A foreign middle-level young manager said with anger and blush face to a Chinese female sales employee (my friend):"That's ridiculous!", when she refused to work in funny American hours from 3pm-11pm, to sell products to US-based "potential" clients with consideration of not being time-worthy. This is a 3rd time that he imposed such a requirement. And that, the requirement itself, is ridiculous.
What makes it more ridiculous is that, as a manager, he is very inexperienced and has less than one-year experience but manages a 2-year experienced sales with good track record, not knowing what is Huawei and even some top-tiered global bank (I don't want to name it) that have truly huge presence in Shanghai. Moreover, as a businessman in China, he does NOT know how to speak Chinese.
Do I like expats in Shanghai? Yes, except some of those who do and say things that make no sense at all. I personally read a lot of blogs foreigner who are: Danwei who produces videos and podcasts, Shanghaiist, SeekAlpha China Stock that has a great deal of company and stock info, China Law Blog by Harris&Moure, The China Venture done by a venture capitalist, China Businesscast with podcasts containing professional viewpoints, and China Business services et cetera. Those sites contains informative values circulating quickly. Plus, they become a tight society that share things. I like the facts that some expats get well organized with incentive for business, information, social events, and fun. I have to acknowledge that lot of my knowledge about my own country are from them. I am not and will never try/trying to hide it because this is what it is! A friend of mine who came from South Africa and is currently studying in Fudan University is a very active boy in attending various events and getting to know professionals. I can tell he is definitely learning-driven, ambitious and friendly.
As I said in my previous entries here and here, I believe foreigners in Shanghai bring new business philosophies, diverse cultures, and consumptions in China. They manage and invest...... But unfortunately, there are inevitably small part of them who are not as knowledgeable and serious as we suppose. It is evident that they have little business sense, do not speak Chinese, have no idea of Chinese culture, are not skilled in talking and negotiating with Chinese and able to bring as much profit as local Chinese can to the company, but unfairly get western pay which is 10 times more than Chinese in similar posts. Actually they insist on their ideas, don't want to change, pay a lip service to localization (see here for What does "localization" really mean?), and refuse to speak Chinese. Even worse, some pay little respect to Chinese and always keep eyes on them.
Consequentially, they are causing and have already caused a high level of instability in management. Chinese employees are very hard to be motivated and maybe eventually lose trust in foreigner leaders, although I don't personally hope so. I have to say there are some local persons who are not capable, but if an expat wants to come to China for whatever things, he/she should get himself/herself ready for it. And this is actually what a lot of them are good at.
UPDATE: Erik Nilsson in (China Daily) posted an article discussing the quality and quantity of expatriate men in China, especially in Beijing. In the article titled Foreign women label Beijing a dating wasteland posted on 11 Nov, some expatriate ladies said that:
For China's lonely "laowai" ladies, it seems the problem is a matter of not only the quantity of [expatriate] men, but also the quality... "Beijing seems to attract only certain types of guys: English-teacher types straight out of college who just want to have fun, ladder-climbing executive types and a bunch of weirdoes," said Emily Patterson, 23, of Cleveland, Ohio, who works as a reporter for a Chinese magazine in Beijing. "You don't want a college guy. Maybe the executive type is already married, busy or boring. And of course, you don't want to date a weirdo
"At home, maybe you meet a hundred nice, normal, single, socially, capable guys, and you have feelings for one or two. Here you meet five normal guys, and there's such a small chance that one of them is the one you want."
Like many expatriate women in China, Hartman believes that while "a few" laowai guys in China are worthwhile men, capable of establishing solid relationships, many come here to get a badly needed ego boost.
"The majority of men come here because they have issues back home ... or they just can't get a woman back home for a number of reasons," she said. "They come here because they become a big fish in a little pond; they become very important and sought after."
What makes it more ridiculous is that, as a manager, he is very inexperienced and has less than one-year experience but manages a 2-year experienced sales with good track record, not knowing what is Huawei and even some top-tiered global bank (I don't want to name it) that have truly huge presence in Shanghai. Moreover, as a businessman in China, he does NOT know how to speak Chinese.
Do I like expats in Shanghai? Yes, except some of those who do and say things that make no sense at all. I personally read a lot of blogs foreigner who are: Danwei who produces videos and podcasts, Shanghaiist, SeekAlpha China Stock that has a great deal of company and stock info, China Law Blog by Harris&Moure, The China Venture done by a venture capitalist, China Businesscast with podcasts containing professional viewpoints, and China Business services et cetera. Those sites contains informative values circulating quickly. Plus, they become a tight society that share things. I like the facts that some expats get well organized with incentive for business, information, social events, and fun. I have to acknowledge that lot of my knowledge about my own country are from them. I am not and will never try/trying to hide it because this is what it is! A friend of mine who came from South Africa and is currently studying in Fudan University is a very active boy in attending various events and getting to know professionals. I can tell he is definitely learning-driven, ambitious and friendly.
As I said in my previous entries here and here, I believe foreigners in Shanghai bring new business philosophies, diverse cultures, and consumptions in China. They manage and invest...... But unfortunately, there are inevitably small part of them who are not as knowledgeable and serious as we suppose. It is evident that they have little business sense, do not speak Chinese, have no idea of Chinese culture, are not skilled in talking and negotiating with Chinese and able to bring as much profit as local Chinese can to the company, but unfairly get western pay which is 10 times more than Chinese in similar posts. Actually they insist on their ideas, don't want to change, pay a lip service to localization (see here for What does "localization" really mean?), and refuse to speak Chinese. Even worse, some pay little respect to Chinese and always keep eyes on them.
Consequentially, they are causing and have already caused a high level of instability in management. Chinese employees are very hard to be motivated and maybe eventually lose trust in foreigner leaders, although I don't personally hope so. I have to say there are some local persons who are not capable, but if an expat wants to come to China for whatever things, he/she should get himself/herself ready for it. And this is actually what a lot of them are good at.
UPDATE: Erik Nilsson in (China Daily) posted an article discussing the quality and quantity of expatriate men in China, especially in Beijing. In the article titled Foreign women label Beijing a dating wasteland posted on 11 Nov, some expatriate ladies said that:
For China's lonely "laowai" ladies, it seems the problem is a matter of not only the quantity of [expatriate] men, but also the quality... "Beijing seems to attract only certain types of guys: English-teacher types straight out of college who just want to have fun, ladder-climbing executive types and a bunch of weirdoes," said Emily Patterson, 23, of Cleveland, Ohio, who works as a reporter for a Chinese magazine in Beijing. "You don't want a college guy. Maybe the executive type is already married, busy or boring. And of course, you don't want to date a weirdo
"At home, maybe you meet a hundred nice, normal, single, socially, capable guys, and you have feelings for one or two. Here you meet five normal guys, and there's such a small chance that one of them is the one you want."
Like many expatriate women in China, Hartman believes that while "a few" laowai guys in China are worthwhile men, capable of establishing solid relationships, many come here to get a badly needed ego boost.
"The majority of men come here because they have issues back home ... or they just can't get a woman back home for a number of reasons," she said. "They come here because they become a big fish in a little pond; they become very important and sought after."
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