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Cultural understanding is essential for effective

leadership in China
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09 Dec 2011, Barbara Wang, HRO

The Blackwood Report, published earlier in 2011 revealed FTSE 100 firms miss out on growth
opportunities in China due to lack of cultural understanding. According to the report, companies
operating in China have to deal with the twin problems of a lack of senior Western talent that
understands Chinese culture, and a small pool of native Chinese talent able to work well within
Western multinational corporations.
To overcome cultural hurdles Western leaders need to have an open mind and be willing to learn
about the Chinese mind-set. A basic knowledge of Chinese history and culture is invaluable, and once
in China, you need to continue your learning by associating with local Chinese people.
There are a number of key cultural norms and values that Western leaders need to be aware of in their
daily business life in China. The most important of these are the concepts of face, building gunx and
creating harmony, which are critical for success.
Face-saving has a much deeper meaning in China than in the West. 'Face' is about dignity, respect,
and a person's social role. A person can lose face by declining a social or business function on a weak
pretext, refusing a present or being too independent. Loss of face is a serious business, and can result
in reduced social resources to use in cultivating a connection network, or gunx.
Gunx is much more complex than the Western concept of networking. It is the platform for social
and business activities, and consists of connections defined by reciprocity, trust and mutual
obligations. In China, personal relationships and trust are paramount.
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Cultural understanding is essential for effective leadership in China - 09 Dec 2011 - Financial Director print view

For the Chinese, communications is about building relationships, while in the West it is about
efficient exchange of information and getting things done as quickly as possible. Leaders in China are
expected to express themselves much less directly than those in the West, partly because of face
saving and preserving harmony. It's not that Chinese are unwilling to share information, but
Westerners will have to prompt Chinese counterparts if they want details. Alternatively, it may be best
to approach someone on a one-to-one basis, in private.
Power and rank pervade all aspects of Chinese life, including communication. We recommend that
managers communicate with their Chinese boss, peers and subordinates in a similar way to how they
communicate with their parents, brothers/sisters and children, respectively. This mirrors Confucian
values, whereby the family is paramount and the rules of hierarchy and respecting positions of
authority are firmly entrenched.
Motivating the Chinese can be quite different from motivating UK employees. In comparison with
Western people, you may need to spend more time chatting with the Chinese privately, showing your
respect and regularly giving recognition. Zeng Shiqiang, a popular Chinese leadership and
management thinker, said that reasonable unfairness is an effective way to motivate Chinese, because
unfairness is everywhere. Fairness is an essential clause in the 'psychological contract' in the Western
workplace. In China, however, people value 'reasonable' more than 'fair'.
Chinese teamwork requires a strong leader, and building a high performance team is challenging.
Although delegation is daily practice for Western managers, in China, the story is very different. The
start of a new relationship in China is marked by distrust or, at best, cautious trust. Generally, people
tend to accept the authority of the position, rather than the person holding that position. Managers are
expected to take full responsibility for all projects, so most Chinese managers do not delegate
authority.
Key concerns for Chinese managers are: 'If I delegate my authority to others, will people still respect
and listen to me?', or 'Can I trust the person I want to delegate to? Has this person proved that he/she
is trustworthy?' On the other hand, the employee delegated to would worry about how to exercise
authority in a way that steers a correct path between two unforgivable sins by Chinese standards. The
first is failure to fulfil one's duty, and the possibility of losing one's job or position and, secondly, the
danger of exceeding one's authority, which is perceived as an even more serious sin.
In Western management models, such as Belbin's, the role of 'leadership' is not necessarily only
exercised by the team leader. But in China this role is expected to be played exclusively by the
legitimate team leader. Otherwise, people will lose respect for the leader, and accuse the person
delegated to of exceeding their authority.
To overcome this dilemma, when Western managers delegate, the legitimate delegated leader must be
announced to Chinese team members for them to accept and follow.
Many foreign managers in China still have an ethnocentric approach, where they use the same style
and practices that work in their home country. But, failing to develop cultural awareness and adapt
leadership style can leave managers open to damaging mistakes, and risks rendering their
organisations unsustainable.
Barbara Wang is the China representative and Harold Chee is a client director at Ashridge
Business School
Chinese Leadership, published by Palgrave MacMillan, reveals how to be an effective leader in the
Chinese market.

Reader comments
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Cultural understanding is essential for effective leadership in China - 09 Dec 2011 - Financial Director print view

The importance of culture considerations in Coaching

I am currently providing Leadership & Management Coaching to a Senior Manager of Chinese origin.
This article has helped me understand why this individual is struggling as a Senior Manager in his
current "Western" workplace as it would seem that he is trying to employ his Chinese cultural values
and meeting great difficulties in gaining staff compliance and productive outcomes. So I think this
article is helpful as a starting point in thinking about effective leadership in the UK by leaders of
Chinese origin who may need to better understand western culture.
Posted by: terry.grace@nhs.net , 18 Feb 2015 | 14:05
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