A lively, informative primer on recognizing and avoiding the cultural pitfalls Americans may encounter while doing business in China.
A Chinese human resources director is embarrassed and troubled by the lavish public compliments a company manager offers her. At meetings, the Chinese employees say little to nothing, frustrating their American boss who wants and expects their input. Such cultural misunderstandings are common and avoidable, contend authors Kelm (Hispanic linguistics/University of Texas at Austin; Brazilians Working with Americans, 2007), Doggett, a senior lecturer at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and Tang, a senior product planner for Dell, Inc. In a familiar business text format, they offer eight case studies, each of which focuses on a particular cultural impasse, such as those mentioned above, that may stall American-Chinese business dealings. Each case study is followed by commentary from three American executives with much experience doing business in China, and three Chinese executives. The authors then offer some final comments along with topics and questions for discussion. While a few of the case studies tend to repeat the same message and the executives don’t always agree in their commentary, overall the format works well, offering broad lessons from particular scenarios. Simply put, China is different, and American executives, if they are to succeed in China, should recognize this. Millennia of Confucian influence have produced in China a strong sensitivity to the needs and feelings of the group. A public compliment, which Americans hand out like candy, may cause the Chinese recipient to worry that other colleagues may lose face and experience public humiliation. China is also a hierarchical society; though this is changing, one does not publicly challenge the boss. If Chinese are quiet at a meeting, it doesn’t mean they’re disinterested, only cautious, and may express themselves quite clearly one-on-one or in e-mails. Dozens of such insights and lessons are offered throughout the book, all leading to the conclusion that, in China, how the deal gets done is as important as getting it done. Essential reading for anyone heading off to do business in China.
Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463503680
Page Count: 146
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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