Working with our Chinese counterparts

Hello and welcome to the fifth part of a series of business-cultural communication insights, which look at how we (struggle to) work together, around the world. Today I’m going to explore Chinese business communication culture and the concept of guanxi, before taking a look at the ‘trusting’ and ‘deciding’ dimensions of The Culture Map.

Here we arrive at a very important destination when considering the ins and outs of professional cultural communication - China. Whatever your personal opinions of Chinese politics, you absolutely cannot afford to ignore Chinese business. China’s technological and economic progress over the past 50 years has been, to put it lightly, astronomical and unprecedented. It has been the world’s fastest growing economy for over 30 years.

Let’s begin with a question. How would you describe how Chinese people operate and communicate in business? Answers in the comments, please!

I asked a few of my students at The English Farm this question (all of whom are Big Three consultants, and work extensively on international projects). A few similarities were mentioned with regards to the perceptions and stereotypes that are held about Chinese communication styles:

Chinese people in business are often considered to be..

• Direct, frank, and sometimes argumentative;?
• Profit, investment, goal, and ‘win’ orientated;
• Hierarchical;
• Relationship based, valuing strong social connections;
• Difficult to work with if you are not part of their in-group, even within the same company;
• Extremely diligent, ambitious and hungry for success;
• Wary of losing face or causing someone to lose face - e.g. problems might not be communicated directly in group meetings if they might cause embarrassment or disagreement, and communicating bad news is often done indirectly;
• Hesitant to say NO, especially in public. To confirm a negative decision, you might have to ask a second or third time, in private.

The story of Cao Cao

There was once a powerful warlord named Cao Cao who controlled a large part of China. He was known to be a military genius but was also very suspicious and cruel. He had several sons, and although traditionally the eldest son would be the heir, Cao Cao, probably in favour of the youngest son, was not sure whom he should pick.?

So he asked a counsellor named Jia Xu, who was regarded as a very intelligent adviser. After listening to Cao’s question, Jia Xu did not say a word and seemed to have fallen into a deep thought. Cao Cao said,” I am asking you a question, why are you silent?”

Jia said,” I am just thinking of the cases of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao.”

The moment he answered, Cao Cao understood what Jia Xu wanted to say and he laughed with satisfaction. Jia was reminding Cao Cao of the possible tragic consequences if he did not follow the tradition of picking the eldest son. In the end, Cao Cao made his eldest son Cao Pi his successor.

Jia Xu answered the question indirectly. He used the experiences of two different warlords, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, who had both abolished the successor status of their eldest sons. This resulted in fighting between the eldest and youngest sons and the eventual defeat of their kingdoms.

In the West, if we were Jia Xu, we would probably say "I think Cao Pi is the correct decision, because..."

Jia Xu knew he could not answer directly as he might get himself into trouble, because Cao Cao would be suspicious of a conspiracy between Jia and the eldest son Cao Pi.

Guanxi

If you only take away one thing from this article, let it be Guanxi (/Guan-shi/).

It is often translated as 'connections” - 'relationships' - 'social networks'. The character guan, 关, means “closed” while the character xi 系 means “system”. Together they refer to a closed system of relationships and mutual obligations.

Imagine a figurative gate erected in the Chinese business world. Those behind it help each other. Those on the outside can’t get in, unless they have guanxi with someone on the inside.

[Guanxi] implies trust and mutual obligations between parties, and it operates on personal, familial, social, business, and political levels. Having good, bad, or no guanxi impacts one's influence and ability to get things done.

Guanxi tips

• It is a long-term approach and requires conscious and continuous effort;
• Formal introductions are very important;
• When building rapport, focus on similarities, rather than differences;
• Remember that young Chinese are less bound to traditional values and obligations;
• Simple gifts and company merchandise will likely be well received;
• Go along to invited dinners and events when invited by your Chinese colleagues and counterparts to build trust.

Importantly, you should not rely on it at the expense of doing the hard work on your product, service, and people, in order to convince your Chinese colleagues and counterparts that your work adds value to theirs.

Let’s check in with The Culture Map to see if Erin Meyer agrees.

As we can see, China is firmly on the relationship-based side. For the Anglosphere and northern European countries, this can feel like uncharted territory because there, people are much more task-based in how trust is built and relationships formed in professional contexts. In other words, you build strong professional relationships in task-based cultures by being good at your job and easy to work with.

For a lot of people at the task-based end, it can feel uncomfortable and awkward to have to build personal relationships with professional counterparts. People at this end like to draw a thick line between their work and personal/social lives, so having to consciously create strong bonds through social interactions and relationship building activities outside of office hours and contexts can seem unnatural. However, for people like this, the reality is that if they want to work well together with people from relationship-based trusting cultures, such as China, they will have to up their game and find ways to connect on a personal level.

Negotiating (and deciding)

The Chinese term for negotiation, tan pan (谈判), combines two characters that mean ‘to discuss’ and ‘to judge’. From a Chinese point of view, negotiations are mechanisms for building trust and harmony so that both parties can work towards reciprocal benefit. In Chinese business culture, negotiations depend on creating long-term relationships. For example, final deals are frequently reached outside of meetings in casual settings, such as restaurants and bars

So, we have established that relationship building is extremely important in Chinese business, but relationship building on its own doesn’t get things signed and sealed. In order to come to an official agreement, different cultures value different styles of negotiating and deciding.

Japanese people, for example, value consensus, so closing deals in Japan will often require lots of informal and formal conversations with many of the key players and decision makers. The Anglosphere sits somewhere in the middle between consensus and top-down decision making, and Latin countries tend towards a top-down style. If you haven’t yet, please check out the earlier publications of this newsletter for a review of those cultures.

China is extremely top-down when it comes to making the final decision. This means that it is vital to understand the decision making process of your Chinese counterparts, because there will often be strict internal rules, and you may be required to attend numerous meetings and give various presentations with various levels of decision makers.?

To get proper buy in with your Chinese counterparts, you will likely need to jump through hoops and go through a few levels of their organisation.

This means that your negotiations may be slow. Chinese people do not like to be rushed, so you might have to be flexible with your timings and deadlines for your projects and results.

By taking their time, Chinese people and businesses know that they are more likely to have the upper hand in negotiations. Being patient in your approach and willing to take your time will help you to maintain your ground. Once a final decision is made, Chinese people and businesses move fast.

Chinese business communication culture is complex. It is especially difficult to understand how direct or indirect your interactions with your Chinese colleagues and counterparts will be. As always, cultural stereotypes are interesting and can be very useful, but they should never take precedence over the person sitting in front of you. Reading the room, and being flexible and willing to really get to know the people you work with, will always be more powerful than simply following these broad brush generalisations.

Next time, let’s go to Italy. Have a great week.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Nadim

[email protected]

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For English language students

Business Idioms at The English Farm

1. The ins and outs of - all the details;
2. To put it lightly - express something in a way that lessens or mitigates its significance or scale;
3. To lose face - be embarrassed, humiliated, or come to be less respected;
4. (To do something) at the expense of (something else) - expresses concern at the fact that the second thing is not done;
5. (To be in, venture into, go into) uncharted territory - refers to unfamiliar situations;
6. (To) up one’s game - to improve one’s performance;
7. Signed and sealed (signed, sealed, and delivered) - formally and officially agreed;
8. (To achieve/get) buy in - get support and agreement for something;
9. (To) jump through hoops - go through an elaborate and complicated process;
10. (To) have (or gain) the upper hand - have/gain the advantage;
11. (To) take one’s time - to move (do something) patiently and slowly;
12. (To) maintain one's ground - to keep one's position (in the face of opposition or difficulty);
13. (To) take precedence over - be more important than;
14. (To) read the room - to understand the emotions and thoughts of the people present, especially to determine what would be appropriate or inappropriate to say or do;
15. Broad brush generalisations (to paint with a broad brush) - to describe something in vague or general terms, especially to stereotype something.