Bin, a Chinese-American, has worked for an insurance company for the past 10 years. She loved her job and wanted to work for the company the rest of her life. She always came to work earlier than everyone else and stayed almost a half an hour later than others at work. She worked very hard and always finished her reports on time for her boss, Chris. She always listened to Chris and created excellent documents.
Chris was promoted to Vice President of Sales. Now he is in charge of national sales, is very ambitious and wants to make his job the best.
Chris is a New Yorker, Caucasian-American, MBA, is an outgoing person who is kind and funny.
Bin thought part of his promotion was because of her efforts.
One day Chris called Bin into his office and told her she would not be getting an annual raise until she improves her communications with him.
Chris was seriously considering replacing Bin. He said he had asked her for feedback during the past year if she felt there was a better way to prepare the reports and that Bin never offered any suggestions. Over the past year Bin did not recall one time Chris had asked for her input regarding the way reports were being handled.
For Bin’s culture in China you never give feedback to your superiors unless you are asked.
Consequently, Bin felt it was unfair to get the evaluation she did because Chris never asked her for feedback.
In my opinion no one did anything wrong in this situation however cross cultural awareness in the workplace played a key role in this.
Here are five tips to prevent situations like this:
1. Give employees a clear job description and define what is expected from them.
2. Share common goals with employees. For example, "We want to increase sales and please share your ideas on how to do this."
3. Accept culture differences when you work with a multicultural workforce.
4. Have cultural training workshops for all employees.
5. Provide incentives for new ideas. Money talks. Recognition builds self-esteem.
If you accept cultural differences everyone can work together as a team. Clear communication is the key to success.
Remember, You Are a Superhero!
Jinsoo
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