The Face of China
One of the top things to understand about Chinese culture is the importance of “face.” Though reputation, or “face,” is important in the US, it is much more important to Chinese. For example, if a project is experiencing problems (as they sometimes do), a Chinese developer might hide the extent of the challenge to save face. They might say that there is a small delay, but not explain the extent (which might be long) or the reason for the delay in detail.
There are a couple ways to handle such things. One is to become very authoritarian and demand detailed explanations for the delay. Shaming them can be an effective motivator if you need them to work late, work weekends, etc. to get the project back on track, as it can reduce their face which they want to avoid.
Another way is to handle it more delicately by emphasizing how you’re working together with the Chinese developers to please someone else, the client. You can remind them how you both need to look good to the client and that any delays in the project need to be discussed. That will allow you to explain to the client in a way that saves the most face for everyone.
There are two types of face in Chinese culture: mianzi and lian. Mianzi refers to the prestige and authority a person is viewed by others as having. Lian is the view society has of a person’s integrity and moral character.
For example, to avoid causing a loss of mianzi, Chinese will avoid bringing up embarrassing facts in public. Sometimes those embarrassing facts might have an influence on the progress of a project, so the developers will avoid mentioning them. If you sense that something like this might be happening, you should talk privately to one of them and tell them how it is important for the project’s success that you know.
To illustrate the role of mianzi in Chinese culture, there was a big mistake made by the development team in a project we worked on. The client asked for a specific database software to be used, but instead different software was used. The Chinese project manager knew how it was supposed to be done and thought it was done correctly a few weeks earlier, so he was surprised when he found out it was not done correctly. He told me and the client about the problem and I wanted to know which developer was responsible for this so I could better understand how the mistake occurred. This would help us avoid it in the future, along with giving me a chance to reprimand the developer, as I would my American developers.
To protect the developer’s mianzi, the Chinese project manager did not reveal his or her name. He instead emphasized that the individual(s) who caused the problem are not important, but they will work together to fix it as quickly as possible.
This incident also demonstrates the collective group mindset that the Chinese culture has, where actions are seen as being done by a group, rather than by individuals. This is a topic I will cover more in the future.
When difficulties occur, as they do in any software development project, there is no single best response that will fit all situations and development companies. Sometimes an approach that combines the authoritarian and the delicate approaches might be best. In general, I’ve found it better to try a delicate and harmonious approach first, but the culture of some companies require a more direct approach.
Saving face is one of the primary motivators in Chinese culture. Working with someone and allowing them to save or gain face will make them a close ally in completing successful projects. Keeping this in mind when managing or otherwise working with Chinese software developers will help them work with or for you as a harmonious counterpart to your American staff.