The Crisis of Management Culture in the Philippines : Neither East Asian nor Western 1 Magdalena

The paper examined the value system in Philippine firms against the backdrop of Eastern-Western cultural dynamics in East Asia. The Asian milieu presents co-existence of cultural stasis and unease -balance and tension between Eastern values and Western ideas. Successful Asian countries demonstrated their ability to blend conflicting cultures and highlight certain values in order to promote nation-building efforts. The Philippine value system is a stark contrast to its East Asian neighbors’. It partakes of both Asian traditions and Western practices but curiously is neither Asian nor Western. The absence of more solid foundation, the inability to distill foreign values, and the “disconnects” between national culture and local articulation have resulted in the “adulteration” of Philippine management culture. This culture gap might have been responsible for the country’s slower pace of development.