February 29, 2013 Cross Cultural CommunicationChina Culture influence on self concept/ identity, family structure/ life, kinship,

ethics, etc-The Chinese are more family-oriented compared to the westerners. They have a strong bonding and affinity towards their family and strongly associate with them. This has a huge influence on their own self-image.
Low in Individualism- The Chinese rank lower than any other Asian country in Individualism. This can be attributed to the high level of collectivist society by the communist rule. They act more in the interest of the group rather than their own self-interest. In china the employees may not be as strongly associated with the company or the task but are more related to their colleagues and in-groups. Age, Status and Gender- In hierarchy the Chinese give more importance to the age, status and gender. There is huge respect and importance given to seniority and people in important positions. Women rights have gained momentum now in china. However, earlier due to the Neo-Confucianism, who tried to suppress womens rights, the Chinese women in some areas are still fighting for equality. They do not appreciate personal contact and greet each other with a slight nod. They express very less through their facial expressions and remain passive. They also avoid eye contact whilst walking past so as to give privacy to others. Management issues including communication and leadership style-China Leadership style Formal participation systems.-The Workers Congresses are usually permitted to participate in decisions related to working conditions, not strategic policy. The role of middle managers in the decision Making process Chinese middle managers usually carry out the managers instructions obediently Collecting information and making final decisions- Because managers do not fully trust their employees, they prefer collecting information themselves rather than from colleagues or subordinates. Responsibility for the implementation of decisions- Chinese managers believe that the responsibility for implementation of decisions should not be taken individually.

Communication style The Chinese have a high context and nonverbal style of communication. It is high context in the sense that certain knowledge is already assumed. This is opposed to a low context culture, where more information is exchanged during each communication. The Chinese also make significant use of nonverbal means of communication, such as Implied meaning, Nonverbal cues, Indirect statements, Symbolic language. The high context nature of Chinese communication comes from a long history of close families and interpersonal relations. There is no need in most instances to repeat information that has been built up over time. It assumes a shared understanding between communicants. The emphasis on nonverbal communication is largely tied to the emphasis on long term relationships and the importance of face and social harmony. In an effort to not offend another person or to not upset the other of things, the Chinese will resort to indirect or nonverbal cues. Organization culture china Many successful Chinese companies have a hierarchical organizational structure where top leaders steer the company direction. They lead managers and managers lead workers. It's a triangular, top-down communication from top decision makers to employees. That means only the top executives are making decisions for any project. Managers and workers are the ones who will follow the order, implement the plan, monitor progress and report back to the leaders.

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In a sense, Chinese are like worker bees, but they are very efficient in production, especially project tasks that demand precise execution and reach ambitious goals with results. Business practices/culture A short and light, not firm, handshake is the customary start to a business meeting. It is advisable to start the meeting with 'small talk' and only after that to pass on to business matters Business cards should be exchanged at the beginning of a business meeting. Take care before the meeting to have an adequate supply of business cards - at least 30 It is important, during the course of the conversation, to be aware of the speech culture in China. Never say "no". Instead, you can respond with "I'll look into that" or "I'll see what I can do in this matter", etc. Do not touch your Chinese colleague; do not even pat him on the shoulder. Gifts, particularly expensive gifts, are interpreted in Chinese culture as bribery. Refrain from giving expensive presents. If, nevertheless, you want to give an expensive gift, do not present it in the presence of others in the room, but privately. The accepted style of dress for a business meeting in China is conservative.- a dark colored, unostentatious suit and tie are customary for men. Bright colored clothes are considered unacceptable. Do not arrange business meetings around the times of Chinese festivals. Similarly, it is important to remember that late arrival to a meeting is considered a serious insult to the Chinese. It may well entail the failure of the entire meeting. Stereotypes and cultural Difference in China Stereotypes can however be perceived as the first stage of acknowledging the existence of cross cultural differences which is an initial step towards the development of a higher level of cross cultural awareness and competence. However stereotypes need to be questioned, mitigated and never taken for granted if they are to help us to work more effectively in a cross cultural context. It is well-known that Chinese people are traditional and conservative. They are not used to expressing themselves. They do not use thank you or I love you as much as Americans do. They are not very open-minded. Most of them do not have beliefs. They have no faith in God. But they think highly of Buddhism. They will live with their parents in some cases even at a very old age. Some of the stereotypes in china are:The Chinese lie - People from every culture lie. What Westerners call lying in China is often just a more subtle form of communication than were used to. China is whats known as a high context culture: information is assumed to be in the background the context. The more you learn about the assumed context, the better youll get at seeing the meaning behind the words. The Chinese dont care about quality. -Everyone cares about quality. But when it comes to priorities, sometimes its more important to the Chinese to save some resources than to make something that fits Westerners high standards. The Chinese think theyre superior.-The Chinese are legitimately proud of their amazing cultural P.

Think of the food, the monuments, the language, and on and on. Chinese give respect where its due: to Westerners for their advanced technology and social institutions, and to themselves for what theyve done. http://www.lindenbaumchina.com/us/cross-cultural-communication
http://business.uni.edu/buscomm/internationalbuscomm/world/asia/china/china.html

http://rsmi-uat.4content.co.uk/attachments/approved/chinese-business-practices-etiquette/en/ChineseBusinessPractices2010_web.pdf Complex Organizational Structure and Chinese Firm Value article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_culture http://business.uni.edu/buscomm/internationalbuscomm/world/asia/china/china.html www.geert-hofstede.com http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/china-country-profile.html

China-Multicultural teams and Decision Making

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Team Members - China Despite an increasing emphasis on team management, the leader plays a pivotal role in crossborder teams. Effective leaders must manage the organizational, linguistic, cultural and physical distances that separate members, create severe communication barriers, impede the development of trust and contribute to the misalignment of members' goals. That is the reason in country like China, Management and Operational team have to be formed in such a way that the culture, communications makes no hindrance. That is the reason many global Retail companies such as Carrefour have recruited effective local team players that have played crucial role in managing local needs. Walmart has stressed its well-known standardization of operations, whereas Carrefour has better adapted to the Chinese economic culture. Carrefour identified the following issues in their entry in china The formation of partnership alliances and their impact on store location choice The unique Chinese business culture Guanxi (using social capital to build business relationships) and its influence on supplier relationships; Collectivist orientation - Chinese culture encompasses a collectivist orientation that emphasizes the importance of group structure and values. This orientation may support crucial aspects of teamwork such as a common purpose and cooperative effort. The importance of relationships in a collectivist society may also prompt individuals to place group (e.g., work team) interests ahead of their own. Thus traditional Chinese values may be expected to facilitate teamwork, especially when teams are formed by management and have strong appointed leaders. Best Buy and Home Depot shut their stores in 2011. Google, eBay and Amazon have been trounced by local competition. Walmart faces dwindling market share. These great firms, which dominate their home markets and are widely successful internationally failed to grab profits in China. Hindrances to Communication are as follows: The first theme that emerged is that these companies did not localize business strategies and models enough to account for local conditions. They too often tried to transplant what worked in America to China with little effort at localization. The second theme that emerged was that senior executives sitting in foreign headquarters often ignore what local country heads, which are more attuned to local conditions, have to say. Or they hire the wrong country heads in the first place. One eBay executive, for example, told that his seniors ignored the advice of local employees to run servers out of China and switched hosting to America. Time Taken In Decision Making: Unlike the westerns, the Chinese do not believe in speed decision making. They believe in looking at all aspects of the problem and consider all angles before they come to any conclusion. They go back to the beginning and start the discussion again to make sure that all ground has been covered. Team Ethics and Group Orientation:

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February 29, 2013 Also, the Chinese collectivist culture focuses on the group consensus not just the individual decision. The western culture views this as inefficient and slow as a process. The western approach believes in deciding and then forcing the decision across the organization. The Chinese think that this is a very aggressive approach and could turn out to be harmful. The Chinese have meetings for hours and come to decisions that are agreed by all. No single person should oppose otherwise the others will also not continue. Similarly, they share all the profits and loss of the final decision taken. Risk Abilities: The Chinese managers, often because of their consensus and collectivist thinking lead to taking less risks and safe decisions. They believe it is better to wait and work things out than take quick and reckless decisions. The westerns however may view this as failure on the part of the company but the Chinese think of the long term and take decisions that are completely thought through from a long term vision. Whereas the western culture mainly focuses on the short-term benefits and answers. The Chinese also take decision from a moral ideal and social standpoint. Hierarchical Impacts: In spite of their collectivist nature and group orientation in terms of taking decisions the Chinese have a strong influence of hierarchy. They believe that the boss is the most wise and believe that decision will be passed on from the top. They accept the autocrat style of leadership and decision following. In the article Comparing the Decision Styles of American, Japanese and Chinese Business Leaders by Maris G. Martisons, it says that: A survey conducted reveals that the Chinese and Japanese managers perceive the western (particularly American) thinking to differ vastly from their own. They characterized the western thinking as objective, analytical, cerebral, and impersonal as opposed to their own self-perception of subjective, synthetic, emotional and personal-thinking. It is mentioned in the article Influence of Chinese Culture on Decision Making Style & Processes by Natalie Smith, that China is a home for many skilled business-men and Politicians. The Chinese consider inductive-reasoning and look at the bigger picture for making decisions. There also is the principle of Guanxi which is based on the Chinese Confucian principle i.e. caring for their close friends and family. This makes them consider the society as a whole when making decisions and not just welfare of self. References: Article Influence of Chinese Culture on Decision Making Style & Processes by Natalie Smith Article: Comparing the Decision Styles of American, Japanese and Chinese Business Leaders by Maris G. Martisons http://bizshifts-trends.com/2012/02/09/comparing-global-decision-making-styles-u-s-chinajapan-europe-germany-u-k-middle-east/ http://www.chinacalypso.com/content/decision-making-chinese-business http://www.dragonbn.com/articles/149

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LEADERSHIP and MOTIVATION in CHINA

Chinese Motivation Chinese culture as high in power distance, low in individualism, moderate in uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, and high in long term orientation. Employers are usually responsible for providing housing, medical care, and education to employees families. Until recently, they also provided life-time employment, though a contract system is now in place for many employees. These cultural and economic bonds between employee and employer suggest that sympathetic understanding of personal problems and personal loyalty to employees by superiors will still be seen as very important, even in a foreign-managed enterprise. Thus the motivational aspect changes from other countries like India or USA that have different employeremployee relationship The following parameters describes about the Chinese motivational aspects based on the literature on Chinese culture and management Sympathetic help with personal problems and personal loyalty from superiors and the organizationMuch has been written about Chinas collectivist orientation, the importance of social relationships, and the obligations that attend hierarchical relationships in Confucian ideology. In the workplace, this seems to play out in the form of managerial paternalism, with superiors developing warm relationships with their employees Full appreciation of work done-Chinese society has been the avoidance of personal credit for accomplishment, often observed in the form of employees demurring thanks from others with statements like Im only doing my job or It is my duty. This strong cultural value for modesty suggests that Chinese subordinates may not view receiving full appreciation of work done as necessary or important. This hampering the motivation of employees. Good wages- Strong competition for qualified employees by companies in major cities, employees may see good wages as being an extremely important and attainable job attribute. Performance-based bonuses have come to be relatively more accepted and the government has promoted the idea that It is glorious to be rich. So this has also become crucial part of the motivation of the Chinese people. Job security- One might expect that it would have less importance in China for several reasons. Until recent reforms, jobs in the state-owned sector in China were absolutely secure, and it is still difficult to discharge an employee before the end of their contract. Job security is expected to be relatively unimportant in the Chinese case. So due to the reforms the motivational aspect is not correlated to the Job security of the employees. Promotion and growth, interesting work- References to such issues in China seem to be very few and far between, suggesting perhaps that the majority of non-managerial employees are not attuned to meeting higher level needs in the work setting. Perhaps the luxury of interesting work is more of a prerogative or expectation of workers in highly developed countries. Most organizational researchers

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in China qualify their work by noting that things are changing very rapidly, and that work values cannot be expected to be stable when the economic system is undergoing tremendous change. So the motivation level of the employee also changes according to the change in the organization. Chinese Leadership China is a country of old and new and one that is in transition. In every sector, it is now in the process of blending its tradition, customs and practices with Western concepts and ideas. Chinese culture is deeply founded in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Confucianism mentions duties and loyalties to a ruler such as a boss, or to senior people in general, in particular to your parents. The leadership style in China has a massive influence of Confucianism on it. Leadership in China has long been based on a foundation of mutual respect and a feeling of connectedness among individuals. Leadership styles and skill levels in China are very much a reflection of Chinese culture itself. Chinese leadership style is based on three things:1) Reframe: - The two-character Chinese word for business, sheng yi, literally means "create new meanings." They constantly present themselves, in effect, with the framing question "What image do I see in my mirror?" and the reframing questions "How might I see it differently?" and "What am I blind to?" Those questions help them continually reframe and reinterpret what lies before them, behind them and within them. They clarify their passions, redefine their strengths and reinvent their business approaches. 2) Transcend: - In Taoism, the greatest leaders deeply appreciate the interrelation between ying and yang, or positive and negative. They transcend the highs and lows of the current moment and thus build their resilience and learn to accept, and not resist, the ambiguities inherent in change. 3) Listen: - When leaders work hard at listening to others, they build, or rebuild, mutual trust and respect, make space for innovation, and drive, or survive, change. In addition to their own personal drive and determination, leaders need their organizations support and encouragement to develop their skills. The increased scrutiny on Chinese leaders challenges their understanding of what it means to be a leader and their level of preparedness for managing their teams in a growing economy. The Chinese model of leadership focuses on building interpersonal bonds, collaboration, teamwork, dignity, and trust. These same qualities are important for Western leaders, but Western leaders differentiate themselves from their Chinese counterparts because they are more inclined to be entrepreneurial and to take risks. Furthermore, one of the biggest challenges for Chinese leaders will be to better manage their employees toward high performance, a current area of weakness. References:1) 2) 3) 4) 5) http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan050913.pdf http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/09/257_31110.html http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/24/china-america-business-lessons-leadership-managing-ccl.html http://www.haygroup.com/downloads/uk/East_Meets_West_UK.pdf http://www.flyingblueclubchina.com/business/expert-opinion/prof.-dr.-gang-yan-about-leadershipchinese-style

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February 29, 2013 China Conflict Management Chinese People tend to use avoiding to deal with conflict, whereas Westerners tend to confront conflict directly Considerable research in cross-cultural management and psychology suggests that a sense of interdependence explains these differences. Chinese are collectivists whose identity is embedded in their relationships and who have a strong sense of their connections with others. Consequently, they are highly sensitive to the possibility of losing social face in public; they avoid conflict so that they and their conflict partners need not fear disrespect and alienation Collectivist values are expected to lead to valuing harmony and smoothing over conflict to maintain relationships and protect social face. However, Chinese values may not be so inimical to open approaches to conflict management as traditionally assumed. Chinese people who have used their sensitivity to social face to confirm their respect of their protagonists were found to explore opposing views, learn from the discussion, consider the opposing views useful, and accept new ideas.

Chinese also prefer to keep their emotions in control and to speak indirectly, using metaphors or other techniques to prevent a conflict from escalating and damaging the relationship. Chinese Negotiation Attributes: Mainly for Chinese negotiating instincts, cultural factors influence its style: Relationships are currency to Chinese negotiators: Banquets, dinners, coffee shops are not simply meeting points for Chinese but are deal points. Refusing them for the same is an insult to them and letting them to arrange for such events makes them reinforces that one is weak, ignorant and vulnerable. The competitors appear to be very accommodative flexible helpful. So while negotiating with these kinds the negotiating should not be solely on price with competitive counterparties. The access to financial data, supply chain, personal issues and considering them can even make or break your deal. The accommodators also exist in China but one will have to be careful. In China, they dont generally warn you about your mistakes and dangers. Kindness can kill as passive colleagues and counterparties will smile and nod as one will blunder into disaster. Compromise is an integral part of Chinas consensus-oriented culture. But the tricks they use in numbers are hardly visible. They may simply give 400% above target and will settle with

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February 29, 2013 200% above target position which will be practically impossible to achieve in short period of time. So the market knowledge and parameter setting should be learned before negotiating. Avoiders are common in China. The Chinese legacy lives on its bureaucracy and meeting the main decision maker face-to-face might not be possible. Collaborative negotiators are the one which everybody seeks for. If a true value adding partner is identified, they can lead providing vital market information and other essentials. But the problem arises when people talk pretending to be the authority but in real they dont possess power to back up. The result may even turn out into disasters. While negotiating, one should be even aware of the partners who are moving too fast.

Characteristics of China Business Negotiation

Principles First Vis--Vis Details first: - Chinese businesspersons like to obtain a undisputed agreement on the general principles of the relationship between both parties before handling the particulars of the issue. They leave the existing problem to the end of the negotiation, to address that is, the principles first, details second. Valuing Collectivism More Than Individualism: - China negotiations are not like those that place more emphasis on group authority delegation and individual responsibility. Chinese places more emphasis on group responsibility and individual authority centralised authority Valuing Stand Vis--Vis Valuing Interest: - Chinese places more emphasis on stand, while the westerner places more emphasis on interests. The Chinese, due to their citizenship, view face as being very important. During negotiations, they are very sensitive toward their stand. Chinese negotiation style The cultural influence have given rise to a clearly defined set of elements that underpins the Chinese negotiation style and if ignore them at any time during negotiation process, the deal can easily fall apart. Six important elements of the Chinese negotiation style are Guanxi (Personal Connection) Chinese place a premium on individuals social capital within group of friends, relative and close associates, Zhongjian Ren (The Intermediary) Business deals for American in china dont have a chance without Zhongjian Ren, Shehui dengji (Social Status) western find it difficult to understand the formality of Chinese business people. Chinese prefer social status in term of with whom are they negotiating, whom the company sends to china, the number of visit the CEO take to china, Renji hexie (Interpersonal Harmony) the Chinese saying, a man without smile shouldnt open a shop and sweet temper and friendliness produce money speak about the importance of harmonium relation, Zhengti guannian (holistic thinking) Chinese think in term of whole whereas Americans think individualistically and sequentially. Jiejian (thrift) Chinese long history of economics and political stability has taught its people to save their money. Chinese save nearly four times as much of their household income as Americans do.
References -ccm.sagepub.com/content/7/1/101.abstract, www.trinity.edu/org/ics/ics%20issues/.../ics-vii1-chen.pdf, www.chinesenegotiation.com/conflict-management, http://www.chinesenegotiation.com/2008/10/5-chinese-negotiating-styles, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/3714.html-Negotiation

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