中美職場潛規則差異揭秘
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????親愛的安妮：去年，我加入了一家跨國制造公司，擔任項目經理。現在被派往位于中國的一家工廠，這是我的第一項海外任務。這是一次有重要意義的職業變動，因為我所在部門的所有高管都擁有豐富的國際經驗。我對這次機會感到非常興奮。 ????唯一讓我有所顧慮的是，我被派往那里的目的是“扭轉局面”，取代一位未能完成高層既定目標的同事。我曾問他遇到了哪些障礙，他說雖然自己反復解釋了需要做什么，但他管理的團隊依然我行我素。另外一個問題是，即使人們知道存在嚴重的生產故障，但沒有人會說出來，直到問題嚴重到難以解決的程度。我該如何才能避免重蹈覆轍？您或您的讀者有什么建議嗎？——B.B. ????親愛的B.B.：這是一個很有意思的問題，尤其是現在國際任務似乎越來越多。安家公司Atlas Van Lines在近期有關公司重新安置的報告中稱，2013年，約40%的美國公司派駐海外的員工人數超過了2012年。有些員工會對即將派駐海外的管理人員提供跨文化培訓，但有些公司卻指望人們自己解決文化差異問題，你所在的公司就是一個明顯的例子。 ????（靠自己克服文化差異）非常困難，因為即便是經常出國旅游度假的美國人，也弄不明白如何在不同的文化背景下開展業務。法國國際商學院歐洲工商管理學院（INSEAD）的管理學教授艾琳?邁耶說：“一個重要的因素是，全世界美國人的商業準則是最以任務為導向的。管理者們專注于工作。他們的想法很單純，就是希望完成工作而已。” ????但在其他許多國家，包括中國、日本、韓國和印度，以及墨西哥、巴西和尼日利亞等國家，這種方式卻并不適合，相反，這被認為是一種徹徹底底的冒犯行為。 ????邁耶說：“在那些國家，‘生意’與‘個人’之間沒有明確的界限。所以，能在那些國家成功的管理者，都會更深入地了解自己的同事，”例如，經常在一起用餐，但在飯桌上并不討論業務問題。許多美國人會認為這是在浪費時間，但邁耶表示：“其他國家的同事首先需要了解和信任你，然后才能與你一起共事。” ????邁耶出版的一本引人入勝的新書《文化版圖：打破全球商業隱形壁壘》（The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business），或許值得你細細品讀。此外，對于在中國，如何比前任做的更好，尤其是如何讓人們開誠布公地向你反映問題，她給出了三條建議。 ????首先要理解的一點是，在中國，老板的角色與在美國并不相同。邁耶說：“中國老板更像是一個家庭中的父親或母親的角色。你需要了解每一個人，并且要擺脫美國管理者的習慣做法，要更多參與到他們的個人生活當中，包括解決他們的個人問題。” ????她補充道，要突破亞洲員工最初的羞澀和自我保護，需要有耐心，但這值得投入時間，因為你的投入會給你帶來忠誠和信任，讓人們在工作中更愿意遵從你的指示——而且同樣重要的是，鼓勵人們對你坦誠相待（例如，關于你所提到的“嚴重的生產故障”）。 ????其次，邁耶表示：“學會辨認無言的拒絕。在更注重等級的文化中長大的人從小接受的教育是，對權威說‘不’是無禮的行為，你的前任似乎吃了一番苦頭之后才終于明白了這一點。而這也是為什么他或她的理念或指示得不到執行的原因。” ????例如，在美國的會議中，老板通常會首先表達自己的觀點，然后要求其他人提出意見。邁耶說：“在中國或其他更注重等級的社會，如果你這么做，所有人只會感覺應該同意你的觀點，”即便他們很清楚你錯得離譜。 |
????Dear Annie: I joined a global manufacturing company as a project manager last year, and have now been tapped for my first overseas assignment, in one of our factories in China. It's a big career move, since all the senior executives in my division have a lot of international experience, and I'm really excited about it. ????The only thing giving me pause is that I'm being sent there to "turn things around," replacing someone who failed to reach the targets set by senior management. When I asked him what obstacles he was dealing with, he said that, although he explained repeatedly what needed to be done, the team he managed kept doing everything the same old way. Another issue has been that people who were aware of major production glitches didn't say anything until it was too late to fix them. Can you or your readers shed any light on how to avoid a replay of the same problems? — Beijing Bound ????Dear B.B.: Interesting question, especially since international assignments seem to be on the rise. Almost 40% of U.S.-based companies sent more employees overseas abroad in 2013 than they did in 2012, according to recent report on corporate relocations by movers Atlas Van Lines. Some employers offer cross-cultural training to managers they're sending overseas, but others — such as yours, apparently— expect people to figure it out for themselves. ????That can be tough, because even Americans who have traveled a lot on vacation often don't grasp how doing business differs across cultural lines. "A big factor in this is that American business norms are the most task-oriented in the world," notes Erin Meyer, a professor of management at global business school INSEAD in France. "Managers are focused on the work. They just want to get the job done." ????In many other countries, however — including China, Japan, Korea, and India, but also other places like Mexico, Brazil, and Nigeria — that approach not only doesn't work, it's considered downright offensive. ????"There's often much less of a dividing line between 'business' and 'personal,'" Meyer says. "So the managers who succeed are those who try to get to know colleagues at a deeper level" by, for instance, going out for lots of dinners where business is never discussed. It may strike many Americans as a waste of time but, says Meyer, "colleagues in other countries need to know and trust you before they can do business with you." ????Meyer wrote a fascinating new book you might want to check out, The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business. Meanwhile, she has three suggestions for you on how to do better in China than your predecessor did, especially when it comes to getting people to be honest with you about what is going wrong. ????First, understand that the role of boss in China is not at all the same as in the U.S. "A Chinese boss is much more of a father, or mother, figure," Meyer notes. "You need to get to know people individually and be much more involved in their personal lives, including helping them solve personal problems, than is usual for American managers." ????Breaking through Asian employees' initial shyness and reserve takes some patience, she adds, but it's well worth the investment of time, because it creates the kind of loyalty and trust that makes people more willing to follow instructions at work — and, just as important, encourages people to be frank with you (about, for example, those "major production glitches" you mention). ????Second, says Meyer, "Learn to recognize the unsaid 'no.'" As the manager you're replacing seems to have learned the hard way, people raised in more hierarchical cultures have been taught that saying "no" to an authority figure is disrespectful. So is pointing out reasons why his or her ideas or instructions won't work. ????In a U.S. meeting, for example, the boss often expresses his or her point of view first and then asks for comments. "If you do that in China or any other more hierarchical society, everyone will feel obliged to agree with you," Meyer says — even if they know perfectly well that you're dead wrong. |
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