Sino Associates 赛诺咨詢 - Advantage Austria€¦ · One of hinas few Garage Start -up [s, in...
Transcript of Sino Associates 赛诺咨詢 - Advantage Austria€¦ · One of hinas few Garage Start -up [s, in...
The New Corporate Etiquette of China
Sino Associates 赛诺咨詢
Sino Associates – Our Mission
Inspiring Global Success
To facilitate the success of multinational leaders and teams through thinking new and global.
通过全球化的视野及前沿的专业知识,帮助企业和组织实现跨国和跨地域的成功
Ben has trained thousands of professionals from more than 50 countries to work, manage and communicate more effectively across cultures. After more than 12 years of experience in training and coaching professional skills in Asia, he has a deep insight into the expectations of executives with global responsibilities. As a certified cross cultural trainer and GlobeSmart Cultural Profile Assessor, Ben helps leaders strengthen their cultural awareness, develop cultural tools and build a global mindset. His signature workshops were developed through one-on-one and small group coaching with hundreds of global leaders from Fortune 500 companies.
Ben Massen, Senior Intercultural Consultant 资深跨文化顾问
Our Workshop Flow
• Defining culture and the business impact
• Measuring culture, leveraging GlobeSmart cultural dimensions
• Balancing the new and old corporate etiquette - Working at Alibaba
• Adapting to changing behavioral norms – Navigating Chang An Ford
• Applying culture competence to business relationships
Defining Culture
Creating a practical definition of culture
Culture hides more than it reveals and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from it's own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own.
Edward T Hall
cul·ture/ˈkəlCHər
What is culture?
Does everyone have a culture?
Bonus question: What is the relationship between this gold fish bowl and culture?
• Personality
• Personal History
• Skills and Aptitudes
Individual Traits
• Professional Culture
• Organizational Culture
• National Culture
Shared Learned Patterns
• 7.125 billion people share 99.9% of the same DNA
Human Nature and Biology
“Culture is the Software of the Mind. It is the mental programming of shared and learned patterns of behavior.”
Dr. Geert Hofstede
Where does personality end culture begin?
Cultural Norms Cultural Norms Behavioral interpretation of how a community lives out its values in order to survive and thrive.
Values Values Personal and group beliefs of what is right and wrong.
Symbols Symbols Things that remind people of those cultural elements that bind them together.
“It’s how we do things here.”
“It’s what matters to us here.”
“It’s how you know you’re here.”
What Are Shared Patterns We Typically Learn?
Visible – Surface Culture
Behaviors
Appearances
Symbols
Less Visible – Deep Culture
Attitudes
Assumptions
Beliefs
Values
Culture As a Metaphor – The Culture Tree
Ask many questions Speak up to share my opinion
Listen quietly Take notes
Demonstrate engagement
Demonstrate engagement
How would you prefer to show engagement in this workshop?
Expressing Learned Behavior Based on Values
Can this lead to misunderstanding?
Measuring Culture – Cultural Dimensions
Bridging Differences and Leveraging Similarities
The greatest cause of difficulties in global business transactions is not a lack of technical expertise,
hard work or good intentions – it is a lack of ‘people skills’ for relating successfully across style
differences due to national culture, organizational culture, job function, and personality.
Ernest Gundling PhD.
Stereotypes v. Generalizations
Generalizations
NEW INFORMATION
Fixed and oversimplified
opinions or judgments
General statements
supported by data
Always
Never
All
None
Either/Or
Most
Many
Some
Usually
Typically
Generally
Stereotypes
Comparing Cultural Trends
Comparing New and Old China Data
China 2008 – 2015 data
China 1997 – 2008 data
Data shows that there is a change to China patterns particularly moving toward an openness to uncertainty, possibly leading to a new corporate etiquette.
Shifting Values
Individualism
Task Orientation
Pragmatic & Flexible
Materialistic Classless
Idealistic/ Principled
People Orientation
Collective
Result of economic growth, reaction to suddenly having
wealth and “mianzi”
Result of economic growth, reaction to suddenly having
wealth and “mianzi”
“Black Cat or White Cat, as long as it catches the mouse
it is a good cat.”
“Black Cat or White Cat, as long as it catches the mouse
it is a good cat.”
Relationships are important but no longer enough as
resources are limited
Relationships are important but no longer enough as
resources are limited
Typical amongst younger (post 80’s ) generations Typical amongst younger (post 80’s ) generations
What is the smallest unit of society?
Independent
Place importance on
individual identity
Identify with choices
and achievements
Values taking action on
one's own
Interdependent
Place importance on harmony and cooperation
Identify with group affiliation
Values duty and loyalty
How do I define my identity?
Team Member Responsibility for Decisions
Team Leader Responsibility for Decisions
Consensus Democratic Consultative Directive
Leader guides and, summarizes.
Done when all in agreement.
No decision if one disagrees.
Leader guides and ensures all are heard.
Leader asks questions.
Vote/ majority determines outcome.
Leader asks and confirms opinions.
Leader makes decision and explains.
References input.
Advice from key advisors weighed
Leader makes decision based on personal view.
Leader announces decision.
Egalitarian Status
Cultural Expectations for Decision Making
Egalitarianism
Comfortable to challenge seniority
Prefer flexible roles
Treat everyone about the same
Prefer power and authority shared broadly
Status
Prefer not to challenge seniority
Defer to superiors
Adapt behavior depending on status
Prefer power and authority reserved for a few
How should my group share power and authority?
0102030405060708090
Source: André Laurent, “The Cultural Diversity of Western Conceptions of Management” International Studies of
Management and Organization
How important is it for a manager to have precise answers to most of the questions subordinates raise about their work?
How should my group share power and authority?
Risk
Prefer rapid decision-making and results
Place importance on flexibility and initiative
Value speed over thoroughness
Certainty
Spend time on background research
Establish procedures before starting projects
Value thoroughness over speed
Michael Bauer and Alice Wu work for Tekkonnects. Michael is a European based Account Manager and is travelling to Asia to meet an important client, Pacific Holding, at their Asia HQ in Guangzhou. They just finished the meeting and Michael is looking for feedback.
• Michael: “So Alice, how did we do?”
• Alice: “Mr. Xie was impressed. Your technical presentation was thorough; your presentation was clear and precise: A very balanced, objective presentation.”
• Michael: “Well we did our homework. The statistics really tell the story; they’re very convincing.”
• Alice: “Yes, there were many statistics...”
• Michael: “But I am a little apprehensive… I’m not sure he’s going to sign with us.”
• Alice: “I think he may have felt there was something missing, that we’re not very eager for his business.”
• Michael: “I don’t know what else I could have done. The facts speak for themselves in this case, don’t you agree?”
• Alice: ...silence...
Mini-Case Study: There were many statistics…
How do I express requests, tasks and feedback?
Direct Come to the point
quickly
Ask questions freely
Comfortable to make
requests, give direction,
or disagree
Give negative feedback /
constructive criticism
directly
Indirect First spend time to
explain context
Avoid asking questions in
public
Show disagreement in
subtle ways
Give negative feedback
indirectly
Four Key Factors for Building Trustworthy Networks
For new projects do I prefer to focus on tasks or relationships first?
Task High value on reaching
scheduled goals and objectives
Prioritize finishing tasks over building relationships
Achievements mean more than personal connections
Relationship Building relationships
key to achieving good results
Prioritize maintaining relationships over deadlines Personal connections
as important as achievement
Summarizing the Impact of Cultural Style
Compare with three to four neighbors, what do you see as the biggest opportunities from cultural style and the biggest challenges for you and your neighbors?
Balancing the New and Old Corporate Etiquette - Working at Alibaba
The Practicality and Humility of Doing
"If we go to work at 8 am and go home at 5 pm, this is not a high-tech company and Alibaba will never
be successful. If we have that kind of 8-to-5 spirit, then we should just go and do something else."
Jack Ma, Founder Alibaba
Adjusting to working within the Alibaba Culture
China has seen a boom of locally grown tech and internet companies in the past ten years. Few companies have gained the fame or attention that Hangzhou’s Alibaba and founder Jack Ma have gained. One of China’s few Garage Start-up’s, in 1998 capitalized by the 20 founding employees 60,000 USD Alibaba in 2015 Alibaba had a market capitalization of over 200 Billion USD and 26,000 employees. While Alibaba has taken over China‘s e-retail, their offerings overseas have struggled to gain traction including Aliexpress and Alipay. Our team has worked closely with Chinese managers working with western and foreign subordinates as well as senior leaders hired overseas. Much of our work is helping to integrate not just with a China company but also Alibaba’s unique entrepreneur culture often expressed in a demand to see results.
Cases From Alibaba
• Working Effectively within Alibaba’s Culture
• Brief Case: The Depth of Your Communication
Mr. Xu is a native of Shanghai, speaks the local dialect, and has an extensive local network. His first job after graduation was with Maersk and involved extensive travel and frequent interaction with foreign corporate clients. Mr. Xu often speaks to and compares his professional progress and salary with his former classmates and peers, who also hold good jobs with top international firms and were groomed as China’s elite in top universities. After 6 years with Maersk, Xu began to feel that he was not progressing quickly enough and began to feel that he might have more opportunity in another company. After tapping into his network, Xu was recruited to his current role by a fellow alumni from his university. Given his previous experience in a global company, Mr. Xu had some challenges adapting to Alibaba’s work environment, he expected his previous experience to give him more status than it does. However he finds the speed that things are done and the challenges of working in a quick moving entrepreneurial company refreshing from his previous position.
Profile of Steven Xu, 36 Years Old
Originally from a small town in Jiangsu Province, Cao Ying moved to Hangzhou for the opportunity to work at Alibaba. Her family is still in Jiangsu and she has moved by herself to Hangzhou some years ago.
She has established herself in Hangzhou and Alibaba. Her family is both proud that
she is working in a famous and fast growing company while also concerned about
how hard she works. They worry she won’t have time to build a family.
She joined Alibaba as a training manager 7 years ago and has been hands on with
many exciting projects and has had job rotation experience in finance and purchasing
to build her understanding of the Alibaba system.
She is well regarded by her colleagues for having been a part of many successful
teams and projects. After her time here her colleagues have become a kind of
surrogate family and support network, much of her time is spent at work or socializing
with colleagues after work.
Because of her past successes she has been moved to a role with more global
interactions. She does not have much experience working with foreign colleagues
and gets nervous about sharing in English during meetings and conference calls.
Profile of Cao Ying, 34 Years Old
Working Effectively within Alibaba’s Culture
Steven Xu
Cao Ying
1. What could be different motivations for these two at work? How would you
build trust with them as colleagues?
2. What would you expect their communication styles to be? How would that
impact their work with remote colleagues?
Case Summary
• While many Western colleagues often find it easier to build a business relationship with Steven, most indoctrinated employees see Cao Ying as the better role model.
• This is due to her long track record of delivering results, something that style and language may prevent incoming colleagues from noticing.
• While Steven is a good contact, Alibaba confederates point to his ego and ambition as detriments to his future growth.
• New employees would be served to build relationships with both. This creates a cultural guide in Steven and in Cao Ying a gatekeeper to Alibaba’s other teams and a valuable internal advocate.
• Robert works in London for a Alibaba as a critical project manager localizing services for the European market.
• He is part of a remote team with engineers and leaders in China and during a recent 360 evaluation for leadership training he collected feedback from colleagues in China.
• He was surprised to find that among his Chinese colleagues his scores relevant to communication and trust were much lower than expected.
• Afterwards he scheduled a feedback session with his manager.
Brief Case: “The Depth of Your Communication”
• After sharing his results and his surprise Robert received the following message from his manager:
• “Robert, I am not too surprised. I know you travel frequently to China for meetings, but your team probably feels like you are a tourist on these trips. You could make fewer trips if you focused on the depth of your communication.”
• Consider what you know about Alibaba and Chinese hi-tech culture and values, what could this feedback mean?
• What could Robert do to improve his colleagues’ view of his communication?
Brief Case: “The Depth of Your Communication”
Summarizing Alibaba Findings
A. Western colleagues and business partners will want to go beyond the initial point of contact, which may have better English and exposure but lack the network. Consider leveraging relationships that may seem less obvious but actually have greater impact.
B. High tech companies like Alibaba, Netease, Huawei, and BYD are highly practical and want to know what results you are creating right now. At the same time spending time both during office hours and after work to build lasting networks of people who know you and know what you have contributed.
Adapting to Changing Behavioral Norms – Navigating Chang An Ford
Bridging Cultural Gaps Needs Patience
Ford has seen 11% growth in sales in 2016 with 24% growth in the month of September alone. The
journey to the China market has not always been a smooth one.
Building Lasting Relationships Takes Patience
Ford arrived relatively late to China, when they sought to start manufacturing they had to create a joint venture with a local automotive partner, as many competitors already had prime JV partners Ford was left with Chang An. Manufacturing was set up in Chongqing and in order to set up some of the world’s most advanced and largest automotive manufacturing facilities experts were sent from US facilities to support China set up. Ford corporate was located in Nanjing and sales in Shanghai leaving many incoming colleagues feeling isolated in Chongqing and in some cases cut off from cross cultural best practices. Early foreigners assigned to Chongqing had limited China experience and reduced influence due to cultural miscues.
Alex has not had a smooth transition to working in the Chongqing plant consider the follow details of his assignment: • Following Ford’s policy on titles Alex is a Senior Specialist in order to
reflect his nearly 20 years of engineering experience.
• He works as an advisor to a team lead by a younger manager surnamed Wang from Chang An and his team, they have invited him to dinner and lunch but he has politely refused.
• In his day-to-day work Alex only works with other local Ford hire, his colleague a young engineer surnamed Liu has been a good advisor and cultural mentor to some degree.
• Alex has demanding deadlines from the US to help get the new transmission factory completed, however he finds it hard to influence Wang in his team to hit deadlines.
Case Study Profile: Alex Simmons Identify ways to increase his influence to get the project done?
Real Steps Taken By Ford to Increase Influence
Experienced China expatriates were brought in from Nanjing and Shanghai to help build connections between senior Chinese leaders and Ford leadership. Alex and his peers were given titles that better reflected their experience to Chang An peers who previously gave less consideration to the ideas of a Specialist. Ford took active steps to create a shared Chang An Ford culture with localized Core Values and a Mission for China shared by both Chang An and Ford colleagues. Alex and Liu began to spend more meals with his Chinese colleagues at the cantina and also after work to build GuanXi and team bonds.
Summarizing Ford Findings
A. Western colleagues may find that their influence is strongly curtailed working with State Owned Enterprise partners without corporate support. Consider the impact of status on “small details” like titles and work scope on team etiquette.
B. SOE partners also value interdependent team bonds and shows on connections. Consider leveraging a growing number of colleagues with western backgrounds hired by SOEs to internationalize, but prepare to work with leaders with little to no international exposure.
Applying Cultural Competence: Core/Flex
Holding Core Values While Flexing Cognition
Examine what you have learned about culture and yourself to find ways to adapt and make the most of
your intercultural experience
• Core – Our deep-rooted values that define us, that make us what we are intrinsically, what people respect us for and which should never change.
• Flex – Our flexibility where we are able to empathize, adapt and change when necessary.
1. List things that you really don’t mind.
2. Write a list of sentences starting with ‘I would never…’
3. Complete this sentence: ‘People assume I am…’
For each answer, consider why you answered this way and ask yourself what it reveals about your core or flex.
Core/Flex Personal Assessment
Core/Flex Action Plan
• “What?” – What are 3 things in your core that you would like to move to your flex?
• “So What?” – What would be the impact of moving each of these?
• “Now What?” – What specific actions will you take to implement these?
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