Ônibus ou chefe pessoal no comando?
Por Ron Cune
Muitos gerentes ocidentais têm dificuldades com o nível baixo da pro-atividade de seus colegas de trabalho chineses. A falta do `da iniciativa' frustra-os. Esta atitude passiva não é relacionada ao motivation, ele enraiza no sistema educacional chinês.
A instrução ocidental é focalizada em valores como a independência e a creatividade. Trocar idéias e discutir vantagens e desvantagens de determinadas soluções são partes importantes de nossos sistemas de instrução. Fazendo exame da iniciativa e fazendo perguntas são incentivados.
O sistema educacional chinês é baseado nas tradições século-velhas que têm ainda um impacto na sociedade de hoje. Os fatos são mais importantes do que perguntas. Questionar fatos é visto como questionar conhecimento dos mestres'. Uma discussão de toda a sorte entre o aluno e o professor não-é feita.
O nível do perfectionism é medido pelo accurateness do `que imitating' o mestre.
Os estudantes chineses estão educados em um programa baseado fato, quando em Europa as pupilas forem educadas para aproximar um problema dos ângulos diferentes com soluções diferentes.
Needless para dizer esta diferença da instrução terá sua influência no ambiente de funcionamento, especialmente na relação entre o empregador e o empregado. O empregado chinês será dedicado no trabalho quando as instruções são dadas, fins do prazo é mencionado e os resultados previstos são ajustados.
Esta maneira da liderança podia ser altamente ofensiva a todo o empregado treinado europeu.
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.