Bottom-up strategy can be tricky in corporate Asia
Print Edition
GARY Hamel’s point, empowering staff and involving them in corporate strategy design, could be a success in some cases in Western countries.
But what kind of challenges would it encounter in China and other Asian countries?
Oriental cultural traditionally imbues people with traits of reserve (sometimes to the point of apparent introversion), modesty, reluctance to stand out and to speak up publicly, among other things — in contrast with Western culture that typically turns out extrovers and encourages individualism.
Confucius was the most famous evangelist for this philosophy of zhong yong, often interpreted as maintaining balance and harmony.
A person who follows the zhong yong doctrine should be cautious and follow the path of duty. But there is a Chinese equivalent of the Morning Star cases — the hotpot brand Haidilao.
The hotpot restaurant chain attracted the attention of business schools after it swept through more than 20 big Chinese cities and won overwhelmingly popularity among customers in the competitive specialty market within years.
Business schools made it a case study and a published book discusses the success of Haidilao’s management strategy.
Company founder Zhang Yong has been quoted by media as attributing part of the company’s success to the corporate strategy of empowering its employees.
Grassroots power
In Haidilao, every waiter and waitress has the right to handle customer feedback and give customers a complimentary meal in particular cases where problems arise with food or service.
“All of our executives are chosen from grassroots employees. That’s where we are different from others — their employees don’t feel valued,” Zhang told the Economic Observer, a Beijing-based business journal recently.
Haidilao is by no means the only success story of the employee engagement model in China and Asia.
Frank Wu, executive vice president Siemens Ltd China, adopts the same people management strategy in his company and says the meaning of zhong yong is widely misunderstood.
“Zhong yong does not discourage people’s active involvement. When you study Confucius’ ideas more deeply, you find that it actually means, ‘Do the right things at the right time’.” The core value here is people,” Wu said last month on the sidelines of the Singapore Human Capital Summit 2013.
Despite the impression that many East Asians, because of their natural reserve, lag behind in interpersonal communication skills, modern technology and social media enable people to express themselves more easily in the digital world.
According to Mano Ramakrishnan, head of research for the Singapore-based Human Capital Leadership Institute, Asian people might be not good at publicly voicing their dislike of a policy or decision, “but they can text the boss and say, “Hey, I don’t like it.”
Getting engaged
Hence, the real key to employee engagement lies in a proactive approach — the key question is how to motivate employees to get engaged.
Without motivation and incentive, why should a sales person spend time thinking about product strategy, rather than pitching 10 clients or making 10 sales orders?
Incentives and disincentives should be used in tandem.
In Morning Star, blue-collar workers are able to buy any equipment, but if their purchase fails to pay off, they may well be fired by colleagues. At Haidilao, waiters and waitress who improperly discounted a bill will get a pay cut.
As business leaders observed at the summit, what companies need to do is set up a mechanism that makes rules and benefits clear to all employees.
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