Question

American Brain Cook meets with his Chinese change manager Chan Ling and his team at the Beijing office of a European corporation to discuss last month's delay in the change deadlines. He questions Chan Ling repeatedly about his team's underperformance. Brian openly states he believes the team is not pushing hard enough and that there is a lack of commitment. He stresses than Ling is accountable for the results of the team and that he should have informed him about the issues Ling nods silently and peers out the window. He picks up his papers, walks through the door without further discussion, and never returns.

Chan Ling has lost face. The directness of Brian's questioning was interpreted by Chan as a personal insult. He saw Brian as rude, and their working relationship ended abruptly based on this incident. Chan also terminated his employment with the company at a time when he was really needed. What happened?

In China, as in other cultures around the world, "face" is more important than anything else. Face is related to the Western concept of dignity, but it goes much deeper than that. There is a Chinese proverb that reads Ren yao lian, shu yao pi ("A person needs face, like a tree needs bark"). Losing face has serious consequences for people from such cultures since there is a profound emotion of shame associated with losing face, and this may reflect on the person, their families, or even their entire community. Chan felt a deep sense of embarrassment from Brian's assertive questioning style, which is commonly accepted in the United Stated and many other Western cultures. What Brian didn't realize is that his is not acceptable in all cultures; thus, his leadership effectiveness was compromised.

1. How could Brian have prepared more effectively for his international assignment (refer to the guidelines for culture shock and culture agility)?

2 What cultural values (Hofstede; GLOBE) help explain Chan's reaction? What are the differences between the United States and China?

3. What should Brian do now? Develop a plan for addressing the situation.

Answer 1

Ans 1.

Culture shock refers to a person's response to a new cultural environment. Every expatriate experiences different stages of culture shock as the new envrionment becomes more acceptable.

Brian must have too felt unsettled upon arrival in China as USA and China are culturally very distinct. What is normal and acceptable in USA might be frowned upon in China. Brian should have paid attention to the contrasting cultures between his home country and China prior to starting his new assignment. He knew that he would be working in a new cutural setting which could be challenging for anyone and so should have educated himself on the varying cultural differences well in advance.

He could have spoken to his American colleagues who had prior experience of working in China to get a better picture of the prevailing culture in China. He could also have established a connection with a local employee working at the same company or befriended a neighbour near his place of stay in China, to know more about the local culture.

Had Brian been more sensitive about the cultural differences, he could have easily avoided confronting his Chinese colleague in his natural style and hence, saved his company from the backlash that resulted in the Chinese official ending his job with the company.

Ans 2.

Hofstede has provided a comparative anaylsis of cultural differences between different countries based on a few cultural dimensions. One of these dimensions is clearly applicable in our case. Indulgence (Vs Restraint) is a dimension that describes the extent to which people express their emotions in different cultures.

China's score of 24 on this dimension is rather low. This means that people in China are comfortable keeping their feelings and desires to themselves. They do not appreciate emotional outbursts and expect people to show restrain all the time, even in situations that require one to retort. USA, on the other hand, scores 68 on the dimension, indicating the generous attitude of Americans. People in America are known to seek gratification of their desires and tend to act on impulse. Open communication is emphasised in the USA which is the key to making crucial managerial decisions.

From the above paragraph, it is clear that Brian failed to understand the Chinese work culture and hence, hurt the sentiments of his Chinese counterpart.

Ans 3.

Brian's American upbringing made him act naturally on impulse. Had he known about the cultural differences, he could have shown restraint and avoided hurting the sentiments of his colleague. However, his lack of knowledge cost the company a resourceful employee and so now Brian has to redeem himself by thinking of ways to make his Chinese colleague change his mind.

Firstly, Brian should call his colleague and communicate to him that his intention was not to hurt him in any manner and that his remarks should not be taken personally. He should further tell him about his American upbringing and how an upfront attitude is common there. He should acknowledge the fact that he was ignorant about the local culture and that he would try to be more careful from now on.

Brian can even invite him to lunch for learning more about the Chinese work culture.This would help both the parties sort out their differences and plan out ways to increase workability.