Working with people who are different from you is frustrating. You hardly understand their logics and behaviors
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Working with people who are different from you is frustrating. You hardly understand their logics and behaviors. At iPrice, employees come from more than 20 countries around the world, we sit closely together in the open space area in the penthouse at the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Bosses are included. There is no luxurious cubicle just for them.
Here are the 5 common things our management learned from working with employees, who come from different cultures, especially Asian people in Southeast Asian countries.
Asians do not like confrontation
Asians view confrontation as immature and unnecessary. On the other hand, westerners prefer to get problems out in public, talk about it, and they’d like to see it resolved. They do not take arguments personally. They consider such behavior as professional.
Asians are proud of their work and are attached to it personally. Therefore, they feel personally attacked when people comment or ask about their work in public. Some even take it as a humiliation.
At iPrice, management team encourages all employees to speak out whenever issues occur. We are thought to see criticism as a productive mechanism. If we are not comfortable to speak directly to our manager, we are more than happy to discuss with HR or even the CEO.
Asians do not like to voice out in public
Following the first point of Asians trying to avoid confrontation as much as possible, this issue always happens when Asians are asked their opinions in public. They are not willing to express their feelings and ideas in public because they are afraid of being judged by other people. Another word is “they do not want to lose face.”
The company created anonymous survey for employees to express any feelings or thoughts that they want to share with whoever in the company. Their questions are kept anonymous. The solution helps solving problems for both parties, management hears what employees have to say and employees are encouraged to share their opinions to make a better workplace.
Asian’s time
Westerners’ perception of time is a linear sequence of event. Things must happen at the exact hour or minute. On the contrary, Asian’s perception of time is cyclical and endless, in which event can happen anytime in such a period.
In general, a meeting at 2 PM will usually start at 2.15 because people show up late. But it is not the case here. We all respect each other time as it is a shared asset. The faster we finish the meeting, the earlier we can take off to take care of our individual assignment.
Productivity is key
The bonus point at the company is to encourage employees to work productively through different policies such as flexible working hour and fun and relax environment.
We are given options to start working from 8 AM to 5 PM or 10 AM to 7 PM. They understand people are being productive at different time. This is to allow employees to manage their schedule and find the time where their productivity is optimal to perform effectively.
Fun and relax working environment boost energy and motivate employees to work. Employees are encouraged to work anywhere, sit with different teams, work in a café, a park or even work from home if they want to. As a result, more collaboration between employees has been increased and miscommunicated has been decreased tremendously.
Dealing with office politics
People play politics to take advantage and advance in their careers. Those who are superior rise while mediocre ones vanished. Often argue within the company of having people from different backgrounds, Asian are perceived inferior to any other races in the workplace.
The management team that understands how this politics can negatively affect how employees perform their jobs state it out in public to ensure everyone is on the same page. The company tries to promote people based purely on performance, regardless of nationality or country where they are from. At the company, we often see Asian has been promoted more and more in the past. The issue of office politics seems the be resolved, or at least the issues were explained.
Above are the 5 things I have noticed from the management team that has been doing a really good job at managing people who come from different backgrounds and cultures. If you are happened to be hired to work in an international environment just like me, leave your comments below and share how people in your workplace overcome cultural differences and deal with people from different backgrounds.
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Featured image credit: 123RF Stock Photography
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