Canadian companies looking to take part in China’s economic boom are well-advised to invest in cultural training before sending staff to the Far East.
Canadian expats familiar to a fast-paced work environment could get aggravated by the pace of things in China, warn relocation experts acquainted with the Far East.
Workers in China have a different understanding of time, said Rensia Melles, director, clinical products, global services at FGI.
“North Americans are very unique in how they set deadlines and goals. In a lot of cultures, people define the process and not the outcome. For many Canadian businesses, a lot of the thinking starts from, ‘I’m going to make a goal,’ and the process will adapt itself to that goal. But in a lot of cultures, people start by defining the process.”
Elsa Giard, client service manager at Weichert Relocation Resources Inc., said she feels the difference in work pace most acutely when trying to obtain a work permit for Canadian expats.
From one of her clients, Bombardier, Giard will sometimes get a file that needs to be processed in two weeks. Giard will scramble, but four to six weeks is typically how long it will take to complete all the steps needed to obtain a work permit.
The process includes a medical examination, an application for an employment licence and invitation letter, and an application for a single-entry visa as well as dependent visas.
Upon entry to China, a worker on foreign assignment would immediately need to go to a police station to apply for a residence registration certificate; he’ll also need to complete required forms to get a work permit and a residence licence.
As co-ordinator of international mobility at Bombardier, Olga Letour remembers when, in the late 1990s, foreigners could come to China on a tourist’s visa and leave without paying taxes. That’s no longer the case, Letour said, noting that Bombardier was always compliant.
Along with a couple of colleagues, Letour handles about 500 cases of foreign assignments at any given time. She said overall, Bombardier employees who have been to China on assignments tend to enjoy the experience. “The people who go to China, when they come back they always want to go back. They love China. I suppose the culture is very different and very interesting for them.”
Asked to name the aspects of life that cause the most difficulties for Bombardier’s expats in China, Letour cited medical amenities as top of the list. Melles also mentioned medical infrastructure, noting that people who intend to have children in the country should carefully consider the level of access they would have to a hospital or a medical clinic.
“It’s not so much Canadians, but a lot of expats in the United States think of a foreign assignment as a great chance to have an extended maternity leave. They go over there with plans of getting pregnant,” said Melles, pointing to limited maternity leave provisions in the U.S. as a reason for the practice. In such instances, she said, “you need to be very comfortable with the medical resources available.”
The concern isn’t as great if the expat is destined for one of the country’s urban centres, Melles added. But in recent years, as costs climb in cities such as Shanghai, foreign companies have increasingly been setting up offices in smaller settings a few hours’ drive away.
In such settings, “you may be the only westerner and people will come up and ask to have a picture taken with you, because they’ve never seen a white westerner before. That’s not to say that people can’t be happy or that they can’t be successful in that setting. But it’s a different challenge from when you’re in the city and there are all kinds of amenities and entertainment available.”
In rural environments, expats may encounter a lack of access to medical facilities as well as schools for their children. “People can sometimes romanticize that. They say, ‘We’ll go live somewhere in China and we’ll home-school our child.’ Well if you’ve never home-schooled before, this is not the time to start. If you are in the countryside in China, you’re not going to be able to find that one book that you forgot that is required in the curriculum.”
Melles added that as in many other countries, the greatest challenges for expat families in China are the ones she calls the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” variety. Expats who are prone to drink may find they’re particularly susceptible to the temptation of alcohol in China, as drinking figures into many types of business-related get-togethers.
“You drink to celebrate, you drink to get to know each other,” said Melles. In China, as well as a number of Asian-Pacific countries, foreign men may find they’re targeted for sexual relationships by women who see the affair as one of the few ways to escape their situations.
Such risks aren’t widespread. Day-to-day concerns of Canadians working in China have more to do with contrasting communication styles, said Melles.
“The Chinese communication tends to be very indirect. Even for Canadians, who are less direct than Americans, the challenge is, you need to take the time, you need to build the relationships, you need to learn to read the silences, the punctuation.”
If a Chinese person says, “I believe this is a good idea; are there any other ideas that you can come up with?” he might really mean he doesn’t like the idea and a different one is required, said Melles. “But a Canadian or an American might take that as, ‘Oh he really likes it.’ They don’t hear that it was a polite way of saying, ‘I don’t want to do what you’re suggesting. Give me another option.’”
Expats also need to learn to take the time to build relationships. A Canadian expat accustomed to picking up the phone to arrange a meeting may find he gets nowhere in China. “They don’t know you from Adam. Why would they see you? What you need to do is go through Mr. X, who will introduce you to Mr. Y, and only then can you call the person,” said Melles.
With each person along the way, what takes place is a mutual exchange of favours and courtesies. “If you introduce me to somebody else, perhaps I can take the time to meet Mr. B on your behalf,” said Melles.
This is what’s called “guanxi” or “relationship-building,” but it’s often misunderstood by Americans, who “often struggle with it” and mistake it for bribery, said Melles.
Faced with a chasm in work styles, foreign managers may sometimes end up expecting Chinese nationals working for them to adapt to their North American ways. Doing so may lead to a form of culture shock experienced by people who haven’t stepped foot outside their own country, said Melles.
Expat managers need to be extra sensitive to this kind of culture shock, particularly if they already start out with no clear way of measuring employees’ performance or no mutual understanding with employees about communication styles.
“The most common misinterpretation of cultural differences is you start thinking that people are incompetent or they have an attitude or they have mental health or personality problems. So if you start thinking that about your employees, you should ask yourself if culture and cultural miscommunication is the issue here.”
Bombardier’s Letour agrees that communication is what often trips up expats. The company has had to bring a few people back from assignments in China when they became ineffective due to inappropriate inter-personal habits. She spoke of an employee who was perceived as arrogant by her Chinese colleagues. “When they don’t have any respect for you, you get nothing done.”
Workers in China have a different understanding of time, said Rensia Melles, director, clinical products, global services at FGI.
“North Americans are very unique in how they set deadlines and goals. In a lot of cultures, people define the process and not the outcome. For many Canadian businesses, a lot of the thinking starts from, ‘I’m going to make a goal,’ and the process will adapt itself to that goal. But in a lot of cultures, people start by defining the process.”
Elsa Giard, client service manager at Weichert Relocation Resources Inc., said she feels the difference in work pace most acutely when trying to obtain a work permit for Canadian expats.
From one of her clients, Bombardier, Giard will sometimes get a file that needs to be processed in two weeks. Giard will scramble, but four to six weeks is typically how long it will take to complete all the steps needed to obtain a work permit.
The process includes a medical examination, an application for an employment licence and invitation letter, and an application for a single-entry visa as well as dependent visas.
Upon entry to China, a worker on foreign assignment would immediately need to go to a police station to apply for a residence registration certificate; he’ll also need to complete required forms to get a work permit and a residence licence.
As co-ordinator of international mobility at Bombardier, Olga Letour remembers when, in the late 1990s, foreigners could come to China on a tourist’s visa and leave without paying taxes. That’s no longer the case, Letour said, noting that Bombardier was always compliant.
Along with a couple of colleagues, Letour handles about 500 cases of foreign assignments at any given time. She said overall, Bombardier employees who have been to China on assignments tend to enjoy the experience. “The people who go to China, when they come back they always want to go back. They love China. I suppose the culture is very different and very interesting for them.”
Asked to name the aspects of life that cause the most difficulties for Bombardier’s expats in China, Letour cited medical amenities as top of the list. Melles also mentioned medical infrastructure, noting that people who intend to have children in the country should carefully consider the level of access they would have to a hospital or a medical clinic.
“It’s not so much Canadians, but a lot of expats in the United States think of a foreign assignment as a great chance to have an extended maternity leave. They go over there with plans of getting pregnant,” said Melles, pointing to limited maternity leave provisions in the U.S. as a reason for the practice. In such instances, she said, “you need to be very comfortable with the medical resources available.”
The concern isn’t as great if the expat is destined for one of the country’s urban centres, Melles added. But in recent years, as costs climb in cities such as Shanghai, foreign companies have increasingly been setting up offices in smaller settings a few hours’ drive away.
In such settings, “you may be the only westerner and people will come up and ask to have a picture taken with you, because they’ve never seen a white westerner before. That’s not to say that people can’t be happy or that they can’t be successful in that setting. But it’s a different challenge from when you’re in the city and there are all kinds of amenities and entertainment available.”
In rural environments, expats may encounter a lack of access to medical facilities as well as schools for their children. “People can sometimes romanticize that. They say, ‘We’ll go live somewhere in China and we’ll home-school our child.’ Well if you’ve never home-schooled before, this is not the time to start. If you are in the countryside in China, you’re not going to be able to find that one book that you forgot that is required in the curriculum.”
Melles added that as in many other countries, the greatest challenges for expat families in China are the ones she calls the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” variety. Expats who are prone to drink may find they’re particularly susceptible to the temptation of alcohol in China, as drinking figures into many types of business-related get-togethers.
“You drink to celebrate, you drink to get to know each other,” said Melles. In China, as well as a number of Asian-Pacific countries, foreign men may find they’re targeted for sexual relationships by women who see the affair as one of the few ways to escape their situations.
Such risks aren’t widespread. Day-to-day concerns of Canadians working in China have more to do with contrasting communication styles, said Melles.
“The Chinese communication tends to be very indirect. Even for Canadians, who are less direct than Americans, the challenge is, you need to take the time, you need to build the relationships, you need to learn to read the silences, the punctuation.”
If a Chinese person says, “I believe this is a good idea; are there any other ideas that you can come up with?” he might really mean he doesn’t like the idea and a different one is required, said Melles. “But a Canadian or an American might take that as, ‘Oh he really likes it.’ They don’t hear that it was a polite way of saying, ‘I don’t want to do what you’re suggesting. Give me another option.’”
Expats also need to learn to take the time to build relationships. A Canadian expat accustomed to picking up the phone to arrange a meeting may find he gets nowhere in China. “They don’t know you from Adam. Why would they see you? What you need to do is go through Mr. X, who will introduce you to Mr. Y, and only then can you call the person,” said Melles.
With each person along the way, what takes place is a mutual exchange of favours and courtesies. “If you introduce me to somebody else, perhaps I can take the time to meet Mr. B on your behalf,” said Melles.
This is what’s called “guanxi” or “relationship-building,” but it’s often misunderstood by Americans, who “often struggle with it” and mistake it for bribery, said Melles.
Faced with a chasm in work styles, foreign managers may sometimes end up expecting Chinese nationals working for them to adapt to their North American ways. Doing so may lead to a form of culture shock experienced by people who haven’t stepped foot outside their own country, said Melles.
Expat managers need to be extra sensitive to this kind of culture shock, particularly if they already start out with no clear way of measuring employees’ performance or no mutual understanding with employees about communication styles.
“The most common misinterpretation of cultural differences is you start thinking that people are incompetent or they have an attitude or they have mental health or personality problems. So if you start thinking that about your employees, you should ask yourself if culture and cultural miscommunication is the issue here.”
Bombardier’s Letour agrees that communication is what often trips up expats. The company has had to bring a few people back from assignments in China when they became ineffective due to inappropriate inter-personal habits. She spoke of an employee who was perceived as arrogant by her Chinese colleagues. “When they don’t have any respect for you, you get nothing done.”
