Por William R. Dodson

“Stupid. Você é stupid!” meu amigo chinês acusa-me. Eu não tinha sentido que eu mereci essa sorte do abuso. Eu tinha negociado uma transação na língua chinesa e pensado eu tinha começado um negócio bom bonito. Meu amigo persistiu em chamar-me “stupid,” desde que eu poderia ter recebido os bens para uns décimos o preço em Beijing. Eu estava perto da suspensão acima do telefone em meu amigo no exasperation. O amigo, confundido, shouted, “espera um minuto! Espere um minuto! Eu penso que eu fiz um erro! No chinês nós dizemos o “shah” fechar amigos. Significa foolish, stupid. Eu penso que eu usei a palavra inglesa errada.” Eu esfriei imediatamente para baixo uma vez que eu compreendi a barreira cultural e lingüística que tinha obstruído nossa comunicação - e o friendship.

Um do recurso chinês das razões ao silêncio em companhias ocidentais é o medo de dar a ofensa. Um gaffe da língua ou da cultura é uma perda de cara tremenda para o altofalante chinês e - o chinês sente - para o ouvinte ocidental. Porque nós discutimos em uma outra parte da série de bambu do teto, a cara é às vezes mais importante do que o dinheiro para um chinês. O chinês vá aos comprimentos grandes proteger a cara de outra e preservar tanto quanto possível his ou seus próprios.

O proprietário chinês de um accountancy em América soube que um de seus empregados chineses quis trabalhar para uma companhia americana com gerentes americanos. O proprietário recomendou o empregado que deve “dominar pelo menos o vocabulário o mais básico do negócio: words like file, folder, and staples” before she works for American managers. “Americans will think you’re stupid,” the owner continued, “if you can’t say these basic things. Or, if you must be given direction or instruction more than a couple times because of language, then Americans will also think you’re stupid.” (I knew she didn’t mean the shah kind of stupid).

“The secret then,” the accountancy owner counseled the Chinese employee, “is to learn your job the best you can, do the best job you can, speak the least you can; then leave the company with the knowledge.”

Western managers base a substantial portion of performance reviews, salaries and bonuses on the degree to which they perceive an employee is visibly, vocally struggling to overcome the challenges of the business. Chinese employees compensation suffers as a result of simply not knowing how to present themselves to employers. The Chinese bank employee explained, “If a Western manager asks a Western employee to do something new, the Westerner will likely answer, ‘No problem,’ and begin work on the issue immediately. A Chinese employee will likely say, ‘I’ll try the best; but I will need some practice,’” which is considered an admirable response of modesty in Chinese society. This sounds like an inadequate response of disinterest to a Western manager, who expects %110 employee investment at all times.

The Western manager’s view of the Chinese employee is further dimmed by the lack of conversation or banter the Chinese makes with the manager. Friendly banter about sports or the family or the household renovation are important to Western managers, who gauge the degree to which an employee fits into the group in this way. “But if I see the President is busy, how do I bother him? And if he’s not, what do I say? I don’t know his culture. Of course, in China [in a Chinese company] I talked all the time,” the Chinese bank worker explained.

Essentially, Western managers will never be able to empathize with the barriers Chinese employees perceive in Western companies until the managers try to learn about and operate in Chinese modes of perception and communication. When Western managers take even fifteen minutes a day to engage their Chinese staff on some aspect of Chinese culture or language, they will find a garrulous and appreciative staff that will do whatever is required to make the business – and the manager – successful.

William Dodson is Managing Director of Silk Road Advisors, a China Strategic Site Selection consultancy based in Shanghai, Suzhou and Chicago. He can be reached at: contact [at] silkrc [dot] com