Vettura o capo personale al comando?
Da Ron Cune
Molti responsabili occidentali hanno difficoltà con il basso livello di pro-attività dei loro colleghe cinesi. La mancanza del `di iniziativa' li frustra. Questo atteggiamento passivo non è collegato con la motivazione, esso sradica nel sistema di istruzione cinese.
La formazione occidentale è messa a fuoco sui valori come indipendenza e creatività. Lo scambio delle idee e discutere i vantaggi e gli svantaggi di determinate soluzioni sono parti importanti dei nostri sistemi educativi. Prendendo l'iniziativa e facendo le domande sono consigliati a.
Il sistema di istruzione cinese è basato sulle secolo-vecchie tradizioni che ancora hanno un effetto sull'odierna società. I fatti sono più importanti delle domande. Mettere in discussione i fatti è visto come interrogazione conoscenza dei padroni'. Una discussione su tutta la specie fra l'allievo e l'insegnante non-è fatta.
Il livello del perfezionismo è misurato dal accurateness di `che imita' il padrone.
Gli allievi cinesi sono istruiti in un programma basato fatto, mentre in Europa le pupille sono istruite per avvicinarsi ad un problema dagli angoli differenti con differenti soluzioni.
Inutile per dire questa differenza di formazione avrà relativa influenza nel luogo di lavoro, particolarmente nel rapporto fra il datore di lavoro e l'impiegato. L'impiegato cinese sarà dedicato sul lavoro quando le istruzioni sono date, scadenze è accennato ed i risultati previsti sono regolati.
Questo senso di direzione ha potuto essere altamente offensivo a tutto l'impiegato addestrato europeo.
However, most of your Chinese employees won’t feel at ease with this Western style of ‘freedom leadership’. Your employee will not ask for instructions but waits for instructions. When no clear instructions follow from your side, you will be seen as a weak person without focus.
In addition, Chinese co-workers might consider that doing nothing equals avoiding mistakes.
Our advice is to instruct in a crystal clear way what should be done and avoid “learning by doing” leadership.
Ron Cune, DragonDancers
June 10th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Bleh bleh bleh Chinese employee don’t behave like Western employees. Instead of expecting your big environment to change, everyone to change, educational system to change etc etc, how about management and managers themselves adapt to the Chinese employees?
Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans have the same style of education and have companies that are globally competitive.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Falen, I wonder if you actually read the article.
This is about Western managers to adopt to their environment and not the other way around.
Ron
June 14th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I agree with Ron,
As western managers you have to change you expectations for chinese employees. We also miss lack of creativity (besides pro-activity), however with so many overseas Chinese working here and new co-operations between overseas and Chinese universities we see this behaviour changing positively in our view!.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Ron
Knowing why these small cultural aspects make such a big impact, and their roots, makes the manager adaptation much easier.
Thanks for your precious advice.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Given either way of completely changing working and managerial culture and methodology is hard and either way (western and East Asia based) of management has its merits validated by their global business success, then maybe is not about one having to adapt to another, rather it is about achieving a balance with a strong focus on one’s unique strength and outcome.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:07 am
I’d question whether this difference in approach is really about education? Could it also be about the corporate culture that people are exposed to in the first few years of their working lives?
I’ve managed teams in the UK and US for years, and China is new to me. The level of proactivity I see in new graduates seems about the same everywhere. However, I see a more striking difference in more experienced staff.
The seasoned managers I’ve worked with in the US are all very proactive. In the UK, they’re mostly proactive (with a few exceptions). In China, I’ve found only a few.
Doesn’t change the challenge, though!
June 19th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I believe that this lack of pro-activity is as much about the horrific manhunts of the Cultural Revolution as it is about the educational system. At that time those who spoke up would be punished. I am pretty sure that this still is still echoing in China.
Furthermore, my experience is that if you allow for you Chinese employees to sit in smaller groups and discuss and issue prior to any instructions from management regarding the issue you will see another kind of creativity and free thinking. Allow them to spend some time on thinking up a possible solution on their own and let them present it to you afterwards.
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 am
Interesting points by all and I agree with most of them. I would like to point out that the younger employee; the more open they are to making decisions on their own, which results in training them to be proactive. I learned to manage employees in this fashion from a Singaporean manager who found that Chinese employees are ready for Western style management in small doses. As long as you do not try to teach them to make decisions that go against management above them or question management’s decisions, you are in the clear. But teaching them to make decisions on their own and be proactive is a positive step in making them more productive.