The New Corporate Etiquette of China

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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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