruiting for manager position should be improved. It can be
easily seen that to totally change the perspective of managing style is quite challenging to
top managers in the branch. Therefore, another aspect which can be considered is to
redesign the job description and creating for middle level manager for Vietnamese
employees to be promoted. According to concept of job design in Organizational Behavior,
job design influence employee effort, and the job characteristics model can serve as a
framework to identify opportunities for changes to those elements. When being recognized
and promoted, the need for achievement of employees should be satisfied.

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Last but not least, in order to show employees the fairness in the salary and bonus regime,
the KPI calculation needs to be adjusted. In this case, graphic rating scales - one of the
oldest and most popular methods of evaluation could be used. The evaluator should go
through a set of performance factors—such as quantity and quality of work, depth of
knowledge, cooperation, attendance, and initiative—and rates each on incremental scales.
Graphic rating scales are easier to create and administer than essays or critical incidents,
and they enable quantitative analysis and comparison. Besides, It is also easier for
employees to be able to assess their performances themselves.

IV. Conclusion

All of the above are the major problems in MUFG Hanoi Branch causing by cultural
differences in Vietnamese and Japan, also the recommendations and solutions in improving
management strategy of MUFG using concepts and theories of Organizational Behavior. In
the future, MUFG will not only continue to be the leading financial group in the world. By
applying these recommendations, MUFG could be recognized for its successful foreign
expansion but also build a successful business in Vietnam.

References
1. Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T.A. (2019). Organizational behavior. 18th ed. New York,
New York: Pearson.
2. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. (n.d.). MUFG; Efforts to Create an Ethical
Workplace. [online] Available at:
https://www.mufg.jp/english/csr/society/id/workplace/index.html Appendices
3. Hofstede Insights (2022). Compare countries. [online] Hofstede Insights. Available
at: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/fi/product/compare-countries/.

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Appendices

Questionnaire

1. Organizational leadership

Y/N _ I find that the leadership cares about the contributions of employees

Y/N _ I find that the leaders open to my opinions and feedback

Y/N _ I feel my managers treat me fairly

Y/N _ I feel there is power distance between management and employees

Y/N _ I realize there is a discrimination between Vietnamese and Japanese managers

2. Corporate culture

Y/N _ I feel comfortable working environment

Y/N _ At the bank, everyone has fun while working

Y/N _ At the bank, everyone is comfortable when communicating with each other

Y/N _ I find the rules and norms too rigid

3. Remuneration regime

Y/N _ I am satisfied with the company's compensation policy

Y/N _ I feel that the salary I receive is fair to the amount of work

Y/N _ I find that all employees are recognized with salary and bonus according to the level
of contribution

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