Beyond WIIFM

Jim Batterson

Chinese culture, especially under Mao, placed strong emphasis on a value celebrating those people who acted selflessly, heroically sacrificing themselves for the common good. The posters, movies, songs and stories from this era are international cult collector's items and have a "camp" appeal outside of China. Many are laughable in the extreme examples they portray.

Within China selflessness is still emphasized in the schools, but within adult society there is a growing class of (relatively) very rich people who have corruptly leveraged their position within the party to their own benefit. These people are hated, envied and admired, as you might expect.

A more deeply embedded characteristic of Chinese culture is the concept of Guanxi. Guanxi is like an informal accounting system of favors done for people. In 1994-1995, Xucheng lived at my house, all meals, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, everything, for absolutely free while he was an exchange teacher at a local elementary school for the school year. (He was the tenth Chinese man who lived with us.) When I visited his school (he is headmaster) I taught for free, and the mere presence of a foreign teacher enhanced his prestige within the community.

But Xucheng is also the kind of fellow who is constantly doing favors for other people and is able to call upon them when he needs a favor. When we needed transportation and the school car was not available, he made a phone call and presto; we rode around all day in a police car! When I needed a doctor in Lipu, one showed up at my room, no charge. But most impressive of all, when I was 500 miles away in the city of Kunming and sick as a dog, within an hour after Xucheng found out about it an English-speaking doctor showed up at my hotel room with the medicine I needed. Believe me, if you were sick in a hotel in Saint Louis, I could not arrange that for you in a month of Sundays.

There was a discussion on Jerry Weinberg's SHAPE Forum recently about how to say no when people ask you for favors — asking you to do work for them for free. I think we could learn something from the Chinese about how to say yes. I believe in Karma.

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Don't Rebuild the Chrysler Building

When we undertake change, we're usually surprised at the effort and cost required. Much of this effort and cost is necessary because of the nature of the processes we're changing. What can we do differently to make change easier in the future?

Pick-Up Sticks and the Change Game

When we change organizational culture, we often stumble over unexpected obstacles. Sometimes the tangle can be so frustrating that we want to start the company over again. Here are some tips for managing large-scale cultural change.

Workplace Taboos and Change

In the workplace, some things can't be discussed — they are taboo. When we're aware of taboos, we can choose when to obey them, and when to be more flexible. When we're unaware of them, they can limit our ability to change.

Conventional Foolishness

Every specialization has a set of beliefs, often called "conventional wisdom." When these beliefs are so obvious that they're unquestioned and even unnoticed, there's an opportunity to leap ahead of the pack — by questioning the conventional wisdom.

He's No Longer Here

Sometimes we adopt inappropriate technologies, or we deploy unworkable processes, largely because of the political power of their advocates, and despite widespread doubts about the wisdom of the moves. Strangely, though, the decisions often stick long after the advocates move on. Why? And what can we do about it?

See also Organizational Change and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.

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Managing Virtual Teams for Real Results

Managing global or dispersed teams is challenging — miscommunications, misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflict all thrive in the typical environment of the distributed team. And they're even more common in global teams, because of time-zone offsets and language and cultural differences. We'll inventory the challenges distributed and global teams face, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees will learn concrete techniques for preventing and dealing with the problems that accompany global and distributed teams. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communication for Project Managers

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program you'll learn a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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• Richmond, Virginia (West End): February 18, 2009, Monthly Meeting, Central Virginia Chapter of The Project Management Institute. Register now.
   
• Richmond, Virginia (South End): February 19, 2009, Monthly Meeting, Central Virginia Chapter of The Project Management Institute. Register now.
   

Organizational Politics for People Who Hate Politics

Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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The Politics of Meetings for People Who Hate Politics

There's a lot more to running an effective meeting than having the right room, the right equipment, and the right people. With meetings, the whole really is more than the sum of its parts. How the parts interact with each other and with external elements is as important as the parts themselves. And those interactions are the essence of politics for meetings. This program explores techniques for leading meetings that are based on understanding political interactions, and using that knowledge effectively to meet organizational goals. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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  your calendarBedford, Massachusetts: January 20, 2009, Monthly Meeting, Boston SPIN.