由威廉R。 Dodson

「愚笨。 您是愚笨的!」 我的中國朋友指責了我。 我未感到我該當了那惡習。 我在漢語語言談判了一種交易，并且認為我會得到一個相當好成交。 我的朋友在告訴堅持了我「愚笨」，因為我在北京可能接受了物品為十價格。 我是在垂懸電話附近在我的朋友在憤怒。 朋友，混淆，呼喊， 「等待一分鐘! 等待一分鐘! 我認為我犯了一個錯誤! 用中文我們對親密的朋友說「shah」。 它意味愚蠢，愚笨。 我認為我使用了錯誤英國詞」。 我立刻變了冷靜，一旦我瞭解阻攔了我們的通信-和友誼的文化和語言障礙。

一个原因中國手段到沈默在西部公司中是對給進攻的恐懼。 語言或文化失態是巨大丟臉為中國報告人和-中國人感覺-為西部聽眾。 因為我們在竹天花板系列的另一個部分談論了，面孔比金錢有時重要對中國人。 漢語將 費勁保護其他的面孔和儘量保存他們自己。

會計的中國所有者在美國知道她的一名中國雇員想工作為美國公司與美國經理。 所有者勸告雇員她應該「掌握至少最基本的企業詞彙量： 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