Hi ,

I am here in shanghai from last 2 years and this is my second company here. I came here in search of job and found these both jobs myself. What i started thinking is ...
Its very difficult to work here in china ...

# If you dont know the language - You cant speak with colleagues , you cant speak with suppliers , your speed of work slows down significantly.

# As a foreigner you try to be nice with all of your subordinate : Once they know , you are not being harsh then most of them start taking disadvantage of your politeness , and this spreads like oil drop on water .
and whole team start loosing focus.

So its good to be here ,

If you are working in multinational , where at least some of your colleagues are foreigners. And working language in english.

You should be at top post , if not , they just ignore you , and dont give a damn of what you are saying.

When your work is in management ,its ok , BUt if you are technical profession , then all this chinese language references reports start giving you headache ! You cant infer anything from them unless you get help from someone.

--- And most important, when you are not working at full efficiency , you start getting frustrated with the obstacles. And you dont enjoy your professional life no matter how much you earn.

What do you this friends ?
Regards

soloind wrote:# As a foreigner you try to be nice with all of your subordinate : Once they know , you are not being harsh then most of them start taking disadvantage of your politeness , and this spreads like oil drop on water .
and whole team start loosing focus.

This is true on many levels here. Give an inch and they take a mile.
It's the same with all kinds of people that you could employ.
In my opinion, the locals seem to operate best under duress.

It depends. Sometimes I am glad I dont speak chinese, so that I dont participate in the "office drama/politics/etc" and just concentrate on my work.

For the company I work for, most don't take advantage of my civility. They do chuckle when I let a female walk through the doorway before me, always tell me I don't need to thank them for emptying my garbage can, etc...they know I'm a foreigner and understand its how I do things being raised in the US. When someone does try to take advantage, a quick yelling in front of their peers usually put them back in place.

But it is difficult to be at the management level if you don't speak or understand Chinese...can always get away without having to read Chinese, but that will eventually come around.

I am only laowai in office of about 30 ren. I am not management but technical I just work on day to day basis with one local guy at times he can be taxing. There does appear to be a thing that locals working there like to think themselves more impprtant than they really are. Send a mail to one person then they reply and copy in everyone and their dog, why does the MD need to be copied in nothing to do with him and probably don't give a damn!!!! Ask local staff to do something they not interested as it means no extra money so they just sit surfing, MSN, Skype or Taobao shopping....but saying that i know lazy buggers like that in UK!!!!
But day to day go with the flow get my work done.

JasUK wrote: Send a mail to one person then they reply and copy in everyone and their dog, why does the MD need to be copied in nothing to do with him and probably don't give a damn!!!! Ask local staff to do something they not interested as it means no extra money so they just sit surfing, MSN, Skype or Taobao shopping....but saying that i know lazy buggers like that in UK!!!!
But day to day go with the flow get my work done.

What the emails with CC to everyone is concerned, you see that not only in China, but in Asia in general. The purpose is:
1) to show everybody, and the boss in particular, how f*****g busy you are.
2) As a CYA (cover your arse) strategy (I sent you a copy, so you knew about it), and to make it easier later on to pass the blame on someone when thing get buggered up.

Regarding the waste of time on the internet, I just asked my IT guy to block most of that crap, and check the computers on regular basis. It is a cause for dismissal if after ample warnings it keeps happening.

Andreas wrote:

JasUK wrote: Send a mail to one person then they reply and copy in everyone and their dog, why does the MD need to be copied in nothing to do with him and probably don't give a damn!!!! Ask local staff to do something they not interested as it means no extra money so they just sit surfing, MSN, Skype or Taobao shopping....but saying that i know lazy buggers like that in UK!!!!
But day to day go with the flow get my work done.

What the emails with CC to everyone is concerned, you see that not only in China, but in Asia in general. The purpose is:
1) to show everybody, and the boss in particular, how f*****g busy you are.
2) As a CYA (cover your arse) strategy (I sent you a copy, so you knew about it), and to make it easier later on to pass the blame on someone when thing get buggered up.

Regarding the waste of time on the internet, I just asked my IT guy to block most of that crap, and check the computers on regular basis. It is a cause for dismissal if after ample warnings it keeps happening.

Yep...
Chinese are in my experience not the worst at this in Asia...

Andreas wrote:

JasUK wrote: Send a mail to one person then they reply and copy in everyone and their dog, why does the MD need to be copied in nothing to do with him and probably don't give a damn!!!! Ask local staff to do something they not interested as it means no extra money so they just sit surfing, MSN, Skype or Taobao shopping....but saying that i know lazy buggers like that in UK!!!!
But day to day go with the flow get my work done.

What the emails with CC to everyone is concerned, you see that not only in China, but in Asia in general. The purpose is:
1) to show everybody, and the boss in particular, how f*****g busy you are.
2) As a CYA (cover your arse) strategy (I sent you a copy, so you knew about it), and to make it easier later on to pass the blame on someone when thing get buggered up.

Regarding the waste of time on the internet, I just asked my IT guy to block most of that crap, and check the computers on regular basis. It is a cause for dismissal if after ample warnings it keeps happening.

You are on holiday or at work when you post this?

I work from home a few days a week

This was discussed in detail a few months ago. The thread title was "my apathetic Chinese colleagues are driving me insane":

my-apathetic-chinese-colleagues-are-driving-me-insane-t105123.html

What the emails with CC to everyone is concerned, you see that not only in China, but in Asia in general.

Yep, retarded behavior is common in Asia. I mean, there are a lot of retarded minds in the US too, the Sarah Palin and the Rush Limbaugh types (go to Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, or any hick state) - but that's a different kind of retardation, not the same as in Asia. Even a "retarded" carpenter in Missisippi who doesn't believe in the theory of evolution will do a much better job than an "above average" Asian counterpart. Attention to detail? Doesn't happen in most of Asia (Singapore and Japan are exceptions).

I also work from home when i wish as have no boss or reporting line in China. When i do go office 730am then come home cover UK biz, teleconferences until 9 or 10pm.