10 gaffes to avoid with respect to Chinese culture

My latest post at Tech Republic:

If you’re doing business in China, meeting with people from China, or planning to work there, you’ll want to avoid certain missteps. Calvin Sun explains a bit about Chinese culture and provides a heads-up on a few common mistakes and misconceptions.

---

– You walk into the party wearing jeans — and everyone else is black tie.

– You’re the emcee at a banquet, and as you’re introducing the speaker, you forget the speaker’s name.

– You write a check to your mother-in-law — and it bounces.

Gaffes are bad enough in your own circle of friends, associates, and family. They’re infinitely worse when they occur in the context of another culture. According to the Everest Group, the market for outsourcing of information technology and other business processes to China is growing at 38% a year. By 2010, according to Everest, that market could reach $7 billion.

These numbers mean huge opportunity, but also huge opportunity to make mistakes. If you’re doing business in China, or meeting with people from China, or want to work in China, watch out for these trouble areas, and avoid problems.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

[to read the entire entry, please visit http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=385]

Someone posted a comment in reaction to the article, discussing how in fact there IS a written form of Cantonese. One learns something new every day...

Non-transparent technology

Tomorrow I am going out of town, on a Delta flight that is a Northwest code share. In other words, I made the reservation through Delta, and the flight has a Delta flight number, but the actual flight is operated by Northwest. I had purchased the ticket about two weeks ago, and received my e-mail receipt.

This morning, I signed onto the Delta site, brought up my itinerary, and tried to check in. No way, because the "check in" command button was greyed out.

I called Delta, and after about twenty minutes on hold, reached a live person, who of course said she couldn't find my reservation. After more searching, she finally did find it. However, she apologized and said even she couldn't check me in. Rather, I had to have my NORTHWEST confirmation number (which is different from my Delta confirmation number) and I had to check in at the Northwest web site.

I then visited the Northwest site and checked in. However, the experience left me puzzled and got me to think. Here was an example of where technology failed to mirror business processes. In order to have code sharing, Northwest and Delta had to have gotten together to negotiate the arrangements. There had to be communications between them and between their reservations systems. However, that communications and transparency didn't carry over to the Delta web site. If it had, that web site should have provided at least a link to the Northwest web site, and provided the Northwest confirmation number. In fact, to take transparency to its greatest level, I simply should have been able to check in at Delta.

Keep this incident in mind if you're developing a system. Make sure it mirrors the business process you're supporting. Make the technology as transparent as possible.

Cultural communications issues: high vs. low context styles

I recently came across some fascinating work by a man named Edward Hall. The research took place years ago, but still is relevant today. Hall developed the concept of high context vs. low context communications styles. The former refers to an environment in which communications occurs more by context and less by words. For example, I come into a room and see that everyone but one person has a beverage. So, without saying or asking anything, I give a beverage to that person. I obtained my information by looking and observing, i.e. from context.

Suppose, instead, I went to that person, and said, "would you like a beverage?" Then suppose I said "OK, I'll get you one." Then, after giving it, I said "Here it is." This second example illustrates low context communications. There's more use of words, and less on observation.

Problems can arise if a person is expecting one context level of communications and gets another. This issue arises particularly with people of different cultures. Hall posited, for example, that many Asian cultures have higher levels of context, while the US has lower levels. So, on the one hand, we could annoy people by telling them too much, but also by telling them too little.

Keep this concept in mind when communicating with people, especially from different cultures.

To thank or not to thank (Computerworld v. Tech Republic)

In a previous post I discussed the heat I took for suggesting, in a Tech Republic article, that interviewees send a thank you note to the interviewer after a job interview. Well a few days later, I posted a question in that regard to Sharkbait, of Computerworld. The responses there were almost completely different from those of Tech Republic. The Sharkbait posters generally agreed with me that such a note was a good thing to do, as long as one stayed away from sending the impression of being desperately in need of a job.

Here's the Computerworld post

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

"Credibility" vs. "etiquette": keep in mind the reader's point of view

I'm working on an article for Tech Republic that discusses the posting of items on forums or chat sessions. My original title was going to deal with "etiquette when posting online."

I thought about that title, and then said to myself, "Who is ever going to read an article with that title?" Is that a dull and boring topic, or what?

Then I thought some more, and said to myself, "how can I make the title more attractive?" I thought even more, and said, "Well, if people fail to follow my advice, they could end up sounding less persuasive, or more foolish."

Therefore, what about a title such as "How to protect and enhance your credibility when posting to discussion groups"? Isn't that a better title? It conveys a more concrete benefit to the reader, right? Keep this thought in mind in your own writing and presentations, i.e. try to stress how your material benefits the reader.

Leaving a trail?

Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.

According to to Wikipedia, the above quote is attributable to Massachusetts politician Martin Lomasney, regarding the importance of discretion.

Think about Mr. Lomasney's statement the next time you write an e-mail. In a previous post, I referenced my article on legal terms for IT professionals, and one of those terms was e-discovery. If your company is involved in a lawsuit, the other side will be asking for documents your company has, including e-mail. So, be careful what you put down electronically.

I thought of this point just the other day, when I received an e-mail from someone at a client company. I had visited this company and done a presentation for them. The person who e-mailed me thanked me for that work, but said there were additional management and organizational issues that existed, and that it would be good for me to return and do additional work. The person then requested that I not associate that person's name with the person's comments if and when I talked to leadership in that company.

I'm certainly fine with that request, and would keep that confidence. I was surprised, though, that this person, in sending me the e-mail, used the address and e-mail system of the company itself. I would never betray the confidence or anonymity of the person, but that person actually potentially did, by using the company system. Not to be paranoid, but once that information goes through the company mail servers, there's a chance someone technically able could view it.

Had I been this person, I would have done the following alternatives:
- used a private e-mail (e.g. gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail), and then from a non-company computer e.g. home, or Internet cafe or library computer, and preferably where no sign in or electronic login is needed
- used alternate content, such as "Calvin, could you call me, because I wanted to discuss something?" (then given a home or non-company cell phone number)

Of course, these alternatives aren't foolproof, but they do offer more privacy than what the person actually did.

Always think about what you're putting down, and about who could be looking at it.

Joe Pruitt, of DevCentral, discussed my Computerworld article

Joe Pruitt, host of DevCentral, recently discussed my Computerworld article on career suicide. A video of Mr. Pruitt is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0SDlvoSMA


Here is a link to Mr. Pruitt's blog:
http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/dcdaily

The Computerworld article