International perspectives on Hong Kong

¶ … Kolb model in writing a narrative about one's experience in Hong Kong as an American worker. The author illustrates the proper use of the Kolb model while writing a narrative of working in Hong Kong Telecom. There were three sources used to complete this paper.

When I first accepted a position in Hong Kong I was apprehensive about how I would fit in, what I could expect from co-workers and whether or not I would be able to last the entire year that I contracted for. The experiences I brought with me to the position did prepare me for the professional side of the contract. They allowed me to research with efficiency and prepare the data in reports that were easily followed and used to benefit the company sales force. I was more concerned with the cultural differences and how those would impact my ability to relate to and interact with co-workers and upper management in the most efficient manner possible.

Once I arrived and began my assignment, however, I quickly acclimated to the cultural differences and delivered the information that I was paid to gather and put together. The experience in Hong Kong has provided me with a foundation to travel to other jobs worldwide with confidence and professional ability. I had years of experience in motivating sales force teams and I intitially thought this was going to be just like all the times I had done it in America. I couldn't have been more wrong. The cultural differences between Hong Kong and America called for an entirely different approach to the job I had to do and through this learning experience I have added an incredible amount to my resume for future use.

I was hired as a research expert to seek out solutions to the sales force incentive problem being experienced by Hong Kong Telecom at the time. Hong Kong Telecom was going through many significant changes in light of the fact that the company was moving from a strictly monopolized utility company to an open competitive market experience. It was at the time of this change that I was hired.

My position was one of consultant and I was asked to research several similar companies that were international by nature and sold similar products and services to Hong Kong Telecom. I was asked to compile a list of suggestions to create incentive among the employees beyond their regular pay checks.

I was charged with the duty of exploring options that would entice workers on the sales force to compete for the sales of the customers. It was an interesting assignment as the entire company had been built to that point on monopoly sales which required very little effort at all.

I had to research companies that had similar sized sales forces and discover what types of things those companies did to motivate their sales people to work hard at making sales. I was at the position in Hong Kong for a total of one year. My contract was for a year and I fulfilled it.

My responsibilities were clear and could stand alone from the group as I was independent in my work and goal. I was to report to the head of the sales department and provide the recommendations to her about how to motivate the sales force employees to think in a more open competitive market manner.

The goals and objectives of this work contract was for me to change the mindset of the sales force. I considered it quite a challenge especially in light of the cultural differences between my homeland, and the place I had spent my life and this new country, with a new way of doing business which was alien even to those in Hong Kong.

There was one moment in particular that opened my eyes to the cultural differences and how they actually became an advantage. The people of Hong Kong are culturally extremely polite. They are not pushy or forward by nature, and I was trying to convince a previously dormant sales team to come alive and compete for sales. I realized that I would need to take the elements of that culture and build them into the plan to motivate the sales force. Once that light bulb flickered on in my mind I was on a one way path to success in my goal of providing workable and feasible solutions to the motivation problem.

My thought process during this project was to adapt the culture to the new way of doing business. Because those in Hong Kong are much more respectful and polite than the American or other Western counterparts when it came to everyday life I felt it was best to build that cultural norm into any suggestion I might make when it came to providing suggestions to motivate the workers in the sales force.

A noticed that incentives that may work in the United States would not be the same thing that the workers in Hong Kong would become enthusiastic for. Hong Kong culture mandates longer working hours with fewer expectations from the workers. This was especially true in the fact that the entire company and region were changing mindsets to be able to compete in the open market. From my research into other international companies I knew that it was extremely important to take into consideration the cultural differences between this and other nations. The incentives that might work in the western hemisphere of the world may not work in Hong Kong. I realized that things such as an extra day off would not carry as much clout in this company as it would in a stateside company because the employees in Hong Kong were used to working longer harder hours than their American counterparts and much of their identity was tied up in this work. I also realized that recognition by way of public acknowledgement may not be the bet thing to use here as the humbleness of Asians is almost unmatchable in the world.

In retrospect, I realize that I could have introduced the concept of more days off and it may have been something exciting that the sales force members would want to try, but at the time I could see the cultural differences that steered me away from that mindset. The more I learned about the differences in the cultures I realized the importance of providing incentives that would apply to this culture, and sales force. One of the things I decided was that the recommendations would have to be humble and meant to praise without making the person feel singled out.

This is because of the humble ways of the Asian population. Asian workers and companies are also big on giving gifts, so when I put the gift giving tendencies with the desire to stay humble I realized one of the best ways to motivate the workers on the sales forces was to use gifts that provided enjoyment and also worked to further motivate other workers.

For this particular learning work experience I applied the rules or traditions of the Asian population on which to base my recommendations and decision regarding the sales force.

During this process I also had to let go of some of the preconceived notions that I had about the Asian worker. I knew they were diligent and hard working but I also mistook their quietness for weakness. Through my research I discovered that this is a common misconception among international workers.

These stereotypes include the belief that Asians are hard workers who have good technical skills, but lack managerial talent. That's partly because of their deeply rooted cultural values. The model Asian is modest, reserved and humble, as opposed to American women, who are often more aggressive (Block, 2003). "

I knew as I realized this difference that I would have to develop incentive plans that would encourage the workers to become more aggressive if they planned on competing in the open market. One of the plans I developed provided incentives in the way of plaques and special parking places for the sales person with the most sales for a quarter.

I believed this would not only motivate workers to try and get the coveted parking place but it would also motivate them because of the humble recognition it allowed them to have without them having to brag about their accomplishment themselves.

An example from my research also taught me that the employees on the sales force of Hong Kong Telecom would do just about anything to not humiliate the company.

The training starts early. Kaity Tong, news anchor for WPIX-11, immigrated to the States from China when she was 5 years old. On her first day of school, her mother issued a warning: "Remember, everything you do reflects on you, our family and on the entire Chinese people," Ms. Tong recalls (Block, 2003).

This knowledge that I gained during this experience will prove to be useful to me in new experiences as I move up the career ladder. For many years, I was of the mindset that all workplace situations were identical. I had almost gotten a formula attitude about it and thought that it was the same rote rhetoric when it came to motivating sales people worldwide. When I went to Hong Kong and spent the year putting together suggestions to motivate that sales force I realized exactly how important it is to accept and use cultural advantages to put together the total package.

Based on this knowledge I will be careful in the future to recognize cultures within the workplace, whether it is a few people from a different culture or if the entire workforce at the company is from a different culture. I know now that using those differences can allow me to provide the absolute best recommendations possible when it comes to any project.

A initially encountered resistance to the idea of becoming more aggressive as a sales force, but when my suggestions of rewards such as parking places and plaques was shared the attitudes changed significantly. It showed those I was putting the recommendations together for that I was sensitive to the culture and was making suggestions based on that very culture.