| hillary | 2008-09-25 21:12 |
向在外企上班的朋友推荐：western managers in chinaArticle Published in Shanghai DailyWestern Managers in China - Autocratic or Democratic? In last week's column, the difference between Western and Chinese learning style was discussed and the implications this has for Western managers working in China. The main difference is that Western learning culture is based on a questioning approach, whereas the Chinese learning culture is based on modeling behaviors. As a result of this, the Western managers find themselves challenged by silent meeting rooms, lack of initiative from their local staff or difficulty in getting feedback when necessary. In most Western countries, leaders are used to working in an environment where the employees are highly participating in meetings and contributing their opinions and experiences to the decision making process. School educates how to assume a questioning approach to learning and not easily accept facts given to them. This makes a Western employee feel more comfortable to argue for his beliefs and share his opinions in meetings with superiors. Furthermore, a manager in the West is not necessarily assumed to be an expert in his field or industry. On the contrary, he is supposed to utilize the knowledge base of his entire team in decisions, projects and even daily interaction and work. The Western managers are therefore used to lead highly interactive teams relying on two-way communication. When his team achieves strong synergy, he can and will step down, let the team become highly innovative and manage it self. Instead he will focus more on strategic decisions and leadership tasks. Successful innovative Western companies have flat organizations and managers leading the teams with a democratic approach; coaching and supporting their team. Chinese people are taught to learning by listening and modeling their superiors and teachers. The general assumption is that a questioning approach, especially to superiors is disrespectful. It is professional in China to respect and fully support your superior, listen to your instructions and follow the leader's example. A Chinese manager is not expected to rely on his team for knowledge. In fact, he is supposed to provide all the answers and decisions. The staff is supposed to follow orders and act them out swiftly and appropriately. The manager is expected to be autocratic and in meetings and interactions mainly one-way communication is used. In the Chinese environment, the success of the company is therefore highly dependent on the skills and knowledge of the leaders. Great Chinese companies are frequently led by autocratic managers with great technical knowledge in his field and industry enabling them to lead the subordinates by setting clear outcomes. Western managers' arriving in China naturally assumes their democratic and collaborative leadership style often leading to great confusion among the Chinese employees. Instead of having clear tasks and outcomes given by their new boss, they are included in meetings and asked to contribute to decisions that they usually have no authority to speak about. Without detailed instructions to follow and no clear orders from their Western leader, the Chinese employees feel uncomfortable and insecure. The local employee asks himself how he is expected to do a good job if not even his leader knows what needs to get done? In the other end of the table, the Western manager feels he is alone, with a team lacking initiative, not sharing opinions and not contributing to the decision making process. Can western managers succeed in getting two-way communication and leading with a democratic leadership style in China? The answer is yes. We have seen many successful companies who have achieved strong collaboration and high levels of synergy in China. These Western leaders started out with a direct leadership style. Slowly but surely they start coaching their employees taking small steps and assuming larger responsibilities. These companies have broken the communication barrier and managed to get two-way communication in their workforce. In many cases these Chinese company divisions are outperforming all divisions in other countries for these multinationals. - Peter J Karlsson  |
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