Authoritarian culture produces petty office emperors
- Source: Global Times
- [21:08 March 10 2010]
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Illustration: Liu Rui
By Eric Fish
Anyone who's spent time in the working world is probably familiar with an issue that transcends all national borders and languages. An issue that is rampant from the biggest multinational corporations to the smallest mom-and-pop operations. I'm talking of course, about office politics.
While office politics exist almost anywhere there's an office, the face and scope can vary widely across the world. Because of this, there's often considerable turmoil when people from differ-ent cultures share the same workplace, most noticeably when co-workers are on different levels of the office hierarchy.
When I worked for a small company in the US, the office political structure was more or less democratic.
There was a boss, but it was hardly an enviable position. The boss endured constant requests and complaints from employees ranging from reasonable to asinine. She didn't always agree to em-ployee requests, but she always politely listened and sometimes even relented when it cost the company money.
Later, when I went to work at a Chinese company, the office political landscape changed dramatically.
Once I made a suggestion to my boss that would have made all the employees happier and wouldn't have cost the company anything. In my naïveté I assumed she would be pleased to hear the suggestion and happy with me for thinking of it. But to my dismay, she simply snuffed, "That's not how we do things here," and dropped the subject, seemingly agitated that I'd even brought it up.
After talking to other expats in the office, I found that in the past they had even suggested ideas that would probably improve the company's profit at no risk, but had gotten the same cal-lous response.
Of course every company is different and these are only two examples, but they represent, unfortunately in the Chinese case, a situation all too many have encountered.
The reason for the disparity in the two approaches may demonstrate something about each culture far deeper than simple office management philosophy.
In the US free-for-all democratic culture, Americans are used to having their opinions heard, no matter how absurd or uneducated they may be. Whether they are a low-level manager or the president, any American in a leadership position must at least pretend to listen to and consider any suggestion, no matter how inane or idiotic. Otherwise they risk the backlash of those who feel ignored.
China on the other hand has historically had a more authoritarian culture. One of Confucius' most famous writings was about "filial piety" where he listed several key vertical relationships in which one person should have a position of authority over the other.
In my Chinese office, I experienced the "subject-to-ruler" relationship in which I was the subject and my boss the ruler. Suggesting that she change a policy was tantamount to telling the emperor he didn't know how to run his country.
What I saw as a helpful suggestion, she saw as a challenge to her authority.
In an even more pronounced example of this idea, a friend told me that at her Chinese office, the boss suddenly announced she would stop paying employees for mandatory overtime.
My friend was mortified by the illegal policy change, but even more mortified by the passive reactions of her Chinese co-workers. Although everyone was furious, no one was willing to do anything more than curse the boss behind her back. Were they all worried about losing their jobs? Or was there an unspoken deference to the boss's authority?
On the other hand, Western bosses often complain that they have to prod their Chinese employees to tell what's on their mind and often must guess as to why they're unhappy. They often only hear of employee grievances through gossip or other indirect means.
While most Chinese probably wouldn't declare their devotion to Confucian ideals, the attitude of having strictly vertical relationships has been practiced and enforced for centuries.
Some even see them as a way to keep order and stability in a country that has seen so much turmoil in its past compared to America's relatively peaceful domestic history.
While stepping into an office political system in another culture can be an uncomfortable transition, it may prove more fruitful to adapt or quit rather than try to change it.
The thinking leading to that system is likely very deep-seeded and isn't likely to change because a few outspoken outsiders try to shake things up.
The author is a teacher and freelance writer in Nanjing. viewpoint@globaltimes.com.cn
