China is a world apart, clouded in myth and cultural misperceptions. It is easy to presume that business operations in China are hampered mainly by language barriers, imperfect infrastructure, and excessive regulation. But the real issue is more basic: China operates on an entirely separate set of cultural standards and norms.

As with all societies and cultures, the Chinese have been taught to incorporate certain beliefs and value systems into all their mental processes. These beliefs result in iron-clad assumptions that are used to evaluate new information, concepts and situations. Understanding these basic beliefs is important because they powerfully influence perceptions of what is valuable and what is not valuable, and thus, decision-making. For example, a well-known advertising slogan, "Just do it!" would be meaningless in the U.S. except that the slogan triggers a series of beliefs about the positive nature of proactive behavior founded upon a commonly shared belief in possibility, growth and change. Other cultures see possibility differently and may place a higher value on patience. One of the interesting things about culture-based belief systems is that the more abstract they are, the more firmly people hold on to them. Beliefs become not ideas, but "truths." All societies can be blinded by their own version of self-evident "truths." After all, at one time, the World was said to be flat!

Few Western managers really understand the mental programming or mind-set that many Chinese workers bring to their work, though most Western managers are aware of this issue to some degree. For example, many managers are aware that the lack of incentives or rewards for efficient behavior in the planned economic system socialized an entire generation of workers and managers with poor work habits. The so-called "iron rice bowl" mentality de-linked reward from effort and removed all but the most altruistic motivations for hard work and high performance. This lack of cultural insight is unfortunate, because an understanding of Chinese perceptions and attitudes can be a powerful management tool in overriding obstacles to productivity and quality.

Beliefs That Create Problems

Certain thought patterns that exist within the Chinese work force and can be seen in daily operations on the factory floor are particularly prominent:

* "chi da guo fan" (the "iron rice bowl");
* fear of responsibility;
* "cha bu duo" ("it's close enough for government work");
* "mei ban fa" ("there's no way")

In analyzing these beliefs, it is critical to remember two things: 1) Most of these beliefs operate at the sub-conscious level. Thus, most people are unaware that these belief systems control and influence daily behavior. 2) While problematic Chinese norms and standards are discussed here, analogous belief systems exist within all societies and can have a negative impact on efficiency and social order. The specific belief systems that can be observed among Chinese workers and professionals include these:

1. The "iron rice bowl" ("chi da guo fan").

An iron rice bowl is one that cannot be broken. In brief, this summarizes a Marxist ideal: each person should work according to his/ her ability and be rewarded according to his/her needs; no rocking the boat is permitted and no model performance is expected. During the past 50 years of Communist rule in China, this ideal was evident mainly through work units that were responsible for the health and welfare of all employees. Work units, in factories or farm cooperatives, were responsible for providing food, health care, old age benefits, etc. Even kindergartens for children were sometimes provided. Workers were fed and housed whether they worked hard or not. The system bred an attitude that assumed the State owed everyone a living. In part, this attitude was also a reaction to the pre-Revolutionary (pre-1949) period when many Chinese workers and farmers were treated very poorly. One challenge for today's managers is to override these beliefs and to motivate people socialized under the old system. This is not easy, especially with older workers. Many perceive campaigns for increased productivity or improved quality as a return to old-fashioned, exploitative owner-worker relationships.

2. Fear of responsibility.

There is an old saying in Chinese: "The more you do, the more will go wrong." Traditionally, blame falls upon the doer, even if the problem was not his or her fault and even if the doer was trying to solve a problem. And, even in the recent past, punishment in China tended to be excessive. In many cases, not only was the miscreant punished, but also his entire family was punished as an example to the rest of society. In fact, the so-called miscreant need not have been guilty of any criminal conduct at all. For centuries in China, the law was whatever local officials or warlords said it was. Rough justice was dispensed almost by whim. In such a climate, it is no surprise that people learned to fear and to avoid authority. People went to great lengths to avoid personal responsibility. Today, that same fear continues to exist on both a conscious and subconscious level. Without taking significant steps to assure employees that they will not be punished for making honest mistakes, it is very difficult to get employees to assume responsibility or to motivate proactive behavior. Getting workers to become self-starters is, in large part, dependent upon the workers accepting and even desiring the burden of responsibility. For that desire to exist, this fear of responsibility must be addressed.

3. "It's close enough for government work" ("cha bu duo").

"Cha bu duo" translates literally as "short by not much." In colloquial English, it is similar to the commonly used, "It's close enough for government work." This attitude is very common among Chinese of all ages. This belief so distressed the famous Chinese author, Hu Shi, that he wrote a short story entitled "Mr. Cha Bu Duo" in an attempt to raise the consciousness of his countrymen and to discourage them from this line of thinking. Arguably, this belief system originated from the Confucian ideal of the "golden mean." Originally intended as an admonition for literate scholars of that ancient time, its purpose was to set forth the notion that "gentlemen" avoided extremes in behavior and that compromise was usually preferable to conflict. While that ideal may have worked as a political philosophy, it certainly doesn't do much to motivate peak performance, high productivity or zero defects in a modern competitive context. The propensity for many modern Chinese to think that "close enough" equals "good enough" is not surprising, given the profound influence that Confucian thought still has on Chinese culture. Fifty years of communist rule has not been nearly long enough to remove the impact of Confucian thought from China's cultural underpinnings.

4. "There's no way" ("mei ban fa").

This phrase is often heard in China. It is an expression of an underlying belief that people really have very little control over their lives or their fate. For many years this was true for most Chinese. China was a very poor country, bedeviled by natural disaster, foreign invasion and political turmoil. The vast majority of the population, poor peasants, simply struggled to stay alive. The inevitable result of this long history of bare subsistence was that people grew to adopt a very fatalistic attitude and the belief that there are no solutions to life's major problems. Fate rules all. Obviously, if one believes in impossibility, whatever the ethnic background, there is little motivation to engage in creative, problem-solving thought processes. This is the primary negative impact of the "mei ban fa" syndrome. This thinking also has a negative impact on the ability of modern managers to effectively delegate authority and/or motivate proactive behavior. Obviously, belief in "impossibility" discourages being proactive. This helps to explain, in part, why reform in State Enterprises has proven to be such a difficult problem. Regardless of whether one analyzes the nation-building efforts of the early 20th Century or more recent reform efforts in China, this belief system helps to explain why many reform initiatives in China have met with such resistance or have proceeded so slowly.

Working with Cultural Obstacles

There is no simple answer to the cultural obstacles that operate unseen on the factory floor in China. However, there are effective solutions - short of brainwashing - that do work. Review and analysis by experienced, hands-on professionals can help to ameliorate these cultural forces at work. Some of the suggested options to implement might include:

* careful design and management of incentives to overcome traditional thought patterns;
* measures to ensure that middle managers understand and use modern people management techniques on a daily basis;
* systems and standards to ensure employees are not penalized for attempting to fix existing problems or for being proactive;
* the use of psychologically based processes to help shift individual beliefs within small groups or work units;
* good, consistent training, including good management coaching, to help managers understand existing beliefs and to help shift belief patterns.

© Copyright - Smith Brandon International, Inc.

Smith Brandon International, Inc. conducts international investigations and provides actionable business intelligence and risk avoidance counsel to assist companies in their overseas operations. The firm's principals are grounded in investigative, analytical, and intelligence gathering techniques, drawing on decades of experience in the FBI, State Department, intelligence circles and the private sector. For more information, please call 202-887-9363, or visit our website at http://www.smithbrandon.com/.